Hey there, it’s Jeff Salzenstein, and in today’s video lesson, we’re going to get right to it.
This is all about the forehand sitter. The put-away forehand.
We’ve had a few people send me emails the last couple of months.
“How the heck do you hit a forehand sitter put-away?”
People are really struggling with this shot
and it’s actually a shot that you shouldn’t have to struggle with.
It’s one that you don’t need to be frustrated with anymore, and you can handle it.
So, there’s many components to go into the forehand sitter
but the one that we want to talk about today is where you finish with your hand and your racket at the end.
So, when you come up for this sitter
you’re going to come up, and today, we’re going to show the version
where you’re going to load up your outside leg, and then land on your
front leg, or your inside leg, after you make contact.
But the key is where you finish. The ball, you want to take it
above shoulder. Shoulder or above, you don’t want to let this ball drop
and when you finish, your racket is going to go down like this.
You’re going to finish low in this part. So, it’s anywhere from your pocket
up to just below your chest right, around your ribcage right here.
That’s the key to being able to flatten out this ball.
You’re going to load up the outside leg, you’re going to jump in the air,
and then you’re going to finish down towards the pocket.
I like to call it “Down to the Pocket.” Even though you might not go that low
you want to think of doing that.
Too many players are coming up, and they’re swinging, and they’re still going up over the shoulder
and they wonder why they’re flagging the forehand.
Luckily, we’ve got a player that can do it today.
Max is going to come in, he’s jumping into the scene right now, and he’s going to show us how it’s done.
So Max, why don’t you demonstrate it first, and then we’ll talk a little bit?
Go back to the baseline, please.
So, I’m going to give Max some high balls right here.
I’m just going to toss them up high in the air as if it’s a sitter.
He’s going to take it down the line and show us his great finish.
So, the ball’s right there
and you can notice where his racket is going.
He’s catching the racket because he’s been taught to do that by his stickler coach
and then he’s finishing down.
Notice the racket head acceleration, because he’s finishing fast and across his body.
Good. So Max, come in here for a second.
So, I’ve noticed… why don’t you go ahead and put your hand where you finished?
So, it’s somewhere in this area right here.
And so, Max, tell me what you’re thinking about when you’re approaching this ball.
(Max): I’m just trying to get my feet in the right position,
and then swing pretty fast, and aim low towards the net.
Okay. So, I noticed you didn’t go over your shoulder.
So, I was even trained to do, to finish lower
but what do you notice happens when you start up here?
Take the ball-shoulder height, and you kind of swing down on.
What do you notice happens to the ball for you?
(Max): Well, the ball definitely dives down to court, where it lasers down into the court.
Whereas, if I finish more over my shoulder, it has a tendency to
be higher over the net, and float long sometimes.
And that’s what you want to do on this sitter. You want to get that ball
at shoulder height or above, even near the head, and be able to cover that ball.
Smother that ball, and hit it down into the court.
Now, of course, if you’re hitting your sitters into the net,
then you definitely want to finish a little bit higher
and we can show you how to fix that as well. But if you’re missing long
and you’re not hitting that laser, get it above the shoulder and finish down by the pocket.
I really hope you received a ton of value from this lesson today
so you can go take action on the court as soon as possible.
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I’m really excited to help you out, and thanks for taking the time to watch this lesson today.