Changing the racquet take-back on the forehand

[Midlife crisis]

My son has this one problem that is hurting his skills progression. He comes from several years of playing baseball, and he had a moderately high position holding his bat. Now, when he hits forehands, he tends to take the racquet back with his hand at about head height, the same as his batting stance, then dropping down in a big loop to hit the ball.

Besides being hard to time, he often doesn't have enough time to make a big enough loop to get much, if any, topspin on lower balls. He seems to do fine on shots from the knee to the armpit, and is still learning how to hit over the top on shots from shoulder height and above.

What instruction can I give him to help him gradually lower the level at which he feels comfortable with his racquet takeback? It's really only six inches or so that he seems to need to lower his hand so his takeback is in line with his shoulders, but he looks pretty uncoordinated when he does this and he looses a lot of the loop in his backswing, which then makes his forehand fly.

Thanks.

[Marius_Hancu]

Well, Gonzo's head high and even higher in terms of takeback, so it's feasible ...
http://www.tennisads.com/tennis_media/gonzo_forehand__tennisgods.mov

I think your sons' problems are:

- anticipation isn't clicking in early enough
- he's rushing through the loop, which results in mistiming and mishitting

75% of the loop must be at a very controlled, metronomic timing, you must really align behind the ball and align your racquet with the future impact point

He should SLOW DOWN during most of the loop, and accelerate only right before the contact.

Check:

Acceleration at contact (observations on Sampras's running FH)
http://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/showthread.php?t=42851

Ask him to COUNT with a loud voice during the loop, in order to control himself and make sure he's not rushing it.

[Midlife crisis]

I think your sons' problems are:

- anticipation isn't clicking in early enough
- he's rushing through the loop, which results in mistiming and mishitting

75% of the loop must be at a very controlled, metronomic timing, you must really align behind the ball and align your racquet with the future impact point

He should SLOW DOWN during most of the loop, and accelerate only right before the contact.

Check:

Acceleration at contact (observations on Sampras's running FH)
http://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/showthread.php?t=42851

Ask him to COUNT with a loud voice during the loop, in order to control himself and make sure he's not rushing it.

That swing in the link you provided is pretty much what I'm trying to get my son to do. The takeback is probably four to six inches lower than where my son has his takeback, and for the height of shot that Sampras hit, it's not a problem even with his higher takeback, but if it is lower than that he does have problems in that he doesn't have time to make that large of a loop. I'm also not talking about his timing on slower shots, but at rally speeds you would typically see at about the 4.0 level.

It also doesn't seem to be anticipation, since he hits it cleanly, but there's something uncoordinated when he lowers his takeback just a little bit, like there's something preventing him from replicating his normal loop at a lower position.

I see if I can take a video of him and post it. Thanks for your help.

[Marius_Hancu]

I'm also not talking about his timing on slower shots, but at rally speeds you would typically see at about the 4.0 level.

Well, this is where many players start to rush their loop, when pressed a bit by better players.

One needs calm and control, and implicitly experience at that speed, in order to avoid that.

Thus you should tape him, and make sure he's spending the same proportion of the time in the preparation and pre-contact segments at lower and higher ball speeds. Not easy, of course.