Video Analysis Is Critical For Improvement

Something that gets forgotten out there is discussing why video analysis is crucial to your tennis development. Back in the day, I’ve heard cameras weren't so readily available. The footage, of course, wasn't as high quality as it is now, and to view the content, it was a hassle. You had to put the little cassette that was in the camcorder into a bigger adapter cassette and then stick it in the VHS. It was useful, don't get me wrong, but it wasn't as easy as it is nowadays, where everybody's got a phone with a super high-quality camera.

So, why is video analysis so important? Well, it's because when you're playing on the tennis court, what you perceive your technique to be is not necessarily the reality. I'm sure you can relate to this; you might be thinking that your forehand looks like Roger Federer's forehand, and then you record yourself and take a look at it, and you are in shock because it looks nothing like it.

Small Details

Another reason why video analysis is crucial is that even if you're working on technique with a coach or by yourself, there are going to be certain things inside of your technique that are going to be difficult to feel. This is where video analysis comes in very handy because through slow motion.

In other words, you can examine these small intricate details of your strokes and see whether you are lacking some fundamentals in those areas. There will be parts of the strokes that are happening so fast that even a coach can't catch these technical elements in real time.

Video analysis is not only good to correct your technique, but it's also super important to improve your match play. I recommend to everybody that you record yourself as much as possible because when you're in the heat of the battle, your mind works in mysterious ways, and you might not be conscious of how you are behaving out there. It could also be how you are hitting your strokes, what shot selection you have, or what your body language is. And because you're not aware that you're playing a certain way, seeing yourself on video footage can help you to do better the next time you step on a match court.

Equipment

So, what equipment do you need to get started? Well, a phone by itself is not going to be enough, and I'm going to explain in a second why that is. You definitely need a tripod, and you need a sturdy one that can withstand wind or you may be running into it. Something with long legs with a good wide base.

You also will need an attachment to put your phone on a tripod. As far as a camera, a phone is completely sufficient. And I want you to keep one thing in mind: when you're recording yourself with the phone for your forehand, backhand, and for your volleys, you need to put your phone in landscape format. In other words, the phone has to be positioned like this when you're recording. For your serve and your overhead, you do need to put your phone in the vertical format.

Why? Because if you have your phone in landscape format and you're recording your serve, you might not catch the height of the toss. While in a vertical format, you'll definitely catch the height of the toss. If you record everything in a vertical format, you might miss some forehands, backhands, and volleys because the frame is not big enough and you're going to run out of the frame super easily. You're going to miss a lot of shots. So again, forehand, backhand, volleys, landscape; serve and overheads, vertical.

Footage

If you're hitting a forehand, the camera must be to your side. If you're hitting a backhand, of course, the camera is going to be on the other side. If you're hitting a serve, as a right-hander, the camera is going to be on your right side. You're also going to need rear footage, so you put the camera right behind you. This goes for all strokes. If you have two tripods and two cameras, you can record simultaneously. But if you don't, I would do an equal amount of recording from the side and from the back on each specific stroke.

A lot of you guys record yourself diagonally from the corner, and from there, it's a very difficult angle. You're going to miss a lot of things on your forehand, for example, and on your serve. The same goes if you position your camera diagonally towards the backhand corner. There's just going to be things that you can't see when the camera is positioned in this way.

The same goes for recording yourself diagonally from the front. You're going to miss a lot of things that are taking place in the back of your stroke. Hence, under no circumstances do you want these angles when recording yourself. The classic mistake that people make is just to lean their phone against the fence on the ground. Now we have this awful angle that makes it very difficult to see things regarding your video analysis. Under no circumstances should you ever lean your phone against the fence at this angle because it's going to be very difficult to see these so important technical details of your strokes.

Slow-Mo?

If you record in slow-mo, you're going to get better frames per second and you're going to see much more in your video footage. If you record in video format and then slow your footage down, there are going to be frames missing. For example, you might not be able to catch the contact with the ball.

However, if you're recording slow motion, this is going to take a tremendous amount of storage from your phone. What I recommend is that you let your camera run in video, but then you do catch maybe three to five minutes of slow-mo just so that you have a little bit more detailed footage of your strokes.

Now that you have your footage, what do you do next? Well, you're going to need a slow-mo app because the scroller on the iPhone Photos app is too fast. It's going to be very difficult to slow the stroke down and find the contact because that slider is just not accurate enough. I recommend that you buy any slow-motion app on the market.

Just go to the App Store, type in slow-mo, and pick your favorite one. All of them are better than the actual Photos app on your iPhone. And why do I say that? Well, the scroller is more accurate and it's much easier to find a specific portion of your stroke with a more accurate scroller.

Final Thoughts

When it comes to analyzing your toss location with the clock analogy, it's very important that you take several factors into consideration. Number one: are you practicing your serve in a stationary position without utilizing your body's power sources, or are you doing a full-body serve? This is going to be very important for you to understand because if you're doing a stationary serve, the body position will remain the same, and when you intend to toss, the toss will have to be positioned in a different location. However, if you're utilizing your body's power sources and you start to lean forward, the body position will change, independent of whether you have a platform stance or a pinpoint stance.

Something you shouldn’t do, which a lot of people do, is put themselves hitting a forehand, for example, and then put Federer next to them. That is an absolute waste of time because the vast majority of players that look at Federer are looking at style and they're not looking at the fundamentals. You have to understand that all high-level players have the same fundamentals on their strokes.

There's no need for you to waste your time while analyzing your strokes and going on the court and practicing and trying to copy someone else's style. That is the number one mistake when it comes to video analysis, not only at the recreational level but across all tennis levels. And that is when players are trying to copy style over fundamentals. If you want to take your game to the next level, I highly suggest you to stop looking at the players’ styles.