The modern forehand that's used on the professional tours can be hit with a
wide variety of grips, arm structures, different takebacks, different finishes,
and even different contact heights. And when we look at the modern forehand
there are only two technical elements that are ubiquitous at the high level of
the game. And number one it starts with a loop accompanied with the non-dominant arm.
So all high-level players will start the forehand with the racket up high and the
non-dominant hand holding the racket and also all high level forehands will have
a loop. The racket will start high and with the non-dominant hand holding the
racket usually by the throat and then as it goes back it will drop from a high
position into a low position. All high-level forehands will also make
contact with the dominant shoulder in front at about 95% of the forehands. The
only time this will not be the case is in emergency situations. Under normal
circumstances all high level players will make contact with the dominant
shoulder in front. And the way these two technical elements sync with each other,
the holding of the racket with the loop and the dominant shoulder being in front
at contact is crucial to understand how the kinetic chain is created on the
modern forehead.
The reason why all high-level players have these two technical elements in
common is that without them a high-level forehand is simply impossible. Let's take
a look how these two items are synced with each other. From the ready position
we're gonna see that the ball is directed to our forehand and we're
simply gonna turn towards that side while holding onto the racket. And now as
we are holding the racket the tip of the racket must also be pointed towards the
sky which will give us our looping action. And now we can let go of the
racket and while we take the racket back a non-dominant hand will stay stretched
out across the body. And we can see here that the racket is going back while the
non-dominant hand is still stretched out across the body. It's an important part
to remember so that we don't initiate the rotation too early. So the racket is
still going back, non-dominant hand is stretched out across the body. Now the
next part on the forehand is ubiquitous technical element number one. This is
what all high-level players have in common. Now there are differences in back
swings, there's even differences in how the non-dominant arm is stretched out
across the body, but all high-level players will sync this part of the
forehand the same. So when the racket starts to drop the non-dominant arm
starts to go across the body. You can see here as the racket is dropping the
non-dominant arm starts to pull away. This has to happen simultaneously.
Non-dominant arm pulls out of the way while the racket starts to drop from the
loop. And consequently because we synced the forehand in this particular way, once
we hit the forward phase of the stroke which is right here, this is the butt cap
pointing towards the ball, the racket is now going to be going forward. Our chest
is already positioned towards the ball. And now as the upper body rotation
continues the closer we get to the ball, the more we open up so that when we are
extremely close to the ball our chest is already parallel to the net which will
guarantee us that we'll make contact with the dominant shoulder in front. And
because we're making contact with the dominant shoulder in front, this part
being the ubiquitous technical element number two, now the racket has a clear
path to travel across the body in a circular fashion in other words there's
nothing in the rackets way, the body is not blocking it in any way. Naturally
this stroke turns into a circular rotational stroke. And the rotation
continues until the chest is eventually pointing towards the side fence. If we
put these two technical elements in context of the entire forehand swing we
can see that sequencing the torso rotation correctly is what sets
high-level forehands apart. So the non-dominant arm is the first link in
the chain. As it starts to pull away the racket simultaneously starts to drop.
As we hit the forward phase the hips start to get involved into the
stroke and as we make contact now the legs are going to accommodate the finish
simply shifting the weight from the dominant side onto the non-dominant side.
The number one forehand mistake at the recreational level by far is the
dominant shoulder being behind right at the moment of contact. So at the lower
recreational levels this is an extreme case where usually players are
completely sideways. They're playing the forehand like this. But even at the
better recreational levels up to 5.0 level. Players will still make contact
with the dominant shoulder slightly behind at contact. And the difficulty
with this type of contact is that players are not exactly sure where
they're making contact. So whether the dominant shoulder is slightly behind or
in front. So players have to go by feel. Now you're gonna feel if you make
contact with the dominant shoulder way behind. This is gonna feel terrible but
you might not necessarily feel difference between a forehand that's struck
in this manner or in this manner. You have to remember that this part of the
stroke where contact is made is over in milliseconds.
So the only way to achieve
a proper contact on the forehand is by syncing the non-dominant arm with the
racket drop correctly. And you have to be careful when you're learning the syncing
of the non-dominant arm with the racquet drop to time it correctly. This timing is
very subtle you can very easily start opening up too early and you end up
losing the ball. So you have to remember that the stroke accelerates gradually. So
when the racket is starting to drop is usually dropping very slowly, so you
start getting that non-dominant hand out of the way very slowly also. And then
as the racket starts to come down and go into the forward phase the stroke
accelerates rapidly.
So the mistake you have to avoid is starting to pull this arm away to quickly. Start
slowly and get the racket over here, start going back, hold this position and
then as a racket drops, you slowly start coming in this way with the non-dominant
arm. And then just let the acceleration of the racket take its course. As the
racket accelerates you're gonna pull this arm out of the way rather quickly.
And it what's going to happen as a result of that you will be guaranteed to
make contact with the dominant shoulder in front every time.
How about the legs? Is the kinetic chain going from the ground up, and then
traveling through the hips, and then through the arms, and then finally into
the racket. Well it doesn't make sense because if we look at high-level forehands
we can clearly see that it's a top-to-bottom kinetic change. So the
first thing that starts is the letting go of the racket and the non-dominant
hand starts to pull away while the racket drops. And now we start rotating
the torso. Now the hips are usually still in place in this moment and as the
racket starts going forward now the hips are involved. And now as we make contact
now the legs start to get involved and we usually start to either pull back or
pull to the side with the non-dominant leg to accommodate the stroke. If you did
the forehand the other way, where you start getting the kinetic chain from the
ground up you will usually see something like this the leg will spring up and
then the hips and then the racket and you will open up way too early and this
will look extremely rushed and hectic. This is not what a modern forehand looks
like. You can clearly see that the legs always come at the end of the stroke and
that is to accommodate the finish. And just think back to how you learned the
forehand, so you didn't start with the kinetic chain, you started just simply in
a stationary position swinging the racket only with the arm to get a feel
for the ball and then slowly with time you started using your body more to
accommodate the arm. And we obviously cannot play tennis without the arm, the
arm is hugely important. And some people believe that the arm is swinging
completely by itself. That's clearly not the case. The body is there to support
the arm. Yes a forehand or a serve or backhand that's struck perfectly feels like
we're not doing anything with the arm because the entire body is synced
perfectly with the stroke. But just think if you have an arm injury, if you have a
wrist injury, or an elbow injury, or shoulder injury you're completely unable
to play tennis. The arm is obviously an important piece to the forehand.
And I don't want to confuse you about the legs because the legs are possibly the most
important thing when it comes to high level tennis. Without legs when you're
playing high level tennis you're absolutely no chance because number one
you will not be able to set up the ball correctly and also you need a lot of
stability when you're striking the ball. So that is something that is
crucial when striking a modern forehand. You must have a lot of stability there and I
usually recommend a wider stance so we are firm into the ground so we don't lose
balance as we execute this powerful stroke.
On the ATP Tour players will usually leave the ground on the forehand but
this is not because they're jumping on their forehand it's simply because the contact
point is higher. So on the ATP Tour there's a lot more spin and players will
make contact well above their waist, usually somewhere around their ribcage
to the chest area. So what happens is they're still executing the same
forehand that I just showed you the only difference is they have to adjust for
the higher ball so they're lifting and they're doing this syncing at the same
time and the momentum of the stroke usually carries them off the ground.
On the WTA Tour on the other hand players are still utilizing this syncing of the
non-dominant arm with the racquet drop and they're also making contact with the
dominant shoulder in front, but the legs are usually stuck in the ground so
in other words they're staying low and they still have all the correct
technical elements of a modern forehand and the reason why they're playing the
forehand like this is because the ball has a tendency to be lower. Balls are
more flat so they have no reason to leap off the ground they will very often stay
low as the executing the forehand.
How can you as a recreational player learn this forehand? We have to realize
that the second part is going to happen as a result of the first part. So you
will make proper contact with the dominant shoulder in front if you sync
the forehand correctly. So what you can do is hold the racket by the throat and
start quite high. And now as the racket is starting to go back you're gonna
remain in this position, you're not gonna start to open up yet. And then when the
racket starts to drop you're gonna start getting your non-dominant side out of
the way. And you have to try to do this simultaneously. So as the racket is
dropping from the loop you then start to open up. You got to make sure that you
don't open up too early. So if you open up as the racket is going back this will
open you up too soon. So you have to make sure that you hold this position for a
little while and then as you feel the racket dropping down that's when you
start opening up and then you simply just continue to open up and this will
guarantee you that you'll make contact with the dominant shoulder in front.
And now simply continue this rotation until your chest is pointing towards the side fence.