What do you do when one of your strokes falls apart entirely?

[DolgoSantoro]

This happened to me recently. About two weeks ago I made a breakthrough on my forehand and I was hitting it about as well as I ever have. Then about three days ago in the middle of a tournament its effectiveness just collapsed. I lost the ability to drive it with consistency and while i could hit hard it would have to be entirely flat, making it very error prone. Also it was hurting my shoulder for some reason. My theory is that on some of the more awkward shots it felt as if my arm was entirely straight and my pre-collapse forehand was with a double bend and similar to that of Berdych. So two questions.

1: How can I ensure that I'm hitting a good double bend forehand upward and through the ball?

2: What do you do generally in situations where one of your strokes just dies on you to get it back on track?

 

[UCSF2012]

It's up to you to troubleshoot the problem.


1) old strings? I replace strings every 6-8 hours regardless of whether they snap. Polyester strings especially.

2) complacent coordination? Are you mishitting the balls 1-2 inches more than usual? It could be improper warm up (start with mini tennis hitting at 20%, or against a wall first. Fire her up after the coordination is there.)

 

[5263]

sounds like you were having a tough time getting position on the ball or
either got too tunnel visioned to keep up that part of the work for a
good shot. Maybe you were too focused on the stoke and not enough
focused on getting good position on it?

 

[OldFedIsOld]

1. Change racquets, works like a placebo for me. The change makes me regain my confidence a little.
2. Try to avoid the stroke and use another one. If its the backhand, slice it. If its both then go inside out with your forehand if you have enough time.
3. Concentrate more and keep up the split step rhythm, get your feet moving and make sure your using proper footwork to get, position, and prepare your shot.

 

[Larrysümmers]

stop, and take 10 seconds to just breathe and relax.

 

[Migelowsky]

That happens to me often, and to fix it I try to go back
to the basics and start from there until you find the problem.
It doesn´t take long.
Search for the forehand progression on Fuzzy Yellow Balls.

Find you contact point and hit from there.
Then Take your racquet back.
Add a shoulder turn, if everything goes well,
add a loop.

Keep it simple, somewhere between those steps was your problem.If you
got to the last step then it means you fixed it.

Relax and be positive.

 

[pkshooter]

I'm not the best tennis player in the world, but i have had the most break downs in my strokes then probably anyone here. What I do to fix myself is just stop thinking-go totally blank- and just try to have fun. Then it'll work until i play a chop doc or i mishit 5 in a row.

 

[mightyrick]

This happened to me recently. About two weeks ago I made a breakthrough on my forehand and I was hitting it about as well as I ever have. Then about three days ago in the middle of a tournament its effectiveness just collapsed. I lost the ability to drive it with consistency and while i could hit hard it would have to be entirely flat, making it very error prone. Also it was hurting my shoulder for some reason. My theory is that on some of the more awkward shots it felt as if my arm was entirely straight and my pre-collapse forehand was with a double bend and similar to that of Berdych. So two questions.

1: How can I ensure that I'm hitting a good double bend forehand upward and through the ball?

2: What do you do generally in situations where one of your strokes just dies on you to get it back on track?

If your forehand breaks down, it isn't necessarily your technique. It could be that your opponent(s) is giving you shots that you aren't comfortable hitting.

I remember a video where Will Hamilton from FYB says something about how one of the biggest problems that recreational and club players have is that they don't focus on the OPPONENT on the other side of the net. They merely focus on their own game. This single statement from Will really improved my game.

I used to be like you. I used to always say... "What the hell am I doing?" But realistically... you should be asking... "What the hell is my opponent doing?"

After that revelation, when my forehand (or backhand) break down, I ask myself what the opponent is doing that I don't like? Perhaps hitting with more pace making me late? Perhaps hitting with less pace making me early to the ball? Perhaps hitting low short balls trying to get me to overhit a winner?

Once I ask those questions, then I can address the problem. Many times, it is that I'm playing TOO FAST or TOO SLOW. Sometimes I'm not paying attention and giving my opponent easy balls to hit. Then you can focus on footwork. Or perhaps choosing better hitting targets. Or perhaps swinging at a slower or faster swing tempo.

Obviously, you may also have some sort of mechanical issue on any given day... but don't discount your opponent's affect on you.

 

[DolgoSantoro]

If your forehand breaks down, it isn't necessarily your technique. It could be that your opponent(s) is giving you shots that you aren't comfortable hitting.

I remember a video where Will Hamilton from FYB says something about how one of the biggest problems that recreational and club players have is that they don't focus on the OPPONENT on the other side of the net. They merely focus on their own game. This single statement from Will really improved my game.

I used to be like you. I used to always say... "What the hell am I doing?" But realistically... you should be asking... "What the hell is my opponent doing?"

After that revelation, when my forehand (or backhand) break down, I ask myself what the opponent is doing that I don't like? Perhaps hitting with more pace making me late? Perhaps hitting with less pace making me early to the ball? Perhaps hitting low short balls trying to get me to overhit a winner?

Once I ask those questions, then I can address the problem. Many times, it is that I'm playing TOO FAST or TOO SLOW. Sometimes I'm not paying attention and giving my opponent easy balls to hit. Then you can focus on footwork. Or perhaps choosing better hitting targets. Or perhaps swinging at a slower or faster swing tempo.

Obviously, you may also have some sort of mechanical issue on any given day... but don't discount your opponent's affect on you.

You may be a little on to something. The problems seemed to appear when I played against someone who hits bigger than I'm used too. However now even when hitting softly against a wall the problem persists. One additional thing that I've noticed is that my technique or at least the results of it, is better around chest high balls. If the ball is waist high or lower I can't seem to put spin on it for some reason and I end up with a fairly flat uncontrolled shot.

 

[goran_ace]

If you're playing tournaments, you should be doing more hitting with a live partner instead of a wall or even a ball machine. If you're still thinking about stroke mechanics during a match that means you weren't grooved in practice and/or maybe didn't warm up properly. You can't burn a few games in the opening set of each match to find your stokes and expect to come out on top consistently.

Everyone has off days, just varying degrees of how bad and how often. If something isn't working during a match you need to figure out how to get it working in a hurry (hit your way out of a funk, try to find a rhythm) and/or figure out how to work around it (game plan). Hitting your way out of it doesn't mean going for broke three points in a row. If it's early in game, try to rally with your opponent and find the rhythm.

 

[fuzz nation]

If a stroke sort of evaporates on me, I like to try to get my head completely out of the way and focus on quicker, more deliberate footwork. If I'm consciously managing my legwork, I'm more likely to leave my actual stroke free to do its thing. Quicker feet usually bring me earlier preparation so that I can use an un-rushed stroke. No rush usually means no problem.

Swing with your feet!

 

[DolgoSantoro]

Thanks everybody. I just focused on my footwork, tracing the backswing with my shoulder and hip rotation and my forehand seems to have come back to life. Thank you for all of these helpful suggestions!

 

[LeeD]

Good you appear to have solved your problem with footwork and early preparation.
But why not develop a defacto 2nd option? A conti slice, hard biting, slow skidding for one. Then with a stronger grip, a heavy loopy consistent high bouncing rally ball, easy 6' above the net, almost like a topspin lob.
The more weapons you have in your arsenal, the more chances you might employ them at the right time.