Below are slow-motion overhead videos in Shockwave and QuickTime formats of a re-creation of Andy Roddick's forehand.

Dial-Up Modem	Cable Modem
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There are two key points to notice. First, the contraction stage brings the racquet straight forward while keeping its butt pointing toward the ball. Second, once the racquet has completed the contraction stage with the elbow in front of the body plane, the body begins the rotation stage while maintaining the wrist and elbow position fixed.

For the acceleration stage, the body and upper arm rotation can be used in varying proportions to produce racquet speed. Typically, Roddick executes the acceleration stage in about 1/20 of a second, which is about the same as Agassi but faster than Hewitt, who is closer to 1/15 of a second. Average amateur speeds are about 1/4 of a second, or four to five times slower than professionals. It would be impossible to maintain stability at such high acceleration speeds if amateur technique were used.

In Part II, we use rollovers and still shots to analyze this forehand in detail.