Many recreational players struggle with the high forehand and that is for good
reason. It is a complex shot and its proper execution will have to depend on
various factors.
Let's start off with what you should not do when hitting a high forehand and you
should never take the ball off the bounce in this area. Taking the ball off
the bounce is a good strategy in some circumstances, so when the ball is taken
off the bounce its usually hit below the knee level in this area and if the ball
has a lot of penetration, a lot of speed then it's okay to just take it off the
bounce because you can work with the pace of the incoming ball and when we
take balls off the bounce we need the pace of the incoming ball and we're just
basically going to block the ball back, we're going to bunt it, we're not gonna
be able to take a full swing. You can think of it almost as a half volley. It's
pretty much the same mechanics behind the shot. We don't have a lot of pace on
a high ball most of the time so when we try to take it off the bounce, we're
gonna have to have a shorter swing and we're not gonna be able to get a lot of
power on a shot like that. Ideally if you were going to take the ball off the
bounce the ball needs to have a low trajectory and it has to have pace.
So a high ball will after the bounce go very high so if you try to take it right
off the bounce you are very frequently going to miss
hit the ball.
Another thing that you shouldn't do is let the ball come up and then let it
come down too low because that ball is going to push you too far back and it's
gonna lose so much pace that you're gonna have a very difficult time
generating power. If you allowed the high ball to come down too low and often if
the ball has a little bit of penetration it's also going to push you backwards so
as you are waiting for the ball to drop you're going to be moving backwards and
then it's going to be very difficult to find your balance.
To understand how to handle the high forehand we have to take a look at the
flight path of a high ball so the ball is going to bounce and it's gonna go
high usually above our head and then eventually, it's gonna come back down.So
where we can strike the ball is on its way up from the bounce and when it goes
through about the chest height this is one way to hit it or we can wait for the
ball to come up and then before it gets down below the chest area we can also
hit it on the way down. So those are your two options when it comes to the high
ball. At the high level the high balls usually come with a lot of penetration
and in those cases these balls have to be taken on the rise so when that high
ball is going up you don't want to let it come up above your head and back down
because the penetration of the high ball is gonna push you too far back and you
will not be able to hit the ball aggressively. So in those circumstances
those balls need to be taken on the rise about the chest area.
However at the recreational level often these type of high balls do not have a
lot of penetration and taking the ball on the rise requires great timing and it
is much easier to let the ball come up and then down and then you take it at
the chest area when the ball is on the way down.
The swing path on the high forehand will depend on various factors. Some
professional players will drop the racket into their regular racket drop
and then from here they will go up towards the high ball and then finish
straight across. Other players will adjust their take back towards the
height of the ball so they will take the racket up a little bit higher and then
come straight across the ball like this. For the average player is a lot easier
to adjust the take back to the height of the ball so let's say for example you
get a low ball you can drop the racket down a little bit lower, you get your
normal forehand you drop it down as you always do and then when you get a high
forehand you adjust the take back to go a little bit higher before you hit across.
It's important to use the body properly on the high forehand because the
incoming ball usually does not have a lot of penetration and it's losing speed
rapidly so we have to utilize our body to generate the power and the way you're
going to do this is, you're going to make contact chest height and then you're
gonna hit across and you're simply going to shift your weight from your dominant
side to the non-dominant side. So in my case I'm a right-hander I'm going to go
right to left and if you really rip the ball hard you will actually leave the
ground with your feet you're gonna become airborne and you're gonna land on
your non-dominant foot.
In some instances, the high forehand can also, be hit with a more downward swing
path. So if you are very close to the net if you're hitting the ball chest height
you can hit it down but this will depend on various factors, your height, it will
depend how far exactly you are away from the net so you're gonna have to figure out
if this works. The safer bet is to always finish a straight across this way.
Another option you have if the ball doesn't have a lot of depth let's say if
it's going to bounce around the service line you can take it as a swing volley.
The swing volleys are very tricky shots because in a real match they have to be
taken while the player is in transition moving forward and that makes them a
little bit more difficult to execute. If you do stationary swing volleys they're
quite easy to handle, and the swing volley is going to be hit the same way
as a high forehand. You're going to make contact about chest height and then
you're gonna swing straight across the body like this.
Your footwork and your rhythm are possibly the most important things when
executing a high forehand and this is where I see the most mistakes at the
recreational level. So what you have to do is move your feet with a lot of
intensity as the high ball is approaching a lot of players will get
stationary and once the ball bounces it's completely out of their reach and
it's too late for them to make any adjustment. So this is what you'll
have to do, the high ball will come and now you're going to start moving and
this might actually be stationary you might not be moving around too much but
you've got to keep your feet moving because you never quite know how this
high ball is going to react off the bounce. If you're playing on hardcourt I want
to hear those shoes squeak when you're setting up. That is a good sign that
you're moving your feet and if you do that you're going to be setting up the
high ball just fine. And now once you feel like you're set in the right place
you're gonna have to load and unload in a very rhythmic way. It's almost like a
dance so you're gonna load and then unload like this, you're going to load
and unload like this and this has to happen right before you strike the ball.
Make sure you practice the footwork and the rhythm on the high forehand. It is a
little bit tricky to get the loading the unloading timed correctly but once you
get the hang of it you're going to be hitting your high forehands much better.
Make sure you practice the footwork and the rhythm on the high forehand. It is a
little bit tricky to get the loading the unloading timed correctly but once you
get the hang of it you're going to be hitting your high forehands much better.