Push vs. pull forehand motion

[Lsmkenpo]

What is the correct way to start the forehand motion from the open stance?
I have watched two seperate videos, The tennis guru- Restrung video claims the racquet should be pulled around by the body, and the dave sammel- biomechanics video states that the arm should lead the way of the stroke and pull the body open, which is the correct way to hit a modern topspin forehand?

[rosenstar]

IMO, it depends on your grip.

I have a semi-western, so I'll explain how I do it with my grip:
Once I know that the ball's going to my forehand, my left hand slides up to the throat of my racquet. I hold the racquet about chest level and turn my upper body, while staying very low, so that I'm "stalking" the ball. once the ball hits the ground, my left arm immeadiatly clears out and my chest and torso follow. my right arm trails behind. Then, using my shoulder, I slightly adjust the racquet's swing path depending on what type of ball I want to hit (flat, loopy, heavy, whatever).

I'm a 4.5 level player. this is how I hit a regular forehand, a "rally ball" from the baseline. If I'm hitting an approach shot, or on defense I'm going to tweak my forehand however I need to.

I'd also like to remind you that if you use an eastern or full western grip, your motion will probably be a little different...

soooo does that answer your question?

[wihamilton]

I guess you could say the body "pulls" the arm / racket... the arm definitely DOES NOT lead + pull the body around. You want your body rotation to "pull" your racket around b/c that transfers the power / energy / etc. generated by your core into your arm / racket... into your swing. If your arm pulls your body around, you lose all the force generated by the latter.

If you watch slow motion clips of the pros, their body turn precedes the forward swing.

[JCo872]

I guess you could say the body "pulls" the arm / racket... the arm definitely DOES NOT lead + pull the body around. You want your body rotation to "pull" your racket around b/c that transfers the power / energy / etc. generated by your core into your arm / racket... into your swing. If your arm pulls your body around, you lose all the force generated by the latter.

If you watch slow motion clips of the pros, their body turn precedes the forward swing.

Exactly right. Clint Stephenson uses this "pull" idea, and he says the exact same thing.

You see the arm and racket "take over" and pull the body around on lower level players.

[whatsgood4u]

I used to use almost all arm on my shots and I could still hit pretty hard but after reading this I went and tried the "pull" forehand and it's so much more consistent. Plus I think I'm getting more power. With my old strokes I would tire out to qouickly I think that the "Pull" stroke requires less effort than the "Push" stroke.