Solo drill for faster/more consistent unit turn?

Bort Benjamin

New User
Hi all, I'm looking for suggestions on how to improve a specific area of my game. I'm a 32-year-old guy who's been playing recreationally for about three years (1-2x per week during the warm season in NYC with lessons a couple of times a month; just the lessons during winter). My instructor tells me that during lessons I'm 3.0, but doesn't recommend attempting league play yet because he assumes that my play outside the lesson court is less consistent.

He's quite correct in this assumption, and here's one reason: My unit turn goes out the window in competition. During lessons, my instructor stresses that I need to pivot to turn in one fluid motion quickly—"before the bounce" is his rule of thumb. I can do this with some consistency during a lesson (after some reminding). But during any kind of match, I often find myself swinging with my body too open, which leads, predictably, to errors that I'd really love to stop making. I'm aware of the issue in the moment and make an effort to self-correct, but I'm usually not so successful.

Can anyone suggest a solo drill for building this reflex? Ideally, it would be something I could do at the wall.
 

LeeD

Bionic Poster
It's not dependent on any drill, it's dependent on your mind embracing the idea of a shoulder turn for every shot, and never facing the opponent directly as you hit the ball.
 

Lance L

Semi-Pro
I think the unit turn should be the first thing we do. I don't even worry about my feet, if I get a good unit turn the feet will take care of themselves.
One thing I've found that helps, and is also sound mechanics, is to keep the off hand on the racquet a long time. If you take the racquet back and your off hand is on the racquet, you have to turn your shoulders.
I keep my off hand on the racquet until the very last moment when I start the swing. This also allows last second grip modifications.

Before each point, I have a little mantra I go think about: "Knees bent, turn your shoulders."
 

Bort Benjamin

New User
It's not dependent on any drill, it's dependent on your mind embracing the idea of a shoulder turn for every shot, and never facing the opponent directly as you hit the ball.

LeeD, that's an interesting thought. What can I do to get my mind to embrace this fundamental concept? I understand it intellectually but I'm not always able to execute it.
 

LeeD

Bionic Poster
Seriously now......
If your mind can embrace this "fundamental concept", how can anyone FORCE your body to do the same? Shouldn't YOU force your body to turn sideways? Is your body control so poor your mind can't overide your body instincts?
Do you just stomp on the gas pedal when you're in a rush? Do you forcefeed yourself in seconds when you're hungry? Do you just go to sleep whenever your tired, at that moment, no matter where you are?
 

mad dog1

G.O.A.T.
OP, work on strengthening your core. what helped me tremendously was going to the gym and working with a medicine ball or a 25# plate and rotating left and right simulating the unit turn. Lotsa reps.
 
Visualization may help. Sit comfortably, Set timer for 5 minutes, and visualize looking over net at opponent making contact with ball, watch the ball, visualize yourself doing the unit turn as early as possible etc etc.... take it all the way through to end of shot cycle. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat until your timer goes off. Do this every day until it is ingrained.

Shadow swing at home with your eyes closed, visualizing the ball in a similar way to above. Open your eyes once you are turned and loaded and see that you are in the correct position. Repeat.
 

Limpinhitter

G.O.A.T.
Hi all, I'm looking for suggestions on how to improve a specific area of my game. I'm a 32-year-old guy who's been playing recreationally for about three years (1-2x per week during the warm season in NYC with lessons a couple of times a month; just the lessons during winter). My instructor tells me that during lessons I'm 3.0, but doesn't recommend attempting league play yet because he assumes that my play outside the lesson court is less consistent.

He's quite correct in this assumption, and here's one reason: My unit turn goes out the window in competition. During lessons, my instructor stresses that I need to pivot to turn in one fluid motion quickly—"before the bounce" is his rule of thumb. I can do this with some consistency during a lesson (after some reminding). But during any kind of match, I often find myself swinging with my body too open, which leads, predictably, to errors that I'd really love to stop making. I'm aware of the issue in the moment and make an effort to self-correct, but I'm usually not so successful.

Can anyone suggest a solo drill for building this reflex? Ideally, it would be something I could do at the wall.

Find a practice partner who wants to improve his/her game and do cross court drills. Cross court drills will do wonders for your footwork and shot preparation (the most important part of a groundstroke, in my view). It also helps build shot technique and the ability to hit deep forcing shots while keeping the ball in play indefinitely. I recommend that each of you aim for a target of 5 feet from the cross court corner. (Don't expect to actually hit this target very often at first). Try to focus on perfect execution of footwork, shot preparation, the shot itself, and recovery to a position that bisects your opponents angles in between each shot. Try to keep the ball in play, don't try to overpower your opponent or go for winners which leads to errors and defeats the drill.
 

TnsGuru

Professional
Have someone slowly toss tennis balls to your forehand side and you have to reach and extend your non-hitting hand to catch it. As it becomes more automatic then have the feeder speed the feed to hone your reaction time. This teaches you to coil the upper body not just taking the racket back.
images
 

The Unknown

Semi-Pro
Keep your hand on your racket for as long as you can. Also set yourself in the unit turn position as the ball crosses the net. Never move your upper body from this position, only move to the ball using your legs. Then when its time to hit the ball, unleash hell.
 

SystemicAnomaly

Bionic Poster
Your unit turn does not need to be fast; it needs to be early.

My rule of thumb is to start the unit turn as/before the ball crosses the net. To make certain that you are early enough, the unit turn should be complete by the time the ball reaches your back service line (assuming you are in the backcourt or in the vicinity of the baseline). If you have it complete by the time the ball bounces, you will be ok for balls that bounce in front of the service line but may be late for balls that bounce deep in NML. Better to have the turn complete before the ball reaches NML.

The best way to establish the habit is thru a lot of repetition. Get some time on a ball machine if possible. Another way to reinforce the muscle memory is to execute unit turn (shadow swings) while watching others play. As you see the ball coming across the net for them, start your unit turn. Make sure that it is complete by the time the ball reaches NML. Then complete the rest of your shadow swing as the player is executing their stroke.
 
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