Up against the wall!!!!

[Serve em Up]

Looking for a little help from the crew. I've been hitting quite alot lately, For me that's about 4 days/week. I'm on a tennis ladder and am 2-0 so far, playing against some self rated guys 3 -3.5.

I like to practice on the wall. primarily because the wall is so convenient. It's always there regardless of time of day, and always a willing partner.

Here's the problem. I hit beautifully against the wall. I can hit solid, and in the same spot 25 times in a row FH and 10-15 times in a row BH.

When I get on a court, the quality of my hitting goes down more than 50%. I can't seem to hit the right trajectory and my hits just aren't solid. Lots of errors.

I've tried letting the ball bounce twice before hitting it off the wall, I've tried hitting at different heights off the wall. I've tried hitting hard and soft.

Question.

Is practicing off the wall messing me up? How do I bring some of my success hitting on the wall to a real court. It doesn't seem to matter what level my human opponents are at. Get me on a court and I'll frame the ball, sail shots, or net them. This is very frustrating. I've read that Andre Agassi hit for countless hours against the wall. Am I missing something here?

From my experience against the wall, I know I can be consistent. I need to be able to do it on a court.

 

[Narcissist]

Looking for a little help from the crew. I've been hitting quite alot lately, For me that's about 4 days/week. I'm on a tennis ladder and am 2-0 so far, playing against some self rated guys 3 -3.5.

I like to practice on the wall. primarily because the wall is so convenient. It's always there regardless of time of day, and always a willing partner.

Here's the problem. I hit beautifully against the wall. I can hit solid, and in the same spot 25 times in a row FH and 10-15 times in a row BH.

When I get on a court, the quality of my hitting goes down more than 50%. I can't seem to hit the right trajectory and my hits just aren't solid. Lots of errors.

I've tried letting the ball bounce twice before hitting it off the wall, I've tried hitting at different heights off the wall. I've tried hitting hard and soft.

Question.

Is practicing off the wall messing me up? How do I bring some of my success hitting on the wall to a real court. It doesn't seem to matter what level my human opponents are at. Get me on a court and I'll frame the ball, sail shots, or net them. This is very frustrating. I've read that Andre Agassi hit for countless hours against the wall. Am I missing something here?

From my experience against the wall, I know I can be consistent. I need to be able to do it on a court.

The wall doesn't produce topspin like real players

The wall might be messing up your timing and getting used to preparing late.

 

[burosky]

I can't imagine how the wall can mess anyone up. I've been playing for over 20 years and I still hit the wall from time to time usually when I want to practice a new shot or sharpen one that has been failing me. The key is hitting with the right mechanics. If you are not executing your strokes the right way while hitting on the wall, what ever it is you are doing will not give you the results you are looking for when you hit on the court.

 

[AngeloDS]

Are you moving your feet constantly as you hit? A lot of people tend to forget to do this when they hit against the wall; the wall is there while it helps stroke mechanics a lot of people sit there with their feet planted to the ground.

Also, they never try to hit the some spot from different angles and force themselves to move a lot.

 

[habib]

I can't imagine how the wall can mess anyone up. I've been playing for over 20 years and I still hit the wall from time to time usually when I want to practice a new shot or sharpen one that has been failing me. The key is hitting with the right mechanics. If you are not executing your strokes the right way while hitting on the wall, what ever it is you are doing will not give you the results you are looking for when you hit on the court.

Sure, hitting the wall can easily mess you up by cementing bad techniques and/or habbits, as easily as it can help you cement the good ones. However, in a case where technique is good and unaffected, and with regards to the original question and address this post: Hitting against the wall can still screw you up when you get on court if you're trying to use the wall to replicate court conditions. It won't really mess up technique, but it will destroy your timing and preparation.

Here's the interesting contrast which causes this:
When hitting against the wall, you have less time to prepare than when hitting against another player because the wall is closer and the ball comes back earlier.
BUT, on court, the ball actually travels towards you faster, and, as mentioned, with spin. Thus, though the ball reaches you earlier, it comes at you slower, and your rhythm is completely different. Playing against someone else, the ball takes longer to come back, but comes back faster, so you have to adjust your preparation accordingly.

 

[burosky]

BUT, on court, the ball actually travels towards you faster, and, as mentioned, with spin. Thus, though the ball reaches you earlier, it comes at you slower, and your rhythm is completely different. Playing against someone else, the ball takes longer to come back, but comes back faster, so you have to adjust your preparation accordingly.

I apologize in advance for not understanding completely what you just wrote. So, on the court the ball reaches me earlier but it comes to me slower and playing against someone the ball takes longer to come back but comes back faster. Both seem to be contradicting statements. I think I'm missing something here. Please set me straight.

 

[princess bossass]

I apologize in advance for not understanding completely what you just wrote. So, on the court the ball reaches me earlier but it comes to me slower and playing against someone the ball takes longer to come back but comes back faster. Both seem to be contradicting statements. I think I'm missing something here. Please set me straight.

I think habib meant the ball has less velocity (the wall absorbs a lot of its energy, so the ball is going slower when it reaches you), but because of the 50% shorter distance it has to travel (from you to the wall and back vs. from you, over the net, to your opponent, back over the net, and back to you), it actually takes less time to get back to you, even though it's moving slower (and with less spin).

So even though the ball just before you strike it is moving slower when you hit against the wall than when you hit against a human, because the distance it travels is so much shorter, the actual time between your ball strikes is less.