coming forward instead of pulling back
 

I notice many young males, including myself, don't really go forward through the ball, instead we hit from our back foot.

I find that one to prevent this is to make sure you bend your knees and hit the ball in a closed stance. Any other advice?

Why do you want to prevent hitting off the back foot?

Less power, likely to make you sail the ball long.

Changing to closed stance seems like a desperate move. Many players hit with power and control off the back foot and I find this the best way to hit the fh. If I have to use the closed stance I am probably just too slow with the feet.

You dont have as much power if you hit frmo the back foot. i tried, and the front foot seemed to give more power

practice not falling back?

Impact the ball in the front..
 

If you want to punch a guy's chest with maximum swing power, where is the impact address--distance and location? Definitely not 'at the side'...

You can still move forward into the ball with an open stance. You don't need a closed stance to move into the court and penetrate the ball. Righties, put all your weight on your right foot and accentuate the foot stomp. No one really just runs side to side anyway, baseliners, out of simple geometry, must move forward in order to get to wide balls.

Uthree, there's a difference between hitting off the back foot and hitting with an open stance. Besides, what works for you isn't a be all end all for everyone else. Hitting with a closed stance is not an act of desperation. It is a way to hit the crap out of the ball when you have time to set up.

Going forward is the key to a strong offensive game. Now-a-days not many people (espesh. juniors) are coming into the net so the back court players don't know how to handle this. This also gives more pace and depth without having to hit higher as you can put more topspin on the ball if you move through it.

Nobody on the ATP tour hits a power forehand from a closed stance. They are all open, or maybe square. Closed stance forehands are for recreational players that are not athletic or young enough to do it a better way. A closed stance will also put your feet in an awkward postion to get to the next ball. If you are playing at a high level this matters plenty. So if you are an athletic player the last thing you want to do is switch from an open stance forehand to a closed one. It you want more power turn your shoulders and accelerate the racket a lot.

Watch Nadal. You will never see him hitting from a closed stance, always open. And he is rather effective. :-)

Are you kidding me? Closed stance forehands are only for "recreational" players? I guess that means D1 is recreational...who knew.

Sure, you CAN hit a "power" forehand with an open stance, but given the opportunity to do so, I would MUCH rather step into the court and drill it from a closed. It is a much more stable position to hit from, if you have the footwork. Trust me when I say, I hit open stance on both sides (with a 1 handed backhand), but a closed is MUCH, much more stable and just as penetrating. I don't know WHERE you got that idea, but you really shouldn't jump on the open stance is god bandwagon without some backup information.

Issue is usually footwork. If you're moving into court, you generally want to step with foot closest to ball. If you're moving away from court (i.e. a gravity step), you want to plant off foot closest to ball. This transcends the issue of stance.

If you find yourself using closed stance (or really any stance) in order to "create" forward movement, then what you're probably doing is to "braking" your movement with the back foot, and then initiating the unit turn against the momentum from your movement. That suggests incorrect footwork patterns.

One rule of thumb is that for every step you make, you don't want to close the distance between your feet. Or you try to keep your torso relatively open toward the net.

when given the time, i use the closed stance on the forehand. just makes me feel like i'm using my legs more.

i think there is a problem on this forum where people don't understand what a closed stance is. That being when your front foot goes further outward then your back foot, a neutral stance is when you step straight forward into your stroke

the only time people should use a closed stance (on a FH) is on a short ball as the restriction on hip rotation can help to curb excess power and the closed stance can often be useful for approaching the net post stroke

Very true, and a good point. Many of the top professionals hit from an open stance - and most of the others are half-open.

You don't see too many winning players out there today hitting out of the closed stance. It just doesn't have as big a following as open does. (For the record, I hit an open stance forehand and a closed stance 2HBH)

To answer the OP, one piece of advice that has helped me is to think of the ball as very, very heavy. To move such a heavy ball across the court, it makes me remember that I need to move forward into the ball.

What is the difference? Isn't the standard open stance fh normally hit off the back foot.

With right advice the open stance can work for everyone, any age any standard.

Yes it is not desperation, but ideally the closed and neutal stances are used as little as possible.

Isn't it more important for the player to be in position so he can "push off" or into the shot with his back foot?

I fall back a lot on my forehand and I know its from poor anticipation, poor timing.

Depends on what direction is the push off in. Forward, no. Upward, yes.

No it is not. The open stance is not suppose to be hit off the back foot and certainly not with your weight leaning back or falling back. Your coiling and uncoiling needs to go INTO the ball especially since you are to contact the ball in front of you.

In the open stance you prepare by loading over the back foot and then uncoil your stored energy through rotation upward or upward/orward to hit the ball in front.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFibX-inICg&NR=1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAtPs...eature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZWRA...eature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2WhfqlUsw4&NR=1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-1jHJ3-fAY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QVu9-...eature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8AJY...eature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vw-AM...eature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AicCk...eature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5l6N...eature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZZzU...eature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocP5o...eature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vv1Ygdx11Zc

You plant and then rotate forward into the ball. Sometimes if the ball is on you, you have to adjust accordingly by perhaps slightly leaning back but this is not ideal.

In both cases energy is either stabalized and sent forward or stablized and sent upward to stop from going backward. In the case with Federer choosing to run around his backhand, his momentum is going toward the side fence, but his shoulder rotation goes forward or stabilizes to compensate.

You are absolutely correct. The open stance is a great stance and one that should not be considered for all levels. However, the truth is advanced players and pros use various stances depending on what is going on. So players need to learn how and when to use a certain stance.

I want to use this example of Nadal hitting a passing shot from a closed stance. Nadal uses both an open stance and a semi-open stance frequently. Federer uses the same frequently and will use a neutral stance on occasion. But in this case, Nadal is using a closed stance.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQMH1...eature=related

Notice when he moves, he is moving sideways and his momentum is going sideways. If a club player hits from a closed stance (hips face the side fence), it is usually because they did not get a good read of the ball, a good jump on the ball, they move too slow, and/or they used poor footwork to get to the ball. Hitting many forehands from a closed stance on the forehand side plagues club players because of poor movement along with their inability to stop their momentum from going sideways too much.

There really is no reason for a player to hit from a closed stance on a forehand unless they have to as indicated by Nadal. However, it is also made clear that a power forehand can be hit using a closed stance with Nadal demonstrating.

The following stances are acceptable for the forehand: Semi-open, open, and forward/neutral stances.

Power forehands can be built on all of these stances. If a player has time it is perfectly okay to prefer to hit the ball as you are stepping into the ball to let it rip.

We do not play a pros game. We are not pressured for long rallies where the ball is placed and hit exceptionally well where we actually have a chance to get to the ball.