Tennis

» Site Navigation

 > FAQ

» Stats

Members: 13,751
Threads: 3,124
Posts: 14,231
Top Poster: Lawn Tennis (1,095)
Welcome to our newest member, RX48

» Online Users: 759

0 members and 759 guests
No Members online
Most users ever online was 1,727, 02-25-2024 at 04:34 PM.
Results 1 to 7 of 7
  1. #1

    consistent forehand

    Q: I have trouble with my forehand. It's very inconsistent. What can I do
    to improve it? Thanks

    Nancy

    A: Hello Nancy,

    Thank you for writing. I'm sorry it has taken so long to get back to you. I
    was shooting the second DVD in my Tennis Guru series last week. I have good news
    for you! There are a lot of things you can do to make your forehand more
    consistent right away.

    1. Shorten your back swing. This does not take away power, it can actually
    increase it. Keep your back swing short and use your body or core muscles to
    generate racket head speed instead of swinging only with your arm. It is more
    important to rotate your body into the shot then to step in or get your weight
    into it.
    2. Keep your elbow closer to your body when hitting for increased power and
    control. Just like anything else you do, when your elbow is bent you have more
    strength. If you get a chance watch some pro's hit and see how their elbow is
    bent at the point of contact.

    In short keep your elbow in and shorten your back swing. This should improve
    things right away. I hope this helps, if you have any more questions please feel
    free to ask. Thanks again.

    Clint
    www.tennisguru.com
    Get Re-Strung!

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jan 2007
    Location
    Australia
    Posts
    15
    Hey tennisguru

    My forehand has always been with my arm fully extended (without elbow bent in) at point of contact. What do you mean by bending your elbow at point of contact. Sorry, I'm just excited that I might actually get more power behind my forehand.

    Thanks in advance
    __________________





    The two rivals

  3. #3

    bent elbow

    Sliced,

    Keeping your elbow bent at the point of contact works best with open stance and semi-western grip. If you think about things you do on a daily basis such as driving a car or reading a newspaper these are things you do with your arms bent because you have more strength and control this way. Also when you use your trunk and core muscles to rotate into the ball you don't need to swing as much with your arm so keeping your elbow bent provides the control and strength you need to hit that hard. If you look at the photo's below you will also notice that both elbows are bent during contact. The best way to describe this would be when you watch an ice skater spinning do they spin faster with arms out straight or with arms bent? The answer is arms bent. You can rotate much faster if you use your torso and trunk to rotate and keep your arms in close. but this matter twofold in tennis because not only do you rotate faster you have more power and control with arms bent. I hope this answers your question. I'm new to this forum and don't know how to post pics right into the message body so you'll have to follow the links. Let me know if they don't work and I will try and post more. thanks for writing and good luck.


    http://www.smh.com.au/ffximage/2007/..._470x325,0.jpg

    http://www.tomveatch.com/tt/images/Roddick.Vgrip.jpg

    http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniont...s/sp_davis.jpg

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/media/images/3...assi_getty.jpg
    Last edited by tennisguru; 04-19-2007 at 03:46 AM. Reason: spelling errors
    www.tennisguru.com
    Get Re-Strung!

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Jan 2007
    Location
    Australia
    Posts
    15
    Oh OK I get it now. Thanks for the pictures and the info... I'll try it out tomorrow morning at the courts. It seems weird just talking about it but if I actually try the swing in the air it makes more sense. Nevertheless I'll try in tomorrow and see how I go.

    Thanks again.
    __________________





    The two rivals

  5. #5
    Quote Originally Posted by sliced View Post
    Oh OK I get it now. Thanks for the pictures and the info... I'll try it out tomorrow morning at the courts. It seems weird just talking about it but if I actually try the swing in the air it makes more sense. Nevertheless I'll try in tomorrow and see how I go.

    Thanks again.
    Sliced,

    How did it go?

    Clint
    www.tennisguru.com
    Get Re-Strung!

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Nov 2006
    Location
    France
    Posts
    46

    surprised !

    Aren't Federer and Nadal the 2 most powerful players from the baseline ???
    Cause their elbows are hardly (if not) bent !
    My advice is the elbow bending is not a source of power but certainly of control. The closer your elbow is from your body the better the motion control.
    Bending is also necessary with extreme grips (such as western -Roddick, Agassi...- and more) to keep a good contact in front of the body and prevents from hitting while moving the racket in a horizontal circular motion.
    Several websites to illustrate my advice :

    http://www.hi-tennis.com/
    http://www.easitennis.com/

    and pics too from http://www.procomparetennis.net/

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Jun 2007
    Location
    Panhandle, FL
    Posts
    21
    It seems easier to analyze the problem with someone's tennis stroke if they actually post a link to a YouTube video of them hitting. Once we watch it, then we can truly diagnose what's going on.
    Sincerely,
    David Patterson

    The best deals on tennis racquets are at Tennis Plaza in Miami.

Similar Threads

  1. Best forehand?
    By ilendl in forum Pro Players Forum
    Replies: 8
    Last Post: 12-31-2009, 10:57 AM
  2. Fed's forehand
    By ilendl in forum Pro Players Forum
    Replies: 1
    Last Post: 04-17-2009, 09:07 PM
  3. Forehand Help!
    By geekanti in forum Tennis Tips and Instruction
    Replies: 5
    Last Post: 04-07-2009, 10:35 PM
  4. Can someone help my forehand???
    By ghaughton in forum New TW Member Introductions
    Replies: 3
    Last Post: 08-07-2007, 08:14 AM
  5. How to hit with forehand
    By dearram in forum General Tennis Discussion Forum
    Replies: 9
    Last Post: 04-30-2006, 05:44 AM

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •  
Powered by vBadvanced CMPS v4.0.1