Tennis Tips, me playing tennis

You hit OK, possibly lower level junior 14's, possibly strong 3.5 adult, but you expend too much energy with your somewhat awkward style and I suspect you mishit a lot in tournaments against your peers.
Look at the way your hitting partner/coach calmly hits his shots. That is what you are looking for. Look at Fed, DJ, or Murray. Their bodies are much more upright and stable, more balanced, and don't lean one way or another.
All your leaning of the upper body leads to vision problems when you hit against a compeitior's shots. In the vid, you are being fed easy balls.
Nice wide stance, lots of good footwork.
Oh, "lower level junior 14's" is not a slight. I played a 14 year old at the top of his age group, who could easily practice with the UCBerkeley varsity singles players.
 
I only have one good advice: keep your feet on the ground when you hit. That helped me big time, I think it can help you too.
 
LeeD said:
You hit OK, possibly lower level junior 14's, possibly strong 3.5 adult, but you expend too much energy with your somewhat awkward style and I suspect you mishit a lot in tournaments against your peers.
Look at the way your hitting partner/coach calmly hits his shots. That is what you are looking for. Look at Fed, DJ, or Murray. Their bodies are much more upright and stable, more balanced, and don't lean one way or another.
All your leaning of the upper body leads to vision problems when you hit against a compeitior's shots. In the vid, you are being fed easy balls.
Nice wide stance, lots of good footwork.
Oh, "lower level junior 14's" is not a slight. I played a 14 year old at the top of his age group, who could easily practice with the UCBerkeley varsity singles players.
Click to expand...
no idea what a 3.5 adult is. I'm not from the US.
But I did youtube that: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5PKfedKQoI I can definitely beat those two easily. 0 and 0.

But I agree with the leaning part. I've noticed that i expend alot of energy and i'm forcing the ball a bit too much.
 
Don't worry. You're not 3.5. I'm not an NTRP expert, but I'd say 4.5-5.0, if you can set up points as well as you can trade groundies. Other than that, everything LeeD says is right. Your hitting partner is much more stable when he hits, which gives me the idea that in a real match, he'd beat you pretty easily because he's not wasting energy. I think you're trying to loop it too much for topspin rather than just letting it flow. This isn't table tennis; keeping your arm fluid and using the kinetic chain should get you all the spin you need.
 
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Topspinner271 said:
no idea what a 3.5 adult is. I'm not from the US.
But I did youtube that: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5PKfedKQoI I can definitely beat those two easily. 0 and 0.

But I agree with the leaning part. I've noticed that i expend alot of energy and i'm forcing the ball a bit too much.
Click to expand...

I doubt that very much. You seem to just want to blast the ball with every stroke. Thus your consistency goes down significantly.
If you were to take some of that power off your shots and be a lot more fluid with your strokes and aim a bit lower, you might have a chance.
I think your game would crumble quickly under any amount of pressure.
 
I think the vid was representative of the bottom layer of 3.5 tennis.
At the higher levels, you see 15 shot rallies, balls landing mostly deeper than service line, some real serves, and consistent topspin forehands.
And some 3.5's have just decended to that level, from somewhere above 4.5.
Hitting well doesn't translate to playing well against experienced competitors. We often see guys with "4.5" looking strokes, smoother and much stronger than OP's, actually lose to wily 3.5 who mix in various spins, good placements, and varying depths.
Hitting against your coach, being fed balls, is not representative of OP's actual match play ablilities.
 
Lukhas said:
I only have one good advice: keep your feet on the ground when you hit. That helped me big time, I think it can help you too.
Click to expand...

Topspin Shot said:
Don't worry. You're not 3.5. I'm not an NTRP expert, but I'd say 4.5-5.0, if you can set up points as well as you can trade groundies. Other than that, everything LeeD says is right. Your hitting partner is much more stable when he hits, which gives me the idea that in a real match, he'd beat you pretty easily because he's not wasting energy. I think you're trying to loop it too much for topspin rather than just letting it flow. This isn't table tennis; keeping your arm fluid and using the kinetic chain should get you all the spin you need.
Click to expand...

Well my hitting partner is a former 1300 atp player. But yes thanks, hitting through the ball more.
 
cluckcluck said:
I doubt that very much. You seem to just want to blast the ball with every stroke. Thus your consistency goes down significantly.
If you were to take some of that power off your shots and be a lot more fluid with your strokes and aim a bit lower, you might have a chance.
I think your game would crumble quickly under any amount of pressure.
Click to expand...

Cheers. It was the last point before water break though.
 
LeeD said:
I think the vid was representative of the bottom layer of 3.5 tennis.
At the higher levels, you see 15 shot rallies, balls landing mostly deeper than service line, some real serves, and consistent topspin forehands.
And some 3.5's have just decended to that level, from somewhere above 4.5.
Hitting well doesn't translate to playing well against experienced competitors. We often see guys with "4.5" looking strokes, smoother and much stronger than OP's, actually lose to wily 3.5 who mix in various spins, good placements, and varying depths.
Hitting against your coach, being fed balls, is not representative of OP's actual match play ablilities.
Click to expand...

I didn't ask you to rate my match play ability.... I asked you to give me tips on technique and thank you you did. So no need to go any further and extrapolate.
 
Sure, just shut out what you don't want to hear.
YOU posted what you thought was representative of "3.5" level tennis. Personally, I've never seen two guys move so slow and be so inconsistent in "3.5" level tennis.
League 3.5 players would easily beat those guys bagels foreever, but are still 3.5's.
 
LeeD said:
Sure, just shut out what you don't want to hear.
YOU posted what you thought was representative of "3.5" level tennis. Personally, I've never seen two guys move so slow and be so inconsistent in "3.5" level tennis.
League 3.5 players would easily beat those guys bagels foreever, but are still 3.5's.
Click to expand...
To be fair, I'm not from the US so i have no idea what 3.5 means but i youtubed it and i saw the first video and its pretty awful!
Same goes to other guy i guess, you cant tell from one point if my ''game is going to crumble under any pressure''.
But i thank you for your tips :) im training tomorrow, a month later from that video, and ill post a video.
 
Topspinner271 said:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ty3qVnVK83I

What does everyone think? I'll upload another video of me playing tennis in the next few days :) as I changed rackets recently.
Click to expand...

Reset Loop On The Backhand - When you take the racquet low and then high again. Waste time. Never seen someone do it on the groundstrokes and have a great return of serve as your only ever ready for topspin instead of a flatter drive back, when that 130mph bomb comes in. Ofcourse I could run off 20 pros that do it on the tour. If they jumped off a bridge would you?

Interesting how the beginning of the film you can't see it. Same reason no one sees it. They follow the ball and never really see the player prepare.

Your movement is rhythmic. You arrive as the ball arrives. Although this notion of staying in the rhythm has become rampant, it doesn't make sense. You should be preparing in front of the rhythm as sometimes the ball comes faster and you also might want to take the ball on the rise, which is not in the typical "bounce - hit" rhythm.
 
10sLifer, I agree the 2 handed take back is wasting a bit of time - initial take back is very low, and then he lifts racket head to prepare for forward swing. Eliminating this hitch should give you a bit more time and a more consistent backhand. Some pros have this hitch but not to the degree that you do. Just keep the head of the racket up when you turn your shoulders so you don't have to lift it up before you start your forward swing.

Here's a good video for 2 hbh instruction.

Overall you hit great and the drop on the BH take back is the only significant flaw I can see.
 
Two things that come immediately to my mind is: get rid of the jump before each shot and your movements need to be smoother, with more feeling.

I think it is very much like martial arts first you must learn how to root so that you can perform a stable and consistent stroke.
 
LeeD said:
I think the vid was representative of the bottom layer of 3.5 tennis.
At the higher levels, you see 15 shot rallies, balls landing mostly deeper than service line, some real serves, and consistent topspin forehands.
And some 3.5's have just decended to that level, from somewhere above 4.5.
Hitting well doesn't translate to playing well against experienced competitors. We often see guys with "4.5" looking strokes, smoother and much stronger than OP's, actually lose to wily 3.5 who mix in various spins, good placements, and varying depths.
Hitting against your coach, being fed balls, is not representative of OP's actual match play ablilities.
Click to expand...


i mean he is better than most 3.5 as far as stroke production. i suspect he is a high 3.5 bottom 4.0 player as far as his actual level of play.

my advice for op, jumping on every forehand is going to tire you out. you can certainly get a similar amount of energy from your legs without jumping.
 
Stroke production means little in match play.
Ratings are based on match play.
Notice how hit OP hits, and how high his fed balls are. 5' above the net means 40 mph rally balls, and they are not hit to him with any spin.
I did say OP is a decent junior or a good 3.5. He can beat bad 3.5's.
A good 4.0 can crush him breadsticks thru variety and much more pace than he is seeing from the fed balls. Heavy deep slices will bother OP, as will short angles and DEEP groundies.
 
Can't determine how good he is from his coach feeding balls. It's always better looking when you are hitting with your coach haha.

But you do need to be more balanced for sure.
 
LeeD said:
Stroke production means little in match play.
Ratings are based on match play.
Notice how hit OP hits, and how high his fed balls are. 5' above the net means 40 mph rally balls, and they are not hit to him with any spin.
I did say OP is a decent junior or a good 3.5. He can beat bad 3.5's.
A good 4.0 can crush him breadsticks thru variety and much more pace than he is seeing from the fed balls. Heavy deep slices will bother OP, as will short angles and DEEP groundies.
Click to expand...
It was the start of the session just getting warmed up. ALSO
What do you not understand from the what i told you before? Have you seen play in a match? NO. Have you seen me hitting bigger? NO. Stop assuming just because you can't deal with those shots doesnt mean everyone else cant. You just seem bitter.

My coach was feeding easier balls because we were working on technique... I can definitely hit harder and so can he.. And i can definitely deal with spinmeisters.. Im not that easy to throw off. Just because we going for technique and mid ball conssitency this rally doesnt mean thats how i play matches.. So stop assuming. and If you have nothing useful to stay about my technique then frankly go away.
 
Topspinner, seems like you think you are far better than you really are. Juniors aren't on the same scale as adult NTRP because they are improving their game and have far different strengths and areas to be developed than adults who have been playing a while. You would lose to many 3.5 NTRP players around here - that doesn't mean that you don't play better tennis than them in some ways. Your technique is very poor and all the balls you hit are soft floaters that wouldn't trouble many adults.
Don't jump. Don't try to pull up on every ball. Learn how to hit real groundstrokes - ones that you can vary the amount of spin on from slice to heavy topspin. If you identify yourself as someone who hits topspin, you limit yourself and see poor technique as good.
Most of tennis is serve and serve return. I don't see any indication that you would be good at either. There are tons of kids around here who aren't in serious tennis academies who are better than you with far better technique. You can only become a good player by taking in good advice and not being defensive about it.
 
LeeD said:
Stroke production means little in match play.
Ratings are based on match play.
Notice how hit OP hits, and how high his fed balls are. 5' above the net means 40 mph rally balls, and they are not hit to him with any spin.
I did say OP is a decent junior or a good 3.5. He can beat bad 3.5's.
A good 4.0 can crush him breadsticks thru variety and much more pace than he is seeing from the fed balls. Heavy deep slices will bother OP, as will short angles and DEEP groundies.
Click to expand...

NLBwell said:
Topspinner, seems like you think you are far better than you really are. Juniors aren't on the same scale as adult NTRP because they are improving their game and have far different strengths and areas to be developed than adults who have been playing a while. You would lose to many 3.5 NTRP players around here - that doesn't mean that you don't play better tennis than them in some ways. Your technique is very poor and all the balls you hit are soft floaters that wouldn't trouble many adults.
Don't jump. Don't try to pull up on every ball. Learn how to hit real groundstrokes - ones that you can vary the amount of spin on from slice to heavy topspin. If you identify yourself as someone who hits topspin, you limit yourself and see poor technique as good.
Click to expand...

Topspinner, you're a solid player..and these two really don't know what they are talking about
A 4.0 will not crush him..In fact, depending on his match play I could see him being 4.5
NLB-3.5 is hack tennis compared to him
Though he may not have optimal technique his game will still wipe the floor with any 3.5 I've seen
 
Your strokes have too much going on, they are very "loose" on the way you hit the ball. Plus your feet move a bit too much. It's good to be loose, but on your backhands I noticed you got some weird motions going on in your takeback and before you hit.

Just my 2cents. :)

-Fuji
 
Hold on... you cannot determine anything by ball feeding. He might be better at match play (though that's rare)... who knows?

I do want to see the OP play with more balance (foot work and stance when hitting through the ball). Also, since its just feeds and rallying, try to finish with the left hand on the racket with a better followthrough. You might not need it during matches, but it's still a good habit to get into.
 
Probably has been said already but, you should hit through the ball more. You have good core rotation, but you break away from the shot too soon. Extend your body weight through the ball and towards the target. You'll get much more power and consistency this way.
 
Ha ha....
Bad weak habits during ball feeding, and you expect him to suddenly straighten it out when the points count?
NO, he only get's worse, loses more balance, flicks at the ball more.
NLBewell is a 5.0. Used to be OPEN level player.
I used to be Open level player, now 4.0. But I"m 64, and have seen hundreds of teens, and know NLBewell is correct.
 
LeeD said:
Ha ha....
Bad weak habits during ball feeding, and you expect him to suddenly straighten it out when the points count?
NO, he only get's worse, loses more balance, flicks at the ball more.
NLBewell is a 5.0. Used to be OPEN level player.
I used to be Open level player, now 4.0. But I"m 64, and have seen hundreds of teens, and know NLBewell is correct.
Click to expand...

In this context, using your ranking as an element of ethos isn't really valid since I happen to be better than both of you...
I'd urge topspinner to put up a serious hitting video to prove you wrong but that isn't really what we're here for
 
I think OP needs to upload a video of him during match play of someone with a similar skill-set.
This way we'll have a better idea of how he plays instead of hitting balls that are fed to him to make him look good.
 
fruitytennis1 said:
In this context, using your ranking as an element of ethos isn't really valid since I happen to be better than both of you...
I'd urge topspinner to put up a serious hitting video to prove you wrong but that isn't really what we're here for
Click to expand...

Got any videos to back-up your claims?
 
FruityT, either you are exposing your REAL tennis level, or you have no idea what a 4.5 looks like.
Don't let you pants drop just to attempt to righten our assessment, just allow your opinion to match up against ours.
What I'm saying is, either you are lying, you misrepresent yourself, or you're just stroking OP's ego.
 
Actually, a lot of Div111 top singles guys are barely 4.5's.
And quite a few Div111 top singles guys are just 4.0's in adult league.
But of course, a few select Div111 singles guys are 5.0's.
Most juniors playing at 5.5 level would get scholarships from Div1 schools.
 
LeeD said:
FruityT, either you are exposing your REAL tennis level, or you have no idea what a 4.5 looks like.
Don't let you pants drop just to attempt to righten our assessment, just allow your opinion to match up against ours.
What I'm saying is, either you are lying, you misrepresent yourself, or you're just stroking OP's ego.
Click to expand...

cluckcluck said:
A D3 school is not saying much. That's about as good as a low-level open player.
Click to expand...

Leed--I'm not lying nor misrepresenting myself.
I've subbed in for coaches for 3.5 and 4.0 league-I really have yet to see any 3.5 hit 5/6 decent topspin shots in a row like topspinner does in the video

cluckcluck--let me reiterate top DIII
 
I may not be talk tennis guru, but i know how to play tennis.
Anyways, i'll just wait for topspinner to post another video to prove my point-until then...
 
IF, as YOU say, OP could be a 4.5 player, then he would qualify as one of the top 6 singles on your team.
I think not.
He's too small, he's unbalanced, he doesn't have the power, he cannot handle YOUR power.
 
fruitytennis1 said:
Leed--I'm not lying nor misrepresenting myself.
I've subbed in for coaches for 3.5 and 4.0 league-I really have yet to see any 3.5 hit 5/6 decent topspin shots in a row like topspinner does in the video

cluckcluck--let me reiterate top DIII
Click to expand...

hey top D3 tennis gets my respect. I have seen top D3 schools beat low ranked D1 and compete well against midpack D1 schools. Quite a few students choose to go scholarshipless D3 instead of D1 with scholarship due to reasons like much better academics. Some people here have no idea what top D3 level is like. :-?
 
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