Please Critique My Strokes!

[ski racer]

I'm 14 years old and i have been playing for around 2 years. I've only taken two on court lessons and the rest of my instruction is all from Fuzzy yellow Balls so that will explain some of my odd habits. I need help on making my shots more consistent and hitting with more topspin. Any ideas are appreciated.

So far I know i need to work on:
FH: Shortening the back swing
Closing my stance,
establishing correct hitting arm position ( elbow inn, wrist laid back) and keeping it through contact
Windshield Wiper follow through

BH:
keeping the racquet from getting to close to my body so im not swinging from in to out.
Rotation and Weight transfer

Here's a video of me hitting. keep in mind that against the back board my shots look softer so please look at weight transfer and racquet head speed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2KA68foOoE

 

[zak425]

First I would say you need to work on consistency and accuracy. The idea for a hit against the wall is to work on hitting the same spot over and over and also keeping the rally going, so hitting two shots and grabbing the ball isn't going to help your game much. Also I am not sure I would advise only working on FH's and then only BH's. Hit whatever the wall gives to you, if its going to your backhand hit a backhand don't stop the ball, thats not realistic for what happens in actual play.

Make sure when you are feeding the first ball the the ball, you're aiming dead center, as it is now your hitting the feed ball wildly making yourself run to get to the next ball which you hit wildly again. You def need some technical stroke changes, but could be due a lot to how your hitting the wall. From just one view, it seems like your just trying to hit hard and not worried where it goes. Consistency and accuracy is what you should be working on right now. Everything else can wait until you learn the importance on those two.

 

[Timbo's hopeless slice]

it's a bit early in your developement to get too technical, but I do have a suggestion.

To improve your footwork, instead of catching the ball on your racquet and reloading, try to have a rally with the wall. A lot of those balls you catch are actually quite 'hittable' and even attempting to do so will do wonders for your movement..
cheers!

*edit Dammit Zak!!! (what he said +1)

 

[USERNAME]

I couldnt watch the whole vid, sorry. Get some on court help from a coach or a good player. Your not coordinated and open up the shoulders and body way to early, your contact point is not consistent at all, you dont have footwork, your very mechanical in all of your movement, and well you really just need to build your strokes. For topspin you need to swing low to high, getting under the ball and thats IT for now! Do not complicate things, keep it simple.

 

[Blake0]

You're going for the straight arm forehand, but you start the whole swing with the straight arm loosing a lot of power.

Start off like federer does, both arm bent and hands on racket, left arm lets go, right arm straightens and then the arm straightens and the elbow is not tucked into the body and then he swings. This will help you incorporate more power.

For WW, imagine painting a rainbow out in front of you with your racket head.

If you want to transition to a double bend forehand, like the majority of pros, then you'd want to end your backswing with the hitting position you swing forward with (basically just like the straight arm described above but at end of backswing your arm is bent).

Also your wrist is very stiff, loosen yourself up, and swing to the ball. Really try to drive the buttcap of the racket into the ball, and swing up and across.

 

[TheOneHander]

My computer was only able to load a couple of shots, but here's some forehand advice.

Try to take your racquet back closer to your body. Get it back more quickly, and load your legs more. Stop popping your front foot up.

I'll see if I can load the video again and give you some more tips.

EDIT: Pause the video at 0:28. Your strings are facing the camera, and your hitting arm is way too far back. Try to make a unit turn with your shoulders instead of your arm-some of our more knowledgeable members will be able to explain this concept better than I can.

Regarding tennis itself, it's great that you want to improve. It's also good that you enjoy it-have fun!

 

[LeeD]

That wall has to be the most uneven, crookedest, most lopsided wall ever.
Try to hit 5 in a row, feet grounded, swing controlled enough to hit 5, stand back another 12' and use the second bounce.

 

[dozu]

use the FYB progression videos, and rebuild everything from scratch... and come back in 6 months.

 

[LeeD]

OP does have the basis for a good swing, but with no practice time, he does little things differently on each swing, so there is no consistency.
Slow down and hit at least 5 in a row. If you can't, slow down more.
And look for a straighter wall, and stand 22' away from it.

 

[mightyrick]

First I would say you need to work on consistency and accuracy. The idea for a hit against the wall is to work on hitting the same spot over and over and also keeping the rally going, so hitting two shots and grabbing the ball isn't going to help your game much. Also I am not sure I would advise only working on FH's and then only BH's. Hit whatever the wall gives to you, if its going to your backhand hit a backhand don't stop the ball, thats not realistic for what happens in actual play.

Make sure when you are feeding the first ball the the ball, you're aiming dead center, as it is now your hitting the feed ball wildly making yourself run to get to the next ball which you hit wildly again. You def need some technical stroke changes, but could be due a lot to how your hitting the wall. From just one view, it seems like your just trying to hit hard and not worried where it goes. Consistency and accuracy is what you should be working on right now. Everything else can wait until you learn the importance on those two.

+1 This.

OP, your goal should be to hit as many in a row as possible. That requires consistency and control. All you are doing is hitting one shot and then catching the ball... just to refeed the wall. That isn't good wall work.

Don't video anything, yet. Get to a point where you can hit a 10-ball rally against the wall. Then video it. I think flaws/strengths in your technique will easily come out by showing a single 10-ball wall rally.

 

[SStrikerR]

Stop trying to kill the ball and focus on your mechanics. Like they've said before, without proper strokes you're not going to have enough consistency to hit hard successfully. Work on footwork and having consistent swings, and fluid ones. You kind of look like you're thrashing around a bit, without being very coordinated in your movements. Also quick note, I used a classic forehand for the first 1.5 years of playing tennis when I started at age 13, so if you aren't hitting windshield wiper right now don't worry about it. Do what you're good at now, and progress when you have the basics down. Your swings have a decent base, they just need to be refined/tweaked in places and they'll be fine. If you keep focusing on improvement I think you'll see big improvements in your game over months. I started about 3 years ago, and I'm still making adjustments and improving. The first year or two I had to make a ton of changes and stuff, but it was well worth it. Keep working at it, and maybe video yourself once every 2-3 months so you can see your improvements.

 

[Torres]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2KA68foOoE

Well done, sonny. Great to see such enthusiasm for tennis. Just keep up the good work and keep on practising. Try and get some consistency going, say at 5 shots in row, then once you've managed 5, then try 10 etc. Practise that backhand as well.

 

[MyFearHand]

Honestly I think a way you can see incredible improvement quickly is to RELAX, you look very very very very tense and worried about how this is going to turn out. I think if you relaxed all your shots would improve and your consistency would too.

 

[5263]

it's a bit early in your developement to get too technical, but I do have a suggestion.

To improve your footwork, instead of catching the ball on your racquet and reloading, try to have a rally with the wall. A lot of those balls you catch are actually quite 'hittable' and even attempting to do so will do wonders for your movement..
cheers!

*edit Dammit Zak!!! (what he said +1)

Very nice advice

 

[VaBeachTennis]

I'm 14 years old and i have been playing for around 2 years. I've only taken two on court lessons and the rest of my instruction is all from Fuzzy yellow Balls so that will explain some of my odd habits. I need help on making my shots more consistent and hitting with more topspin. Any ideas are appreciated.

So far I know i need to work on:
FH: Shortening the back swing
Closing my stance,
establishing correct hitting arm position ( elbow inn, wrist laid back) and keeping it through contact
Windshield Wiper follow through

BH:
keeping the racquet from getting to close to my body so im not swinging from in to out.
Rotation and Weight transfer

Here's a video of me hitting. keep in mind that against the back board my shots look softer so please look at weight transfer and racquet head speed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2KA68foOoE

Check out this video of a "wall workout". Try to take the finer points of this video and apply it to your workout. This guy concentrates on footwork, consistency, and fluidity, Good luck!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8VvxgUJoqU