Summer hitting videos from my journey to the next level

TheLambsheadrep

TheLambsheadrep

Professional
It's been a long time since being on Talk Tennis but it's good to be back! For the last year or so I've been working on improving my game and since I believe that watching instructional videos will only get you so far I started recording warm ups and friendly matches with my doubles partner last summer. Being able to see what I'm doing right and what I'm doing wrong has been very beneficial to my game and I highly recommend it to tennis players of all levels. The videos I have right now are on my YouTube page: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCj7iLMCSkKA6hnQpU3iJKnA

Feel free to give me your two cents as long as it's constructive. If you want specific areas of focus - I've transitioned to a OHBH during this time which I know still has room for improvement. Also, my doubles partner is trying to improve his serve and has been getting some coaching but still feels like something is not clicking. Finally, we've been rated as 4.5 but I'm always interested in how players rank other players so that is certainly not off limits.

I'm hoping it won't be too long until I can make more tennis content. My doubles partner got a GoPro for Christmas so he's been itching to use that instead of my old school Sony PowerShot (I don't blame him). Until then, happy hitting!
 
Horrible backhand spraying everywhere.

Non existant forehand, your just arming the ball.

Every second ball goes into the net. You have too big of a takeback and ur using ur wrist too much, and ur not getting enough lag and supination and pronation.

Pancake waltertray bunt serve, serve also slow and inconsistent, too many double faults. Ur rotating too much and ur arm is 5 degrees too much to the left.

No footwork, no athletic stance, lack of split step.

2.5 at best.

(Im not really serious, but thats how it usualy goes on this forum, wanted to give it a go once for a bit of fun)

P.s. when i have some time il post a swrious analysis and offer some input.
 
At least they are better than my team! However, both of them need to learn how to relax. If you were 4.5, your technique should be smoother but no. I would say 3-3.5
 
TheLambsheadrep said:
It's been a long time since being on Talk Tennis but it's good to be back! For the last year or so I've been working on improving my game and since I believe that watching instructional videos will only get you so far I started recording warm ups and friendly matches with my doubles partner last summer. Being able to see what I'm doing right and what I'm doing wrong has been very beneficial to my game and I highly recommend it to tennis players of all levels. The videos I have right now are on my YouTube page: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCj7iLMCSkKA6hnQpU3iJKnA

Feel free to give me your two cents as long as it's constructive. If you want specific areas of focus - I've transitioned to a OHBH during this time which I know still has room for improvement. Also, my doubles partner is trying to improve his serve and has been getting some coaching but still feels like something is not clicking. Finally, we've been rated as 4.5 but I'm always interested in how players rank other players so that is certainly not off limits.

I'm hoping it won't be too long until I can make more tennis content. My doubles partner got a GoPro for Christmas so he's been itching to use that instead of my old school Sony PowerShot (I don't blame him). Until then, happy hitting!
Click to expand...
I just watched the "practice match 4" video

You guys look pretty good! Coordinated shots, not too many unforced errors. Sometimes your BH looks a bit awkward (but hey whoose doesnt?) maybe its just cos you switched to the 1 hander recently.

i think you'd improve the most by working on fitness and agility. interval training would be good (run up a big public stair, walk down it, repeat for 15min.. x2 a week)
 
StringSnapper said:
Sometimes your BH looks a bit awkward (but hey whoose doesnt?) maybe its just cos you switched to the 1 hander recently.
Click to expand...
Thanks! Ya, still getting used to that OHBH. The three biggest adjustments I would say I need to make are 1) consistently getting my right leg crossed over my left leg to get the maximum core turn for the shot, 2) dropping the racquet closer to the court when in the power position, and 3) not opening up as much on the follow through. But that's just me, I'm hoping that people with solid modern OHBHs will chime in.
 
Nice stuff! My two cents would be footwork — split step on every shot. There were alot of times both sides were caught off on balls you both could have had based purely on the footwork.
 
Znak said:
Nice stuff! My two cents would be footwork — split step on every shot. There were alot of times both sides were caught off on balls you both could have had based purely on the footwork.
Click to expand...
Agree 100%. Between split steps and OHBH positioning there is certainly room for improvement. Thanks!
 
Cool courts, those are some dense trees, where is that?

I watched some vids, so here is my advice and some suggestions.

I won't get technical, those minor flaws and fixes are minor at the moment and can be fixed later to improve certain aspects, overall its some decent tennis play, and lots of good things.

I will focus on fundamentals and bigger things that should really make a big improvement in ur tennis level and amount of points you win.

1. The biggest issue you have is movement, your footwork and movement is absolutely atrocious, you need to work alot on this, many members already pointed it out.

Its not only fitness level and agility drills and so on, your overall aproach needs alot of work.

First issue is you are way too laid back and no energy, you need to put in more effort and energy, you just stroll around very easily like you have all the time in the world to do so, instead of going fast and explosive towards the ball.
The second issue is you are too tall on your feet, you need to bend ur legs more and get lower.
The third issue is you are flat footed, you need to split step on every ball and land on ur front foot and fingers while ur back part of the feet is off the ground, you will never move fast being flat footed like that.

2. Stop slicing ur forehand for the love of god, its horrible, it loses you a ton of points hitting the net or out of bounds or opponent eating them up (and this is against an opponent that messes up quite alot of these easy balls your giving him), a good player would completely eat up every single ball like this (the ones ur not missing that is) for an easy point.
Pro players almost NEVER slice their forehands, VERY VERY rarely when they are caught on the wrong foot and need to stretch sideways, but most of the time even on the run or stretched they will hit a topspin forehand if at all possible, very rarely a slice forehand, and even then its deep not a short easy ball that sits up for ur opponent.

3. You need to finish points more aggressively and firmly in situations where you have a lot of open court, alot of times when ur opponent comes to the net he leaves alot of space to exploit CC or down the line depending on the situation, and sometimes you finish the points nicely, but alot of times you just slice an easy ball right towards him, or a topspin ball (this will get punished by better players) , when you have so much open court you could pass him with even a moderate pace ball easily, you need to be more commited to this and punish him more in such situations, I can count at least 10 situations where he is in a bad position where you could have easily EASILY won the point with only a decent well placed shot, and he would not get close to it, but you chose not to.

4. Whats ur strategy on ur serve, you seem to serve alot of slow balls to the middle with no strategy at all, and then here and there you seem to hit a serve very wide and get him off the court alot, and lone behold in those few situations ur immediately in control of the rally and you finished the point in the other corner or make him run there stretched and hit a very poor slow shot back and finish it in the other corner with a volley.
And this brings me to my point that you won very easy points doing this, but did it VERY RARELY, do more of this and have a purpose with ur serve and get him off the court, hit more wide serves or T serves to stretch him a get a weak reply, and less weak serves right in his strikezone.
 
FiReFTW said:
Cool courts, those are some dense trees, where is that?

I watched some vids, so here is my advice and some suggestions.

I won't get technical, those minor flaws and fixes are minor at the moment and can be fixed later to improve certain aspects, overall its some decent tennis play, and lots of good things.

I will focus on fundamentals and bigger things that should really make a big improvement in ur tennis level and amount of points you win.

1. The biggest issue you have is movement, your footwork and movement is absolutely atrocious, you need to work alot on this, many members already pointed it out.

Its not only fitness level and agility drills and so on, your overall aproach needs alot of work.

First issue is you are way too laid back and no energy, you need to put in more effort and energy, you just stroll around very easily like you have all the time in the world to do so, instead of going fast and explosive towards the ball.
The second issue is you are too tall on your feet, you need to bend ur legs more and get lower.
The third issue is you are flat footed, you need to split step on every ball and land on ur front foot and fingers while ur back part of the feet is off the ground, you will never move fast being flat footed like that.

2. Stop slicing ur forehand for the love of god, its horrible, it loses you a ton of points hitting the net or out of bounds or opponent eating them up (and this is against an opponent that messes up quite alot of these easy balls your giving him), a good player would completely eat up every single ball like this (the ones ur not missing that is) for an easy point.
Pro players almost NEVER slice their forehands, VERY VERY rarely when they are caught on the wrong foot and need to stretch sideways, but most of the time even on the run or stretched they will hit a topspin forehand if at all possible, very rarely a slice forehand, and even then its deep not a short easy ball that sits up for ur opponent.

3. You need to finish points more aggressively and firmly in situations where you have a lot of open court, alot of times when ur opponent comes to the net he leaves alot of space to exploit CC or down the line depending on the situation, and sometimes you finish the points nicely, but alot of times you just slice an easy ball right towards him, or a topspin ball (this will get punished by better players) , when you have so much open court you could pass him with even a moderate pace ball easily, you need to be more commited to this and punish him more in such situations, I can count at least 10 situations where he is in a bad position where you could have easily EASILY won the point with only a decent well placed shot, and he would not get close to it, but you chose not to.

4. Whats ur strategy on ur serve, you seem to serve alot of slow balls to the middle with no strategy at all, and then here and there you seem to hit a serve very wide and get him off the court alot, and lone behold in those few situations ur immediately in control of the rally and you finished the point in the other corner or make him run there stretched and hit a very poor slow shot back and finish it in the other corner with a volley.
And this brings me to my point that you won very easy points doing this, but did it VERY RARELY, do more of this and have a purpose with ur serve and get him off the court, hit more wide serves or T serves to stretch him a get a weak reply, and less weak serves right in his strikezone.
Click to expand...

Just some local parks here in Raleigh. One of the best parts about Raleigh is you can't go more than a few miles without running into a park (and most of them have tennis courts).

Thanks for the feedback, I'm glad you saw some good tennis in there. I'll reply quickly to your points:

1). I would agree that footwork is at the top of the fix list for my overall game. It's not only during the summer that I have to tell myself to get the lead out of my feet. Being too tall is also a good call. My doubles partner is much better about jumping into his shots and that comes (partly) from good potential energy stored up in his bent legs. This knowledge is something I've gotten out of the videos but need to apply more often than I do.

2). That's something I noticed myself this summer and I know I need to choose a more aggressive forehand over the slice, but my defense here is that it's my doubles chip and charge mentality. For some reference, I grew up playing more and being better at doubles where my partner is the opposite. My doubles-heavy mentality carries over too much into my singles game, and again the opposite is true for partner.

3). Agree again but more when he is on the baseline. In singles he rarely comes up to the net unless he's already on the way for a short ball, but when he's out of position in the deep court I tend to go for the more comfortable shot instead of the aggressive shot or the shot that lets me take advantage of the situation. Part of this is due to rally strategy (or lack thereof) which ties into...

4). Serve strategy commitment isn't always on full display during these videos. I would consider my serve to safely be a top part of my game so I hope it doesn't sound like a cop out to when I say 100% serve speed, placement, spin, etc. isn't a "need for victory" when playing friendly matches. However I certainly see validity in anyone saying that one should practice how they want to play and I know I have way too many deuce side second serves bounce right about into his strike zone. I can go deeper into my serve strategy later if you would like.
 
FYI I would say my best playing is in Match 2 and my worst is in Match 4 (it was just shy of 100 degrees and like 70% humidity, we both regretted playing that day). I don't want to speak for my doubles partner but I think he may have beaten me the worst in Match 3.
 
TheLambsheadrep said:
Feel free to give me your two cents as long as it's constructive.
Click to expand...

Topspin FH seems to be your best shot.

IMHO, I would work more on your BH. Your BH slice seems to be your go-to, yet it is pretty weak/floaty and often lands short in the court. Topspin BH seems very inconsistent.

I think a 4.5-5.0 player is going to attack your BH ruthlessly. If I were playing you in league, I would hit almost all balls to your BH and wait for a short ball to attack.

I think your BH slice needs more unit turn, more weight transfer into shot, a higher racket prep on many shots (so that you swing down on ball but yet keep the racket face open), and keep your left hand extended behind more so that you don't over-rotate. If you notice, your BH slice approaches are often better than your baseline slices, probably because you're moving forward into the ball.

Your partner's serve - fundamentally, he isn't getting weight transfer into the court. He often is off-balance and falls sideways/backwards when serving.
 
IowaGuy said:
IMHO, I would work more on your BH.
Click to expand...

That was the name of the game this summer. Still have a ways to go.

If I know I won't have the time to close off the body enough for a flat or topspin OHBH I switch to a slice. This is where better footwork and prep for the shot will help since I wouldn't find myself in that situation as much. This is also where your comment on needing more unit turn rings true because I can get away with less turn when slicing the ball in this scenario even though I know it's sub par technique. However, if the ball is going to be out of the strike zone one way or another I don't feel bad using a good slice. If you watch some high level match play with OHBHs there's a good chance that there's a little more slice than topspin in the name of continuing to set up the point over ending it with an unforced error.

Another thing I saw from the videos - my left hand extension on slices and backhand volleys is ugly. I'm trying to keep my arm out and down/horizontal instead of out and up. I'm trying to think of it as mirrored motions between the arms.
 
TheLambsheadrep said:
However, if the ball is going to be out of the strike zone one way or another I don't feel bad using a good slice. If you watch some high level match play with OHBHs there's a good chance that there's a little more slice than topspin in the name of continuing to set up the point over ending it with an unforced error.
Click to expand...

This is true (Dimitrov, Fed, etc), but it needs to be a good slice! Many of your slices are landing too short/too floaty.

My BH slice is my go-to, but it gets attacked by good players if I leave it floaty/short in the court. OTOH, if it lands closer to the baseline and skids/stays low, it's very difficult to attack (especially when hit to opponent's BH) and often presents me with a weak return that I can then attack.

TheLambsheadrep said:
Another thing I saw from the videos - my left hand extension on slices and backhand volleys is ugly.
Click to expand...

IMO, the left hand extension takes some practice. I drill this frequently with a ball machine (below). If you get a better unit turn and extend your left arm behind you, your slice will get more bite and pace. I live in Durham if you're ever in the neighborhood and want to practice some BH slice drills.

 
IowaGuy said:
This is true (Dimitrov, Fed, etc), but it needs to be a good slice!
Click to expand...

100% correct.

Durham, very cool! I like the sound of that, I'm a little swamped for the time being but if you're cool with it I'll send you a message at some point and we'll see if something works out. Thanks :)
 
FiReFTW said:
4. Whats ur strategy on ur serve
Click to expand...

@FiReFTW A good example of my primary strategy on the ad side is at 3:30. Whether it's first or second serve I try to get my opponent off court and take advantage of the wide open down the line shot or come in for the easy volley. The short angled kick serve is a big part of this.
 
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TheLambsheadrep said:
Just some local parks here in Raleigh. One of the best parts about Raleigh is you can't go more than a few miles without running into a park (and most of them have tennis courts).

Thanks for the feedback, I'm glad you saw some good tennis in there. I'll reply quickly to your points:

1). I would agree that footwork is at the top of the fix list for my overall game. It's not only during the summer that I have to tell myself to get the lead out of my feet. Being too tall is also a good call. My doubles partner is much better about jumping into his shots and that comes (partly) from good potential energy stored up in his bent legs. This knowledge is something I've gotten out of the videos but need to apply more often than I do.

2). That's something I noticed myself this summer and I know I need to choose a more aggressive forehand over the slice, but my defense here is that it's my doubles chip and charge mentality. For some reference, I grew up playing more and being better at doubles where my partner is the opposite. My doubles-heavy mentality carries over too much into my singles game, and again the opposite is true for partner.

3). Agree again but more when he is on the baseline. In singles he rarely comes up to the net unless he's already on the way for a short ball, but when he's out of position in the deep court I tend to go for the more comfortable shot instead of the aggressive shot or the shot that lets me take advantage of the situation. Part of this is due to rally strategy (or lack thereof) which ties into...

4). Serve strategy commitment isn't always on full display during these videos. I would consider my serve to safely be a top part of my game so I hope it doesn't sound like a cop out to when I say 100% serve speed, placement, spin, etc. isn't a "need for victory" when playing friendly matches. However I certainly see validity in anyone saying that one should practice how they want to play and I know I have way too many deuce side second serves bounce right about into his strike zone. I can go deeper into my serve strategy later if you would like.
Click to expand...

Nothing wrong w a good forehand slice.
 
FiReFTW said:
3. You need to finish points more aggressively and firmly in situations where you have a lot of open court
Click to expand...

I was watching Match 4 with this in mind and realized that I could count the number of times I hit a forehand anywhere near a doubles alley on one hand. While my partner is great at moving me around the court with his forehand I was essentially setting him up with mine. The next time we hit I will have a game plan to move him out wide more.
 
I'm going to be htting with the same guy this Wed, we're going to try a dual angle approach with my camera and his go pro. I'm going to make a conscience effort to work on each valid point that was brought up from the other videos (thanks again for those!)
 
Despite the last night's rain, today should be a good day for hitting. Here are four things I am telling myself to focus on tonight:

1. Step into serves and bounce/be light between shots
2. Topspin instead of slice on approaches
3. Don't just hit over the center of the net
4. Have a serve strategy for each point
 
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Znak said:
Nice stuff! My two cents would be footwork — split step on every shot. There were alot of times both sides were caught off on balls you both could have had based purely on the footwork.
Click to expand...


+1 on footwork. You definitely can hit your shots well...when you are there properly and there were quite a few you could improve your positioning on. More so on the backhand side really - you seemed to get the ball too far in front of you. Looked at a few other vids and your BH seemed better spaced and placed in those.

All good stuff man. Thanks for posting.
Good watch.
 
ChaelAZ said:
+1 on footwork. You definitely can hit your shots well...when you are there properly and there were quite a few you could improve your positioning on. More so on the backhand side really - you seemed to get the ball too far in front of you. Looked at a few other vids and your BH seemed better spaced and placed in those.

All good stuff man. Thanks for posting.
Good watch.
Click to expand...
Thanks!
On the backhand positioning comment, is that for topspin or slice or both?
 
Hard to tell how hard you are hitting your serve, but it seems like you could be hitting it harder. You are fairly upright after hitting your serve and it looks like you land approximately where you start. Typically you want to land a foot or two inside the court after you serve.
 
The serving in these videos (for myself and my partner) is typically anywhere between 80%-90% of our best serve. Both of us have had some shoulder discomfort as of late (we joke how we must be getting old) and since these aren't win-or-nothing matches there's no need to go balls to the wall on every serve. There are certainly a few where I am going for it because he's pulling away in game score or I'm frustrated or just because, but for the most part it's just within a range to keep it a weapon.

The Go Pro footage I'm uploading later does show that I could get further into the court, and now that you mention it I should probably emphasize getting into the court more on the ad side. The forward momentum would make it easier to hit up the T and lately I've been struggling to hit flat there. I will certainly add it to next time's list of things to focus on.
 
Here's our short warm up and his Go Pro footage. We got about half way through playing before his battery died but I am a fan of the wider angle and larger scope of vision.
 
We played a friendly doubles match today and one of the opponents who we haven't hit with for a while remarked how I was playing more "assertive" tennis. I think I would chalk that up to those four areas of my game that I've been actively working on for the last two weeks.
 
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