Control on forehand

[eaglesburg]

In the past few weeks I have been having some trouble on the forehand wing with consistency and control. A lot of times I don't realize just how hard I'm swinging. I have no problem thwacking the ball but I'm struggling to have a good feel of where the ball so going to go coming off my strings.

Especially on short balls it can make me tentative at times. So I usually find myself at one of the two extremes, both caused by a feeling of a lack of ball control. I'm unable to find that in the middle, consistent rally ball. How can I find that intermediate speed that allows me to maintain both control of the ball and adequate pace and spin?

This issue I think especially has to do with depth control, as my directional control, while far from perfect, has definitely improved.

This weekend I might take video of my forehand from the rear where the balls I hit are clearly visible so you can see the trajectory, speed, spin, etc.

Any ideas on improving this?
I'm not sure this is something you guys can assist with over the Internet, but it can't hurt to ask.

Thanks so much!

[stotty]

Great post....common problem

One of the things I always get my students to do is to learn to hit at three-quarters pace. This way they learn to play well within themselves instead of always hitting on the "brink". It's very important players find that comfortable pace to hit where they feel they can maintain long rallies, at least when hitting to each other down the middle of the court. Control is absolutely everything when you think about it, not power.

It takes a an advanced student to switch up and down in pace. It's not actually that easy to do for many players.

Players who can only hit near the brink because that's the only pace they practice at (and there man in the younger ranks these days) often struggle in matches if they lose their nerve. These players often end up doing the opposite and start plopping balls over because they have never developing the "feel" required for switching down to three-quarter pace.

It's a vital quality to learn and should be mandatory for all young students...to hit at three-quarter pace.

[johnyandell]

Completely agree with Stotty. Here is a classic article from Kerry Mitchell that makes similar points. Rhythm rally and matching the speed of the ball at lower speeds is critical.

http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/classiclessons/kerry_mitchell/Mitchell_Rythm_and_Rally_Speed_images/Mitchell_Rythm_and_Rally_Speed.html

[eaglesburg]

Thanks Stotty and John for your input.

I have been working on it for the pat week and have been making progress. One of the things that helps me most is focusing on finishing my strokes. It helps prevent under hitting while at the same time helping to reduce out of control wild swings.

[johnyandell]

The image of the finish is magic!

[eaglesburg]

The image of the finish is magic!

For me, I am actually not finding the images to work that well for me for whatever reason. I remember over the summer spending a bunch of time trying to visualize with no results. Even now, visualing the trajectory of my ball does me little good. It could be that I'm doing it wrong though. There are times that I struggle to visualize, and sometimes, if I'm seated I will have to get up and try to do the actual thing to help me visualize it.

Even in school many kids say that when taking a test they can literally see the paper that they studied from in their head. This happens only occasionally for me if I memorized really well. But usually I just "know" the information. I'm not really looking off a picture of the study guide in my head.

I think what helps me most is a " picture" of the feeling. So, in other words, relying on the kinesthetic sense.

[bottle]

I'm not special, different, some kind of a savant nor do I claim to be. But my experience of tennis is very different from almost anyone I speak with, I guess because of all the self-feed I've done along with the writing I then did about it.

If someone were consistently inconsistent I would be tempted to say they were born with a gene that often inhibits good old caveman synaptic transfer. Or that they suffer from restless leg syndrome night and day.

So easy to blame any tennis fault on physical inadequacy-- perhaps the cowardly tennis instructor's way out.

A much greater likelihood, it seems to me, is poor tennis stroke design, and in any case trying to figure out a better way for oneself empowers one.

[johnyandell]

Yeah picture and feeling. But I am talking about using them on the court as keys in the moment.

[eaglesburg]

I'm not special, different, some kind of a savant nor do I claim to be. But my experience of tennis is very different from almost anyone I speak with, I guess because of all the self-feed I've done along with the writing I then did about it.

If someone were consistently inconsistent I would be tempted to say they were born with a gene that often inhibits good old caveman synaptic transfer. Or that they suffer from restless leg syndrome night and day.

So easy to blame any tennis fault on physical inadequacy-- perhaps the cowardly tennis instructor's way out.

A much greater likelihood, it seems to me, is poor tennis stroke design, and in any case trying to figure out a better way for oneself empowers one.

So you think I still have an underlying technical issue?

[bottle]

If you don't, you're the only one.

[don_budge]

The Underlying Technical Issues are...

So you think I still have an underlying technical issue?

Your inconsistency comes as no surprise to me. There is no argument to the simple fact than the game of tennis is based on that of repetitive motions. The more deviance in each swing the bigger margin for error you have.

I cannot remember your initial posts where you posted your videos but I seem to remember that I found great fault with the approach to your forehand. I believe that my points of interest with regard to your forehand were of footwork, grip and probably backswing.

Repost your videos…and let's try it again. Unless your swing is fundamentally sound you are always going to have control issues…particularly when any kind of pressure is applied. Once you get into a competitive situation where something…anything…is on the line you will get an uncomfortable feeling about your forehand. That feeling is doubt. It is the doubt that creeps into a swing that is not repeatable under any and all circumstances.

What is power? Control is power. What is control? Control is a combination of three basic elements…spin, speed and placement. Are you able to maintain some semblance of control when you are off balance? Lack of balance is one of the biggest inhibitors. What about balance? The placement of your feet and the transfer of the weight from the back foot to the front foot…in concert with the racquet head to the ball.

What aspect of control is your biggest issue? All of the above? Can you control the amount of spin and what kind of spin you use with your forehand? Does varying speed give you problems? Can you place your forehand where you want to and hit out at the same time? If you cannot answer in the affirmative on all of these questions you have some deviance built into your swing that limits your control of the tennis ball.

Again…they are probably due to number one…footwork. Grip and backswing are a close second.