Tennis, Argh!

[DinbinFanfoom]

OK, I'm not a real sporty person, but I love playing tennis. Up until this year, I never really worked much on my serve. I'm an awkward person, and I could never quite get the motions right. So I got a few tips from my friend Matt, and now actually have a decent one... If I take it easy I don't worry much about faulting. If I put some "grunt" into it, I'm less accurate but can really whack it.

However, being largely self-taught means finding a lot of the bad-technique problems on my own, too. :roll: Last week I worked on my serve for 45 minutes straight before playing, and then did the same this week. However, I think I hurted something, because my arm is KILLING me today, in two places. I have a dull ache in my shoulder, which I think is rotator-cuff related. I'm starting to think overhead serve practice (even if my form is improving) is a good idea for 45 minute periods. Basically what I would do is whack 12 balls, walk over, collect them and whack them back. Good for practicing the motions and technique, but killer on the shoulder.

Secondly, my forearms aren't well developed, and my backhand, while not overly "wristy" is always of the single-handed variety and once and a while I have to dig-and-flick, which I think has lead to an inflamed tendon near the outside of my elbow. I started taking Ibuprofen today for it, but my arm is real knot of pain today, and it's making me cranky. :mad:

Some of the pointers I'm reading, technique-wise are:

1) To avoid shoulder injury, make sure your serve involves your arm at about a 135 degree angle (upper arm up-ish, forearm up), not 90 degrees (upper arm out, forearm up).
2) To avoid elbow/forearm injury, make sure your backhand doesn't involve a lot of wrist or elbow movement. Also make sure your racquet grip is big enough and start using a double-handed technique where possible.

Anybody else have any pointers?

[Shiz]

I might be able to help:

1) Make sure you are tossing the ball high enough to necessitate a bit of a stretch to hit it. A low toss means you have to crimp your arm.

2) When you toss the ball, you should not be facing the net. You chest and hips should rotate towards the net on the follow through, though. This adds power and lessens the strain on your arm.

3) Use a two-handed backhand. You will lose some reach, but you gain a lot of control.

How much spin are you trying to put on your serve, if any? Sometimes new players trying to put spin on the serve do strange things with their wrists and elbows. To put spin on the ball correctly, one should just change the angle the racquet contacts the ball - not the grip, not the toss, not the stance, etc.

[DinbinFanfoom]

1) Make sure you are tossing the ball high enough to necessitate a bit of a stretch to hit it. A low toss means you have to crimp your arm.That's a good one. Yeah, I gotta do that more. I have a feeling my upper arm is too horizontal.
2) When you toss the ball, you should not be facing the net. You chest and hips should rotate towards the net on the follow through, though. This adds power and lessens the strain on your arm. I've got this one right at least.
3) Use a two-handed backhand. You will lose some reach, but you gain a lot of control.I do have to work on this.
How much spin are you trying to put on your serve, if any? Sometimes new players trying to put spin on the serve do strange things with their wrists and elbows. To put spin on the ball correctly, one should just change the angle the racquet contacts the ball - not the grip, not the toss, not the stance, etc.Too much top-spin, I'm guessing, necessitating heavy wrist-snap, I feel. I think that's what's messed up my forearm more than my backhand, which is relatively straight-armed and solid, aside from the rare flick.

[Shiz]

You shouldn't be snapping your wrist through the ball, but across the ball. Does that make sense?

[DinbinFanfoom]

You shouldn't be snapping your wrist through the ball, but across the ball. Does that make sense?What? Through? My serve is something like a trebuchet at the moment.

[Draknor]

Take a few lessons or stop doing this if it causes you pain like that. You really seriously don't want to mess up your rotator cuff.

[DinbinFanfoom]

Take a few lessons or stop doing this if it causes you pain like that. You really seriously don't want to mess up your rotator cuff.Yeah, I'm contemplating that. On a related note, my arm feels 100% better today. Shoulder pain is gone, and forearm is just a tiny, tiny bit tender. I think I can play a bit if I take it easy this weekend. I think my slightly bad serve form was aggravated by simply too much serve practice... Hitting 12 consecutive balls, one after the other, then walking to the other side of the court, collecting them and repeating for about 45 minutes is likely a bit heavy for an arm to handle. OR I gotta slow down my serve if I plan to practice like that and focus on smoothness and ball placement vs power.

[kullen]

3) Use a two-handed backhand. You will lose some reach, but you gain a lot of control.

The drill we used to use to work on a backhand goes like this. Start at the baseline along one of the lines pointing yourself toward the net. Left foot forward swing your forehand parallel to your beltline. At the point it crosses your body, the racket should be completely flat. Swing through and step right arm forward as you swing the racket over to your backhand and grasp your other hand on the racket. Swing through on your backhand with your body almost even with the racket, bringing it to parallel at the end of the swing. Then repeat. Start slowly and make sure as you move up, you stay on the line to the net, then turn back toward the baseline and work the other direction. Watch your club face and make sure it stays flat.

I hope I remembered that correctly its been a while since I've done tennis drills. :lowrazz:

[Asharad]

You could just not play tennis.

That will be five dollars.

Dr. Asharad is in the hiz-ous!

[Draknor]

Hmm. Ash says the same thing as I did in fewer words AND makes 5 bucks for it. I think I'm going about this the wrong way. :|

Ash, that'll be 10 bucks for stealing my idea. Or an underwear model. Your choice.

[Shiz]

If it only cost $10 for an underwear model, I would have, like, 5 of them.

[Biaxin]

Hey,

Five, here, please.

My alert level is way low. :)

[Aananla]

I would like one please. I'm on a budget.

[Draknor]

I would like one please. I'm on a budget.

You'll be on an even smaller budget when your wife finds out.

[Aananla]

My wife would probably appreciate the cessation from the begging.

[Asharad]

My wife would probably appreciate the cessation from the begging.

LOL!


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