Practicing alone

When I get tired of side shuffling in front of the mirror and practicing strokes while staring myself in the eye, I have started practicing with a new method, and I want to know if it is actually helping me, doing nothing, or if it's in fact detrimental to my skill.

I am fairly new to the game, so my consistency is not great, especially with harder strokes like the chop.

I have been tossing the ball at a wall in my house in such a way that it will hit the wall at about 6-10 feet off the ground and bounce back to me so that I can either chop or topspin smash back at the wall. With the topspin hits, it sometimes bounces in such a way that I can get a bit of a rally with myself against the wall.  I do this with both my forehand and my backhand.

My main question I suppose is, since the ball is coming down at me with an angle that doesn't really simulate real play, is it even helping? 

Hi Jack,

This is a good start with your skills.  It will develop your touch and control of the ball.  Keep going with it.

We also have a lesson on our Free Lessons page on some more ideas.  Take a look at the lesson on Practicing Alone.  It will give you some more ideas.