***Video: My Groundstrokes (Please coach me)***

You need much better foot work. You cand hit a good ball if you are flat footed. Also need to bend you knees more. What NTRP are you 3.0?

Nice pure drive btw :)
 
The main thing is to make sure you are dancing and moving the feet. Maybe you should close your stance a little on the forehand. Not bad though. How long have you been playing?
 
If I was instructing you I would make you change your forehand grip to an semi western. With your current extreme grip all you can do is spin the ball. I'm sure you get nice hight and all but if you play against someone that can take the ball early then you are dead. Spin alone does not make a heavy ball. You've got to be able to put some stick on the ball. Your forehand motion will need to be redone so you will be able to reach through the ball.

For your back hand I cannot really tell what grips you have, I would recommend a continental grip on your right hand and a an eastern on the left. There is also the option of having two eastern grips but I'm not crazy about that. You would have to change grips to reach for a slice. As for the actual form you make good contact and have a good shoulder rotation, but you pull up too early, reach out there, put more on the ball.

-SF
 
Christ what kind of forehand grip are you using? It looks practically Hawaiian. I would agree with the previous poster that you should consider doing something about that - doesn't look like you're hitting through the ball much.
 
that forehand grip is the most western I have ever seen, it's an eastern backhand, it's incredible you can hit the ball at all with that grip.Seriously.
you are why amercians aren't dominating tennis anymore.
Change your grip drastically.
 
The Gorilla said:
Seriously.
you are why amercians aren't dominating tennis anymore.
Click to expand...
lol, i can hear it now, cliff drysdale doing a wrap-up commentary after a roddick lost in a tournament, "roddick played extremely poor today and you can blame in most part to ppw350Zunit's forehand." :grin:
 
OMG, that is los amigos high school in fountain valley! i used to play for the team back in 96 and 97. you still going there now?
 
You don't ABSOLUTELY HAVE TO change your grip, alhtough I would recommend it. To each his own. Our No.2 in high school used that grip, although he bent backwards to square up the face but accelerate through the ball insanely fast.

Another thing: ridiculously lazy footwork. Nothing you can't fix though.

awesome camera quality.
 
Just looks to me like you need practice. Time and patience are your cure. I also have to say that I have no idea how you hit with that forehand grip; I go western on some shots, but that grip is just crazy. How did you develope that by the way?
 
so what kinda help u need. u lookin for more spin or what?

Besides the lazy footwork, u just need to practice and hit more. I mean u already had 3 years of high school tennis, so I'm sure you'll get up to speed in no time. If u want more spin, you'll need to use your legs more. With that much spin, I assume you're consistent on moderate shots. Like Frasier said, you'll need to develop a flat shot and some strategy. What's your strat right now. Is it more like Nadal with high, deep, and spinny defensive shots?
 
well i am surprised no-one else has mentioned it yet but you really lack extension through your strokes, obviously on your fh you need to pull up quick in order to get the ball up with your extreme grip, but you need to work your R hand more on your backhand to push the racquet further thru the stroke.
 
ppw350Zunit said:
what exactly do you mean by "pull up too early?"
Click to expand...
That wasn't terribly descriptive of me. Your no extending through with the arms, your making good contact, you turn your shoulders into the shot but you bend your elbows too early, you do not extend tem through the shot.

Check this free clip from HiTechTennis:http://www.hi-techtennis.com/video_sample/index.php?movie=safin_twohander_jump.swf&size=wide
Pause at contact and go trough it frame by frame, look how far he extends his arms out before bending them around.

-SF
 
Venetian said:
How did you develope that by the way?
Click to expand...

well, in high school i used a normal western fh grip. when i came back to tennis after that long layoff, holding the racquet in the extreme western fh grip just felt natural to me. i know it sounds crazy but i just couldn't hit a regular western fh to save my life. everything would go long.

shindemac said:
With that much spin, I assume you're consistent on moderate shots. Like Frasier said, you'll need to develop a flat shot and some strategy. What's your strat right now. Is it more like Nadal with high, deep, and spinny defensive shots?
Click to expand...

i would say my shots are somewhat consistent on moderate shots. i "try" to play like nadal but my fh strokes usually land short, inside the service box. if i hit winners, it'll be off the bh side most of the time.

SFrazeur said:
That wasn't terribly descriptive of me. Your no extending through with the arms, your making good contact, you turn your shoulders into the shot but you bend your elbows too early, you do not extend tem through the shot.

Check this free clip from HiTechTennis:http://www.hi-techtennis.com/video_sample/index.php?movie=safin_twohander_jump.swf&size=wide
Pause at contact and go trough it frame by frame, look how far he extends his arms out before bending them around.

-SF
Click to expand...

thanks a bunch for all the pointers and video. :)
 
The key to controlling your power and depth is your spin. You do have enough racket head speed to generate pace on your FH, but most of the energy is put into spin. Once you flatten it out, you'll hit deeper and with more power. At the very least, you should hit every ball past the the service line. Like I said, it all depends on what type of player you want to be.
 
shindemac said:
The key to controlling your power and depth is your spin. You do have enough racket head speed to generate pace on your FH, but most of the energy is put into spin. Once you flatten it out, you'll hit deeper and with more power. At the very least, you should hit every ball past the the service line. Like I said, it all depends on what type of player you want to be.
Click to expand...

thanks. i'm going to try to change my grip a tad and attempt to flatten my shots out.
 
gsquicksilver said:
hey, i remember you. you used to play doubles first and then you switched to singles right? i remember you and your friend were the freshman team on varsity at one time.
Click to expand...

hmm...i did play doubles first then singles but i don't remember playing varsity freshman year. i played varsity sophomore and junior year.
 
ppw350Zunit said:
hmm...i did play doubles first then singles but i don't remember playing varsity freshman year. i played varsity sophomore and junior year.
Click to expand...

ah...now i remember. if i'm correct, before you played #3 singles, it was an indian guy, if i remember, his name was Ranji? He played #3 singles and he had pretty solid ground strokes, but i heard his head wasn't always in the game.


i find it funny how some guys here think you are a 3.0 or under player. i just think you are rusty from not playing all these years. i remember you used to hit one lethal forehand. when you think about it, you have more than 10 years of tennis experience.

so do you hit at los amigos a lot? maybe one day i'll head out there and we can hit some.:D
 
Here are a couple of suggestions I would make if I were to be coaching you.

1. You hit a mean ball.
2. On your forehand there is a few elements that could be added to the shot to make it better even still.
- More coil creation. By this I mean turning your shoulders more, bringing your left arm across to your right side, and thus turning your shoulders more away from your hips. By doing this it will allow you to swing faster at the ball and achieve either more spin, or more pace on your shots.
- More loading. There isn't enough loading on your right leg as you play your shots, and thus your open stance isn't as effective as it should be. When you start your coil, load your weight onto your right leg. When you hit the ball, you can then drive up off that side, again allowing you to swing faster at the ball.
3. I think your backhand is quite sound, technically. There should be a little bit more dynamics in the footwork. And because you are always playing off your right leg, make sure you step onto your left leg first and onto your right leg as you play the ball to get a better setup for your shots.

If you have any questions, please feel free to ask.

Anthony
 
gsquicksilver said:
ah...now i remember. if i'm correct, before you played #3 singles, it was an indian guy, if i remember, his name was Ranji? He played #3 singles and he had pretty solid ground strokes, but i heard his head wasn't always in the game.


i find it funny how some guys here think you are a 3.0 or under player. i just think you are rusty from not playing all these years. i remember you used to hit one lethal forehand. when you think about it, you have more than 10 years of tennis experience.

so do you hit at los amigos a lot? maybe one day i'll head out there and we can hit some.:D
Click to expand...

yah, ranjit used to play #2 singles and someone else was at #3 singles my sophomore year. i didn't play #3 singles til my junior year. i think you mistaken me for someone else because my backhand has always been my strong side and not my forehand.

i play at los probably like twice a week or so.

MooreTennis said:
Here are a couple of suggestions I would make if I were to be coaching you.

1. You hit a mean ball.
2. On your forehand there is a few elements that could be added to the shot to make it better even still.
- More coil creation. By this I mean turning your shoulders more, bringing your left arm across to your right side, and thus turning your shoulders more away from your hips. By doing this it will allow you to swing faster at the ball and achieve either more spin, or more pace on your shots.
- More loading. There isn't enough loading on your right leg as you play your shots, and thus your open stance isn't as effective as it should be. When you start your coil, load your weight onto your right leg. When you hit the ball, you can then drive up off that side, again allowing you to swing faster at the ball.
3. I think your backhand is quite sound, technically. There should be a little bit more dynamics in the footwork. And because you are always playing off your right leg, make sure you step onto your left leg first and onto your right leg as you play the ball to get a better setup for your shots.

If you have any questions, please feel free to ask.

Anthony
Click to expand...

thanks anthony. looks like i need to start practicing more.
 
ppw350Zunit said:
close but just extreme western. :oops:
Click to expand...

If I were to give you advice, it would be first, work on your footwork, then when you can properly get to the ball, you need to better extend your arm when hitting the ball. What I mean is that you're way too close to "home plate". You're not hitting the ball out in front with good full extension. Your elbow is tucked way into your side on every single shot (not a good thing when you're wanting to hit with good pace and/or when you're wanting to flatten out a shot). I really think once you figure out how to NOT to crowd home plate and hit the ball out in front with good arm extension and core rotation, you'll have some really good strokes.

Take a look at Justine Henin hitting practice strokes, she's very fluid, has wonderful extension in her strokes, and at 5'6", she crushes the ball. I realize she has a different hitting style than you, but I want to illustrate her movement in her legs, and her fluidity in her strokes and extension when hitting the ball. Hope this helps!!!

http://youtube.com/watch?v=LaoUTOnx-IM
 
SFrazeur said:
If I was instructing you I would make you change your forehand grip to an semi western. With your current extreme grip all you can do is spin the ball. I'm sure you get nice hight and all but if you play against someone that can take the ball early then you are dead. Spin alone does not make a heavy ball. You've got to be able to put some stick on the ball. Your forehand motion will need to be redone so you will be able to reach through the ball.

For your back hand I cannot really tell what grips you have, I would recommend a continental grip on your right hand and a an eastern on the left. There is also the option of having two eastern grips but I'm not crazy about that. You would have to change grips to reach for a slice. As for the actual form you make good contact and have a good shoulder rotation, but you pull up too early, reach out there, put more on the ball.

-SF
Click to expand...

i would go with him for the forehand i mean atleast semi western you hit flat at times.. to me it screams wrist problems... back hand looks descent. just need to move more
 
I'll throw in my 2 cents worth.

Nice back hand. Wouldn't change much except what has already been mentioned about extension, which should give you more power.

I'd like to see a little bit more on the FH side in order to have an informed opinion, but from what was shown, I'd lose the extreme grip. There's a guy that plays around here with that grip who is quite talented, but struggles when playing against a flat hitter or slicers. Also, if you planning on playing a lot of doubles, it seems like it would be a weakness.
 
Oh, and you appear to have an excessive tendency to jump on the FH side, which might be a side effect of the extreme grip.
 
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