video of me playing - help and tips please!

chiapants226

chiapants226

Professional
Hi guys, i took some videos of me playing today to try to see what im doing wrong. i seem to be hitting a fair few balls fairly long, and im not exactly sure why. also my volleys are really bad. my worst shot. any help would be appreciated. :)

rallying-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tw7YBg1nmQk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0oIfP5K-ZM

volleys-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ef4fHL20rEI

serves-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rEXz5xD9EMo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cx_7OfLf6Ss

also im from australia so i dont really know about nrtp ratings and stuff. by watching these videos, what do you guys think my rating would be???

thanks,
chris :)
 
Let's see.... few things to improve would be to position yourself better relative to the ball.. this could be achieve by small steps .
On some occasions, the other foot tend to just drag off ... probably cause some long shots because of imbalance. But majority of the long shots caused from not timing the speed of the ball in relation to your stroke... remedy is just practice practice and practice lol.
I didnt look at the rest besides groundstrokes... overall ... good player with 4.0 + potential.... I say moderate 3.5 for USTA rating.
 
Your game looks good.

Groundstrokes: keep the motion constant, as you pause before ball contact, and also to take a bit of topspin off of the ball. Your FH grip is very extreme, and I see wrist issues for you in the future. Same thing with the BH. On that high ball, you are coming over it, whereas you want to 'drive through' it more. Think about changing that grip, too. Just a tad. . . not too much of a change. You just want more pop instead of spin.

Things look good overall. Just keep a constant motion with no hitches, and drive though the ball more.

Volleys: stop dropping your wrist. Firm up that wrist so that you can punch through it.

Serves: explode into the ball more. You appear to be holding back some. You should be getting at least another 10 mph or so. Looks good, though.
 
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More notes on the volleys: It looks to me like you're ready to volley extremely well. You just need to put your tools to work and get some physics on your side.

Volleys are essentially backspin shots where you need to drive the ball down and through the court. Ready position: get set with your hands (and racquet) up a little higher so that you're more ready to come down and through the ball. The fh volley you hit at 0:10 shows you laying the raquet back and letting the head fall somewhat under the ball. It's more of a chip than a drive. If you can keep the racquet head more up above your hand, you can mechanically maintain better control of your racquet face.

The shot at 0:38 is another example of the head dropping and the ball just sort of floats back. Bend your knees to get down, keep your racquet head up and drive through that ball for a good volley.

The volley at 0:49 is a sweet shot - even though you didn't get low, you maintained the "L" between your racquet and forearm, which keeps your racquet face under control. Also you stepped through the shot, not just to it. That's where you energize volleys and when you do a bunch of them in rapid succession, those forward steps will carry you right up on top of the net. Volley with your legs more than with your arms.
 
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I'll not mince words since I assume you want to get better.

You're playing what I call lazy man's tennis. Your feet only move when you actually want to go somewhere. In tennis, your feet also move even when you're going nowhere. Stay on your toes, keep the feet moving even when the ball is not in your court. A body at rest tends to stay at rest, a body in motion tends to stay in motion (Issac Newton?)

Groundstrokes: (See above). Also, get in the game, get up to the baseline.
You stand back so you can wait on the ball which causes you to let the ball drop before you make contact. You are going to have to learn to hit the ball earlier which requires good footwork and lots of practice. Remember, you want the ball out of your side of the court as quickly as possible.

Volleys: Move your feet!

Serve: You have little shoulder rotation which means you are pushing your serve, i.e., its all arm.

All those things I mentioned are fixable but it will require you to raise your intensity level. Attack the ball, give your opponent no time to relax.

Good luck.
 
I see CAM and Fuzz have already posted. Without even reading their advice I can endorse their comments. Do what they tell you.

- KK
 
Of the vids, the groundstrokes look the most honed. No suprise there, that is probably true 95% of the time anyway. True your volleys need work but in the modern game that might be a bit lower on your priority list.

I can't agree more with the advice on the footwork above, that is probably the single area that will get you the most improvement.

BTW do you just use the 1HBH for high shots and volleys only?

As to the serve, I agree there is nothing technically wrong with the stroke. There is no reason you couldn't have a great serve with such a motion. But I will say that you do have a "hitch" in your motion. Personally I like a smooth motion, but I am not 100% sure you need to "fix" this. I would definitely crank up the racquet head speed on your serve, as there is a ton of untapped pace in that shot for you.
 
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Pusher said:
I'll not mince words since I assume you want to get better.

You're playing what I call lazy man's tennis. Your feet only move when you actually want to go somewhere. In tennis, your feet also move even when you're going nowhere. Stay on your toes, keep the feet moving even when the ball is not in your court. A body at rest tends to stay at rest, a body in motion tends to stay in motion (Issac Newton?)

Groundstrokes: (See above). Also, get in the game, get up to the baseline.
You stand back so you can wait on the ball which causes you to let the ball drop before you make contact. You are going to have to learn to hit the ball earlier which requires good footwork and lots of practice. Remember, you want the ball out of your side of the court as quickly as possible.

Volleys: Move your feet!

Serve: You have little shoulder rotation which means you are pushing your serve, i.e., its all arm.

All those things I mentioned are fixable but it will require you to raise your intensity level. Attack the ball, give your opponent no time to relax.

Good luck.
Click to expand...

good point about keeping your feet moving even when you're not going anywhere. that's something I'm gonna work on today
 
haha thanks for the advice guys. one thing ive noticed, is that i seem to lift my left leg up a fair bit when im hitting my forehand. could this be a reason im hitting balls long? because im unbalanced and hitting the ball off the backfoot?
 
LuckyR said:
Of the vids, the groundstrokes look the most honed. No suprise there, that is probably true 95% of the time anyway. True your volleys need work but in the modern game that might be a bit lower on your priority list.

BTW do you just use the 1HBH for high shots and volleys only?
Click to expand...

no.. i only use 1hbh for my slice and my volleys. high shots i hit with a double-hander as well.
 
Use your left hand more on slice backhands. As the right arm is going through the ball, the left arm should be mirroring the right arm, going backwards. This will make for better balance, a more consistent motion, and give you more weight on the shot.

Just keep hitting. Your strokes are looking good.
 
One more observation - this one's on the serves.

Yahoo, you're using your legs! That's a vital component for popping a serve and you may coax a little more gas from your motion by adding a little rotation. This may or may not pay off for you, but it's another component for serving well.

In simple terms, as you get ready to toss, turn your shoulders a little more away from your target so that as you hit, you turn back through the ball. Really not so different from just throwing a ball and in that case, you step and turn your shoulders through nearly 180 degrees. Try to add a little more turn through your serve and see if you're comfortable with a longer follow thru.
 
You really should follow through on your serve instead of just dropping the racquet down. Your grounds look ok and your volleys need work. Try to avoid pop ups by not keeping such an open face on volleys.
 
On the volleys, as said above, you are chopping down at the ball lwithout moving your feet. By swinging down at the ball, you have a low margin for error because the racquet is only in the path of the ball for a very short time, and the angle of the swing creates even more possibility of error.

You should, instead, turn your shoulders, hold the racquet out in front of you with locked wrist and elbow and step into the ball, so that your forward motion provides the force, and not your arm. The motion of the racquet will be almost a straight line in the path of the ball, giving you a large margin of error.

By the way, I love the carpeted courts.
 
chiapants226 said:
no nobody tought me anything about keeping elbows in my body. is this a bad thing??? if so, my coach has never corrected this yet, in both private lessons and in squad lessons.
Click to expand...

I’m not the most qualified to say there is anything wrong with it. I have seen several excellent players with two handed forehands that keep that elbow close to the body. Someone like Jeff, BB, and TM would better to give the pros and cons. Actually I would like to hear their opinions. Do you find it hard to hit high balls or a drive shots?

Hopefully Jeff or BB, and TM will chime in.
 
chiapants226,

You're just too flat-footed when hitting groundstrokes and at net. Instead of being on the balls of your toes your weight is more towards your heels. As a result you don't react quickly enough on volleys (hard to move forward when you're leaning back) and you tend to hit off the back foot. That limits your power and slows your reflexes.

If you did nothing else for your volleys and groundstrokes, start moving your feet. Look at a clip of Steffi Graf and you'll see she never stops bouncing. Do the same thing and you'll get to more balls, hit with more power and look a damn site more intimidating.
 
I agree. Use a split-step for every shot. And if you are not using a Continental grip for your volleys, do so.
 
I think others have mentioned it, but watch your footwork. A common ailment is to start to prepare early, then pause while setting up your stroke, and then hitting. Your footwork and stroke need to work in unison with your strokes. The harder you start to hit the ball and the harder your competition hits the ball, the more everything will need to work in sync. The sooner you can work on this the better.

Again, watch that wrist action. I just don't want to see you posting on this board in 6 months that you have a bad case of TE or GE (tennis elbow or golfer's elbow).
 
Looks good, but we're gonna smash ya mate :D:D:D

(I'm playing chiapants in a tournament on Thursday, doubles)

I got a really sore elbow though, so we'll see....:S Singles tomorrow will probably kill me.
 
Yeah our doubles doesn't start till Thursday but I'm playing at 12:45, he's on at 2pm if your wondering. I use a Pure Control and probably in all white.
 
Duzza said:
Looks good, but we're gonna smash ya mate :D:D:D

(I'm playing chiapants in a tournament on Thursday, doubles)

I got a really sore elbow though, so we'll see....:S Singles tomorrow will probably kill me.
Click to expand...

DUDE!!! WE ARE GOING TO TAKE YOU DOWN DUZZA!!!

oh and baghdatis, ill probably be in white shorts with a yellow top that djokovic wore to the french open :p im playing at 2pm tomorrow. hope to see you there watching my match
 
and i use a tecnifibre t-fight 325. so just look for the guy with the tecnifibres if your down there :p i doubt many of those guys use tecnifibres..
 
chiapants226 said:
its in wantirna. the club is called templeton. you recognise it? :confused:
Click to expand...

Yeah i know the courts. All the courts are sand pits except for the top one your hitting on which has different carpet surface. Couple on the other side were very bad years ago. A former Committee member is my team mate, i like to think of him as a "doubles specialist". :D

Btw who the hell chooses to live in wantirna, it's almost bad as living in narre warren.
 
haha yehh the courts are pretty bad. theyre trying to raise money to resurface them so that'll be good. the court im hitting on in that video is a fairly new court. it was resurfaced earlier this year., and there are 2 other courts that were resurfaced last year.
 
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