The obsession on these boards with the wrist involvement or lack thereof in the forehand is like trying to perfect cake decoration yet not knowing how to bake a cake.
Get a generally sound fundamental forehand first, THEN worry about which side your hitting face is pointing at the apex of the forehand takeback, and whether you want to hit with a locked or loose wrist.
For mature players picking up the sport at an age generally considered too late to become a high level player, a forehand that possesses the following traits should be enough:
- sound footwork (most important)
- a simple loop for the takeback
- racquet pointing up or slightly backwards
- a E to SW grip
- semi-open to neutral stance
- racquet finish over or around the shoulder (whichever seems to be the natural finish for the player)
From there, you can start tinkering with the details:
- wrist c*ck takeback? Straight takeback? Simple loop?
- Racquet pointing forwards vs up vs backwards?
- How low to hold the racquet (ie how many fingers on the handle)?
- open stance?
- proper WW finish? Reverse finish?
- double bend? Straight arm?
- Wrist flaccid or locked?
Obviously some of these are conditional, while others require you to make a decision, which may take a while to reverse if you change your mind down the road. But the point is that if your stroke is dogsh*t and needs a revamp, then you should really go for something that has the fewest components so that it is easier to troubleshoot. THEN you should consider adding or removing features (sometimes as you go along) to further optimise it.
Take me, for example:
- I initially started with a straight takeback on my forehand thinking it'd simplify things, but one side effect of it was that I found it more difficult to remember to do a full unit turn that way.
- So I adopted a simple loop quite quickly to address that issue.
- It worked for a few months, then I realised that I was taking back my racquet too early, so I'd be standing there waiting for the ball to come to me with my racquet already taken back, robbing me of power.
- So I added a wrist c*ck to slow down the takeback just a little and help with timing. That worked great for a while so that the racquet was always moving from takeback to followthrough.
- As I got better and played against better players however, that elaborate takeback was robbing me of time.
- So I ditched the wrist c*ck for the simple loop again, and by that point I no longer needed the physical prompt to time my shots anymore.
Yesterday, I finally reached a milestone I was trying to get to for years. My forehand finally reached the point where I can say I'm somewhat satisfied with where it is. My serve toss finally became consistent, and my trusty backhand stayed trusty. Everything finally fell into place. I started beating or playing close the experienced players who used to kick my ass quite easily, and finally managed to hand out the breadsticks and bagels I always thought I could dish out to those grinder / pusher types that used to revel in watching me kick my own ass on the court with UEs. The next milestone for me is to get better with the volleys (still a huge weakness in my game relative to everything else, so needless to say I stink at doubles).
And despite all that, if I could go back and change things, I'd have approached the bigger components--the footwork, the kinetic chain, the contact point--with the same level of intensity that I wasted on years of overanalysing petty BS like "best racquet takeback" and the direction the hitting face points at the end of the WW follow-through (I wanted it to face down because it's pretty), all under the guise of perfectionism and attention to detail. In hindsight it really wasn't; I just wanted to make my strokes look like Federer's or Rafa's at a superficial level, because on the non-superficial level I was not even close to having a functional forehand. It's basically the TTW / DIY tennis version of the all-gear-no-idea guy we all know and roll our eyes at.
. I might give up one day but doesnt look like any time soon. F.Mayer has a point. One of my coaches tried to teach me that but I was too stubborn!
