The problem with shadow strokes is that we cannot replicate our strokes the same
way when we are accelerating towards the ball. In my previous tennis at home video
I do recommend shadow strokes if you have a weight on your racquet head. This
can actually help you to finish your strokes a little bit better or if shadow
strokes are performed in conjunction with movement you can get a lot of
benefit from that. However if you're doing shadow strokes to improve your
technique this will not work because you will never be able to replicate your
stroke in the same way when you're accelerating towards an actual ball.
And what's missing is the context of the ball. Whether it be a hand feed or an
incoming ball when there's a ball present we are going to sequence the
acceleration in a much different way than on a dry shadow stroke. I'm gonna
show you a way how you can accelerate towards the ball at home safely without
breaking anything but to do that you will have to sacrifice a set of strings
And now without any strings in my racket I can accelerate to the max but I want
you to use one of these soft balls in case you hit it with the frame you don't
damage anything at your home.
And you can practice the forehand the backhand and the serve. What you'll
find this when there is a ball to be struck and you accelerate several things
are going to take place intuitively that you're not going to be conscious of.
So when I'm accelerating towards an actual ball intuitively I get more of a
wrist lag on the forehand I also utilize a lot more torso rotation. These things
are not present on a dry shadow stroke and if you wanted to execute them you
would have to do this consciously. And because of that you wouldn't do them in
the same sequence and more importantly you wouldn't do these technical elements
with the same amount of acceleration.
On the two-handed backhand it's very similar when I accelerate towards the
ball intuitively I get more of a racket drop which is a result of acceleration
and I also get more torso rotation than doing it on a dry shadow stroke.
And the same as the forehand if you were to consciously execute these technical
elements you wouldn't do them in the right sequence and more importantly you
wouldn't do them with the same amount of acceleration. On the serve if I'm
striking an actual ball my muscle memory is gonna kick in and I without being
conscious of it I'm going to pronate into the contact and then continue to
pronate where if I'm doing this dry I'm not going to be able to get the same
type of acceleration and I would have to force these movements to take place.
Guys I recommend that you give this a try. This is gonna be the most realistic
replication of your strokes and you're therefore are gonna be building the
correct muscle memory so that when you get back onto the courts you're gonna be
ready to play.