In this discussion, we begin a closer look at the professional forehand. Though we have discussed many keys in other lessons, in this discussion, we focus on the use of the shoulder to advance the racquet.

Getting Started Using the Shoulder

The shoulder muscle is a very large and powerful source of movement. In fact, the shoulder muscle is key to the power of a boxer's punch. If you have been around professional players, you may have heard them say, "I hit the ball with my shoulder." This is metaphorical of course. What they mean is that the shoulder muscle is a key to accelerating the racquet during the contraction stage and on through the rotation stage.

We will discuss and illustrate three methods of using the shoulder to advance and accelerate the racquet. At this point, it is only important to get started developing a shoulder component so that it will be available when it is needed.

The Shoulder Exercise: Stand up straight as if at attention with your shoulders pulled back, as in the figure on the left below, as if you were going to jab an opponent standing right in front of you. Now drive (jab) your arm forward from the shoulder as seen in the right photo, holding the remainder of the arm as fixed as possible (some movement will be necessary). The lower figure is interactive, allowing you to study the transition between these two positions.

Repeat this movement about ten times. Do this a few times a day in order to prepare for using the shoulder to advance the racquet.

 

The next step in this process is to get used to using the shoulder to advance the racquet. In the figures below, the player has extended the shoulder forward as far as possible to get accustomed to this movement. This movement makes great use of the shoulder and chest muscles. The shoulder muscle pulls the racquet back while the chest muscle pulls it forward. It may take some time (weeks, not months) for these muscles to develop sufficiently to advance the racquet at a high speed. However, as soon as you develop some control over this movement, you should begin to hear and feel a better pop on the ball.

In conjunction with this movement, it will be necessary to learn to drive the racquet forward by concentrating on controlling the butt of the racquet. In essence, you must use the shoulder to drive the fist (or palm of the hand for eastern) forward in a straight line at contact.

This will seem very unnatural, but a tennis stroke is unnatural, which is why it is so hard to learn for the vast majority of people.

Using the Shoulder to Advance the Racquet

We often hear, "If I must keep my wrist fixed and laid back, and I must not swing the racquet in a circular motion, then how do I produce racquet speed or power?"

Developing the ability to produce high racquet head speed without using the wrist or slinging the arm in a circular motion is a key to professional development. It requires a concept of hitting that is different from what most people expect. This is one of the biggest reasons amateurs and professionals differ in their stroke production.

The figure below left shows the back view of the shoulder before contracting the elbow to in front of the body plane. The interactive figure on the right shows the transition from the position on the left to a shoulder contraction. The player is driving the fist that holds the racquet forward from the shoulder. It is not even necessary to think about the racquet head as you drive the fist forward because your brain learns the distance from the racquet butt to the racquet from using the racquet for only a very short time. We used the Open-Closed stance for this illustration because it gives the best view of the shoulder movement.

Thus, the initiation of the motion from the takeback position might be described as "drive the fist straight forward using the shoulder, keeping the wrist laid back and fixed." This motion, once developed, drives the racquet head into the ball at a high speed.

We discuss this and provide additional illustrations in the next installment of this lesson.