Does Playing Tennis Against the Wall Help? (My Top Tips)

There is no doubt that tennis is one of the most popular and active games that anyone can play. In addition to its health maintenance ability, this sport is a good form of interaction when you get to play with your friends, family, and club members. In case you are home alone and are feeling bored, did you know you can play tennis alone against a wall? But does it help to play the sport that way?

Playing tennis against a wall helps develop your reflexes, stamina, and general form while improving consistency. In general, it improves your game and is an excellent workout for burning excess calories, especially if you are a beginner. It is good for experienced players as well.

If there’s anything you rarely hear about tennis very often, it’s that practicing against a wall can be very beneficial. Some people find it hard to show their inexperience before experienced players, so here you get to let it all off. Do not miss reading ahead for more info on how to go about your tennis practice against the wall.

Is It Good To Practice Tennis Against a WALL?

It is good to practice tennis against a wall. Whether you are a beginner or an experienced player, you can be sure of learning hard strokes here. You can be sure of learning a lot more since the wall mirrors your ball angle and intensity. So it’s worth practicing.

One of the best things about being a tennis fan is that you don’t have to stay at home when bored and your friends are too busy to go for a match. You can always practice on the tennis backboard wall. As a beginner, you should know that the wall returns your serve the same way anyone on the other side would.

In addition, as a beginner, you might not make it to predict where the ball will bounce from the wall. To serve your balls skillfully, even with a real partner, you need to get used to its real challenges.

So you can be sure it is worth it practicing from the wall. Many players who today are stars in the game confess to having played at the walls for hours. Therefore, it’s a vital skill and development that any tennis player should not miss.

Moreover, the pandemic caused lots of effects around the world, and as a result, people might be afraid to come off and have fun as before. Thus, if you have everything you need to play the game, this is a chance you wouldn’t want to miss. If you feel that you cannot do it without someone’s guidance, don’t forget that we live in an age when you can access almost everything you need on the internet. So you can switch to youtube and watch some drills as you practice them.

In any case, by reading this article, you also get to know more drills for your practice. In the next section, we’ll cover every detail about playing tennis against a wall.

How Do You Train Tennis Against a Wall?

To train tennis against a wall, you need to learn the basic skills for the game. It includes hitting medium-paced balls and gently increasing the intensity. Furthermore, learning how to hit more balls in a row will guarantee you skilled gameplay.

You need to remember the wall is not a man, so the force you hit the ball with is what will retaliate the ball back to you. If the ball bounces back heavier than before, you will learn one of the most important things about the sport: how hard to hit the tennis ball.

Aim for intensity in your training, total control of the ball, and to return every ball after one bounce no matter how far it bounces.

So some of the fundamental wall skills you should always watch for whenever you are out for tennis practice on the backboard wall are:

Hit Medium Pace Balls

I said the wall is not a man because it does not have varying levels of strength or power. One thing you should remember is that the ball bouncing back will always reflect the angle you hit it with.

To hit a medium-paced ball, you should aim to have the ball bounce back to a certain zone around you. It should not be bouncing to a place where you will need to go more than two feet to reach it.  

In addition, this is not a practice to grasp with few hits. It may take time for you to master the ball’s bouncing techniques unless you have done it before. 

You won’t just do this for two bounces and stop there. You should practice this for at least 30 minutes or more, depending on how fast your hand masters the power necessary to strike the ball. It shouldn’t be boring to hit the ball against the wall; you can mark a spot where you will aim each ball; only then can you move to the next drill.

Hit More Balls In a Row

You will be able to hit the ball without having to move somewhere else. Once you are sure you can do it, you can start hitting more than one ball in a row. Then, instead of hitting the ball and catching it, you start hitting it twice, catching it, and doing it over and over again.

Once you hit two balls, you can continue to hit three, four, etc. up to 10. Always aim for the middle of the wall.

Read also: How To Practice Tennis Alone: Tips, Drills & Creativity

What Are the Best Tennis Wall Drills and Practices?

The best tennis wall drills and practices are forehand drill, backhand drill, and a serve. You should also not miss practicing a return of a serve and volleys since they are normal strokes shot by experienced players.

Once you can manage to hit up to 10 balls in a row, as in the above section. That’s a great start, but there’s more into the hitting. That is unless you are doing it for pleasure. If you are practicing to face a real player someday, you need to learn more about specific tennis strokes. The wall will be faithful enough to bounce back the ball according to how you send it.

These tennis wall drills are:

• Forehand Drill

Here you will grasp the racket with your inner palm facing forward. Swing the racket towards the wall aiming the ball to hit the point you drew on the wall. However, most people miss the point here at times. Make sure you hit a ball; you won’t have to extend your arm to reach for once it rebounds.

Additionally, you should not hit the ball too close to yourself, so you need to position yourself appropriately. The tennis ball’s proximity to you should also influence how you move when hitting a rebound ball. Make sure you hit the ball by your hips when it’s in front of you.

• Backhand Drill

The shot you make here has no major difference from the forehand drill. All you do this time around is make sure as you swing your arm holding the racket, the back of your hand should precede the palm. You can do a backhand drill holding the racket with either one hand or two hands.

Using two arms, you get to have more power over the ball by making a great shoulder turn. It gives you the best results because it’s a natural shoulder turn and backswing. 

Using one hand on the other side gives you the ability to run and reach for a ball that happened to be bouncing far from you. Since it’s not that easy to run with both hands holding the racket. Moreover, the one hand will enable you to have a variety of shots that you can confuse your opponent with if you were playing against them in real life. 

So for you to enjoy both drills, you need to aim for at least 10 hits in a row with both one hand and two hands. To make sure you get the strokes well, alternate between the forehand and backhand between 10-row hits.

• A Serve

A tennis match usually has a net between the players. However, since you are practicing on a wall, you don’t need a net, but you can still use it to make the game more enjoyable. Therefore, a typical service begins by tossing the ball into the air and hitting it in a way that it will still land within your marked area.

• Return of Serve

Since you are playing against the backboard wall. Your return of serve is the ball that bounces back the wall. Your goal is to hit the ball back with a backhand or a forehand drill but in a more competent manner. 

The harder you hit the ball, the faster it bounces back, so you can decide to increase the pace of play. Your hand will continually move, and you will be able to swing fast.

• Volleys

You must have noticed each of these drills keeps basing their gameplay on the previous drill. And so, volleys might seem silly, but if you can’t volley a tennis ball, you might not make it as other experienced players in the game. So a volley is a shot that you strike back to the wall before the ball bounces on the floor.

If it’s your first time doing this, you may need to be close to the wall. You can move close to the wall to get used to doing this, but you will gradually have to increase the distance.

Another thing you should always do in your volleys is to make sure that the ball hits the earlier chosen point. You can go up to 100 volleys since you are much closer to the wall. So the trick here is to start the volleys at a slower space and increase gradually. Before stepping up the speed, make sure you can play the previous pace even if you are far from the wall.

During the volley, make sure you include the backhand and forehand drills with both hands, not missing the goal point on the wall. Another important thing you should aim for is consistent wrist stability in the play. Volleying may feel as though your hands are on fire, but that is just what you need to do to become a good swinger.

How Many Calories Do You Burn Playing Tennis Against a Wall?

You can burn 400 calories per hour playing tennis against a wall on a moderate session. Your gaming intensity, body weight, and time spent on the field can influence this value.

It’s incredibly fun to play tennis while burning calories for a healthy lifestyle. However, it’s not that easy to tell the exact calories you can burn on the court.

So during your gameplay, you can use not more than 600 calories per hour, but it will depend on your intensity of the game because of the hard-hitting. So playing against a wall can be somewhat intensive depending on what drill you are playing. For instance, if you are playing volleys, you will mostly be stationary at a single point with a few turnaround moves.

You will use fewer calories in volleys as you become more experienced because you won’t have as much foot movement. On the other hand, if you are playing long-range backhand or forehand shots, you may use more calories because of moving around the court following the ball.
So the 400 calories per hour are according to the Tennis Calorie Calculator that allocates this value for a moderate hitting session. Among other aspects in the calorie calculator, these will entirely depend on your height and body weight.