| You might have seen some data on the forehand
on the public portion of our site. On this page, we delve into more details.
First, note that the key to a stable forehand (or any tennis stroke) is the placement of the elbow before rotating into striking position. When a teaching pro says, "hit the ball out front," she or he probably means to say "get the elbow in front." Hitting the ball out front is not a sufficiently accurate instruction because you can hit the ball in front of your body plane without the elbow being in front, and hit it very badly. We cannot overemphasize this. Because of the way human brains are wired, when the elbow is in front of the body plane, it is possible to make adjustments in precision that are not possible otherwise. You must explore this. Also, hitting a tennis ball is an unnatural act. Most people do not start off with a tendency to hit the ball efficiently or accurately. But most people can learn to do it quickly (in weeks, not years). To learn to get your elbow in front, you must usually develop some new muscles of varying sizes. You can do this by performing some exercises. Also, you must stimulate your brain to make some new connections, which you can do with the same set of exercises. A useful exercise we have developed is to hold the elbow of your racquet arm in one hand as you hit in a short court or on a backboard. The figure on the elbow page illustrates what we mean. Overview of an Efficient Forehand The forehand can be broken down into five stages. The first stage is the takeback, which has numerous variations that can cause some confusion. Of particular importance is the notion that the racquet face must be face down or pointing downward as seen in the figure on the left below. However, in order to proceed efficiently, players usually allow the racquet to drop quickly to the position seen in the figure on the right as the elbow starts toward a stable position in front of the body plane. You decide what is best for you by experimentation. The position on the left does allow for a bit more racquet speed since it is initially higher than that on the right.
The Contraction Stage If you were to take the racquet back to the extended position in the figure above left, the contraction stage would proceed by passing through the position of the figure above right, and then on to the position in the figure below right. The figure below left is a reproduction of the figure above right and is provided for comparison.
Choosing a name for this stage was difficult, and we are still unsatisfied. But for now, we call it the contraction stage. The reason is that you must contract the racquet along a straight line (or nearly so) from the position shown in the figure below left to that in the figure below right. The butt orientation does not change much, and this variance is not important. The butt of the racquet is clearly visible in the figure on the right. It will remain visible as the racquet is pulled forward in front of the body plane and toward the hip. The racquet is not rotated during this stage, but rather is pulled forward as you might pull a rope. This is not an easy idea to implement even though it is easy to describe. Nick Bollettieri has a useful exercise to get this idea across: he has a player pull a towel forward out of the hands of a coach standing behind him (see his Killer Forehand tape). But he never explains why this is an efficient way to accelerate the racquet. First, pulling the racquet straight forward with the butt pointing toward the ball requires the least amount of effort to get the racquet into a stable position with the elbow in front of the body. Second, pulling the racquet straight forward without rotation does not produce any unmanageable "equal and opposite reactions" that could throw your motion off balance. Third, pulling straight forward provides a good source of acceleration. The Rotation Stage The rotation stage must move from the contraction stage to a position where the racquet is nearly ready to accelerate into the ball. In the figure below, the left picture is a repeat of the contraction stage, and the right is the completed rotation stage. In the rotated stage, the upper arm has not been rotated forward to where it is square with the direction the player intends to hit the ball. An additional upper arm rotation is still available for a rapid burst of acceleration just before striking the ball. To move from the contraction stage to the completed rotation stage on the right, you can rotate the shoulders, hips, or, as in this figure, both. In coming discussions, we will illustrate other methods of rotation where the hips are not fully rotated.
Rotation can have a destabilizing effect on your swing. This is an advanced discussion for those who are ready to produce high racquet velocities. The Acceleration Stage The acceleration stage is where a final burst of acceleration occurs just before you strike the ball. This is very difficult to show in a figure because it is subtle. In the figure below, the left photo is a preaccelerated state, and the right photo is how the racquet would look from a front view after the final burst of acceleration. This acceleration is produced by upper arm rotation and not a wrist adjustment. You can explore this stage using the exercise on the elbow page.
The Strike Stage
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