What order to develop strokes?

[Safdar]

I am pretty new to the game, and want to improve everything. To avoid overload, I am trying to organise which strokes to improve in some kind of order. As it is, I can get strokes in, but not very effective, my serve is pretty good and consistent. So I am working first on my forehand, developing technique and consistency, then will work on the backhand, then probably improves serves a bit more, then work on volley, as I would love to S and V.

The above is how I see can hopefully improve my overall game in manageable chunks, and not work on a (new and correct) techinique for 2 or 3 strokes at one time. Once I feel my FH is getting into a groove, then I will move onto the BH etc. So currently I use by BH to keep the rally going, and just looking for basic technique but not going to town on changing too much until FH is more consistent.

Would you agree with this approach, which order would you prioritise the strokes?

Advice, comments welcome ,thanks

 

[35ft6]

Yes. Forehand first. Then backhand quickly after. Concentrate on those for a while.

 

[Ken Honecker]

Sounds good, especially the S/V part.

 

[equinox]

footwork, serve, forehand.

 

[theZig]

Cannot stress footwork enough. All good shots start with good footwork.

 

[fuzz nation]

My general stance on this issue is that there are several things to learn for even a basic player. Too many of the kids I've coached have only learned to hit a useful forehand, backhand, and serve, but not other things like volleys, returns, and overheads. Each shot takes an significant investment of time and effort to get familiar with, so I think it's counterproductive to only teach maybe a baseline game - it leaves a player, even a beginner, with an incomplete understanding of the skill sets they need to play basic singles or doubles.

In terms of overload, it's been my experience that this can happen when a student tries to learn too many components of any one shot at a given time. Usually we can cover one or two essentials of let's say a forehand, solidify them with repetitive feeds, and when that seems to be pretty much sinking in, it's time to move to backhands, volleys, etc.

It takes a while to get half way decent learning any shot in tennis - this can be on the order of several months or more. On the other hand, I think it's reasonable to say that most beginners develop several aspects of the game at the same time. Movement and preparation in tennis are just as fundamental as a consistent serve. They should be practiced just as much as those multiple buckets of serves.

From one lesson to the next, I think it's smart to concentrate on no more than two or three shots in that hour or so with the understanding that the student will do their essential "homework" and develop those tools on their own, too. But if a new player puts a lot of hours into learning only a couple of "essentials", they're probably putting off other things that will also take time to learn later on. To my mind, this means going longer without learning a complete set of fundamental shots.

Hooray for serve and volley! I grew up playing this style and I think it takes any dedicated student a lot of effort to learn both effective volleying along with the instincts and shots needed to transition forward to the net. Don't put it off! It's not as though you need to become completely competent with other aspects of the game before you start working on these shots, too.

 

[Green374]

Footwork, forehand, and serve

 

[Ripper014]

Like hockey I would say start from the backend out... develope and gain confidence in your groundstrokes... both sides and then your serve.

There are a few pros that you may have heard of that only came to the net to collect checks... Bjorn Borg.. Chris Evert..?

 

[papa]

Well, I always start with the forehand but like what fuzz nation had to say. Its never too early to get started on the serve either.

Actually, court positioning is extremely important also because many newer players actually don't even know where to stand and why they take up these positions. Basic rules are another important factor in new players along with covering tennis etiquette so they don't make fools of themselves getting started.

 

[5263]

I would start with forehand and backhand and divide the time between the two. Learning to rally off both sides is the first major component to enjoying this game. Working with both from the start will let your better, more natural side show it's self early and from there you can work them both to be more balanced with them by bringing up closer to the other in ability. It will help you avoid some bad habits you can get from just playing from one side for awhile.

If you insist on starting with one, it should be the forehand, closely followed by some backhand work as soon as you are getting any comfort with the Fh. This would accomplish about the same thing in the end.

3rd I would focus on a slice second serve, as with these 3 shots you can play matches, enjoy this game, and have a good foundation to build the other parts of your game on.

4th I would work on slices, as they will help your basic rally game as well as set up your ability to learn the volley!
More in this sequence if you are interested, just ask.
good luck.

 

[Zachol82]

I am pretty new to the game, and want to improve everything. To avoid overload, I am trying to organise which strokes to improve in some kind of order. As it is, I can get strokes in, but not very effective, my serve is pretty good and consistent. So I am working first on my forehand, developing technique and consistency, then will work on the backhand, then probably improves serves a bit more, then work on volley, as I would love to S and V.

The above is how I see can hopefully improve my overall game in manageable chunks, and not work on a (new and correct) techinique for 2 or 3 strokes at one time. Once I feel my FH is getting into a groove, then I will move onto the BH etc. So currently I use by BH to keep the rally going, and just looking for basic technique but not going to town on changing too much until FH is more consistent.

Would you agree with this approach, which order would you prioritise the strokes?

Advice, comments welcome ,thanks

Forehand and backhand are good, since you'll use them the most. Yet, I would recommend volleys first. Now, I don't mean just step onto the court and do volleys for 2 hours straight then head home. I mean to start out with volleys for the first 15 minutes or so.

Volleys are extremely important and warming up with volleys is the best way to get used to the pace of the ball, as well as your timing (ball pace and timing is the #1 problem for beginners). Also, many people have good forehands and decent backhands, since those are much easier to learn. Most people plateaus at playing baseline, hitting forehands and backhands all day. Developing your volleys would give you a very powerful weapon later down the road.

You don't have to worry about forehands and backhands as much, since how many people do you see out there with extremely good volleys and horrible backhands/forehands? Very few, if any. The bottom line is, volleys are much harder to learn, if you can take care of that early in your career, the rest will seem like cake. Also, by having solid volleys, you can easily beat many, many and many beginners by just serve+volley.

 

[W Cats]

The Coaching Mastery book recommends volleys then the serve as they all, from the books perspective, start with the same continental grip. The volley being such a technically simple stroke/shot to learn. I tried this approach last year with my hs team and felt that it was very productive. I then actually went from there to FH and BH chip shots in preparation for service returns. Then on to TS FH and BH's.

 

[Zachol82]

Exactly, see how many other people didn't even remember to mention volleys and how you put volleying as last on your list of things to learn?

It's a difficult shot to learn correctly, therefore many just put it aside, thinking they'd come back to it when they're more comfortable with tennis. Yet, they wont come back to it. Trust me and take the time to learn your volleys, it's really worth it if you want to become a competitive player.

I'm sure even beginners can hit, and most of the times WILL hit, their strongest, fastest, hardest shot they can right at you when you're up at the net. This is because by being up at the net alone, you're putting a lot of pressure on them, and a lot of people will try to swing as hard as they can at net players, hoping it'd do some good. Just deal with it, and believe that you will get used to the pace. If you can handle someone's fastest shot at that close a distance, how slow do you think it'll look once you're way back at baseline? It'd be pretty damn slow if you ask me.

 

[OrangeOne]

To all putting footwork first: It's admirable.... but it's also not going to get the majority of new people hooked on tennis. People want to play tennis, once they're hooked, they can focus on footwork

 

[Safdar]

Exactly, see how many other people didn't even remember to mention volleys and how you put volleying as last on your list of things to learn?
.

Thanks all for the great feedback. My forehand and backhand are ok for rallies at my level. I am working on improving forehand right now, my serve is the best part of my game and I am learning a slice second serve.

However, I would LOVE to S and V, but not sure how to go about it. I am confident if i go to the net I can develop my vollies, however I have a problem here. Picking the right time to approach the net. Is it best to follow every (first and second) serve to the net, all the time, to learn quickly? Many returns of my first and second serve are weak, but i dont approach the net that often, I guess its a bit of a mental block, but I really want to.

in rallies, I think I sometimes try too hard to approach, and pick the wrong time, and get passed (by legitimately good passing shots) so I find it much harder in rallies to approach. But perhaps I should keep going, when I get a short ball, chip or push it deep to the backhand and approach?

I would rather approach and make the guy win a point than continue a rally and see who makes the first UE....but I dont see anyone do it at my level, and I feel a little unsure that others would think who is this guy is trying to S and V when his game is not advanced?

 

[35ft6]

Footwork, forehand, and serve

I can sort of understand the distinction people might be trying to make, but hopefully whoever teachers you groundstrokes will include the footwork part of hitting.

 

[5263]

Yes, continue in behind shorter balls with the best approach shot for the situation. The best short ones to come in on are in the middle 2/3s of the court, as they allow you to choose which side to hit your approach shot to.

For example if someone hit a short, inside out Fh that landed near your center T, then you may want to hit that at the top of the bounce with power to his open Fh court. If you don't put it away, you should still be able to have good net position due to approaching from the center area of the court. If you approach on a shot near your sideline, it is difficult to get the coverage you may need if your shot does not hurt them enough.

 

[Zachol82]

Thanks all for the great feedback. My forehand and backhand are ok for rallies at my level. I am working on improving forehand right now, my serve is the best part of my game and I am learning a slice second serve.

However, I would LOVE to S and V, but not sure how to go about it. I am confident if i go to the net I can develop my vollies, however I have a problem here. Picking the right time to approach the net. Is it best to follow every (first and second) serve to the net, all the time, to learn quickly? Many returns of my first and second serve are weak, but i dont approach the net that often, I guess its a bit of a mental block, but I really want to.

in rallies, I think I sometimes try too hard to approach, and pick the wrong time, and get passed (by legitimately good passing shots) so I find it much harder in rallies to approach. But perhaps I should keep going, when I get a short ball, chip or push it deep to the backhand and approach?

I would rather approach and make the guy win a point than continue a rally and see who makes the first UE....but I dont see anyone do it at my level, and I feel a little unsure that others would think who is this guy is trying to S and V when his game is not advanced?

During practice, you should start out at the net to warm up, having a buddy at baseline feed you or something, or you can get your buddy to go up to net as well and you both have a mini-volley rally going.

During matches, you have to know when to approach the net and when to not; serve and volley doesn't mean approaching the net right after all of your serves. As you play more matches, you will be able to "feel" when your opponent will hit a weak return and you'll know to approach the net then.

Since you are a beginner, I would say always try to approach the net, since this will improve your volleys the quickest. You'll probably get destroyed 8/10 times for the first several months, but that is a small price to pay for what you'll gain later down the road.

Also, try to volley after a good forehand as well, it is just as effective as S&V.

As for...

but I dont see anyone do it at my level, and I feel a little unsure that others would think who is this guy is trying to S and V when his game is not advanced?"

Don't worry about it. Anyone who thinks that doesn't know what they're talking about. Obviously, your game is not advanced, that is why you practice. How else are you going to get better if you don't attempt the more difficult/more advanced level shots? Have a clear goal and do whatever you have to in order to obtain it. If you don't like what they say, then just become better than them and they'll stop.

 

[Tennis_Monk]

If you are serious , you should take some lessons from a coach.
That is probably the best way to get you started on a good foundation.
I know classes can be expensive but with a good coach, this will work out beautiful.

On the other hand, if you just want to have fun and dont care too much abt form,results then just go and hit balls and have fun.