Serve and Forehand Spacing

[Ballinbob]

Hi all,

I have questions about my forehand spacing and serve trophy pose I could use help on. I posted a recent league match for analysis, first game has a lot of serves and forehands to look at.

On my forehand: It sprays errors when confronted with heavier balls. I know I was hitting them well in the match but against better players my forehand can be really inconsistent. Does anything stand out in my technique/footwork that would explain this?

On my serve: I know I am not hitting that archer's bow position where the left hand is vertical or even beyond vertical in the trophy pose. How much is this hurting me? If I want to improve my serve would you say this should be the biggest area of focus or is there something else? The serve is the best part of my game but if I can get an extra 10mph by straightening my arm out I would like to do that.

Link to match: https://swing.vision/matches/56faa4d7-91a2-465a-9c23-1c789f2f01d1 (i'm the near side wearing blue and orange shoes)

Thanks guys!

 

[badmice2]

Which player are you?

 

[Ballinbob]

Which player are you?

Near side wearing blue. Added to my original post, sorry about that

 

[badmice2]

Near side wearing blue. Added to my original post, sorry about that

Orange shoes? Both players are wearing blues.

 

[Ballinbob]

Orange shoes? Both players are wearing blues.

Sheesh sorry yeah orange shoes and blue, near side to start the video

 

[badmice2]

Nothing glaring wrong overall. Technique is pretty sound. MM adjustments that you may need to hone into.

On the forehand side, stand down and stay grounded more. It comes across you’re trying to launch yourself off the ground every chance you get. If you are receiving a heavier ball, you need to be bracing for impact, not fight power with power. Think redirect with good net clearance rather than fight to make spin to push back.

Which brings up the next point. While your forehand technique is sound, your movement can greatly improve. In situations where you sit and wait, you should up your intensity to move behind the ball earlier, seek your contact and drive with your legs more. At times you’re over working your uncoiling which causes errors.

On your serve, you’re predominantly hitting kick serves. You’re leaving your upright posture a little early, and your left oblique is crunching a little quick for my taste. I probably prefer to stay upright/body extend a bit longer through the racket chase.

Overall very nice game. Just need to be patient a bit work your strokes with your feet and through the ground more.

 

[Ballinbob]

Nothing glaring wrong overall. Technique is pretty sound. MM adjustments that you may need to hone into.

On the forehand side, stand down and stay grounded more. It comes across you’re trying to launch yourself off the ground every chance you get. If you are receiving a heavier ball, you need to be bracing for impact, not fight power with power. Think redirect with good net clearance rather than fight to make spin to push back.

Which brings up the next point. While your forehand technique is sound, your movement can greatly improve. In situations where you sit and wait, you should up your intensity to move behind the ball earlier, seek your contact and drive with your legs more. At times you’re over working your uncoiling which causes errors.

On your serve, you’re predominantly hitting kick serves. You’re leaving your upright posture a little early, and your left oblique is crunching a little quick for my taste. I probably prefer to stay upright/body extend a bit longer through the racket chase.

Overall very nice game. Just need to be patient a bit work your strokes with your feet and through the ground more.

Thanks for the feedback. Good point on the forehand... I really do feel I am over working the uncoiling you’re spot on. So is the fix to this basically just staying down a tad longer? I imagine that would help with my stability and consistency, or at least that makes sense to me.

On the serve I agree about needing to stay up a little longer. I’m thinking about bending my knees more with the intention of that making my serve motion longer, which would allow me time to really get that left arm vertical.

 

[badmice2]

Thanks for the feedback. Good point on the forehand... I really do feel I am over working the uncoiling you’re spot on. So is the fix to this basically just staying down a tad longer? I imagine that would help with my stability and consistency, or at least that makes sense to me.

On the serve I agree about needing to stay up a little longer. I’m thinking about bending my knees more with the intention of that making my serve motion longer, which would allow me time to really get that left arm vertical.

With the forehand, it’s the element of time and knowing how much work you need to do. I would question the purpose of the amount of coiling to the effects you’re trying to achieve; and can you deliver the same ball effect doing less biomechanically? Staying balanced and stable should be a priority.

 

[ballmachineguy]

Blue with orange shoes? I couldn’t find the courage to click the link and I’m a Mets fan.

 

[badmice2]

Blue with orange shoes? I couldn’t find the courage to click the link and I’m a Mets fan.

Could be a Bronco fan…not that it makes any difference.

 

[5263]

Nothing glaring wrong overall.

Overall very nice game.

Except the Dead left arm on serve and Fh where he gets no help from that side. Really looks good overall other than that and some of the shot selection.

 

[Ballinbob]

Except the Dead left arm on serve and Fh where he gets no help from that side. Really looks good overall other than that and some of the shot selection.

Could you please elaborate on this? I will film my league match Monday and post back here. I am staying lower to the ground on my forehand and have seen big consistency improvements already, which is nice as that was an easy fix.

On the serve I am really trying to get my tossing arm higher but that will take some more time.

 

[5263]

Could you please elaborate on this? I will film my league match Monday and post back here. I am staying lower to the ground on my forehand and have seen big consistency improvements already, which is nice as that was an easy fix.

On the serve I am really trying to get my tossing arm higher but that will take some more time.

I was going to give a couple of screen shots to help, but swing vis didn't cooperate, lol.

The concept is that the non-hitting elbow can sort of lead the shoulders as they rotate around thru the shot. On both your serve and Fh you set it in an avg or weaker position, then don't use it.... It just sort of drops half limp right as your start your hitting rotation. I'm not sure about this theory, but I think it leads to rotating more around the non-hitting shoulder than the proper rotation that is more around the spine. Rotating around the spine area can be much stronger and faster bio-mechanics.

By having some focus on developing the non-hitting elbow to lead the rotation (sort of like a pump handle), I expect you could greatly improve the overall effectiveness and speed potential of your swing. You would likely get a bit more power, but Imo the more important aspect is how less effort will be required in the stroke. Less effort can translate into more control and precision in your stroke even though the swing can be faster at the same time. This is part of how the Pros look so relaxed as they crush shots.