Ofcourt racquet drills to improve the game\feel

[acintya]

What can I do away from the court to improve my game? Does practicing a spin serve on a grass yard without lines and net have some sense or does it only harm the perception? You could improve the feel or? Lets exclude the wall for now.

 

[IowaGuy]

What can I do away from the court to improve my game? Does practicing a spin serve on a grass yard without lines and net have some sense or does it only harm the perception? You could improve the feel or? Lets exclude the wall for now.

Juggling to improve hand-eye coordination.

 

[Mongolmike]

What can I do away from the court to improve my game? Does practicing a spin serve on a grass yard without lines and net have some sense or does it only harm the perception? You could improve the feel or? Lets exclude the wall for now.

Not using a wall or any court? Work on your fitness I guess. Work on ball toss if that is a problem. Stand in front of a mirror and shadow swing, see if you notice any issues.

 

[user92626]

I work out at the gym. Only after 3 weeks I already felt I was head and shoulder above my peers in strength and stamina!

 

[5263]

What can I do away from the court to improve my game? Does practicing a spin serve on a grass yard without lines and net have some sense or does it only harm the perception? You could improve the feel or? Lets exclude the wall for now.

table tennis can be excellent

 

[5263]

I work out at the gym. Only after 3 weeks I already felt I was head and shoulder above my peers in strength and stamina!

Starting Strength!

 

[user92626]

table tennis can be excellent

Good suggestion. The hand eye coordination and the focus is excellent from table tennis.

Starting Strength!

I'm not totally unfamiliar with additional workout to tennis and seeing the benefits. When I used to road-bike every weekend, rallying in the high Sun felt pretty slow and I outlasted 2, 3 guys. Even they noticed.

This is the first time I'm more serious with gym workout. I'm just curious about the tennis benefits from gym on top of my desire to lose weight.

 

[Wise one]

What can I do away from the court to improve my game? Does practicing a spin serve on a grass yard without lines and net have some sense or does it only harm the perception? You could improve the feel or? Lets exclude the wall for now.

Oh please. Give it a rest. Spend more time reading and relaxing.

 

[S&V-not_dead_yet]

I work out at the gym. Only after 3 weeks I already felt I was head and shoulder above my peers in strength and stamina!

What about your other shoulder?

 

[mcs1970]

What about your other shoulder?

Forget the non-dominant arm and shoulder in Tennis. Who needs to waste time on those? Need to learn from the pros

 

[Deleted member 23235]

i haven't tried it,... but if i were desperate, i might setup a short garbage can, at a distance just short of the service line, and hit topspin or kick serves into it.

but typical offcourt, offracquet work is: conditioning, flexibility, strength.. training

 

[USAFA10s]

Ball toss and footwork patterns. You can always improve your speed and agility on the court and that will elevate your game significantly no matter what your skill level - getting to more balls with more time to hit will make your shots better

 

[Bagumbawalla]

Watch a clip of Shirley Temple and Bojangles dancing up and down a flight of stairs.

Then find some stairs and work on your footwork.

Be careful.

 

[TnsGuru]

I have an aquaintance who plays badminton and he says it has improved his tennis overhead smash. According to him, he has to move/react quicker to position himself for the badminton smash due to the faster movement required to execute the shot.

When he plays tennis he feels like that the tennis ball looks slower and he always smashes in position and with confidence, especially his jump smash. I haven't tried badminton yet but maybe one day.

 

[tlm]

Forget the non-dominant arm and shoulder in Tennis. Who needs to waste time on those? Need to learn from the pros

Just because these pro players are out of proportion from one side to the other does not make it right. That is one of the many advantages of strength training you can develop both sides. Muscle imbalance is a big cause of many injuries and most people find out too late that because of their strength imbalance they end up with injury problems.

 

[mcs1970]

Just because these pro players are out of proportion from one side to the other does not make it right. That is one of the many advantages of strength training you can develop both sides. Muscle imbalance is a big cause of many injuries and most people find out too late that because of their strength imbalance they end up with injury problems.

Was just meant to be a humorous reply to a humorous comment. Don't take it seriously. Not even sure if those pics are photoshopped.

As for feel and drills for that, there's an excellent article with different drills, by Don Brosseau on tennisplayer.net called Timing and Feel of the Racquet Head.

 

[SystemicAnomaly]

I have an aquaintance who plays badminton and he says it has improved his tennis overhead smash. According to him, he has to move/react quicker to position himself for the badminton smash due to the faster movement required to execute the shot.

When he plays tennis he feels like that the tennis ball looks slower and he always smashes in position and with confidence, especially his jump smash. I haven't tried badminton yet but maybe one day.

I had a decent tennis smash 30+ years ago but my badminton smash was even better. In the mid/late 1980s, a very good college tennis team coach saw my badminton smash and convinced me that I should be hitting my tennis smash more like my badminton smash.

I had been playing a lot of compettive badminton on the 80s. My smash was crisp yet very relaxed. I had actually learned a tennis smash first but really honed my technique with badminton. I learned to take the relaxed intensity of my badminton smash back to tennis.

BTW, have you ever seen Taufik H hitting his legendary backhand? 2nd vid below

 

[SystemicAnomaly]

Blending is a concept that I learned in the martial art of Aikido. You see this idea used in various ball sports as well. Cricket fielders do not use a glove to catch the (hard & heavy) cricket ball. A blended catch is employed for this.

Setting a volleyball involves a very quick blend (blended catch) followed by an equally quick "throw". Dribbling a basketball also involves a blend. The player blends with the ball on the way up, near the peak of its bounce. And then pushes the ball back down rather than hitting or slapping the ball.

Below we see the blend used in tennis. Learning this skill will develop touch and control in tennis: