Hi guys Nick here from Intuitive Tennis. So when do we hit a closed stance
forehand and when do we hit an open stance forehand? Check out today's video and find out.
The open stance forehand is not a new concept. It's been around for a
long time. You can check out some of the older matches on YouTube. For example
Borg against Vilas in 1978 French Open final you can see that both Borg
and Vilas struck the majority of their forehands open stance. Even on the
women's tour back then. Martina Navratilova against Chris Evert
one of their French Open finals also you can find it on YouTube 1985. Majority
of Chris Evert's forehands and Martina's forehands were struck open stance.
In modern tennis the frequency of open stance forehands has increased
dramatically to the point where most of the forehands nowadays are being struck
open stance and the number one factor for this is the penetration of the
incoming ball.
So what do I mean by penetration of the ball? Let me give you
some examples. So if somebody gives me for example a backhand slice, that ball
has very little penetration in other words it's not going to come through the
court very fast. So what must I do on a ball like that. I'm not gonna go open
stance because from this position I can't really take my racket back I can't
turn properly I'm going to step up to the ball and I like using the term
step up rather than stepping in because I'm stepping up in relation to the ball
being short.
On the other hand a ball with a lot of penetration is a heavy
spin ball or a hard flat shot that goes deep and on those balls it makes zero
sense to step into it or step up to that ball. We simply wait for that ball in an
open stance position and we gain a little bit of that extra time that's
very desired in tennis.
And this is the main reason why players nowadays
mainly play open stance, because the pace of the game is incredible there's a lot
of spin being produced and so you can see on the courts of Wimbledon where the
grass is used up. It's mostly behind the baseline.
So how do you train do you
train open stance or you train closed stance? Well my suggestion for players of
any level whether it's a beginner, intermediate player or advanced is to not
think of your stance at all and I know that sounds scary but is the
right way to do it. When I play tennis for example, often I'm
unaware of what stance I use in the particular shot. I just go by what the stroke
feels like and if I'm in the wrong stance trust me it's gonna feel terrible
and I'm gonna know that I did it wrong and I'm gonna try to correct it on the
next shot and let me give you a couple examples. Let's say I get a ball with
tons of penetration and I try to step in or step across like this now I'm going
to be completely locked in because of this. The ball is coming fast I'm going
to meet it late and I'm not gonna be able to rotate it and it's gonna feel
terrible as opposed to just being simply open stance and then gaining that extra
time had to hit the ball in front. And the same goes for a short ball. Let's say
I'm trying to run down a slice and I come to the ball like this. This is not
gonna feel right you don't even have to be aware what foot you're stepping with.
It's just simply gonna feel wrong and you won't do it again. The next time
you're gonna come at it this way it's gonna feel a lot more natural.
So I'm going to hit a few forehands and we're gonna see which one can be open
stance and which ones can be closed stance. So this is definitely open stance. See
the bounce of the ball, open stance as well, this is closed stance and this is
probably should have been closed, this is definitely closed stance and
this is open and this is open as well and this is probably could have done closed on
that one definitely closed stance there. We just go by the ball. Look at the
ball and you can determine what feels right.
yeah one more that's open stance.
Thank you guys for watching this video. Please like, share and subscribe and I'll
see you next time.