Only 18 years old- am an amateur/recreational player who only plays every so often. This is just me hitting against a wall lol.
Shots travel farther and are hit harder than the angle portrays though.. (camera was placed on ground).
Advice about technique improvement would be much appreciated. Random question too, but if you were to name a pro whose stroke-style is most similar to mine, who would it be??
I am not a big expert in terms of coaching and things like that but I would say that your forehand looks fairly good as I see how you brush the ball from low to high with a natural and relaxed movement, turning the body before hitting it, using the left hand in order to balance your body. That are good routines, you only need to win consistency, reach the perfect contact point but that are things that you will improve practicing and practicing. Your backhand slice and your serve look decent as well.
What you really need to improve is your flat or top spin backhand. You need to hit the ball in a lower position, closer to your body in certain occasions, and keep the face of your racket just pointing at the wall (I saw you hitting some backhand with the face of the racket pointing to the sky).
I would recommend you to practice in the wall following these practicing drills (and the second part is here. From 0:45 you can see him hitting some backhand with a fair tecnique. After that part of the video he hits forehands with his left arm, that is a good practice since a two-handed backhand has to be conceived as a forehand with your left arm with the help of your right arm. If you see the whole video you will notice how active is the player with his footwork, always moving his body great going backwards (which is a tough thing to do in tennis when your opponent hits a deep shot). In the video he shows some tennis routines to practice on the wall that can be really useful for you.
Sadly this tennis subforum is not very active but I hope that somebody with a better technique knowledge comes here and helps you a little bit
I agree, the forehand is basically sound. On both wings you need the start getting lower over all with your knees so you can get under the ball. (This is hard to do against the wall, admittedly.)
This will especially help off the back hand side. On some of those shots where you attempt to hit the one handed slice, you really need to be low to get a penetrating slice. And on the topspin, being low helps too. I hit a one-hander for both slice and topspin, so i don't really have much to say about the two-hander. But doing some research into the different grips will pay off a lot too.
Also, in my experience, my shots have gotten more powerful and consistent as I have made progress in making the effort to create a little more distance between my body and the ball. The worst thing is getting "jammed up". When that happens, I imagine that I look like a Tyrannosaurus Rex trying to hit a tennis ball. This can result from over running the ball or not moving your feet in anticipation of where the ball is headed. (Reacting to the bounce rather than knowing where the ball is going from the moment it leaves your opponent's racquet.)
Keep it up! I wish i had started playing at 18 rather than 35!
Also, some good advice for wall practice is to actually let the ball bounce twice. This more closely simulates the interval between shots from two players rallying from the baseline. One bounce isn't very realistic, timing wise. You'll have more time to set up your form and technique this way rather than rushing the shot all the time and developing weird habits.
Forehand looks ok . Backhand looks awkward . Maybe your flicking your wrists on it but that's mainly for if the ball comes to tight into the body . Serve looks kinda choppy n weak . But all these could be improved on . With your forehand thought you have a alright foundation to build on . As you are hitting against a wall it's hard to tell how good any of your strokes truly are .
You are "arming" your forehand - you are only using your arm swing (which is a nice complete motion, by the way) and not your hips and core when you hit. One way to tell is if you're getting a good weight-shift from your back foot to your front foot; it doesn't look like your doing that consistently. You would get better rotation and better weight shift if you involve your hips.
As to your backhand, do you have a consistent grip on your backhand? By that I mean that when you hit backhands, you are holding the racquet the same way shot after shot. I suspect you're not by the randomness of the trajectories of your shots. Get the backhand grip right: make sure you get that grip change from forehand to backhand every single time - yes, you'll need to shift your grip when you go from forehand to backhand. You get good torso/shoulder rotation in your backhand (better than your forehand) but your footwork and weight-shift is inconsistent so you end up slapping at the ball a lot instead of a controlled swing.
So if I were you I'd practice the pivot and weight shift required for both forehand and backhand, then the grip change for the backhand.
Your forehand looks reasonably okay. It's your backhand that looks weak. Practice extending your racket over the shoulder. You are stopping the racket too early in the swing.
Two other things to work on. You never seem to bend your knees. You should do that to get a little more pop on the ball and stop arming the ball. Second, on your backhand side, you are too wristy. Keep your left wrist cocked back and keep it there through the hit. You seem to be flicking your wrist which causes inconsistencies.
I notice you don't hit the backhand down the line much. That's why you can't sustain a backhand rally with the wall. Forehand looks good mostly, though as others have said you need more core action and leg movement. Backhand needs more follow-through and energy.
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