my tennis video

[venom400]

Hi guys , although I have dissapeared from the tour I have not forgotten about all the good times I had here , I would like to come back when I have some time to play some virtual tennis and put the real racquet down lol.

Here is my newest video , feel free to criticize , talk crap or praise as needed lol.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZg4uLtOLLQ

hint:I am the guy in black .

[Likos86321]

Nice video venom, played on Sony Ericsson court, even better!

I wonder how much is to rent out a court like this? Is it open to the public?

[ELTXETXU]

Awesome!!! I always have wanted to play in a central court like that. I thought it was impossible. As Likos said, its possible to rent the court? How did you do??

By the way, your partner's serve motion is very strange! .

[venom400]

Thanks guys , we were having an off day which resulted in an unusual amount of unforced errors , a comination of the pressure my oponnent felt playing on a stadium with people walking in and out of the court and my own crowd cheering for me lol, so the match was kind of meh , but I was still able to get some decent points in for the video , if you notice most of the points that are shown are his serve because he wasn't able to put back most of my serves .

the court is 10 dollars per person per hour , which is not bad at all for a stadium lol... the park belongs to Miami Dade and it is leased for 2 weeks to the ATP , so that is why we can play on it , the only thing that is not good about it is that there is no lights and the balls often go missing so you have to bring in at least 3 cans of balls for a match , and it is hot in there , I really don't know how the pros can play in there for hours at the level they do lol.

And not only his motion but everything about my friend is strange , like the fact that he wanted to use his shoes to confuse me haha

Thanks for watching , I am still waiting for Rob and Djervik to to come and talk smack about my technique lol.

[Tamthewasp]

Was a nice video. Could have used some chearleaders though. 2 much talking at the start aswell.

Those prices are suprisingly very cheap. If I lived in miami I would be on court all the time. Maybe take a few ladies and not even play tennis

[Likos86321]

10 dollars?!? i pay 8 euro for 1 hour at my local tennis center!

And its clay, i prefer the sony ericsson if you ask me

[djarvik]

Crandon Park is great. Well maintained. Good red clay courts and hard courts. So-so grass court, but who cares! ...its grass and that alone is great.

When am in Miami I play there all the time. Last year I spent a few weeks playing there.


Hey Venom! How are ya buddy? Nice to see you again.

I don't mind critiquing if you want. Just tell me what you are looking to improve? Right off the bet, a few things:

- I don't like what you doing with your left hand
- Your footwork is a bit too busy
- I don't like your slice

- I like your balance when you hit
- I like that you are "get" that you have to pull away from the ball when you hit instead of falling into it
- I like how you finish your forehands

[venom400]

- I don't like what you doing with your left hand

I know I am supposed to point away as if I am trying to catch the ball , I was practicing that today on a match with good results , good call.

- Your footwork is a bit too busy

Please elaborate?

- I don't like your slice

I hate my slice , It floats high or lands short most of the times... I use it when I have no choice , not as a tactical shot as it should be , any tips are appreciated , thankfully my one hand back hand is reliable enough , but I would like to add a dangerous slice to my list of weapons.


- I like your balance when you hit

Thanks

- I like that you are "get" that you have to pull away from the ball when you hit instead of falling into it

Please explain ?

- I like how you finish your forehands

I finish like that not out of technique but out of raquet acceleration ,but I guess it is a good thing thanks lol..

[djarvik]

Footwork. I think you can use some work there. You trying to stay active between the hits, which is good, but maybe a bit too active, but that's not the issue. What you are not doing enough is split steps and therefore get caught some times with your balance on the wrong side of the ball, requiring you rebalance to the right side, push off and get into hitting position. At your opponent level is is hardly noticeable, but if you played someone who can flatten the ball a bit more and place it deeper - you would have a strong feeling of being rushed and would have to reach for more balls then you should. I think your feet are plenty quick, so if you work out your small balancing issue it will allow you to play much better and be more aggressive.


The slice. You chop at it. Try hitting across the ball rather then chop it down. Think hitting from left to right while starting with racquet slightly up. Attempt to hit with your fist, only to pull away and across at the last moment and hit the strings. Don't fight the racquet and attempt to stop if after the hit, that is what results in your chopping and ball flying up, let it flow through the ball a bit and stop on it's own across the body on the other side, it won't wrap around you as your Forehand does (if that is your feeling).

Check it out to relate:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHPdlGW4vEE

Note how he starts rather high and then "pulls" across and ends up across his body. He doesn't think "chop" or hit "down", it comes naturally since you start up and going across.


Pulling away from the ball. Well, if you do this without trying its great. Lots of players tend to fall into the ball, or keep balance in one vertical, or rotate their "unit" into but not away from the ball. None of this is wrong and all has its own applications, but the best way would be attempt and shift your balance away (in any direction) from the ball when hitting, slightly away - not jumping 3 feet away etc. Its ok to pull away to the side or to even jump up when hitting, while pulling the racquet into and away from the ball.

An easy way to get a idea of what I am talking about is to imagine you are holding a string in your hand with a weight at the end of it, hanging. Now imagine (or attempt) to swing that string with weight as you would your racquet at the imaginary incoming ball. Pull the hand slowly back, accelerate forward. Now comes the part that I am talking about, if you try and pull your hand and balance away from the ball as you hit, you can clearly notice how faster that weight will move through the air. You can pull it away at the point of impact towards you or up. Now try the same swing without pulling away or even falling into that swing. You can now clearly see the weight slowing down and not having the same speed.
It is a simple principle that can mean the world of difference.


Your Forehands. You should always "finish" your forehands, and do it rather the same. You may have a few finishes depending on where in the court are you and what ball you hit, but the number of those should be 2-3 not more. Foe example you may finish across the body most times, but when needed you can play a reverse forehand.

The direction of the ball, and the amount of spin are heavily dependent on your point of impact, not swing. For example if you would want to hit cross on your forehand, you would want to hit the outside of the ball on your right, so that at the moment of impact, your racket is at the angle with the ball. You dont need to "think" about that point of contact and the angle, all you need to do is hit the ball on the right "spot" or "side" if you will. For inside out forehand for example, you would want to hit the left side of the ball. If you can make yourself think that and only that, your body and foot work will take over by themselves and move you into the right hitting position.

I think your forehand can use some pop. I am not sure if you are not pulling the trigger more because you are under slight pressure of the game or if this is the way you always play, but I would say you need to up it quite a bit.

Hope this helps man, if you have any questions, by all means, ask.

[venom400]

Thank you so much for your advice , the example with the weight is good ! I think I do move away from the ball because I have trained myself to relax my arm and wrist and I guess I comes natural when you use kinetics to create spin and power .

you are absolutely right on the money on my slice , I do chop to much , I will try to correct this .

My footwork , yes I try to keep busy because if I get flat footed I , sometimes , forget to keep moving and get caught flat footed .

I will be making another video with another opponent this Sunday , hopefully there will be more volleying so you can help me with that .

I can definitely hit the ball A LOT harder and be consitant about it, but I basically dig myself into a trap because then I start getting a lot of short balls and I end up not being able to put them away or miss the easy volleys , but I have played with this guy a lot and I found that the easier way to beat him is to allow him to beat himself , he depends on hitting high balls to my back hand , but his big loopy balls are slow enough were I can just run around them and hit one of my favorite shots , the inside out forehand , if I put him under pressure then he starts defending a lot and my volleys are not strong enough to finish every point and he is fast and good at hitting passing shots and lobs , I guess that is were I need the most work .

Also if you have any tips for my opponent he would appreciate it since he is highly frustrated at losing a lot to me and other players lately lol.

Thanks again !

[emate007]

Very nice, thanks for sharing!

Also if you have any tips for my opponent he would appreciate it since he is highly frustrated at losing a lot to me and other players lately lol.

Thanks again !

Stop trying to hit nadal forehands? He's way too loopy 80% off the fh side. Flatten it out. He let you back into the point or outright shanked and lost it on a few easy balls.

[djarvik]

Your friend Alejandro.

First, I think his footwork lacking. He is staying a bit passive and "straight legged" after a lot of his shots, then when you hit he rushes to get ready. This robs him of some time. Once again, if you would unload a bit more and into his Forehand, it just feels that he would have hard time clearing the net of finding the court on almost every shot. Same issue with you, he is not balancing himself when you hit the ball, his weight at that point is moving into one direction, what he should be doing is split stepping and looking at the direction of the ball. Then shifting the balance towards that direction. It will buy him time to execute his (as Emate pointed out) "loopy Forehand".

So about that forehand. I think he commits to it way too early. He has too big of a "pause" with the racquet back while coming to a hitting spot on the court. That causes him to sometimes ,make adjustments with his racquet back. It also causes him to misjudge the depth of the ball and where he makes contact a lot of time, which causes him to have tons of different finishes on his forehand side - never a good thing. What he needs to do is deliberately slowdown and relax his take back. I would put him across the net and feed him a few hundred balls a day for a few days, to his forehand, asking him to attempt to slow down his take-back as much as he can, while concentrating on the finish. That will allow him to move a bit more freely to the ball as it comes to his forehand and judge the depth of the ball batter, catching it at roughly the same distance from his body. That is what his problem on forehand to me, the contact point is kinda all over the place. have to change his mentality a bit, he is too concerned about executing the very much orchestrated forehead that he basically "missing" his hitting spot and doesn't finish it.

His backhand is a better side to me. There a few tiny adjustments that needs to be made and it looks to be a simpler shot from him that wont let him down much. First, its the balance, the weight. He hits that backhand a lot of times by either falling on the side (not into the court, but to the side) or by keeping his weight stagnant and rotating around it. Ask him to try and pull his weight away from the ball as he hits, slightly. When he has a shot ball, he can hit his closed stance by taking a step to the ball, but when he makes contact he should be thinking of "pulling" his left arm across the ball and shifting his center of gravity from right under his feet and the ball to the side of the ball a bit. This will give his that "pop", "snap" on his backhand. I would also recommend hitting his backhand with a bit of neutral or open stance when he is stretched a bit. Just place the weight on that outside foot and slightly break the left wrist when hitting. He resorts to slices a lot when he has no time to hit closed stance while pulled wide a bit, I think he can do better by hitting open stance backhands there.

His serve motion is a bit weird, but he executes it well. I think his second serve is better then the first. He needs to try and make a contact with the ball while going up and to the right a bit more. He is trying to hit down on the first serve and nets it a lot. He basically needs to adapt his second serve as his first and just play around with the contact point at the top - outside (right) of the ball for more spin, and move that point closer to the middle of the ball for flatter serve. Find the most comfortable spot and go from there.

[venom400]

wow , this is some in dept analysis ! thanks a lot man ! I will let him know , although I am a little hesitant because he may then start winning ha ha .

He frames on his forehand side a lot , I always told him that he needs to clean his forehand technique a lot , he is always hitting off balance and finishes with one foot on the air , not a good thing for consistency ,and waay too loopy forehands with waay too much ineffective spin that usually lands short and leaves me with a nice high slow ball inside the court that is either easy to attack or to run around for a forehand , this is why you saw me hit very few backhands , he is trying so hard to hit high bouncing balls to my backhands that he forgets that I can run around it with some decent foot work lol.

Thanks a lot again !

[venom400]

Video number two , different opponent , video starts at 4:00 if you wish to skip all the talking different perspective against a really aggressive opponent.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCkd3Qwx ... ture=g-upl

[venom400]

btw notice that I changed my slice based on your recommendations and my foot work too , tell me if you see an improvement plz.