Wall hitting drills

[Mazilla2219]

I been doing alot of wall hitting and didn't know if anyone has any special routines/drills. I start with six balls and hit backhands until I am out, the balls usually go over the top after a miss hit. I then progress to forehands until I run out. Then I hit backhand/forehands trying to aim at a certain section of the wall, it divided vertically into thirds. Anyone else have other regiments? Also is there a way to practice volleying on a wall I am having a hard time trying to.

 

[skierpaul]

Assuming there's an accurate net line on the wall (some duct tape will do), and you have a baseline measured out from the wall, you can practice serves. Its kind of nice because the ball comes right back to you and you can serve over and over again without having to pick up. You can take it one step further and serve then return serve right away, to work on quickness and preparation.

I used the wall as one of my racket test during my demo quest (hey it rhymes!) to find the best racket for me. Any racket that I couldn't maintain a reasonably tight pattern on the wall with, I'd eliminate.

 

[matchmaker]

I been doing alot of wall hitting and didn't know if anyone has any special routines/drills. I start with six balls and hit backhands until I am out, the balls usually go over the top after a miss hit. I then progress to forehands until I run out. Then I hit backhand/forehands trying to aim at a certain section of the wall, it divided vertically into thirds. Anyone else have other regiments? Also is there a way to practice volleying on a wall I am having a hard time trying to.

IMO wall training is only good for volleys. On groundies you have the impression you are really hitting well, but in match play you will see that your timing is off due to the wall.
The wall brings back spin exactly in the opposite way as it would behave on court. If you slice a ball hard against the wall, it will go immediately down and bounce. If you play topspin, the ball will hit the wall and start to float.

For volleying, it is quite simple, you go and stand a few feet from the wall and start to volley, you can do series of about 50 for backhand, same for forehand, and then you can do bh-fh, fh-bh, back and forth about 100 times, Really not as difficult as it seems and it is a very good excercice to stay low and it strengthens the forearm muscles.

 

[mawashi]

From the Bollettieri vids I've seen, whatever you do, have a purpose and don't become a wall hack.

Draw the image of the net on the wall with some chalk then make 3 circles that are small enough to be a challenge but not too small that it becomes too hard at places you would like your shots to clear the net at.

Being by just trying to hit the center one and rally then move to hit the other circle. Make a patten like 2 down the line shots followed by a cross court to the center of the net and keep working on your backhands and forehands.

You'll also learn how to shorten your swing as you move closer to the wall as this will make it more efficient.

For Volleys practice by hitting into the same circle as often as possible and you could come up with games like hitting from left to right and back again.

You can also do learn how to do half volleys by hitting a strong slice shot and try to dig it out.

With serves you can really lean how to do a flat down the line shot and try to pick it up again on the run.

Lots of things you can do with the wall and if you hit with a purpose you'll learn a lot.

mawashi

 

[appppppppple]

Assuming there's an accurate net line on the wall (some duct tape will do), and you have a baseline measured out from the wall, you can practice serves. Its kind of nice because the ball comes right back to you and you can serve over and over again without having to pick up. You can take it one step further and serve then return serve right away, to work on quickness and preparation.

I used the wall as one of my racket test during my demo quest (hey it rhymes!) to find the best racket for me. Any racket that I couldn't maintain a reasonably tight pattern on the wall with, I'd eliminate.

dude i've done that but have played points out against the wall, like going for approach shots and overheads on what the feedback of the wall is, and it is intense as hell!

 

[CAM178]

IMO wall training is only good for volleys. On groundies you have the impression you are really hitting well, but in match play you will see that your timing is off due to the wall.

I strongly disagree, as I grew up playing against a wall, and it did me solid. Wall training is the same as anything else in life: you get out of it what you put into it. When I was playing some of my best tennis, it was because of the wall workouts I was doing. I would be pouring sweat by the time I was done, and my cardio was unbelievable for matchplay back then. I would finish a singles match, and then go help teammates prepare for their matches by playing games or a set.

Drills for walls can be any number of things. For groundies, I highly recommend trying to get the ball to bounce back to the same spot each time. Ideally, you should not move more than a few inches. This will teach you both accuracy and control, as you will eventually learn to hit to the exact same spot with the same speed. Sounds easy? Go out and try it. It's not easy. You can, and should, also be hitting yourself from side to side. A great drill for walls is to stand about 10 feet from the wall, and move yourself side to side, as far wide as you can each time, until you can't do it any longer. You should not be able to do this drill for longer than a couple of minutes. If you can, then you are going too slowly.

 

[user92626]

I think wall is great!

For weeks I had been gradually losing my groundstrokes (I'm obsessed with powerful FH). I couldn't practiced or tried anything new at all because people always wanted to play games, and to boost doubles and their consistency was horrible. Then, two days ago I went back to a wall, took time to hit and discovered so many things.

The thing with a wall is that you can make it as physically intensely as you want while you can be comfortable. Human hitters can give you some mental distraction.

 

[Il Mostro]

Try mixing in quick-start (low pressure) balls for your wall drills. They more realistically simulate the ball coming back to you and require that you really hit through the ball. These are a blast to practice with.

 

[jgn1013]

Try mixing in quick-start (low pressure) balls for your wall drills. They more realistically simulate the ball coming back to you and require that you really hit through the ball. These are a blast to practice with.

I used the wall this weekend using dead balls, it was great!

 

[skierpaul]

Are dead balls just as good as the "Quickstart" low pressure balls? I've always used relatively fresh ones. I'll give a dead one a try next time I go out.

 

[Lejanius]

one I heard was this

Hit a cross court shot (say forehand) then hit the backhand down the line, then hit the backhand cross court, then hit the forehand down the line then cross court again.

try to repeat this as many times as possible without screwing up.

 

[El Pelele]

The wall is actually great, but it shouldn't be used as a substitute if you can practice on court instead, you should only use it if you can't go to a court, like if it is raining, or if you want additional practice, after you practice on court.

So practicing on court would be the main thing, and just when you can't go to a court, it's ok to use the wall, but anyone can do what he/she wants anyways of course.

Also, like everyone else has already said, you should hit the wall with purpose, if you're just patting the ball and standing there it won't do you any good. Stand at a good distance, where you can really spank the ball and make it bounce just once.

Hitting hard is really good too, hit the ball as hard as you can with proper form, and make it bounce once, hitting on different sides of the ball so you can also hit side to side.