When playing tennis against a tennis wall, where exactly should I be trying to put the ball?

Question

I'm trying to get good at tennis, especially working on my forehand right now, and getting good topspin, so where should be a targeting my shot to go, and where should I be playing in relation to the wall.

Answer 1

rumour is that ivan lendl (great champ of the 80's) got his game on by hitting off the wall. i grew up in a land where no one played tennis & practiced a lot off the wall -- still do.

you're right to put a line at the same height as the top of the net. how far to stand back depends on the give of the wall. if it's got more spring (thin wooden) then you can lean off it more than a cement one.

a great drill i do is work on hitting up the line then cross court. it's tough to master but the trick is to keep the ball going as long as you can with shots that hit 2-4 feet above the net line.

so i feed the ball off my forehand & hit straight so that you hit a forehand again. then hit the 2nd shot crosscourt to your backhand. return that shot straight so it bounces off the wall & back to your backhand. hit that shot cross court & keep it going.

this drill works your consistency & footwork (i had one ball going for 20 minutes once).

make sure if you can to mix up hitting the wall with playing on the court - even if you just drop & hit a ball the length of the court every now & then. if you want to be good, you have to be able to judge the depth of the court.

Answer 2

As the posters mentioned, drawing a line that is the official height of a tennis net is a plus. If the wall is in a public place, take masking tape instead to draw out the line, and then take it off. If you want to get more detailed, make sure that the line is sloped ever so slightly at a downhill angle towards the middle of the imaginary net. You can experiment with your shots accordingly.

When hitting against the wall, it's not so much how hard you can hit the ball, and how much torque you can produce on the ball. You want to emphasize the importance of control - control of where the ball is going, control of it's speed, trajectory, and more importantly, control of your physical body in relation to footwork, stance, grip, etc.

A word of caution:
Yes, I do feel that hitting against the wall will help your game. Repitition is good, as you can adjust/experiment with the different grips, forms, weight shifts, stances, to produce a solid consistent forehand/backhand.

However, by practicing solely on the wall 24/7, your mind will develop a 2-dimensional mental picture of the actual tennis court. What is being replicated and carried out on the wall, will not necessarily translate immediately on the tennis court.

When moving back onto the tennis court, you are faced with the actual depth of the ball you hit, the timing sequence of the ball being thrown back at you, and as a result, all of your footwork, grip, stance must change accordingly to accomodate for the gap in timing.

This is not to say that the wall is totally useless.

I would strongly suggest that you keep a good balance between hitting against the wall, and getting a 3-D feel of the tennis court by hitting with a good partner. That way, you can greatly improve on your tennis game even more, and pick up on even more intangibles and tricks that comes with the game.

Answer 3

The most important thing when working against the wall is to stand far enough back so that the ball can bounce twice. You need to do this so you have time to develop your stroke. You do not want it turning into a reflex volley drill. You want to be able to repeat the same motion over and over again. As far as placement goes the key thing should be to should be to work on the height of the shot. Imagine or chalk a white line that symbolizes the net. If you try and work on things such as hitting cross court every other ball will be going back to your backhand, so work on your height which will in turn help with the depth of the shot. Along with working on brushing up on the ball you can really zero in on where your contact point should be, (in front of you). The other thing which gets taken for granted when working with the wall is that you can focus on watching the ball. Play a game with yourself that you are actually trying to see the number of the ball. After each shot get back to the ready position and split step right as the ball hits off the wall. Good luck. The repetition of the wall can really help you zero in on the mechanics of the shot, in this case brushing up and working your topspin forehand.

Answer 4

Playing against a wall will never get you good at tennis. Hitting with the wall just returns all the balls you hit to it. It can't put spin or hit it back with different force. Get a family member to hit with you or a friend. They will give you more practice.

Answer 5

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Answer 6

If you're back where the baseline would be, I'd try and hit it about 2 feet above where the net would be (remember that it is higher down the lines than in the center.)

Good Luck trying to beat that wall, I must have played him 1,000 times and he won every point.

Answer 7

You should draw a line about 42 inches above the ground on the wall. Draw a line on the ground also so you know where the base line is. Playing off the wall should help you, because you are hitting with your forehand with repetition (you should see improvements soon). Good Luck!!

Answer 8

Mark the height of the net, and you have to heat above it, all your shoots back and forehand, net and serve, practicing in the wall will improve your return too, it is a complementary to your court practice.

Answer 9

You could find a racquetball court and use that wall, or at some public tennis courts they have walls.

Answer 10

somewhere in the middle but a little lower but to become better try playing w/someone not just a wall