Forehand is a stroke in tennis, in which the hand holding the racket faces forward with open (inner) side of the palm. For right-handed players, forehand is played on the right hand side of a player, vice versa for left hander that is a stroke, played from the left side.
Tennis forehand is one of the cornerstones in the overall arsenal of strokes that are taken in this game, and therefore the question «how to hit a tennis forehand» becomes one of the most important ones. Besides, it’s considered to be the most natural stroke for hitting, and that is why this’s often the forte and main weapon for many professionals and amateurs.
So forehand in tennis today mostly determines the game of the most successful players in their baseline play (together with backhand).Thus forehand and backhand help players significantly limit the opponent in time and space, and also allows them to dictate their game scenario in most important points.
The development of tennis forehands technique was going in the following way. At an early stage of tennis evolution as the main source of kinetic energy needed to perform this kind of stroke was serving a progressive forward movement. Over the years tennis forehand has undergone significant changes. And currently, the main source of kinetic energy is the energy of the athlete’s body rotation.
In the old days players usually hit forehands using hand’s movement in combination with slight forward transfer of the body weight. Little by little, other parts of the athlete’s body became involved into hitting a stroke. In searching the ways of carrying-out fastest forehand with maximum topspin to introduce more diversity into the game and to be able to control the ball better, Rod Laver and Manuel Santana became the first ones, who demonstrated the elements of the modern tennis forehand.
However, it was Bjorn Borg who made dramatic changes in tennis. He carried into this game a stroke, which was later recognized as a non-traditional tennis forehand shot. This great tennis player, champion of Sweden, together with such players as Gillermo Vilas and Harold Solomon, built his game on a powerful and effective play from the baseline. Each of these three tennis players owed a crowning stroke, and it was huge forehand, which was carried out with the maximum possible topspin. This way the best possible conditions were achieved for sending the ball over the net that provided an increasing of the reliability and effectiveness of the stroke.
Technical characteristics of this kind of stroke created a foundation for the following appearing of the modern tennis forehand technique, which includes:
- open standing;
- western or semi-western racket grip;
- low racket location in the end of the swing;
- prolonged racket swing;
- standing with shoulders parallel to the net line;
- beating side of the racket string surface faces forward and, finally,
- a very strong movement of the forearm.
Biomechanical researches have shown that tennis forehand shot is an action, into which almost whole athlete’s body is involved. In the process of hitting inside the athlete’s body takes place the speeds summation of different segments of the kinetic chain. This process of summation begins at the moment when one of foots pushes off from the ground surface and creates due to this recoil force. Then, this force is consistently increasing as all the body parts included in the process provide a final body rotation in the direction towards the ball.
Answering the question of how to hit a tennis forehand, it could be said that from the view of execution consecutive actions that make up the forehand in tennis, it can be divided into the following phases: preparation, swing, approach to the ball, contact with the ball, following through. In order to demonstrate better the technical features of the modern tennis forehand, the discussion of the material will be supplemented with a sequence of photos.
Preparation
Tennis forehand instruction begins with a preparation position. The position of readiness to act, or sport standing, has some common elements, that are the same for almost all tennis players, and are described in following forehand tips:
- feet are placed widely enough;
- legs are slightly bent at the knees;
- body weight removed forward, with an emphasis on foot pads;
- muscles of the loin are relaxed as much as possible;
- racquet is placed in front of the body and is held with two hands;
- body is slightly stooped forward;
- shoulders line is parallel to the net;
- head is in quiet position.
Standing that is chosen by certain tennis player, will be peculiar only for him and therefore may slightly differ from the standing, described before. It is important that the position of readiness allows approaching to the ball with the best available speed, as well as providing an opportunity to take comfortable position in the intervals between the strokes. One of the main characteristics of preparation position, which really let you approach to the ball rapidly, is a split-step or twine step.
Once you have determined the direction of moving, you make a split-step, having legs slightly bent at the knees and that provides the storage of elastic energy of the muscles of the hips (which are reduced and thus increase the movement). Then this energy will be used for providing the explosive movement in direction to the ball – and hitting fastest forehand in the end.
Keeping a good enough balance before, during and after the hitting is one of the most important aspects of effective forehand in tennis. According to tennis tips forehand, the key moments that have direct relevance to the balance keeping in the process hitting are the following:
• the position of the head (organs of equilibrium are located in the ear area);
• position of the athlete’s upper body (where the body center of gravity is located);
• the location of the feet (provides support).
Swing
A key point of this phase of tennis forehand instruction – the left hand (if the player is right-handed) is placed across the body in the direction of the sideline. The right hand continues to move up making a loop-shaped movement – forehand loop. The exact position of the right hand at the end of the phase depends on the style of player and type of ball, which he is going to beat.
Thus, the completion of a full swing has the following characteristics, that you should remember if you want to learn tennis forehand:
- shoulders are turned round just a bit over 90-degrees;
- head is facing forward and keeps tracking of the ball;
- chin touches the left shoulder;
- left arm is stretched across the body to the side line;
- racket handle is at the shoulder level or a bit above.
Approach to the ball
After turning the body with the swing the common thing to all professionals is to place feet for the hitting, including a strong bending of right leg. (Of course, most of the top professionals do it only if there is time).
Everyone without exception leans on external (the one that is closer to the ball) leg. For the right-handed that is a right leg. Foot is turned outward. It may be even parallel to the base line, some players even turn it to the net at an angle of 30-45 degrees. Almost all the weight is shifted to this leg, foot is fully placed on the court. The body is kept straight.
The other leg is located closer to the ball and is slightly turned to the sideline. For maintaining the balance the player stands on the toe of this foot.
The player takes the position almost on the line of the ball flight. That is already a position for hitting, without any additional movements. The distance between the feet varies depending on the standing, used by the player. Usually at the shoulder width or wider. But the left foot can be placed much closer, if the player is going to take a step into attacking the ball.
Contact with the ball
The exact action at the point of contact between the ball and racket string surface is the most important phase of each stroke (forehand and backhand), because the orientation of the racket at the moment of contact determines the direction of ball flight. And this phase could become the most problematic at your way to learn tennis forehand.
So you will be able to achieve high efficiency in hitting the modern tennis forehand by doing the following:
- hit the ball with the racket straight, so that the body center of gravity is placed directly behind the imaginary line, which is a continuation of «beating» hand
- all the time keep the tight grip of rackets – it helps to reduce the probability of racket rotation, caused by the ball, which gets outside the center of the string surface.
Balance is a critical condition at the moment of the contact with the ball. Free hand plays a key role in maintaining its position at the side of the body. It helps to prevent too much rotation of the athlete’s upper body.
Following through
The final phase of forehand in tennis – following the ball through – is also very important, because it helps to keep the balance after passing the point of contact, and it is also necessary for achieving maximum of speed and creating good topspin – and hitting huge forehand as result. If the following through was done correctly, than it means that the whole forehand was correct.
Full following through is the result of powerful, relatively flat strokes or strokes with a maximum topspin, which are completed. Short following is an evidence of more aggressive spin of the ball. However, the best following in the modern tennis forehand is the one, which involves an athlete into moving after the ball in the direction to the goal, giving him a chance to finish this movement by transferring his weight forward and relaxing the hand.
Worth to visit:
Filmflick.com Films – new online movies database.