hey guys in today's video i want to talk about the technical differences between a classic forehand
a modern forehand and a next-gen forehand but not only that i'm also going to tell you which
forehand you should use at the recreational level so let's start off with the classic forehand and
it starts off with the grip it used to be hit with a continental grip even though there were some
players that hit it with an eastern grip as well but one characteristic of the classic forehand
is a take back without a loop in other words players like jimmy connors or john
mcenroe for example used to take the racquet straight back without a loop
now all professional forehands that i have studied even the classic ones utilize
torso rotation to get power so even a classic forehand has torso rotation but is sequenced
much differently than a modern forehand for example because of the fact that it doesn't
have a loop and here's the reason why when we take the racket back without a loop now when
we start rotating we're going to simultaneously go forward with the racket and rotate the torso
which results in a contact that's further back than a modern forehand for example
it is usually struck with both shoulders parallel to each other or in some instances
the dominant shoulder might be slightly behind
and the finish on the classic forehand is also much shorter
than a modern forehand finish for example so the racket usually would stop somewhere around
here generally the stroke was overall shorter it had a shorter backswing had a contact that
was a little bit further behind but also interestingly had a shorter finish as well
and because the classic forehand stroke was overall shorter the amount of torso rotation
was also significantly less compared to a modern forehand so players with no loop at all we take
the racket back and simultaneously rotate and go forward with the racket and naturally they will
also rotate less towards the finish of the stroke usually somewhere to about this area
and because of the continental grip and the contact that's slightly further behind the classic
forehand had significantly less topspin than a modern forehand or a next-gen forehand this has
to do with the fact that they used a continental grip or an eastern grip in some instances and
it is more difficult to generate spin especially with a continental grip because the hand is more
behind the racket and it is more difficult to go upwards now this doesn't mean that spin was
impossible there was even players back in the day who generated a lot of top spin but there's
no comparison to the amount of topspin that's created on a modern or a next-gen forehand and
also when the contact is made further behind topspin is more difficult to achieve especially
the heavy topspin that's seen on today's tour so with this contact that's further behind it
is definitely more difficult to generate topspin because the body is in the way even in a situation
where the shoulders are parallel and next to each other the body is kind of blocking this
vertical swing path of the racket doesn't mean that it's impossible yes you can still go upwards
with the racquet but it's definitely not as easy as it is with a modern or a next-gen forehand so
bjorn borg is the father of the modern forehand he was one of the first players to have a loop
on his forehand and was also the one of the first players to have more of a western grip he indeed
went over towards the eastern side and now all modern players have at least an eastern grip
in fact the semi-western grip is the most commonly used grip on the modern forehand and some players
are even further over towards the western grip so those two technical elements are by far the most
important characteristics of a modern forehand that is the grip and the fact that players are
utilizing a loop so here's what happens when a loop is present on a forehand now the torso
rotation can be sequenced differently so when the racket is going back it will go up before
it goes down this is a very important technical element of the forehand the reason why is that
now when the racket starts to drop from a high position we have time to start rotating early
now compare that to a classic forehand where there was no loop there was no time to rotate early
and players would simultaneously rotate into the contact they would go into the forward phase right
away and also rotate at the same time and this is not the case on a modern forehand because of the loop
players will first take the racket back and as the racket is dropping players will start to
open up so that when they hit the forward phase basically when the racket cap is pointing forward
the players will already be significantly open as a result of that as they continue to rotate they
will make contact naturally with the dominant shoulder in front of the non-dominant shoulder
so the big advantage of the modern forehand is that at the moment of contact the dominant
shoulder is in front therefore there is nothing in the way players have a wide open space
to as they continue to rotate to swing in a circular fashion up across and back
in addition to that with the modern grips the hand is more underneath the racket making top spin
easier as well
the amount of torso rotation on a modern forehand is significantly more
compared to a classic forehand so when we start the rotation early
we are also more likely to continue to rotate well after contact you can see that
on modern forehand players have a rotation that finishes with the chest towards the side fence
so the modern forehand compared to a classic forehand is a stroke that's significantly
longer it is loopier and therefore also generating more swing momentum as the racket drops from a
higher place and natural will pick up more speed compared to a take back where you're taking the
racket straight back what about the next gen forehand yes it is slightly different from the
modern forehand when we look at young players such as carlos alcaraz jannik sinner lorenzo mussetti
or even some of the players that have been around a little bit longer such as thiem kyrgios
zverev or shapovalov they do hit the forehand a little bit different so the difference is
in the starting position of the racket so the tip of the racket will point forward as they go
into their looping action so all the components of the modern forehand are still there but one
thing that all these players have in common is that the racket is slightly pointed forward and
now will happen as a result of that you can try this out at home if you take your racket in the
starting position in a more forward way now as you take your racket back the racket will be more
towards the outside so take a look from this angle if I have the tip of the racket forward naturally
as i take my racket back the racket will be more towards the side now naturally as the racket drops
the racket will start turning towards this side and eventually go into a lag position when we compare
the next-gen forehand to more of a modern forehand the difference is that the classic modern forehand
uh such as federer or nadal at certain portions of his career or kei nishikori have a vertical
position of the racket as the racket is going back so they don't put the racquet forward
they have the racket going straight up and naturally as the racket drops it is less likely
to go this way this will require a turn on the wrist and is less likely to happen take a look
from this angle as my racket is more vertical when i take it back it is going to drop in this
way and compare this to a next-gen forehand if i have the tip of the racquet going forward
as i take my racket back naturally the racket will be more pointing straight towards the side fence
now interestingly nadal has experimented with this type of backswing at certain portions of
his career but then reverted back to his regular way of taking the racket back but the interesting
thing about the next gen forehand is that players in the past have used this style as well andy
murray for example has also a position of the racket head that's more forward and then naturally
as murray takes his racket back the racket is more pointing towards the side also andy roddick had a
slight forward position of the racket on his take back and as he dropped the racket the racket was
also going more towards the side and now if we go way back we had a player called jim courier
not sure if you remember him but he was number one in the world he also had a next-gen type forehand
way back in the day jim used to have this racket completely pointing forward and as he took it back
he achieved the same position as the next gen players do so does having the racket like this
change the forehand at all i do think it makes a little bit of a difference overall when i look
at the next-gen players they all look whippy to me and i'm not saying all of them there's a few
next-gen players like tsitsipas or alex deminaur who have a little bit more of the modern forehand
characteristics but generally the vast majority of the next-gen players has this type of style
and what i think happens a lot of times with the whippy type forehands is that they're a little bit
less consistent than the classic modern forehand now the movements are happening with the wrist
because take a look if i have my racket tip pointing forward and i take my racket back
i obviously have to move my racket from this position into this position so this
is quite a big movement that's why it looks more whippy when you see these players play
on tv and i think what happens that if we compare these forehands at the elite level so that's a
very important distinction that i want you to understand there's absolutely nothing wrong
with these forehands in fact these are some of the best forehands in the world but let's compare
these forehands to the best forehands in history which in my opinion are nadal djokovic and
federer in my opinion the next gen forehands are not as consistent as those three guys
and the main reason for the lack of consistency is that there's a little bit more movement with
the racket and there's more chance of the forehand going wrong
i'm not the only one saying this there
was a really fascinating podcast with four legends it was mats wilander boris becker
john mcenroe and ivan lendl they were talking about the next gen players and one of the things that
they all agreed on was that generally the next gen players are a little bit less consistent than players
in the past and bjorn borg as the father of the modern forehand was one of the first players
to put heavy topspin on his forehands and this tradition has continued and the next-gen players
are utilizing a lot of spin players like berrettini or kyrgios have a tremendous amount
of spin so the swing path has become very vertical in other words when we look at the
contact shortly thereafter the racquet is going more vertically across the body in this way
and if you think about it overall suits this type of style of forehand when we have more movement
back here we might also have more movement in the front of the stroke it complements the stroke as
a whole having a lot of movement back here and then having also a lot of movement in the front
but again a lot of movement here might also mean that there's going to be some inconsistencies
involved in a stroke as well in my opinion the best three forehands as a previously stated
are federer nadal and djokovic and these guys also have a lot of spin on their forehands but overall
those foreheads look a little bit cleaner to me so if we take djokovic for example
it is overall a cleaner stroke with less movement when that's the case
less things can go wrong so which forehand should you be learning at the recreational
level personally i allow my players to develop their own backswing so if you have a backswing
like the next gen guys do and have the tip of the racket more forward and then resulting in a more
sideways position before the racket begins to drop if you can pull this off and by all means continue
continue doing so but in my experience i don't think you should even worry about the backswing
because the number one problem at the recreational level when it comes to the forehand is the contact
that's made with a dominant shoulder behind now in extreme cases take a look at your local club
players will be severely behind with a dominant shoulder and then as we get
to a more advanced recreational level 4.5 and even 5.0 in some instances players will still make
contact with the dominant shoulder behind that is the number one problem at the recreational level
and that's a problem that doesn't exist at the high level so if you want to have any chance to get
better as a tennis player this is what you have to fix you don't worry about the backswing you got to
start making contact out front now that doesn't mean that you're going to start straightening
your arm on doing all these corrective techniques you're going to have to start making contact with
the dominant shoulder in front now if you want to know in great detail how to do this check out my
video titled the kinetic chain and what about the high level when i'm coaching high level players
i let them develop their take back intuitively and if it happens to be the next gen take back
i don't necessarily have a problem with that if we take myself as an example i am not comfortable
taking my racket back like this this adds too much movement back here and i start becoming
very inconsistent so for me personally someone that has have a modern forehand for a long time
i'm more comfortable with a more traditional way to take the racket back with the tip of the
racket more straight up as it goes back so at the high level i don't want you to worry about your
backswing too much and let it happen naturally and at the recreational level i only want you to
start worrying about how you're taking your racket back if you're making proper contact with the ball