Boon's Forehand

Thanks Boon for sharing your shots with us.
Boon you have a very interesting forehand.
After watching all of the six videos of your forehand I can notice some aspects of your technique that can be improved.




The first thing I do before analyzing someone's technique is to compare the similarities between all the videos. Is there any of the six videos where your technique seems more sound?...

Yes there is! The second video from the front angle is in my opinion the better swing.

However the first thing that we cans easily see Boon is that you are not on your toes and you don't do your split steps. You might be loosing 20% or 30% of your reaction time. Your preparation might be seriously doomed because of the lack of split steps...




The previous video was better than on the other ones because you kept the left hand longer on the racquet. You released the left hand from the racquet when your shoulders were perpendicular and that is one aspect which is common to the pros.
What that means is that your unit turn on the second video was better and so there was less independent movement of the right arm and racquet on your preparation.
As a consequence of a longer hold of the left hand on the racquet, you were able to rotate the shoulders more than on any of the other forehands here recorded on video. The left hand was positioned across the body roughly parallel to the baseline:
(Picture taken at the bounce of the ball from the second video)


I can remember one player with a similar position of the hands and racquet head during the unit turn. Agassi has gone higher with the hands and racquet and his rotation was greater of course but there is still a similarity:



Boon maybe you can give it a go and raise the hands a bit more on your shoulder turn. Just like Agassi you can try keeping your left hand a bit more on the racquet to increase your turn.




Another important element to observe on your swing is what we as coaches say is the hitting arm position. This position occurs just before contact. It is very hard to observe it with the naked eye and normally we need assistance of HS video. In this position the butt of the racquet is in line with the ball and except on flat balls or higher contact balls the players have the butt of the racquet much more than perpendicular to the net.
My photo with a hitting arm position:


And here we have two pictures from your forehands. The first is from video number 2 and then video number 3:






Although I like the stance on picture 3, your hitting arm position is not as effective as on picture 2. On picture 2 the butt of the racquet was almost on perpendicular to the court which means that although is better than on picture 3 you still need to have to tilt your racquet head back and to your left side a bit more with your wrist on a laid back position to allow you to have more power.



Because your hitting arm position is not great, at contact your wrist doesn't seem to be laid back and therefore you swing across with your forearm just after contact and on your followthrough.



From this side view angle you can see how your left hand separates itself from the racquet in front of your body and didn't assist the rotation of your shoulders on your preparation. This is probably the most important aspect to improve on your game firstly. As you start turning more your shoulders due to the longer hold of your left hand (better unit turn) you will probably find easier to position the racquet on a more effective hitting arm position and therefore having your wrist laid back at contact.
I can't wait to see your improvements on your forehand. Good luck Boon and don't forget your split steps!

Valeria's Forehands

Thanks Valeria for sharing your videos with us.
By watching the videos we can clearly see a lot of different technical aspects that you can improve. However the good news is that when we improve a certain element of our technique, we tend to improve other elements as well.



Starting from the beginning, on your ready position, the left hand doesn't seem to be holding the racquet and is almost overlapping your right hand. Your left hand fingers are barely touching the racquet. It is an early sign that your left hand won't play an important part on the preparation of your forehand.

The forehand preparation should start with two hands on the racquet. How long should you hold the racquet with the left hand ? Roughly until your shoulders turn perpendicular to the net. Check Federer, his left hand is still on the racquet and his shoulders are perpendicular to the net.



Although some players who have a double handed backhand, position their left hand just next to the right hand on ready position, I normally advise players to shift their left hand closer to the throat of the racquet just like Agassi, Roddick and Safin used to do. I think having the left hand on the throat on ready position helps the turn of the shoulders on the forehand side, and more than compensates for the (minimum) time lost on the backhand because of the need to shift the left hand back down to the handle. On your case though, Valeria, you have a one handed backhand so try positioning the left hand on the throat of the racquet until your shoulders turn perpendicular. Just like Federer on the previous picture.
This is an easy fix and you should start noticing the results straight away. If you can keep your left hand on the racquet longer until or shoulders turn perpendicular or almost you will improve another part of your swing that is letting you down, THE UNIT TURN!



The next aspect of your technique you need to address is the unit turn. The word says it all you want your body turning as a unit with no independent movement of any parts, specially the right arm and racquet. Watching your video Valeria it is very clear to observe that on the first 10 or 15 seconds of the video (slow motion time) Your right arm racquet is moving independently from your shoulders. You are getting your racquet back early which is a common misunderstanding in club tennis. What the pros really do is they turn the shoulders, torso and feet and the right arm and racquet moves passively.



Despite the fact that your initial unit turn is not very sound since your racquet head is moving faster than the rotation of your shoulders, in the middle part of the turn your shoulders seem to catch up with your right arm and it moves at roughly the same speed until the ball bounces. Therefore you turn your shoulders perpendicular to the net on all shots.



If we keep and eye on the right hand and the racquet head throughout the shot and especially on the forward swing we can easily understand why you are not hitting your forehands with topspin. Instead you are slicing the forehands and sometimes with side spin.
When the ball bounces your racquet head is at the same height of your right hand which is fine. What is not so great is that when your hand starts moving forward your racquet head starts going up and it stays up until just before you hit the ball. If you freeze the video on the forward swing you can see it clearly.



Good luck!