Hey everyone Simon here with Top Tennis Training and in this video
I want to show you how to improve your forehand alone.
Now many players struggle in finding a good training partner, they struggle in
paying a coach for regular sessions and they also don't have access to a
wall or a ball machine and they ask us how can we improve alone
when we're simply on the court just with a basket of balls? Now one of
the best ways for you to improve alone is to work on your technique to really
focus in on each area of a particular stroke so
in this case it's the forehand so we're going to be looking at five
main points the first one is finding the ideal contact point
the second one is achieving racket lag this
motion right here
next we're going to be looking at the power position exactly what you should
be looking to do when you reach that position
we're going to look at the movement to the ball and how you should be
recovering after you hit that forehand and finally we're going to look at the
direction of your shot so the first drill is very simple we're
going to work from the service line so the service boxes only
and we're just looking for the ideal contact point now the ideal contact
point will change depending on if you use an
extended arm like myself
or if you have that double bend in the elbow
if i'm using the extended arm forehand i can hit the ball much more in front of
my body because my arm is extended away from my
at your torso
with the double bend you're going to be closer to the body but it's still
out in front
one of the most important elements in generating a consistent forehand that
will help you win matches and will help you stay consistent in the
big points is generating heavy topspin and the way
you generate topspin is you brush that ball
now if you imagine the ball to be a clock we have 12 o'clock on the top
six o'clock on the bottom when we're hitting our top spin forehand and we
want to really generate heavy topspin we want to feel that we're
brushing the ball from below the ball level
so below that six o'clock position up to 12 o'clock
now if you're hitting cross court it will be slightly different it will be
five o'clock to 11 o'clock because you're coming
across the ball and up the ball at the same time
so keep that image in your mind because this will help you to really brush the
ball through that contact zone so all we're
doing in this first drill is dropping the ball
we're starting with the racket close to that contact point and as soon as you
make contact you're brushing the ball and you're having the top of the racket
so the tip of the racket here it will extend up towards the sky
so we're going to finish from this position below the ball level
in that position you're going from below the ball brushing up the ball
and you're finishing the top of the rack at the tip of the racket pointing to the
sky
now at the same time that i'm brushing up the ball i can also start to focus on
coming down and up with my legs so as i'm
in that position here i can load up on this outside leg especially this right
leg and i can feel that as i feed i then
start to come up as i make contact so that will help you
to feel that leg loading and unloading so i'm loading the
legs here and they come up loading the legs
then i come up
now if you start to feel that this finish is too easy
and you have already mastered that windshield wiper motion
you can then move straight onto finishing all the way across the body
now if you're someone who uses the bent elbow forehand it's the exact same
motion but of course my racket will be slightly closer to my body
now that you have the ideal contact point and you're producing that topspin
the next step is finding that racket lag
so a lot of players ask us how do you achieve this racket like is it natural
is it something that i should be forcing now you definitely don't want to be
hitting forehands and extending like this and really
thinking about producing that racket lag when you're actually hitting the ball
at high speeds because then you'll likely injure yourself
especially in the wrist or in the elbow but what you do want to do
is break it down so that you actually master that element
so a very easy way to do this is to simply get your racket in that
racket-like position so the bottom of the racket is now
pointing down the court and all i'll be doing is feeding myself
once again brushing the ball the same as in the
first drill and now i'm finishing across my body
so you'll have the two main finishes will be over the shoulder
of your non-hitting arm shoulder so this is my left shoulder
or i can finish across the chest and my racket will be somewhere
around my left shoulder now you can go cross-court or down the
line with this shot it doesn't really matter
i prefer going down the line because i like to see that straight line
and i'll know if i've made a good clean contact or if i've hit it slightly off
center now you could play around with the angle
of the strings you could have your string slightly more closed
if you want to have more top spin or you can have your strings more towards the
right side of the court if you want that more flatter kind of
contact point so i'm in that racket lag position
finishing across the body
once again i can start to load the leg and start to push off from that outside
leg now it doesn't matter which stance you use
everything will start with that outside leg that right leg
if you're playing with the open stance of course you'll feel like you're really
loading up this leg even if i want to step in with my
neutral stance i can still load up on this back leg
and then step forward to have that weight transfer
through the contact point that's a vital element if you want to produce that
heavier shot when you're stepping in with the
neutral stance it all starts with that back leg
so that's why it's important that we work on feeling this back leg
loading up regardless of the stance so now i'm going to close the strings more
you'll see how it produces more topspin because i'll start to close the strings
much faster and use that aggressive windshield wiper action
just after contact again
now i'll do a few neutral stands and i'll pivot around that front foot
to really help me feel that extension through the contact point
so neutral stand stepping neutral stepping
now if you use the bento beforehand it's the exact same thing
but my elbow will be more tucked into my body in that racket lag position
i'm still focusing on the same mechanics and the same finish
across the body or over the shoulder
now before we get into the next drill i just want to mention that we have a free
forehand guide you can download right away i'll leave
the link below this video all you have to do is click on that link
it will take you to our website you enter your email address and we'll
send you that free guide straight away there you'll see the five
steps to building the perfect tennis forehand and it's completely free
so don't miss out in the next drill we're now working on
that power position so the power position is where you have
started the swing this is obviously the starting base now i've coiled up my
upper body and i'm reaching a position similar to
this
where the racket head is higher than the grip level that will create that
leverage and it will also give you space to
accelerate the racket if your racket is level with your hand
and with the grip from here there isn't much space for me to now
accelerate that racket at high speeds but if i simply lift the racket head up
it doesn't have to be completely above like a wawrinka
it could be somewhere halfway so not flat
not completely up but somewhere in the middle now from here i have space to
accelerate the racket and i also have that feeling of
relaxation in my hand if i hold the racquet like so from this
position i now feel stress in my wrist because
i'm holding the weight of my racket like this gravity wants to do its job
and the racket to flop down but i have to now hold it in that
position whereas if i lift it up it's very
relaxed it's very loose and i feel very little tension in my arm
and the muscles and that's what you want to feel
when you're hitting those forehands you want to feel as relaxed as possible
as loose as possible and this is a very simple way for you to do this
and in this position you should feel a stretch in your trunk
so those core muscles you should feel like you've coiled them up
and they're ready to uncoil on the forward phase of the swing
you also notice that my left hand is across the body this is vital
when you're tracking that ball but also to help you generate that coil
if i don't use my left hand i'm off balance and i won't get that same coil
as if i bring this left hand across the body like so
i'm here now simply working on that
same things we've been working on before so brushing the ball
and finishing across the body i keep that going but now i add
that power position
this is where you can start to increase the rack head speed and increase that
power through the swing this will help you to
feel if you can actually maintain that technique
with just self feet i'll show you a few of the bent elbow
so i'm not extending as much but i'm still reaching a power position
and i'm still producing that racket lag
then back to my extended forehand
in this next draw we're now working a little bit on the movement to
and from the ball to keep it simple all we're going to focus on is that split
step so when the opponent makes contact on
the other side i want to be in that split step position that ready position
so that i can move off in any direction so the split step is the fundamental
uh component of footwork you want to feel like you're always doing
a split step when your opponent makes contact on the other side
as soon as we land off that split step we're going to now turn
this right foot so my right foot is going to go like this
and this will allow me to then run in that normal way
if i stay side on and try to move to the ball like this
it's going to be awkward it's going to be slow and it's going to cost me a lot
of time so as soon as we land from that position
the first step is turning this right foot
and at the same time we're coiling the upper body so it's going to be split
step turn split step turn so it's that pivot
step that is vital in getting you out to those wider
forehands and getting you to any forehand
but at high speeds saving you time and buying yourself time on that shot
so split step coil and turn now moving out to the ball i get in that
position feed and recover once again
split turn move power position hit recovery
so
and in this final drill we're now going to work on direction
so the first two targets we're going to focus on is simply
deep cross court and down the line now it's going to be a very simple
drill i'm going to be feeding myself one forehand to hit cross court
followed by one forehand down the line i can mix up the feeds i can go a little
bit higher i can give myself some low ones i can
give myself some wider ones i can also give myself some shorter or
deeper ones so you can mix up these feeds
and once again you can do this with a bounce or in the air like a drywalling
deep cross high over the net short one down the line
so deep cross short one down the line
so there you have it guys i hope you've enjoyed this video and learned something
new if you have enjoyed it please give it a
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whenever we release a new lesson signing off
simon from ttd all the best and see you soon guys take care
you