in today's training session I'm going to work with my student Alec on developing a heavy Top
Spin forehand and the way I'm going to do it is with progressions we're not going to get into the
intricate details of how Top Spin is developed because that's ultimately going to lead to two
things either a slowing down of this so important contact Zone which will lead to pushing or even
worse to an isolated movement of the wrist or the forearm and now we don't get heavy topspin but we're
left with either a pushed shot that's very weak or a very thin weak Top Spin so the way heavy
Top Spin is developed is with progressions what heavy Top Spin is is a combination of Top Spin
and power resulting in the ball bouncing very high on the other side of the court and having a lot of
penetration a lot of activity some of the greatest heavy Top Spin forehand Strikers in history were
Sergi Bruguera Igor andreev or of course you guys all know Rafael Nadal with the heaviest
Top Spin forehand of all time so if you're looking to develop a heavy Top Spin forehand I recommend
that you copy the progressions that I'm going to show you with my student Alec what I'm going to
start with is by you hitting from your knees is that okay with your knees I'm going to put it I'm
going to put a towel down I'm going to put it like at an angle so it's like kind of semi open like
this just put your knees in this direction and what the idea is here is that since you're lower
you have to hit the ball higher okay so you have to use more Top Spin to get it in of course you
can get it in flat but there's a chance that if you hit too hard you're going to sail it long so
to hit it hard and make the ball go in you have to utilize Top Spin so what is a good position to aim for
just go crosscourt in your case since you're Lefty we're just going to keep it super simple and we're
just going to go crosscourt another one come on good Alec that's it you feeling more topspin
your forehand yeah I really got to think about brushing up and but not in isolation though I
don't like you just rolling over I want you to use the the entire body that's available to you which
is your your torso I need you to rotate don't just roll over right there it's going to be thin come
again again one more time up more up come on up good up good one more okay the second progression
I'm going to have you stand up but I'm still going to give you a low ball okay have you ever noticed
when you play that when you get a low ball that it's much more natural to create Top Spin it is
but I also struggle the most of the low ones because I don't bend enough and I don't really
lift I get stuck at the bottom a lot of times okay that's maybe another problem for another
day but generally speaking like when you get a low ball in order for it to go in at a decent pace you
have to hit Top Spin there's no other way so we'll get again going to trick the system a little bit
and you're going to be standing up normally I'm going to give you a low ball and you're going
to try to hit hit the ball as hard as possible without losing control and it can only be done
with Top Spin okay here we go here we go come on you notice how the ball is going longer yeah okay
so that's not good okay all right so we need to increase the spin and we need to stay as low as possible
all right here we go come on go again again down down down come on you got five more one two three
three three four four four four four five all right good nice work I notice you really got to
try to push it all harder or I push but you really got to try to swing a lot more up and a lot more
aggressive you got to swing up you got to get that vertical swing path that's the only way yeah but
you have to do it with power okay that's the key that's the key SL down and started flying along
see the problem with with Top Spin is that if you hit a ball like this without any racket hit speed
yeah you're going to hit it very short yeah it's going to be too thin so you have to hit it with
more racket hit speed remember that anytime you're putting spin on the ball whether it's a kick serve
a slice serve or a Top Spin or a slice that in itself slows the ball down right which allows
you to swing a little bit faster I like the next progression is pretty self-explanatory I want you
to aim over the high Target no isolated movements come on Full Body Action Alec full body action
come on trust it go again you're getting there it's way too straight I need more vertical up
better there you go that was the first one better that's the second one come on too much isolated
movement come on Full Body Action that's the third one that's the fourth one a little B more depth
though okay it's a little too straight better come again come again that's
good come again that's good nice one again don't push come on accelerate more come on
accelerate again don't get cramped come on up and again up come on and last one Alec oh no all right
you hit the tow on the last one okay remember what you told me before we started this you're like I'm
not going to be able to do this but see now you did it that's true so I used to practice with
the volleyball net which is way higher than this yeah yeah and you have this optical illusion this
mental block you can't possibly hit a ball that high and make it go in yeah I also did a drill
where I was hitting forehand against a basketball hoop did you see that yep I remember that one and
everybody in the comments not everybody but a lot of people in the comments are saying oh everything
is going out no you can hit the ball very high over the net and make it go in if you hit it
the right way right it doesn't seem like it though when you're standing here and thinking that you're
going to hit it high over the net it feels like you're going to hit it out but it's not like that
you saw that you hit you were hitting heavy you were hitting over this Target and it was resulting
in more Top Spin yeah and a more dangerous for him from you but not only more dangerous but also more
consistent sure okay so now the next progression is I'm going to actually feed you from the other
side and you do the same thing start I slate the arm and kind of slowing down everything that's
the thing when you start going like this just in isolation with nothing else happening you
lose all the power yeah so you might get spin but it's not going to be heavy spin it's going to be
the thin spin the ball going to go short and it's going to be very weak right yeah come on you got
this oh again it's too straight too flat it's too flat Alec you gotta think that was not bad
but you gotta think vertical if the racket tip comes through this way it's not going to
be impossible to get it to hit it hard and make it go inside the line impossible you have to go here
cuz this shot needs to be a lot lower to be able to go in better a little bit more heat come on
better go again come on full body heat Alec full
body heat more come on more Alec a little bit more come
on excellent shot very heavy what I'm trying to show you here is that if you think too much of
the Top Spin that's when you end up hitting it with no power Yeah couple times I was like the
only way this is going to work with Top Spin is if it's intuitive if you maintain the Raad
speed because when you try to make Top Spin you naturally are going to slow it down you
end up with Top Spin but with the less heavy version of it or with the is even worse with
the isolated version of it okay get no power so this is why we have to develop heavy toson
with these progressions and not by like trying to be uh too technical okay okay
Alec we're going to play a game who can knock down the Cone first and we put the cone in the
middle now the more you're off the court you have to go through the middle even if you're
going for a Sharp angle and so we're going to try to get each other like more of an angle
but we're going to try tried to knock this down who gets the first wins all right come
on ah I know you didn't hit the comb but it was very heavy
man very heavy
Alec
oh oh almost got it come on yes Alec yes nice man you got I can't believe you beat
me you see how it's coming to you now slowly but surely this is how you develop heavy Top
Spin you do through these progressions a lot of repetitions and then if you do this a lot
you go out and play a match there's a good chance that this will be there for you yeah this is what
I think I need is I need to start learning how to trust this shot I need to hit a lot more of
these to I've been telling you comfortable with that what I've been telling you now for how many
years 10 years almost 10 years yeah you need a slice surve yeah that goes like to the righty's
backand and you need a forand cross court Top Spin yeah come on all right now last test we're
just going to Rally without anything on the court and we're going to see whether these progressions
had any impact on your forehand we're going to see if it's a little better okay yeah all right
yes yes no come on get your body in a good position yes go go go go go come on
yes yes play it out
why you come to the net let's do another one play it out one more
time yes I'm trust it yes all right Alec that's it good work we got to
do this more often okay this got to be a long-term project for sure nice work