Game Improvement Suggestions

[Mayank Thakur]

Hi I am Mayank Thakur from India.I am a state player and after getting into college I lost much of my game due to studies and other activities.Since now I am at home,practicing daily but its not reaching to the level that is desirable.

Mainly the problem lies in the movement, it becomes difficult for me to reach the ball and hit it when someone forces me to move and counter one from fH then directly to bH.I am trying to perform drills regarding it but my effort is going in vein. Secondly,my blocking has hampered to much extent. Although my topspin speed is improved and fh has become better than earlier but still above listed problems make my chances of winning less.

So I urge you strongly to recommend what to execute in this backdrop, and how to come up from the above listed problems.You can suggest me a routine entailing exercises,drills, multi-ball and game techniques..

Waiting for your reply.
Regards

 

[Dan]

Hey buddy,

Welcome to the site, great to hear you've got some time for TT. Hope your studying went well.

I think things will come together the more you practice. Don't worry yourself to much and try to have fun and enjoy at the same time.

Some exercises that I think will help you. Practice 2 and 3 point forehand. So 2 point forehand would be, your opponent blocks one wide ball to your forehand and then to the middle and back to the forehand wide and so fourth. This will help you practice movement laterally from wide forehand back to middle and wide again.

One you are comfortable with this type of practice, you then do it in a irregular fashion. So perhaps your feeder blocks with the backhand in the 75% of the table. And you use your forehand to cover all the table. This will help your forehand and footwork.

Another great exercise to improve footwork and anticipation is to have your feeder block with his backhand anywhere on the table. You then play everything into the backhand with your attacking shots To break things up a bit, after 10 of so shots, your feeder can play an attacking shot and then the play is free.

Tips:

- Contact ball at peak of bounce
- Relax upper body and really focus on using your legs
- if your moving from middle to wide, push of using your left leg (right handers), vice versa from wide forehand back to middle
- Try to transfer your weight into the ball during each shot

If you can, share a video with us, and me and the TTD users will gladly do our best to help you improve your game.

 

[jedimasterplk]

Brilliant tips from Dan - one more tip on getting more time (which I got from one of the best) - DONT ball watch. Lots of players (even the best) stare/keep looking at the ball like a rabbit in headlights after hitting it. This is not necessarily bad technique but a bad habit. Move and get ready with your feet and playing arm back in position AS SOON as the ball leaves your rubber. Resist the temptation to keep watching/looking at the ball.... instead, try to anticipate the return ball (once you become really good)by looking at the position of your opponents body, racquet angle etc, but again, that comes later at more advanced stages.