Richard's new Forehands - Open Stance

This is the new forehand. It looks very different than before. I think his footwork is much better and its allowing Richard to be in a better position more often. I can feel the power and consistency on Richard's forehand when we are rallying, much more than I used too. Perhaps the biggest difference on his swing now is that on the forward swing, Richard keeps his racket on edge (flat) while accelerating to contact and I think that is a major improvement and is allowing him to hit the ball with much more power and depth. On the previous videos we can see how the racket on the begginning of the forward swing goes with the strings faced down.
But still there is so much more to improve on his forehand. His Unit turn is much better than before but still not perfect. His racket is moving a bit earlier than his shoulder turn.
On his new forehand Richard brings his racket very high (maybe too high) a bit like Hewitt's forehand although Lleyton keeps his racket more horizontal. On the full turn players normally reach what I call the power position that happens roughly at the same time that the ball bounces and at the last step with the right foot on an open stance forehand. From that point players are fully turned, have the left arm stretched across, with maximum bend of the knees, and are ready to start the forward swing. On Richard's forehand, if we freeze the video at the time that the ball bounces, he has his left arm stretched, he seems to be at his full turn (that could still be better), but he still hasn't landed his last step with his right foot so he lacks ground force (knee bend) and the timing of the rotation on his forward swing is not great. So when he steps with his right foot the left arm is gone and the shoulders have turned already and so there was a loss of power. Maybe as a consequence of all that his extension after hitting the ball is short. Notice how his elbow finishes sometimes too close to the body.
I've pointed out different aspects on Richard's forehand technique. One thing is to have a good forehand and other thing is to turn it into a weapon. I have no doubt that Richard will continue to improve his forehands, and I can't wait to record him in six months time to see the difference.

28/04/10 (Rally with Andre)




28/04/10 (Rally with Andre)




The next two videos were recorded while using the ball machine. On these two forehands, Richard seems to have a better swing. Although we can't see the ball bounce, we can guess that when that happens his power position is much better than on the previous two shots and he has more extension after contact. Was the difference of this two swings from the previous a result of a conscious change of his technique or was it because the ball machine gave him more time to prepare his swing? In fact he is hitting the ball from further back in the court. In that case part of the answer comes down to footwork.

28/04/10 (Ball machine)





28/04/10 (Ball machine)