Forehand Completely broken - any tips?
 

So about half a year ago, i finally discovered how to hit a great forehand. There was so much topspin, I felt like i had worked out the kinetic chain properly there was so much effortless power. However, for some reason, I have now lost it for nearly half a year now

I have meddled with my swing so many times trying to fix it but what has happened is now i am so confused with my swing. I dont know where to contact the ball or how to follow through. I feel like i am constantly arming the ball and muscling it. I am putting in so much more effort into hitting each shot but getting so little power compared to before so I think I am arming or muscling or something. Shots don't feel clean of the racquet. When you hit a clean shot with proper kinetic chain, the shot feels clean and pure. I literally havent had that feeling on my forehand side for half a year now. Everytime i contact the ball, it feels muddled and harsh, not crisp and clean. I have no control over where my shots are going and i find they always fly long now rather than into the net.

The forehand was my best shot from day one of tennis and this is literally worse than when i started playing. How did my forehand get so stuffed up! It was absolutely lethal six months ago, the balls were literally kicking up to nearly head height at a great pace with nearly little effort.

Any tips on where to begin to find my forehand again?

yeah, all this yank left hitting below the sweet spot tilting the face 8 degrees forward and swing path 13 degrees upward stuff got you confused huh lol

keep it simple.... the #1 priority is face control.. if the angle changes during the forward swing, you have a flaw.

do a very slow shadow swing, or film yourself from the right side, and see what the face is doing.

if the angle changes (I bet it does)... fix that.

I'm in the same position! Its gone from feeling like i can't miss and eveything is coming clean off the sweetspot, to feeling comical how many miss hits/errors there are. I think as luvfortry said, its down to my racket face, i don't feel i have much control over the angle all of a sudden...whats the best way to fix this? Just slow everything down?

there are 2 types of flips -

1) the closed to open flip - this typically happens if your footwork/balance is off and you have to reach forward to make contact... so make sure you have them adjustment steps going and don't plant the feet too early... swing in balance, that should take care of this problem.

2) the open to closed flip - this one is more common... say you want the face tilt 8 degrees forward thru out the swing.. but when you transition from the dog padding position to the forward swing, if you drop your elbow too low, or you hit it too late, you end up with less than 8 degrees, or even a face open to the sky, you miss long...... then... later in the swing if your core stops rotating and the arm yanks to the left by itself, the face shuts down to the ground and you miss short.

so you need to understand what is causing the flip, then take corrective action.

I cannot say with any certainity with seeing your strokes, but I find that if a player starts getting too topspin happy/loopy, the groundstrokes often fall apart. Get back to basics - "Jump, turn, hit."
Jump - Bounce when you see the ball coming (so you are forward on your toes)
Turn the shoulders (with a simple preparation that takes the racquet head straight back)
Hit through the ball with an easy swing.

Sometime, it even helps to say ("Jump, turn, hit") so you can have a good rythmn

Perhaps you're thinking too much. If you had it before, the muscle memory is there. Just gotta let it happen.

Step away from the courts for 2 weeks.
Hit the wall, taking your time and maybe TWO bounces, and hit forehand strokes the way YOU hit it, don't think. Look for good ball speed with little effort, smooth and easy.

seriously you're becoming annoying.

Usually when you lose it you need to step away for a few days, a week etc.
It happens to me all the time. Sometimes things just refuse to sync.

The most important thing is the contact and what is happening at that point.
If you're losing control or it doesn't feel right then what is happening is
that your racquet is misaligned at contact. Now there can be uncountable reasons for that but it all boils down to what you look like at the moment of truth. If you filmed yourself and looked at the frame where you make contact you will most likely see that it doesn't look too pretty.

What might help is to do some shadow swinging and just put your racquet out in front of you and hold it there in your 'ideal position' at the contact with wrist slightly laid back etc. Does it look ok? Does it look athletic? Are you balanced? Not cramped or elblow jammed into your torso? Chest just about facing the net? etc etc

Now, while holding your racquet there at the contact point slowly back it up and try to reconstruct how you got to that ideal sweet looking contact 'position'. or how you 'can' get it there during a normal swing. I suspect once you do this you are going to find that your normal 'free' swing does not produce that position you were just holding at contact. You'll be out in front too much, or more likely too late, or the racquet face will be open etc etc. Something will be different. You need to figure out how to move your body and racquet such that at contact it will look exactly how you think it should look.

You might be trying to copy some pro whose swing you like but it's just not suited to your grip or body type and flexibility. It's better to develop your own swing.

Some players have beautiful swings, some have hideous looking swings but still have great control. What they all have in common however is that they all look very very similar when the racquet meets the ball. Figure out how to get to that point in a manner that suits you and is repeateable.

Try mini-tennis. It always helps me get my timing and technique back on track when I drift off. Focus on split steps, and slower and controlled swings but still your full forehand motion.

I know most people want to bash the ball from the first hit, but honestly if a person can't rally consistently in mini-tennis they'll never be consistent when playing with the full court. I'm not assuming you're like this, just that I've come across so many people over the years who are like this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=klkHBB7AzZo

Keep it simple, go back to basics. It sounds like you are trying to do too many things with it. The forehand is a simple motion. Clear your head of all the noise from dissecting it and trying to apply all these little tips. Stop thinking about where your racket is or what your arm/body is going and just focus on the ball. If you are going to change/work on sometihng take it one thing at a time.

Hear the buzzer on that one. The angle almost always opens up as you swing forward... that's why you should start your swing with a closed face or, to use figurative language, you should pat the dog.

ok let me clarify, after you come out of the dog padding, the face angle should not change

i recommend you hitting against a massive wall from which you can stand well away. hit big forehands off the wall back to yourself while focusing only on hitting with your entire body and keeping everything in rhythm and effortless seeming(this is where hitting w/your entire body comes in). just a few days of doing this big, fluid hitting ought to reconnect you with your old "easy power" forehand.
you remember it's much more about hitting with your whole body being in good rhythm, than the so called shape of your stroke or the angle of your racket face or any of that other minute stuff.

Wall good.
Crushing topspin forehands against it very good.
Crushing topspin forehands against it over and over even better.

Well, that's one of the cost of the enlightenment you get from watching too many youtube clips, reading posts here and elsewhere trying to improve, and so forth. Once you get into this realm where self observation of muscles and movements is encouraged without bound, you must either go all the way and keep learning and thinking and go through such ups and downs or just forget about trying to technically improve but just try to use whatever you have to enjoy the game at one level.

That's why some coaches discourage students to ask questions about technical details instead strengthen the trust and just focus on following the instructions given. As much as it sounds ridiculous some people can get good this way.

I say...go all the way now you've already crossed. try focusing on coordination much more (like yoga, pilates, alexander technique, etc) instead of too much technical details. it can be very rewarding at the end but no guarantee.

if you use a wall, say far away from it. as if you were behind the baseline and it was just beyond the service-line on your opponat's side of the net.

staying too close will make the ball come back too quickly (as if an opponant is vollying you) and you will be forced to compromise your form.

KEEP YOUR HEAD STILL!

Don't lift it during the shot. It will cause you to lift the racket and hit off the sweet spot.

rough estimation about 25% of the pros turn the head with the torso... Roddick being one of them...

the ball doesn't care about what the head is doing.

still, yes.... helps balance.

don't lift... not necessarily true for all.

No.
Turning the head is not the same as lifting the head. Lifting the head is jerking your head up to look toward the other side of the net early. It brings it away from the torso, makes it difficult, if not impossible, to see the ball, and forces the torso and the arm to lift out of the swingpath. The head can move with the torso, but it should not lift up and turn away (facing the side fence, in bad cases) before striking the ball. This is likely what the OP is doing. If he was just turning his head tracking the ball, it wouldn't be causing him to be unable to hit the ball in the sweetspot now, would it? The pros keep their head very level, not lifting up prior to contact.

Often, this can come from having a contact point too late and close to the body, where the head and body must move out of the way to contact the ball.