How can i best practice tennis when i'm only by myself?

Question

I'm seeking a way to practice my tennis skills when i'm all by myself and has no people to play with. Any suggestions? thanks :)

Answer 1

That's a great question. Here are some ideas for you to work on:

1. Your serve often will get neglected when you can't find anyone else to practice with. This is actually the best time to work on your serve. I recommend that you buy a ball hopper (they make picking the balls back up so easy, and plus when you bring the arms down to use them as legs, you don't have to bend over to get another ball after every serve). With your ball hopper filled with tennis balls go and setup some targets at your local court and practice serving. You'd be surprised what an hour a day does for your serve. Check out the first link under "Sources"for a great online store where you'll be able to find a ball hopper.

2. Your volleys are also often neglected when you don't have anyone else to hit with. My personal opinion is that practicing volleys against a wall is more useful than ground strokes. Find a wall, give yourself about six feet from the wall and toss a ball against it. Volley and keep the ball "in play" and continue to get closer and closer to the wall. Your reflexes and your volleys will really improve with this. If you don't do it against a practice wall, then you can mark in chalk a line at 3 feet from the ground to give you an idea of the net.

3. Your footwork is something that can always be addressed, but it is often ignored totally. There are lots of drills that you can do that will help you "move towards the ball." The second link under the sources will take you to one such training resource. It's a special kind of ball that bounces unexpectedly. You'll want to toss the ball into the air, do a split step as it bounces (a split step is when you take a little hop and are ready to explode to another position), and try and catch the ball before it hits the ground again.

4. Your ground strokes are pretty difficult to work on alone. You can try hitting against a wall, but if you spend your time hitting against the wall and not against other players, you'll find that your "wall time" doesn't necessarily translate to good tennis. I remember that one summer, I spent at least an hour a day against the wall, and the next time that I hit with someone, I was spraying my groundies against the back fence. The reason was that during all that wall practice, I didn't have the normal feedback that a real court gives (how the spin will affect the ball's trajectory, how much power I'm putting on the ball, etc.)--all that the wall told me was how high over the net I was hitting. So, my advice is that if you decide to spend a lot of time hitting against a wall, try to spend as much time hitting with someone else. A better use of the wall is for volleys. A ball machine is a big investment. If you decide to buy one of those, do your homework and ask around before forking out the money for it.

My final suggestion is to check out the third link in the source list. The United States Tennis Association has put a "player finder" option on their website. There you'll be able to enter your zip code and the kinds of players you'd like to hit against, and it will give you some people's names. There is no substitute for a real person on the other side of the net.

I hope that helps!

Answer 2

Tennis Practice Wall

Answer 3

Even if you can't afford it try practicing with a pro tennis coach at least for couple lessons because if you start hitting against the wall or just hitting balls from a bucket then you won't know whether you are doing things right. Practice doesn't improve your skills if you do it incorrectly. There has been many situations where good tennis players drop in rank while practicing because their grip was not the right way and etc...

Answer 4

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Answer 5

You need to find a smooth wall..otherwise the ball is going to bounce off in a different direction...I have played tennis since i was 7 so i have had this problem a few times...like i said you need to find a smooth wall and maybe mark off where the net would be or visualize where is it would be and you will be good to go Good luck

Answer 6

Some tennis courts have practice wall available. Hit balls to the wall to apply most of the swing technic.

Answer 7

find an empty brick wall that you can hit the ball against. I'd suggest using an unoccupied building, like a school that's not in session over the summer for summer school.

Answer 8

Trust me! I ALWAYS have to practice by myself.What I do is hit it again a wired fence.If it goes over,it means that your hitting it with too much force.It has to hit the fence and rebound.This works better then a wall because a wall rebounds it to low, so it doesn't let you hit it.

Answer 9

hit the ball off the wall

Answer 10

An automatic ball machine.