Lesson# 16 with Eldon

5/11/09  Monday  10:00A.M.

Chico Racquet Club

 

 

Today we talked strategy, hit some backhands drives, worked on backhand slice technique, hit some forehand drives and hit some short balls trying to advance to the net for a volley.

 

1.         Coming forward on short balls it is absolutely imperative to stay down through the shot and take a shorter backswing since your forward momentum will give you the pace you need.  This is where I really need to improve.  I have been making this mistake in my matches where I quite consistently pop up as I move forward in taking a short ball.

 

2.         Hitting the backhand slice is a movement with the racquet head like sweeping the ball off of a table.  Swing forward in a level manner through the ball.  The face of the racquet is open to a certain degree, but level is the key, not down or up at the beginning or end of the forward swing.

 

3.         On a backhand running wide along the baseline towards the corner of the court, try to plant your lead foot at an angle so as to give yourself more of a chance to play the ball back into the court safely instead of possibly hitting wide. This technique will counteract your forward momentum which tends to carry you off the court and makes it hard to return down-the-line safely.

 

4.         Try to play fairly close to the baseline so that when you hit a penetrating forehand and you want to attack you will have less distance to cover in order to get forward up into the court to play your first volley.

 

5.         There are some critical points in a match and without getting too hung up mentally on the outcome of the set or match you do want to use strategy which will allow you to go up in the score.  For example: if you are up 3-0 and 40-30 and it’s your serve, you may want to consider hitting a kick serve first to get the ball into play.  (You may also want to consider just hitting the ball down the center of the court to see if your opponent will commit an unforced error.)???

 

6.         When the sun is in your ball toss, the best option will be to hit a kick serve where your toss is less likely to be in path of the sun.

 

7.         You will have to pass through the process of losing with some frequency in order to work on developing your game in matches.  In the long run it will pay off. The players you are losing to now you will eventually beat easily like 6-1, 6-2.  You can not avoid this process.   You can beat some players right now by dinking and doing whatever to win if you want, but that is not going to help develop your game in the long run.

 

8.         Eldon concurred that playing in the upcoming local tournament at the 4.0 level will probably benefit me more than playing 3.5 at this point in my development.

 

9.         My backhand stroke tends to be more compact than my forehand.  I need to work on staying down through my shot on the forehand side to be more compact.

 

10.       I still need to work on stepping into the ball and shifting my weight on each and every forehand stroke.  I notice when I flex my knees well through my forehand stroke I have a much better perspective on the ball coming into my racquet.  Staying down through the shot just makes it easier to hit more solidly.  I feel like I start to catch the ball on my strings when I do this.  Even on high balls it feels better to flex my knees a lot.  Hitting the center of my string bed just seems so much easier when I get into this position.

 

11.       The slice stroke is used in the following ways:

            A.)       As a neutralizing ball.  It buys you time.  Your opponent is receiving a ball that stays low. 

            B.)       As an attacking approach shot to the net.  It stays low and your opponent must return by hitting up on it.

            C.)       As a return of serve in a chip and charge strategy

 

12.       I also need to be able to hit a crosscourt passing shot.  I have been getting too predictable when I play Marty by always going down the line.  He’s going that way all the time now expecting me to pass there.  I can hit these crosscourt passing shots.  I hit a beautifully angled crosscourt shot with Eldon today that had a lot of pace on it.  It left a nice narrow skid mark on the court surface.

 

13.       The mini warm-up at the net is good for getting you to work on footwork, swing path and watching the ball into your string bed.  It also helps you develop touch with the ball.