mechanics of a flat trajectory, topspin forehand

Originally Posted by forehandbackhand21

Hi guys,

I've been hitting a somewhat spinny forehand lately, one that doesn't get much pace or depth. Im seeing other tournament players like me hit really "heavy" balls, ones that dont clear the net more than 4 feet but are very consistent, and they rarely land inside the service line. They have lots of pace on them but lots of spin too... and they're not loopy at all.

How do I achieve this? Specifically, how do I keep my wrist before, during and after contact? Right now, my wrist is pretty loose before contact during the takeback, then it lays back as I do the unit turn. The problem with this is sometimes my wrist doesn't lay back right, and I hit a really weak ball. So should the wrist be laid back all through the swing and then release (pronate) right after contact? I'm really confused, and I think all my other mechanics are right but my wrist is the only thing that is holding me back from these flat, penetrating, topspin forehands.

Cheers

The short answer is, pronate your elbow at the end of the backswing, shallow the swing path (not too low to high) and apply full windsheild wiper....These independent variables will TEND to flatten the trajectory while still maintaining a nice roll of spin.