Alright, so I decided to give this ‘valdmannova tennis’ thing a shot the other day. Heard some chatter about it, sounded kinda different, maybe useful, maybe just another trend. You know how it is. Always looking for an edge, or at least something to break the routine.
Getting Started
Didn’t find much specific instruction, honestly. Seemed more like a concept than a rigid drill. So, I just took the basic idea – focusing on unpredictable recovery and hitting off-balance, especially moving backwards or diagonally back. Went down to the local courts, pretty empty that morning, which was good. Didn’t need an audience for what I figured might look pretty clumsy.
I grabbed my oldest racket, just in case, and a full hopper of balls. Decided against using the ball machine. Figured a human feeder would be better for the ‘unpredictable’ part. Luckily, my friend Dave owed me a favor, so I dragged him along to feed.
The Actual Practice
Told Dave the plan: just feed me anywhere, mix up pace, spin, depth. The key was, he shouldn’t make it easy. Force me to scramble, hit while moving away from the court, or when caught wrong-footed. Especially wanted him to target spots that forced me into those awkward diagonal-back movements.
Here’s basically what we did:
- Started with feeds pushing me wide, followed immediately by a drop shot or a ball right at my feet.
- Then moved to deep balls corner-to-corner, but with lots of variation in height and speed.
- Focused a lot on my backhand side, trying to hit while moving backwards off the court. That felt super weird.
Honestly, the first half hour was rough. Felt completely out of sorts. My footwork was all over the place. Lots of flailing, framed shots, and mishits. Dave was trying not to laugh too much. It wasn’t about hitting winners; it was just about making contact and getting the ball back over, no matter how ugly.
Took a short break, grabbed some water. Talked it over with Dave. He suggested maybe focusing less on trying to hit properly and more on just reacting and moving. Sort of embracing the chaos.
Observations and Feel
Second part of the session felt a bit better. Not graceful, mind you. Still felt pretty awkward. But I started getting to more balls. Started anticipating the weirdness a little bit. Found myself hitting some okay shots from positions I’d normally just give up on. It forces you to shorten your backswing instinctively, use your wrist more, find weird angles.
It’s tiring, too. Not just physically running around, but mentally trying to react to the randomness. It’s different from regular drilling where you groove your strokes. This felt more like simulating those panic moments in a real match.
Final Thoughts
So, this Valdmannova tennis stuff… is it a game changer? Nah, probably not. It felt sloppy. I wouldn’t want to base my whole training on it. Feels like you could pick up bad habits if you did it too much, neglecting proper technique.
But was it useless? No, I don’t think so. It definitely highlights your weaknesses in recovery and improvisation. Made me realize how much I rely on being set up perfectly. For shaking things up, for practicing scrambling and getting out of trouble? Yeah, I can see some value there. Might throw it in once in a while, especially when I feel my movement getting too rigid. It’s a humbling drill, that’s for sure. Makes you appreciate the simple, well-executed shots a lot more.
