All high-level forehands have one technical element in common that takes
place very shortly before contact with the ball is made and that is the lifting
of the non-dominant leg.
So in today's video we're gonna get into why this is
taking place and if this is something that you should be doing on your
forehand. First let's discuss why the non-dominant leg is lifting on the
forehand and we have to take a look at the preparation stage to understand why
this is happening. So high level forehands will most of the time have a
loading position where the torso is slightly bent down and this particular
lifting of the non-dominant leg will only occur on forehands that are struck
from the dominant leg. Obviously if we load the non-dominant leg it cannot lift
in the air. So on forehands that are struck from the dominant leg players
will load in this particular way. They will bend the torso slightly down
creating a V formation between the upper body and the dominant leg.
So when the forehand is loaded in this particular fashion our body weight is a
little bit off-center. So if this is the center of my body and I load my forehand
in this particular way my body weight will be more towards my dominant
side. So now when I accelerate my stroke and I begin to drop the racket and this
front foot will start to lift. It will not get off the ground yet. So as I drop
my racket my weight will shift even more to this side and then as I approach the
contact naturally as I beginning to straighten my body my non-dominant leg
will lift off the ground.
And this lifting momentum accompanied by the body's rotation can provide us with
additional power and it's not only that. We can also help the swing path. So if we
have a vertical swing path the lifting of the body can help the racket go up.
And this type of lifting momentum also works on a forehand that's struck from the
non-dominant leg. So if I load my body in this position the same way. If I bend the
torso slightly down and create this V formation between my non-dominant leg
and the torso and now when I lift I get the same type of effect as I would if I
hit a forehand from the dominant leg. The only difference here is because I'm
loading the non-dominant leg it will not be able to get off the ground.
What happens then is that the back leg which would be my dominant leg will then
in the same way go off the ground as I'm very close to the contact. It will get
off the ground and usually what happens is as I continue my swing at the back
leg will wrap around this way.
And the lifting of the non-dominant leg not only helps with the swing path but
it can also help us with the finish. So when we approach the contact and that
leg starts to begin to get off the ground now because it's off the ground
and we can then pull the racket across the body and this leg will usually go
backwards a little bit to accommodate the swing path.
And the best way to set up a forehand like this is to have the dominant leg
slightly behind the non-dominant leg.
This is the absolute perfect setup for the forehand if you were going to hit it
off the dominant leg because now what happens is as we approach the contact
this leg lifts up in the air now it has space to pull back if we get a very
aggressive ball from the other side. So it looks something like this as I'm
approaching the ball it lifts up and now I can pull it backwards and I have more
space to be able to finish my shot.
See if I didn't lift my leg let's say my legs were stuck on the ground and I
tried to finish very strongly I wouldn't be able to rotate as much because my
non-dominant leg would be blocking my finish. So is this something that you
should be doing consciously? Not at all. I don't want you to start lifting
your leg on your forehand. It will occur naturally if you load the forehand the
right way. So let me show you how that works. So I'm gonna be in the position
that I described before and I'm going to bend my torso down I'm gonna accelerate
really fast. You see naturally as I accelerate my
torso straightens that non-dominant leg goes up in the air without me being ever
conscious of it. Let me try a couple more. I'm gonna accelerate upwards and see
that leg just lifts up completely on its own.
And the important takeaway from today's lesson is that you should try to load
your forehand in the most optimal way which is to slightly lean towards the
hitting side of your body which is on a right-handed player would be the right.
So you're simply lean down as you're setting up your forehand. Now when it
comes to how to position your feet I have a separate video titled open stance
versus closed stance you can take a look. It describes in detail when to select
the open stance forehand but I don't really use those terms. I want you
to think about hitting the forehand either off your non-dominant leg which
for right-handers would be the left leg or from the dominant leg. Now on forehands
that are struck with a lot of penetration on the incoming ball these
are going to be struck from the dominant leg. We're gonna simply wait for the ball
in this position and we're gonna strike it from this side. When this is taking
place and this will take place at the high level on ninety percent of the forehands
we're going to lean on this side and now naturally what happens because
our dominant leg is set a little bit further back than the non-dominant leg.
Now this non-dominant leg has space to go back to accommodate the swing path and
this is where this loading plays a huge factor because now because we're loading
this way this leg is going to lift into the air and now the violent torso
rotation will bring the non-dominant leg backwards and this only accommodates the
stroke enabling the player to hit a very aggressive forehand.
And it's important that you don't execute any of the movements of the
non-dominant leg consciously because there will be forced and more
importantly you will make these movements with the wrong timing and this
will not help your forehand. What you have to do is simply set up the forehand
in the most optimal way and then the lifting momentum and the body's rotation
will allow you to finish your forehand very aggressively.