Nathan's Backhand II

Nathan's backhand in May:



Nathan's backhands in October:

After watching the previous video from May I was really happy to see how much you've improved your backhand since then.
See how much more shoulder turn you have now in the next videos.

In fact an increased shoulder turn is indeed the major improvement of Nathan's backhands. See how much back can we see at the time of the ball bounce on the next video. Notice as well that Nathan's racket is reaching the usual "behind the pocket" technique that we see in all the pros backhands. This position happens when the racket head is just about to accelerate forward. The racket is normally parallel to the baseline and from the front view we can see the last third of the racket head on the other side of the body. If you freeze the next video at the second 20 you'll see the racket behind the right elbow at the other side of the body.



This is a extremely important position to achieve where the none playing hand has a vital task in positioning the racket ready before the forward swing.
Check Guga's pocket position:






At contact Nathan's left arm is not stretched although the arm extends a few frames after contact which makes it hard to see with the naked eye. I think Nathan should try to hit his backhands further in front, and changing to a stronger grip would help.

Have a look at the great master:

Richard / Hewitt comparisson

After watching your forehands on video, Richard I realized how similar they look when comparing it with Hewitt. Of course it is completely impossible for you to try and replicate exactly Hewitt's forehand and it would be counterproductive to do so since every player has his own particular and unique style to hit the ball.
However I do believe that you can understand much better Hewitt's way of hitting the forehand since you already have some common elements.

So where are the commonalities and the differences between these two swings?

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Both players start the unit turn with a big upward movement of the racket and right hand. They both bring their right elbows roughly at about right shoulder height with the right hand getting even higher than the head. So we can say both players start their forehand with a big swing.
A slight difference and probably not an important one is that Hewitt seems to elevate his elbow a bit higher and his racket tip is less vertical than yours (pictures 5 and 6). A major difference though can be seen comparing pictures 1 and 2. Hewitt achieved more shoulder turn on his power position which means that somewhere in your unit turn your forearm drove the racket back hurting your full turn. I had pointed out to you before that your unit turn can be improved. You have been improving it quite a lot in the last year and it is much better than what it used to be.


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When reaching the power position, Hewitt brings his left hand higher than yours and he maintains that throughout the swing. Your left hand is a bit lower and it gets lower by the time you reach the hitting arm position. (picture 4)
On the backswing Hewitt's hand and racket reaches further back and more behind the body while yours they stay more on the right side which is great as long as you improve your full shoulder turn (1, 2).

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Although your power position could have more full shoulder turn (back to the net), i think the major aspect to work on your game besides that is on the start of your forward swing till you reach the hitting arm position.
If you look at your picture number 9 and the at 11 you'll see a major drop of the elbow, right hand and left hand. Notice how the right elbow tucked in close to your torso. Comparing it with Hewitt's pictures 10 and 12 we can see how Hewitt didn't drop his hands and he still kept his elbow quite far from the body on picture 12.

Picture number 4 gives us the front view of the hitting arm position.
It is very clear that Hewitt is now roughly perpendicular to the net (3) and you have already opened your shoulders much more.


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At contact Hewitt is hitting the ball much more in front with the right elbow very far from the body. In comparison, your contact is much less in front and your elbow is very close to the body.
By hitting the ball more in front Hewitt has a natural extension on the followhtrough. His racket and hand rotates still with the elbow and hand quite far in front of the body.

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Overall I think your forehand is getting stronger. Turning more your shoulders during the unit turn and keeping your hands at the same height during the forward swing with the elbow further away from the body are two elements that you can improve on your forehand. The later one will make you hit the ball earlier, more in front which will naturally improve your extension.

Improving Richard's forehands - Unit Turn and Preparation

These are your forehands. I've uploaded 12 shots to make sure we have most of your technical habits. I agree with all of your comments Richard and I think you are having such a great awareness of your technique that it will be possible for you to find an even better forehand.

One of the general aspects of your forehand is that your overall swing seems to big. But the problem might not be the size of your swing...
There are a lot of pros with big swings and the first that come to my mind was Hewitt. By looking closely at Hewitt's forehands I just realized how similar it is to your swing, Richard. (as a curiosity your serve resembles Hewitt's serve in a lot of aspects. Very interesting...)
So the best way for you to know where you need to improve your shots is by comparing it to your best forehand technical model, Hewitt.



Hewitt has a big swing, even bigger than yours since his racket and right hand gets back even further on the backswing. I'll get to that later.

Here in this picture we can see one the great main difference between Hewitt and Richard's forehands. Hewitt's left arm is helping more to turn the shoulders during the unit turn. The left shoulder is under the chin and as a result Hewitt's shoulder turn is much better.


I think you should try and reach that initial position on the unit turn where your left shoulder touches your chin, that will increase your shoulder turn straight away.

Richard's Forehand IV (October)

I'm back again

Hi guys, have been very busy lately but I have some great footage to show you. Richard's forehand, Nathan's backhand, forehand and serve and Agniuska's forehand. Stay tuned...