October 13, 2017
Ask anyone who has been playing tennis for forty years or more and they will probably tell you that they honed their skills playing against a wall or a garage door. Joe Dinoffer in his book Tennis Practice Games reminds us that Swedish superstar Bjorn Borg played against a wall for hours and hours as a child. Borg created games and challenges to keep himself focused, enthusiastic and entertained. Johnny Glanville of Simcoe Tennis created the following article and video to give his take on using the wall.
I have been telling people for over a decade that if they can't find someone to play against that matches their level (which is common since everyone thinks the only player in the world better than them is Serena or Novak) then go find a good wall to hit against.
A wall is the best partner you will ever have and here are 5 reasons why;
I grew up in Allandale Heights of Barrie, so my wall of choice was Innisdale. Do not go there now, it's been ruined by expansion. But if you find a good solid wall without too many inconsistencies and a level ground from which the ball can bounce you will find that as long as you can hit the wall, the wall will hit the ball back.
Don't go during school hours (that would be weird and you would likely have the police called on you), and this is why I am publishing this blog post now, you now have a full two months of unlimited access at schools.
The harder you hit; the harder the wall hits back. And the softer you hit; the softer the wall hits back. You keep up the hard work you might find yourself hitting 100 ball rallies, talk about confidence boosting stuff.
The wall is the hard-silent type.
There are some suspect bounces off the wall and the ground is not always what you would call clean and free of stones and pebbles. But tennis is not the sport of choice for excuse-oriented humans.
But the absolute best part of playing against a wall is you are by yourself, solo practice is so underused in our sport and it's where the real magic happens. You can listen to music, you can create pretend matches in your mind that you win over and over again. You can train all damn day, no one is going to kick you off that sad pathetic court of yours. AND IT IS FREE. Parents? Did you hear that? FREE. FREE. FREE.
People are often surprised when I tell them that to this day I have never, not once had a lesson myself. I couldn't afford tennis lessons when I was a kid. I couldn't even afford to play indoor tennis or even the $20 to buy a racket. I learned from watching on TV and then playing against the wall, for hours and hours and borrowed rackets from friends.
Playing against the WALL today is so much easier with phone technology. You can video yourself and watch it back right away and while you are at it, for free, you can compare your strokes to the best players in the world in high definition slow motion. There is really no excuse. If you want to be great, go and get it. Literally go out there and get your greatness.
Now watch my silly match against the WALL aka Boris Becker...