Insane tennis ball feeding ...

[hockeyscout]

Okay ... ball feeding ... we need to get better here. We’re lacking Ed Weiss and the best feeder ever, the human ball machine Robert Lansdorp. Okay how do we soup up our hitting partners strings to deliver crazy feeds - thinking of maybe spaghetti strings or do todays rackets pretty much mimic what that did in the 70’s. What are the ingredients and what do you wrap the strings in? I am super intrigued with the blackbird racquet - and having our hitting partners use that - anyone try that racket. Pretty neat how it has no edge - roscoe tanner endorsed it - anyone have an idea why it dud not catch on? Any ideas for illegal stringing that will radically turn the tables on any player in practice. For me it makes sense for coaches to use illegal equipment. In hockey I advise my goalie clients to get the shooters to use a stick that is oversized to long or a curve that is illegal or a 1/2 size puck so they are practicing harder than they would in a game ... any ideas on string patterns or crazy ideas we could do to achieve better performance in ball feeding and give the hitting partner a big big insurmountable upper hand?

[don_budge]

Okay ... ball feeding ... we need to get better here. We’re lacking Ed Weiss and the best feeder ever, the human ball machine Robert Lansdorp. Okay how do we soup up our hitting partners strings to deliver crazy feeds - thinking of maybe spaghetti strings or do todays rackets pretty much mimic what that did in the 70’s. What are the ingredients and what do you wrap the strings in? I am super intrigued with the blackbird racquet - and having our hitting partners use that - anyone try that racket. Pretty neat how it has no edge - roscoe tanner endorsed it - anyone have an idea why it dud not catch on? Any ideas for illegal stringing that will radically turn the tables on any player in practice. For me it makes sense for coaches to use illegal equipment. In hockey I advise my goalie clients to get the shooters to use a stick that is oversized to long or a curve that is illegal or a 1/2 size puck so they are practicing harder than they would in a game ... any ideas on string patterns or crazy ideas we could do to achieve better performance in ball feeding and give the hitting partner a big big insurmountable upper hand?

It's been a while now since I was feeding balls to tennis students. We used to have a game called in Swedish "Stegen" which translates to "the steps" in English. There is a single player on the side of the net with me, the ball feeder, and several players on the other side of the net with one player playing against the single player at a time. There is a sequence of four possible points and the player on the other side of the net must win all four to get to the other side of the net playing against the rest of the players. The first point is a ball played to the player on the other side to start the point from the baseline. If the "receiving player" wins that point he earns another which is a short ball to approach the net. If he wins that point then he gets a ball in the air to volley. To complete the "Slam" the receiving player gets a lob to smash for the win.

I used to love to feed this particular drill as the degree of difficulty of winning any point depends upon the kind of ball that is fed. With my feeding technique I could reach any point in the court. I could either enhance the players chances of advancing or stopping them in their tracks. I saw the clip of Ed Weiss feeding balls and wasn't impressed that he was doing anything out of the ordinary. I used to like to feed backhanded as well with equal effectiveness with the option of slicing or driving the ball as well. I have always been an excellent lobber of the ball...even on the feed ball.

But the only thing that comes to mind with regards to equipment that might make a significant difference in feed balls is the Weed racquet. This racquet is extremely oversized and capable of performance that "ordinary" sized racquets are doing. It seems to me that you can generate more pace with less effort. I was unable to see this "blackbird racquet" you are referring to after googling it.

[glacierguy]

Don't think this exists, but how about an app-controlled ball machine where coach just taps display of tennis court to mark spot where ball is to be delivered, with what spin, speed, etc?

[hockeyscout]

Don't think this exists, but how about an app-controlled ball machine where coach just taps display of tennis court to mark spot where ball is to be delivered, with what spin, speed, etc?

It does exist - however, its not for me it's not workable unless you are just trying to do some small structure based work with a real young, young kid or an athlete that you are trying to re-build after a growth spurt. You obviously cannot read a ball machine - so, the carry over is not applicable to tennis - its much like a puck shooter machine in hockey. Great in theory - but, their is no cross connect as the true skill in improving a player is getting them to read the game, read the hips, understand players position in relation to the ball options, intersect angles on balls.

[glacierguy]

Yes, makes sense, plus the delivery would always be from the same point in space. I see now that you're after a way to enhance the performance of a real player/coach for training purposes.

[J011yroger]

I dunno, I just feed with my playing racquets. Have radared feeds at 75mph+, what more do you want?

J

[stroke]

I think he meant Blackburn racquet. It is an interesting concept, but do not think it would generate any more spin than a traditional racquet with a skilled player.