Practise wall

Have been nursing my arm all week, ice, stretching and Voltarol, but it's still a wee bit sore. Went to club night anyway, but with a poor turnout I decided to use the practise wall.

Things I practise using the wall are early racket preparation, contact point in front with weight forward and rising ball or top of rise, footwork with split on the wall bounce, swing low to high with follow through. It usually works for me pretty well with a good workout.

I will usually mark the wall using chalk with a vertical centre line, a line about 4 foot above the net mark and some vertical sidelines. That gives me two rectangular targets to aim for, down the lines forehand and backhand, cross court from one side to the other. I try to hit a minimun of 10 hard flowing strokes on each side into the down the line rectangle and then do a cross court down line and back pattern. Not as easy as it sounds so it leads to good consistency with a grooved stroke. Variations on this are to add slice, flat and topspin, take the ball early, soft shots and volleys.

Although I usually get into a good groove when using the practise wall despite the quick return of the ball, when playing on court I don't always manage to do what I've practised. Not sure why. If I can overcome that then I think my game will improve. There are signs that it is but it's all too easy to go backwards.