For me, the answer is clear. I struggle with a low half-court ball, where I attempt to spin an approach shot. I miss a lot of these. Now, I will say that when I practice, I can hit this shot quite well, but in a match, when I tense up, I start decelerating and very frequently make a mess of it. It is an ongoing problem that I'm trying to fix.
What is the Shot the You Struggle with the Most?
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I struggle with this shot as well. I've been told in the past to not slow down my swing but to loosen my grip. I can't say I ever been able to make it work in a match, especially on my 2HBH. I've also been told to aim lower over the net and flatten out my swing. I decelerate because whatever I'm doing at full speed is missing. So I'm left unsure of what to change to fix the error. Video, right? But even swing vision doesn't really seem detailed enough to answer why the shot missed with video analysis.
The key is topspin bc it will give the ball enough curve to land inside the baseline. On the one-handed backhand, it's the same. On the two-handed backhand, it's different because most players hit more flat, and I find it is easier to hit flat off that ball from half-court. Of course, there is the option for a slice.
My forehand issue is that I often frame, so it is possibly footwork-related. Other times, shot selection is poor. In practice, I have no problem with this shot whatsoever. The key is more practice and it will show up in the match.
By footwork are you referring to open or closed stance? By shot selection do you mean slice or topspin or crosscort vs down the line? Like you I have a bad knee and therefore need to play more risky shots rather than winning with my legs as I once did. Nick, do you ever do private lessons in person? live in Gainesville but I think you could teach me a lot about shot selection and perhaps some clues on how to reduce errors in situations like this.
Open and closed stance depends on several factors, as well as shot selection. I will discuss in the Q&A. Yes, I do lessons, and as a premium member, you get half off. You can email me for details [email protected]
For me, it's my volleying. For a player of my standard, I have a pretty good reliable serve and good groundstrokes, but my volleying lets me down so often, particularly when I'm playing doubles. In practice, I can have quite good technique, particularly on my forehand side, but in matches my volleying is nearly always worse. Even when I volley well in some matches, I know that my technique is not as clean as it is in practice. I struggle with higher volleys, and backhand volleys, and am generally too hectic at the net. I think your advice in this month's Q&A about having good stability and holding your ground is very applicable to me.
Nick has the best course on volley technique I've seen. My first coaches were great volleyers themselves but they didn't know how to teach me the proper wrist position with a continental grip on the FH volley. Nick also busts some important myths commonly mistaught about volleys in these videos.
Yes, Nick's volley course is excellent, as are his other volley videos. My volleying is definitely improving, but it's still well behind the rest of my game. My challenge is still to translate my improvements in practice to improvements in matches. Some of it is definitely mental, as I don't have the same confidence that I have in my other shots.