Gulbis's weird forehand
- Thread starter Messarger
- Start date
newpball
Legend
swordtennis
G.O.A.T.
He is ranked #24. The forehand is very good.
Not sure he can take the ball on the rise enough with it to get a win over say a Nadal.
Not sure he can take the ball on the rise enough with it to get a win over say a Nadal.
MichaelNadal
Bionic Poster
His matches with King Rafa are always entertaining.
my an lien
New User
I love it, great visual!
hahaha he's like "oh **** the ball's coming" "get away"
LazyNinja19
Banned
I love it, great visual!
Hey, that can be a new hit dance move
Looks like the Bhangra dance of Indian Punjabis.
Tshooter
G.O.A.T.
Back in 2008 I think it was when I first saw him I thought he had top 5 talent. In fact, I thought he could win a Major. Whatever spark of that thought that still existed ended when I first saw the new forehand. No guy with that shot is ever going to win a Major. The Tennis Gods will not permit it. It's absurd. But wow is it funny to watch. I have to go hunt up some video now. I'll get back to you...
bigred1910
Rookie
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDPjYZxi0n8
my first thought when i saw it was that he needed a long white dress like these ladies.
my first thought when i saw it was that he needed a long white dress like these ladies.
Oh come on guys.. if you look at it with they eye of an outsider it looks completely wrong. But if you know something about tennis you should see it for what it is. He is moving his left arm away from the other arm instead of moving his left arm alongside his right arm in the preparation. That is it. And it's working for him, at least it's not worse than his former forehand, so who cares really?
FreeBird
Legend
I love it, great visual!
Hey, that can be a new hit dance move
Looks like the Bhangra dance of Indian Punjabis.
newpball
Legend
dominikk1985
Legend
looks like breast stroke swimming.
does have a ton of power if his timing is right but takes a lot of time to set up.
does have a ton of power if his timing is right but takes a lot of time to set up.
octobrina10
Talk Tennis Guru
Gulbis = a swan in Latvian language
m2nk2
Hall of Fame
octobrina10
Talk Tennis Guru
objectivity
Banned
absolutely right. you are one of the most astute commentator on this forum.
Chanwan
G.O.A.T.
yep, it still looks funny though
beast of mallorca
G.O.A.T.
We are not saying it is not effective, we're saying it's funny :twisted:
What ever works......if it's funny even better....... :lol:
my an lien
New User
this is hell of a big deal. seriously.
dominikk1985
Legend
I'm not sure about that. if you watch that GIF again you can see that his arm opens like in a swimming motion but the closes again a little before he starts the swing. because of this he doesn't fly open with his front side and stays closed.
still I would not recommend that to anyone.
ricki
Hall of Fame
I'm not sure about that. if you watch that GIF again you can see that his arm opens like in a swimming motion but the closes again a little before he starts the swing. because of this he doesn't fly open with his front side and stays closed.
still I would not recommend that to anyone.[/QUOTE]
so your's better?
heninfan99
Talk Tennis Guru
And with the right grip all three of these dancers would have a 100mph forehand after some training.
dominikk1985
Legend
so your's better?[/QUOTE]
no but gulbis is more talented than the average kid so he is more likely to do that complicated move and still time the ball well.
an average kid might do better with a very simple FH stroke like djokovic than with gulbis style (he likely won't be as good as either
).
Mr.Lob
G.O.A.T.
Distracting if you're on the other side of net?
Pickle9
Professional
I remember seeing an interview about a year ago when asked about it he said something like he wanted to get back to playing more instinctively and naturally.
It's funny to read all this stuff that the troll kingdom posts about how his forehand is ughly and technically incorrect. It doesn't stop him from hitting the **** out of the ball. His forehand is at the bottom of the list of things that are holding him back.
Forehand Of Doom
Banned
Crazy technique for sure. But if it works for him, so what?
Recoveringhobo
Rookie
Yes, he can hit the snot out of the ball but his forehand breaks down when he's pressed for time.
Similar to Chardy's forehand which is powerful but takes too long to prepare.
Similar to Chardy's forehand which is powerful but takes too long to prepare.
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he seems to be giving the ball a hug and then in the last second he changes his ming and smacks it hard ... i think it's another way of using the off hand ... club players left it hanging on the side, most of pros are pointing to the right fence but for most of them is not natural , it's just the way they have to do it , this guy has the guts to do what he feels it's natural for him ...kudos to him
... i think it's another way of using the off hand ... club players left it hanging on the side, most of pros are pointing to the right fence but for most of them is not natural , it's just the way they have to do it , this guy has the guts to do what he feels it's natural for him ...kudos to him
Mr.Lob
G.O.A.T.
he seems to be giving the ball a hug and then in the last second he changes his ming and smacks it hard
Probably doesn't feel natural. The guy probably discovered it helped with forehand consistency.
jelle v
Hall of Fame
So is then how he used to hit his forehand as a kid or something? Doesn't really look natural to me. :neutral:
protestov.tt
Rookie
I love it, great visual!
man, I love his forehand! it's fancy, stylish! Of course it's far less consistent than his backhand, but looks awesome!
caugas
Semi-Pro
I love it, great visual!
Crazy power, sometimes I think he's about to take off with a wind gust. love it.
Tshooter
G.O.A.T.
Yup, still funny.
Here is a new one for you. Practicing with Thiem at 2014 USO.
Apart from looking bizarre it requires too much time to set up (like Hobo said, similar issue that Chardy has). When Gulbis has the time he sure can blast it though.
http://youtu.be/pmYsVnGUc6Q?list=UU58xJLHotBcrw_-9GrTYmIg
Here is a new one for you. Practicing with Thiem at 2014 USO.
Apart from looking bizarre it requires too much time to set up (like Hobo said, similar issue that Chardy has). When Gulbis has the time he sure can blast it though.
http://youtu.be/pmYsVnGUc6Q?list=UU58xJLHotBcrw_-9GrTYmIg
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Noleberic123
G.O.A.T.
Its the ugliest forehand I have ever seen by far
SpinToWin
Talk Tennis Guru
RF-18
Talk Tennis Guru
Bobby Jr
G.O.A.T.
I watched him practice a couple of times recently from up close and I think the change was made to stop him being too casual or slipping into flatter hitting. When he practices he holds his left hand up high and catches the racquet on follow-through on every forehand without fail. Not sometimes but every single time - far more deliberately than you see with others who do similar (Federer included).
The way he used to hit he would go through periods of hitting his forehand really well and others where he missed often - perhaps a sign he was not keeping his technique as tight as he could have. This exaggerated arm-up/catch could be a way to keep him from sliding into hitting too flat. He also used to fall back a little on a lot of forehands (to the left relative to the court) which he doesn't seem to do nearly as much anymore.
The way he used to hit he would go through periods of hitting his forehand really well and others where he missed often - perhaps a sign he was not keeping his technique as tight as he could have. This exaggerated arm-up/catch could be a way to keep him from sliding into hitting too flat. He also used to fall back a little on a lot of forehands (to the left relative to the court) which he doesn't seem to do nearly as much anymore.
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