Eastern forehand flying long!

[MaratSafin_fan]

I play with eastern forehand but I have problem with hitting long. How can federer and del potro keep it in play so easy with eastern forehand? It feels hard to brush but it feels weird for me to play with SW now. Is it that I am using my wrist to much when I brush up on the backside?

Thanks for help!

[boramiNYC]

slightly close the stance more and keep the balance more toward the front foot as you make contact. also try to catch the ball a little higher and hit through the ball. but at the same time put as much topspin as you can by a fast swing and wrist work to bring down the ball. the trajectory for E is more of a horizontal and dip than going up and down too much like in SW or W.

however not a closed stance. stay around neutral instead of fully open.

[xFullCourtTenniSx]

Federer hits the ball as if he was using a semi-western and applies a bunch of wrist.

Delpo uses semi-western. He just has super big hands.

[sundaypunch]

The popularity of semi-western and lots of topspin is because it's easier to keep the ball in play. If you use an eastern grip and hit the ball hard and flatter, it will take much longer to reach a similar level of consistency. The problems will be magnified when you play someone a little better than you.

Delpo hits flatter than most as do many WTA players. How do they do it so successfully? Thousands of hours of practice.

[boramiNYC]

youtube has a video of delpo vs cilic when they were like 15 or 16. Delpo played almost exactly the same back then. not saying he didn't practice much but I'd say it's more of the technique he learned and developed into his own.

[Djoker91]

Hit thru the ball. Brushing up the back is overrated. Hit thru it like agassi, straight thru, keep head down after contact, and have enough RESTRAINT to keep it in. TRUST that it'll be enough to produce the winner. This method has helped me elevate my game bounds better than what I was. Instead of low to high, make the racket go side to side, wrist back, and follow thru with the racket between your left shoulder and elbow (for righties)

[rkelley]

Originally Posted by MaratSafin_fan

I play with eastern forehand but I have problem with hitting long. How can federer and del potro keep it in play so easy with eastern forehand? It feels hard to brush but it feels weird for me to play with SW now. Is it that I am using my wrist to much when I brush up on the backside?

Thanks for help!

It's impossible to say anything specific about your stroke without seeing it.

Generally Federer, Del Potro, and every other pro put massive amounts of topspin on the ball to keep it in. Fed hits with some of the highest amounts of topspin on the ATP tour (at least as of a few years ago). Del Potro hits flatter than Fed, but he's still hitting with a lot of topspin. John Yandel measure the rotational speed of Del Potro's fh and it's higher than Pete Sampras' on average.

With an E. grip you really have to focus on allowing (not forcing) your wrist to pronate at contact. Doing this requires the proper set-up before the shot. Here's a great video from a guy who uses a strong E. grip, similar to yours:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EMNtq...feature=relmfu

The other way to keep the ball in if you want to hit with a flatter, simpler stroke is a combination of keeping the ball low to the net and backing off on the pace. The problem with this solution is that you're either going to play low margin tennis (if you keep the ball low) or your shots will lack pace (backing off on the pace). Your ball also won't have any action due to the lack of spin.

[anubis]

Look to your strings and tension first. If you're playing with thick, smooth strings strung low, then no advice in the world will help you. Your shots will sail long all the time.

Use 17 gauge strings, first of all. If you're using poly, then go 18 gauge.

if you're using syn guts, string high. Start @ the top end of your racquets manufacturers recommended tension. You can even go a couple pounds higher if you want.

If you're using multifilament, string even tighter than you would syn gut. Multis are more powerful than syn gut, so they are adding additional distance.

For poly, string around 50 to 52 lbs. use something with texture, something that will bite the ball.

Once you have all of the above met, then it will be a lot easier to apply spin to the ball without slingshotting it long every time.

just my .02.

[86golf]

Take a loot at this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GX47t8IrLq0

The first guy has an eastern grip and he swings open to square or slightly closed. The second guy SW and swings closed -> square

The reality is, that the face angle at impact should be similar between to two grips. So if you are open on your take-back, you need some wrist deviation and pronation to square or slightly close the face at impact. If you pronate on your take-back, then you will open as you swing to contact just as SW players do. You need to analyze your face angle at impact and your height above net. You don't have to put massive amounts of spin on the ball to keep it in. That's just non-sense.

[isilra]

Originally Posted by MaratSafin_fan

I play with eastern forehand but I have problem with hitting long. How can federer and del potro keep it in play so easy with eastern forehand? It feels hard to brush but it feels weird for me to play with SW now. Is it that I am using my wrist to much when I brush up on the backside?

Thanks for help!

I don't know if it's the same problem but i used to do that too. Then i realized i hit the ball way lower than it should be. Tried to change my contact point and i began to hit the ball way in front of my body and above the waist height, it seems the problem has solved.

[3fees]

Originally Posted by MaratSafin_fan

I play with eastern forehand but I have problem with hitting long. How can federer and del potro keep it in play so easy with eastern forehand? It feels hard to brush but it feels weird for me to play with SW now. Is it that I am using my wrist to much when I brush up on the backside?

Thanks for help!

Probably,,try using a fixed wrist when hitting the forehand.

[cluckcluck]

Going to give my two cents:

Try to make contact with the ball at 45 degrees from your core. This way you're hitting the ball at the apex of your stroke and will have the racquet face going through the plane instead of being late and face being open (high trajectory).

[5263]

Are you trying to hit out past contact thur 3-5 balls for extension
down the target line?

[LeeD]

Embrace and use the WW finish after every forehand.

[Coach Chad]

I agree with anubis...you may want to tighten your string tension to 55 or 56#. A pure drive strung that low has got to have alot of pace...and is going to be harder to control.

[boramiNYC]

OP, I hope your fh has improved so far, but in any case, I'd like to add a few things.

A few more details about stance and weight distribution during the swing. assuming you are a righty,

neutral stance and left foot pointing forward in general. whatever you do during the backswing and prep, the most important thing, at contact point, your weight must be on your left foot. It could be transfer from right foot to left or just left foot planted throughout, but at contact, the weight should be on the left. With this stance and weight distribution, when you extend your arm and try to brush up the ball with your hand well in front of the body, the racquet face should be closed (facing down from vertical) on contact. When the stance and weight distribution is NOT precisely as such, the face will be less closed or open and the ball will fly with loss of control unless it becomes dinking or arming with no confidence.

Hope this helps.

[TheCheese]

Federer uses extreme eastern and also pronates his forearm during the takeback which closes the racket face, making it easier to produce topspin.

[anubis]

Originally Posted by cluckcluck

Going to give my two cents:

Try to make contact with the ball at 45 degrees from your core. This way you're hitting the ball at the apex of your stroke and will have the racquet face going through the plane instead of being late and face being open (high trajectory).

This is another good piece of advice. I use an eastern grip as well, and I find that If I'm too late to the ball (i.e., the ball is more or less directly to the right of my body) at the point of contact, then it's going to sky-rocket and there's little I can do.

To counteract this effect, I try to hit the ball early. As soon as the ball crosses the net, I've already pulled my racquet up in the "ready" position. When the ball is about 10 feet away from me, I've already started to swing my racquet. If timed right, the contact point of my swing is between 1:00 and 2:00 on a clock.

A lot of amateur players habitually swing too late. They don't start swinging the racquet until the ball is practically right on them. This causes a lot of unforced errors, mis-hits, and a general lack of control.

Hope this helps.

[aimr75]

federer uses a conservative grip but employs a WW motion to generate massive amounts of topspin

[Metalica]

one of the most common problem people have when playing the eastern forehand is that they hit with the racquet head facing slightly upward causing the ball to go long. This can be fixed by hitting with your wrist laid back and your contact point in front of your body (about 30-45 degree forward from having your arms sideway). If you're already doing all that then may be the margin for error on your stroke is too small and you should brush up more. That's all from me