Our Tennis Thread

[djarvik]

Ugadalou, footwork indeed is very important. But, footwork is something you need to develop off the court. At his stage, or any beginner stage, if you will be concerned with where to place your feet, you will rob yourself of time and slow down the development process.

Your head should be free and your concentration should be on the incoming ball. Let your body position itself naturally.

There are ways to improve footwork with various exercise that don't include hitting the ball. I would recommend these to him at this time. I would also recommend core strengthening routine.

You need to learn to walk before you learn the "dance moves". What you suggesting is equivalent of taking a 1-2 year old child and attempting to teach him a rather complicated dance.

Not saying you should not pay attention (as a coach) to his feet, but you certainly should not suggest he should worry about them, or it is an issue, or "make sure you place your feet like so". Whats needed are subtle little correction that mean very little to the player, but accomplish the overall agenda. For example, I would explain him the difference of open stance VS close stance (off the court) then simply ask him to stay straight and rotate his shoulder, rather then stand side ways. Nothing about the feet. He has been walking, running, jumping and balancing himself since 2 years old. I am sure he can manage to get to the ball and hit it.

My opinion: Run away from any coach that places too much attention to beginners feet while feeding the balls. He is clueless and will clog the players mind with doubt, that will hunt him for a while and limit development.

[VillaJ100]

That's exactly right, I helped out for a few lessons last year and it was so much easier to to teach people who had never hit a ball before than those who self taught.

[L Sanchez MD]

Will try to get a coach this year as soon as I've got some free time/money.

Recorded some of our practice today. I almost don't want to post it since it's just a mess of moonballing. Seriously every shot is a moonball.
I can only make the excuse that the wind was quite literally 35mph (56kmh). That put us off, and once you start moonballing, it's kinda hard to get out of it.

Anyways.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubGy_uxyGJ0

Tried using Djarvik's advice, but I forgot to do it sometimes. It was like 9am, and my morning brain was still on







don't be too harsh, lol

[djarvik]

I am on conference call now will look and give you feedback when done.

[djarvik]

Ok, here it goes:

Forehand:

- You are still not pointing at the ball with your left hand. Point to the ball with your finger. It will help you find it better. Extend the arm a bit as you point. It will also assure you turn your shoulder.

- You actually did well on your first forehand, but you still seem to be gripping the racket a bit tight. Try to keep a looser grip all throughout the shot. Your reflexes will squeeze the racket when you make contact and relax right after.

- Let the racket slowdown/stop on its own after the shot. Just make sure the you are accelerating into and after the shot. Again, start with slow take back and acceleration when you find the ball in front of you, don't stop accelerating until after the shot.

- Make sure you brush up on the ball when you hit. You should feel like you are spinning the ball over the net, rather then carrying it over or pushing it over or hitting it over. This will allow you to always complete your stroke motions without fear of hitting long. If you hit long - brush a bit more, hit short, brush a bit less.

To recap:
- Point your finger at the ball, find it, slow take back and accelerate through the shot with relaxed arm, finish the stroke with your elbow roughly pointing in the direction you want to hit.

Tip: A good way to make sure you relax your hinting arm is to hold the racket at the throat with your non-hitting arm while barely touching with your hitting arm the grip.

Try to hold a rally of forehand to forehand mid court with your opponent. No matter what, try hitting forehands only. Most times you or him hit a slice the rally is over. Both of you cannot control that shot it disrupts your rhythm.


Backhand:
(great to see you prefer one handed backhand!)

- Make sure you are not opening up your shoulders at this point. Concentrate on that. Later on you will, but for now, try not to.

- Don't hit "into" the ball, come up and brush up as you hit it. Allow the racket to go up-and-where-it-wants. Don't force a "stop" on it.

- Look at 3:25, pause at 3:27 on your take back. Keep that take back lower. Think swinging from low to high while brushing the ball. Pause at 3:28 on your finish. That's too low.

Need to see more backhands, preferably one ofter the other, I want to see when you have to hit a few of them in the raw, about 5 or so, then most players will "abandon their mental check list"....

To recap:
- Swing from low to high and keep your shoulders closed. Allow your racket to finish its swing path.

I looked through about half of the video. Will look at the other half in a bit and if I find anything interesting will let you know. You are moving ok, you are mobile enough to progress. Not sure about your stamina, but it appears that fitness is not what stopping your progress now, lack of technique and instruction is.

Stop slicing so much. Both, FH and BH. And tell your partner to stop as well Look at the video, most times one of you hits a slice = the point is over.

[L Sanchez MD]

Thanks very much for the detailled feedback

You're right... we both like slice & dropshots a bit much. Will stick to more rallying with just topspins.

I totally forgot to 'find' the ball with the left hand. Will remember to do that for homework, as well as the other stuff. I only remembered to do the slow take back at the end of practice (don't think the vid is in chronological order).

Will do re the backhand also.

We might get a court at the weekend, so I will do my 'homework', and might report back again.

Thanks for the advice!

[VillaJ100]

Would expand but... what Al said haha

[L Sanchez MD]

Would expand but... what Al said haha

Sure

Honestly, we don't normally moonball like that. I'm deeply ashamed of looking like a pusher

[L Sanchez MD]

By the way, my racquet is a cheapy Dunlop model, and I broke da strings. I figured instead of paying as much as I did for the racquet to get it restrung, I could upgrade..

Has anyone tried the Dunlop Aerogel 4D 200? I do quite like a heavy racquet, although I guess it could be too much. The racquet is on sale, which is why I'd consider a fairly high model of a racquet..
Thoughts?

[L Sanchez MD]

We played today and recorded some serves, volleys, and a couple more rallies.

Was trying to remember all the different tips, but didn't always manage to.

My serve is atrocious - I'm well aware of this. One of the main reasons I want some lessons...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hgat5-PgNuY

[Ugadalou]

I think you should take it slower with the frames.

A heavy player's racquet will only make it more difficult for you to progress and your hand to remain healthy .Your technique and your arm (it isn't strong enough yet) will make it tougher for you to learn than ever with a racquet of 337g!!! and 95sq.in.
Pros' arms are as big as my thigh and yet most of them play with lighter racquets than that!

My opinion is you should begin with a cheap oversized head 105-110sq.in. ,slightly head-heavy so it helps you develop your follow through (which is nice by the way).
After a while,when you're more consistent with your strokes and footwork, a head-light racquet no more than 290g (a lite version of a player's racquet is a good option),so that it is manuverable and you learn to brush and accelerate at contact so that you develop more top spin.

Only after you're a true 4.5-5.0 you are in position to understand the
actual differences between player's racquets.Those guys at TW reviewing them are a huge joke by the way.

[L Sanchez MD]

I think you should take it slower with the frames.

A heavy player's racquet will only make it more difficult for you to progress and your hand to remain healthy .Your technique and your arm (it isn't strong enough yet) will make it tougher for you to learn than ever with a racquet of 337g!!! and 95sq.in.
Pros' arms are as big as my thigh and yet most of them play with lighter racquets than that!

My opinion is you should begin with a cheap oversized head 105-110sq.in. ,slightly head-heavy so it helps you develop your follow through (which is nice by the way).
After a while,when you're more consistent with your strokes and footwork, a head-light racquet no more than 290g (a lite version of a player's racquet is a good option),so that it is manuverable and you learn to brush and accelerate at contact so that you develop more top spin.

Only after you're a true 4.5-5.0 you are in position to understand the
actual differences between player's racquets.Those guys at TW reviewing them are a huge joke by the way.

Thanks for the advice - makes sense.
I normally play with a 95 sq.in. head anyway (a cheap Dunlop), although in today's vid, I had to use an oversize Slazenger as I broke my strings.

I don't find I play any better with the oversize head - I actually framed more today than last time.

[emate007]

I think you should take it slower with the frames.

A heavy player's racquet will only make it more difficult for you to progress and your hand to remain healthy .Your technique and your arm (it isn't strong enough yet) will make it tougher for you to learn than ever with a racquet of 337g!!! and 95sq.in.
Pros' arms are as big as my thigh and yet most of them play with lighter racquets than that!

My opinion is you should begin with a cheap oversized head 105-110sq.in. ,slightly head-heavy so it helps you develop your follow through (which is nice by the way).
After a while,when you're more consistent with your strokes and footwork, a head-light racquet no more than 290g (a lite version of a player's racquet is a good option),so that it is manuverable and you learn to brush and accelerate at contact so that you develop more top spin.

Only after you're a true 4.5-5.0 you are in position to understand the
actual differences between player's racquets.Those guys at TW reviewing them are a huge joke by the way.

I get your point, but I disagree. I think of it like the learning to drive a car analogy- better to learn on a manual and then be able to drive everything than learn on an automatic and never understand what's going on with a manual transmission.
Similarly, I think it's better to learn with an unforgiving frame and learn from the many mistakes that you make, and probably wouldn't have noticed with an OS frame.
But weight is a good point, if a racket is waay too heavy for a player it can cause problems long term.

[Rob ITST]

I'm with emate. A less forgiving racquet gives you the feedback you need to know what's going on.

As far as weight, my rule of thumb is that you should use the heaviest racquet that doesn't slow your swing down, but also light enough that you can continue to swing fast throughout a long match. Heavier racquets are more stable, more powerful, and contrary to what many people believe, protect your arm from the shock at impact. Based on what I see, I'd probably recommend a racquet with a head size of 95-100 sq inches, 290-310 grams, and a swingweight of around 300-315. That will also give you a racquet you can use as your game improves, by making small customizations to the weight and strings.

[Ugadalou]

It's not about how forgiving a racquet is, it's about being able to easily maneuver, swing with it and learn to accelerate when hitting.

Plus I don't agree that heavier racquets are more powerful, since they are designed to generate almost zero power and let the player produce most of it so that they get full control on their shots.
An oversized head heavy racquet generates more power by itself at contact (catapult effect on stringbed) than an advanced level stick.

That's why on the specs of every player's racquet the ''power level'' lists always as ''low''.