go ahead it's like um everybody talks about how good my backhand is yeah that's true
for some reason the uh forehand when i do the forehand when the ball is coming
i i supposed to move it this way and kind of like move forward with the body but what happens to me
is like when i hit the ball it seems like the ball pushes me back you're going backwards yeah
yeah you don't feel that on the backhand i feel like i'm kind of adjusting myself on the backhand
yeah and it pushes me back you know it's really interesting because there's different biomechanics
on both both of those shots and the forehand will have much more rotation than the backhand
so sometimes the weight is moving backwards and what it solely depends on whether you're going
forward or backward depends on the incoming ball go ahead and get up to this ball try it again
go on the baseline and come up to this ball
good so there you're moving forward yeah okay and now go ahead and hit this one
okay and i'll hit this one here back up all right so there you caught that one a little
bit late but so basically what the way you're gonna move on the forehand depends solely on the
incoming ball so if the ball doesn't have a lot of penetration you know what i mean by penetration
like how much the ball is going through the court how much is it penetrating through the
court so take a look at this one right here watch see this one is penetrating quite a bit
you see the second bounce was in the fence yeah okay now watch this one look look at this one
is this one penetrating a lot not really it bounced like five times before hit the fence
it actually bounced twice before you hit the baseline take a look again there's a backhand
slice you see this one two three so what happens on a ball like this this is an extreme example
you cannot wait for that ball so you have to move forward and get that ball
this is on all shots whether it be forehand or backhand but specifically on the forehand
on a ball like this you'll have to move forward and the most natural way to move forward
on the forehand is to do it with your left side so you're going to step up with your left side
now you might need to run up to the ball let's just take an instance where the ball is maybe
halfway between the baseline and the service line you might be okay just taking one step
and stepping up to the ball see it's not like you're stepping in you're stepping up in relation
to the incoming ball that makes sense and in that instance you would actually be going forward
step up the ball is not coming to you you got to step up
step up hey look anna you can take a step like this take a step and the step can be
quite large you can make a big step towards the ball okay make it even bigger come up
better there you go come again
larger again
better okay don't be afraid to step up to a ball like that
now can you do this on a regular length ball you can't because what's going to happen is if you
try to step up to a ball that's coming with more penetration now you're going to reduce the time
between the ball and the contact you're going to have a very difficult time with the timing
and so in that instance when the ball is coming with decent pace you actually don't have to um
go forward at all because the forehand swing path take a look what we learned on the forehand is to
rotate and make contact in front and then go up across and back with the racket so there's
really no forward movement of the racket after the ball has left the racket it's an up a cross
and back movement so the body has to accommodate the swing path and there's no forward movement
you see so when we don't have to step up and set up the ball when it's coming right to us and the
movement is actually going backwards so you take a look we're going forward towards the ball we're
making contact and now it goes up across and back like this so if you try to go forward you would
actually make the stroke more difficult you would actually take away from this natural up across and
back swing path that you're getting from your from your torso rotation sequencing that we learned a
while back right so there's really you don't have to worry about going forward on the shot
you don't you just worry about finishing and making sure that you're rotating the right way
but don't worry about going forward only you're gonna go forward when the incoming ball requires
you to do so like i just like those balls that i just fed to you does it make sense
yeah all right so stand right here let me ask you another question go ahead stand right there
i feel like it's all about positioning towards the ball because i often have myself like a
chicken wing like yeah of course you know yeah like this instead of having like a free motion
maybe um it takes time to adjust myself to the ball it's such a great question because what what
that is it's ball recognition so you're probably not recognizing early enough how the ball is going
to get to you you're not set in the right place and you're forced to improvise either the ball
it's laterally too close to you meaning that it's too close to your body in this way yeah and then
you're like like you said you're chicken wing you'd have to get out of the way you have to bend
that's the lateral spacing you're just not seeing the ball that well or it's the forward backward
spacing where you think that the ball is coming to you but it's actually not and then you end up
reaching and going like this or the ball is going deeper than you expected it to and all of a sudden
you let the ball get behind you and you're hitting it back here yeah so all those circumstances are
going to make the forehand feel feel awful okay you know so just a matter of you have to really
track the ball and follow it very closely as it's flying to you but also most importantly
you have to have high intensity and move your feet a lot but when i do the backhand yeah i
understand where i should stand i don't double question myself how to position it like for some
reason yeah my brain registered this i know you know it's the backhand is so much more simple
than the forehand there's more moving parts on the forehand there's all kind of different ways
you can bend the arm and there's also a much more open positions like open stance on the forehand
on the backhand it's mostly closed i would say 90 percent of the backhands are going to be closed
stance and it's overall more of a simple shot you know yeah so i think that's why you find it easier
yeah however i do think that on the forehand you're more power than the backhand so while you
have a little bit more trouble on your forehead i do think you get more strength there while the
backhand is maybe more consistent okay so now i'm gonna feed you the ball and the ball is going to
be coming perfectly to you where you don't have to like think about going backwards or forwards and
just think about like doing the perfect technique okay it's going to be coming right to you
just hit it just hit it hit the ball but i'm going to feed it no you don't need that because the ball
is now going to have more penetration yeah so it's going to be coming at the perfect length
and you don't really have to step up to it okay you can just wait for it you can wait for the ball
good good
good anna much better
again much better just keep rotating all the way come on
good
much better nice very nice that feel good yeah but you said on one you felt like you were
couple in moving backwards a couple in the beginning okay so let me let me address that okay
why that happens when you feel like you're falling backwards so what will happen sometimes when the
ball indeed is coming a little bit quicker you if you don't make adjustments in your footwork
and the ball gets a little bit behind you then you're going to take it late and now the weight
of the ball is going to push you backwards a little bit and that's what's going to feel really
awful when you hit it because the contact is going to be too far behind so what you have to do
is again ball recognition is so huge because you'll have to move back prior to setting up for
the shot so you're going to kind of read that the ball is coming through a little bit faster you're
going to maybe back up a couple of steps set and now you have a better chance to play it in front
that makes sense yeah okay so stay right here on top of the baseline i'm going to put this
ball behind the baseline and you're going to have to back up and create space you got to make sure
that you leave your body behind the ball so in other words don't let the ball get ahead of you
okay good that's all right
those are better come again
okay that one felt like you were going backwards right okay do me a favor feed me a couple balls
i'm gonna show you something okay feed it deep like i was just doing to you and i'm to show
you two different ways here's one way watch this you see that and here's another way watch this
the second one so here's what i did what happens is if you back up and you're completely sideways
you're backing up and you're sideways it's going to be very hard to rotate okay and you're going
to be forced to hit the ball sideways like this and then you fall backwards like this
and then it feels terrible but even that's an extreme case you could even be a little bit more
trying to rotate and kind of have your feet locked and this is going to feel terrible too because
when the feet are locked like this your body your body is blocked and you won't be able to rotate
past this point right here so the best thing to do is to actually allow the left side to move
backwards this is going to allow you to rotate all the way watch so you're backing up you're setting
this leg on the outside this is super important that this leg is on the outside and now from here
the left side can go back and this is going to allow you to fully rotate and you'll actually be
able to hit it aggressively when you do it like that you want to try it yeah that makes sense so
you're going to be a little bit more open with your feet and you're going to allow the left side
to move backwards all right here we go
too sideways
do it again don't lock your feet don't lock them allow them to move better anna come again
don't lock it and come
lift that left side up just see what happens lift the left side up and see what happens
that was actually the best one because it was a little too far away
there it is better and you're rotating a lot further come again
better you see what i mean yeah does it feel freeing yeah it feels
more playful okay here we go
so much better so this is the shot that you need to do when the ball is pushing you back yeah okay
so when you're experiencing this stuff where you feel like you're you're being pushed back it can
have multiple reasons why it's happening so that's why it's hard for me to analyze it could be like i
said it could be ball recognition but you're not set up well you're letting the ball get behind
you it could be that and so if if you set up the ball well and you are recognizing that it's going
to go deep and you still feel like you're falling back then it might be something technical where
you're either too sideways or your feet are stuck into the ground and you can't really rotate so
that's the case when you feel like you've been pushed back you set up well allow that left side
to open you up all the way which will allow you to have a normal forehand normal forehand has full
torso rotation goes from here to here that's a normal forehand so when we are moving in different
directions on the court it's gonna be harder to do that yeah this is also the case if i push you wide
good so you do a better job when you're moving laterally than backwards
so you don't feel the same problems when you're moving laterally correct do you feel better on
your forehand when you're moving this way yeah compared to this way you move you feel better
about that right yeah i know you're doing great with that anna let me show you one more thing
concerning um how to stand on the forehand how to set up you actually don't need your
racket here let me have your racket and now just stand right there i'm going to throw you the ball
you stand right there i'm going to throw the ball and you just catch you with your right hand
and then throw it back to me just back up a couple more steps forehand come
good back to me backhand okay good and now forehand okay and backhand come on
good try so you notice something how you're you're working with your right side only
when you're setting up right here no on both sides yeah yeah yeah so naturally on the on
the backhand you're going with the right side towards the ball because that puts the hand
closer to the incoming ball if you did like this the hand has to go further across to reach
the ball it's more unnatural so naturally you go here so that's why most of the backhands are hit
closed stance like this and most of the forehands are hit open stance because it's more natural on the
forehand to go like this than rather like this this will make the hand too far back that makes
sense so now let's check when the ball is a little bit shorter let's see what happens naturally all
right so catch this one on the fly okay catch it on the fly do it again catch it on the fly ready
okay good all right come back and here come up up on the fly yeah do it again
okay and again lunge lunge yeah catch you on the fly interesting i do it again yes back up and come
up good anna nice and do it again and on the fly come on catch it all right so what's happening on
the short balls same as the lateral balls it's more natural to use the dominant leg okay on the
short ball however there's going to be a problem on the forehand from the baseline okay because
this is not something that you want to do is make a large step forward because now when you do this
you will not be able to get to get the racket back very far you won't be able to turn much this will
lock your body so this might be okay for example in the volley or if you're doing a forehand slice
if you're doing like a forehand emergency shot squash shot you know all these shots that are
kind of in the specialty category it's okay to do the natural way to use the dominant side
and go like this when it comes to the forehand like i explained to you in the beginning
it is easier biomechanically to step with the non-dominant side because now naturally we get
a little bit more of a turn and we also get a full take back and we get a full turn with
the torso does that make sense on the backhand of course the dominant side is going to be a
lot easier when we're stepping forward you know that makes sense yeah it knows what to do right
absolutely you don't really like to attack the ball and the body knows how to do it i'm glad
you said that because the body is going to let you know if you're doing something that's unnatural
it's gonna feel uncomfortable it's gonna feel really uncomfortable when you do something that's
not natural and that's why you don't really have to think of your feet just think whether
something's feeling comfortable or not if it feels awful it's probably wrong
sometimes i'm super limber so sometimes yes just like doing something over doing something and that
could be it could be uncomfortable in my body it could be when it comes to the like the
strokes because you're using the the arms and there's so many moving parts it's very complex
but i'm more specifically talking about the legs this is where you shouldn't put too much
thought on the legs and just go by your feel you know and move in the most natural way okay
anna so let's do a real test now and i'm going to rally with you a little bit and now the ball
is going to be unpredictable let's see if you um if you can number one have a little better ball
recognition and if you can set the ball up better and let me know if you feel like you're falling
backwards anytime you feel your're falling backwards you stop and let me know a little higher come on
up
okay see that OUT what OUT no it wasn't was in so see those last two balls the one before you
had to step up and the one after you had to back up you did it on both you stood
in the same place and had to make improvisations see what happens
so why did this happen because you didn't recognize the ball early enough you got to move
you got to move it you got to watch watch the ball very closely okay
good good
good anna up that one i felt like he should have stepped up that ball wasn't coming at you that
that hard with that much penetration i felt like you could have stepped to that one a little bit
did you feel the same way or no the last one no you didn't see it's going to take a
while to start recognizing this so this takes a while to develop this ball recognition okay yeah
let's keep trying come on good good okay stay on your toes here we go ready ana stay on your toes
come on back up see there you completely sideways three more good good
better come better
all right couple more good up up last one on the last one
come on
good good
much better much better there anna what do you think do you does it make sense what i was saying
today yeah do you still feel like you're being pushed back not as much not as much but then
when you do do you recognize it yeah i started recognizing it do you do you understand how to
solve the problem move your feet and stay behind stay behind the ball but not only that but you
have to you have to really study the ball because sometimes you won't know that it's
coming like behind you that's the hard part but the the one thing you can do right away you can
be patient with the ball recognition that's going to come with time with more experience
what we can do right away is have more intensity and always stay on your toes and move your feet
absolutely alright good job good job today very nice