Cracked the code of tennis forehand
- Thread starter Curious
- Start date
Curious
G.O.A.T.
I studied his stroke for a few days, then did some shadow swings and all of a sudden it just clicked nicely. Then I played a few sets and loved the result. Why did I do this? I thought he was the best in terms of 'throwing the racket' motion with the least arming!
Anyway here is some shadow swings. Real hitting video will come later when the weather gets better.
Two amazing details:
1.That helicopter followthrough is not intentional at all.
2. The first time ever since I started playing tennis I seem to be getting some blistering on the inside surface of my index finger!
Also, look at the extent of that racket flip, man!
FiReFTW
Legend
I studied his stroke for a few days, then did some shadow swings and all of a sudden it just clicked nicely. Then I played a few sets and loved the result. Why did I do this? I thought he was the best in terms of 'throwing the racket' motion with the least arming!
Anyway here is some shadow swings. Real hitting video will come later when the weather gets better.
Two amazing details:
1.That helicopter followthrough is not intentional at all.
2. The first time ever since I started playing tennis I seem to be getting some blistering on the inside surface of my index finger!
Also, look at the extent of that racket flip, man!
Nadal hits with a straight arm tho.
That FH on the vid looks extremely good, you are extremely relaxed and loose, which provides alot of lag and stretch and release and alot of racquet speed.
If you manage to hit that way in a real situation with the ball flying at you, you should get very good pace and a lot of topspin
zalive
Hall of Fame
I studied his stroke for a few days, then did some shadow swings and all of a sudden it just clicked nicely. Then I played a few sets and loved the result. Why did I do this? I thought he was the best in terms of 'throwing the racket' motion with the least arming!
Anyway here is some shadow swings. Real hitting video will come later when the weather gets better.
Two amazing details:
1.That helicopter followthrough is not intentional at all.
2. The first time ever since I started playing tennis I seem to be getting some blistering on the inside surface of my index finger!
Also, look at the extent of that racket flip, man!
Core and arm look disconnected; looks like core rotation is too early and completely stops before contact...or I'm seeing something wrong?
D
Deleted member 120290
Guest
Your new FH
7.0 shadow swing
3.5 match play
7.0 shadow swing
3.5 match play
vex
Legend
Very first thought I had. Rafa’s stroke is way different
Curious
G.O.A.T.
He is still using it!
I believe Nadal's extremely bent back wrist with the racket up and even pointing forward is the best type of take back to result in ideal looseness hence whippiness, racket throw and racket head speed.
ByeByePoly
G.O.A.T.
Yes ... you are going to want a helmet during the muscle memory transition.
Curious
G.O.A.T.
I don't mind as long as it serves the purpose!
Curious
G.O.A.T.
It only started after trying Nadal forehand. I think the increased racket torquing due to very relaxed hand and wrist and huge racket flip is the culprit.
StringSnapper
Hall of Fame
Does your ball penetrate well doing this stroke? I find i buggy whip if stretched on the run, but its only to get my return deep and topspinning in defensive situations otherwise i find it is too slow and my opponents can clobber it. Buggy whip also helps make later contact i findI studied his stroke for a few days, then did some shadow swings and all of a sudden it just clicked nicely. Then I played a few sets and loved the result. Why did I do this? I thought he was the best in terms of 'throwing the racket' motion with the least arming!
Anyway here is some shadow swings. Real hitting video will come later when the weather gets better.
Two amazing details:
1.That helicopter followthrough is not intentional at all.
2. The first time ever since I started playing tennis I seem to be getting some blistering on the inside surface of my index finger!
Also, look at the extent of that racket flip, man!
Curious
G.O.A.T.
Well actually this is the best way to generate max pace in my opinion because of the looseness, throwing motion(like the serve) and whippiness. Why do you think Nadal has the highest spin of all? Any pro player can adjust their racket face or swingpath angle like him but the key is the racket head speed he gets.
Not to forget the incredible wheels he has, without which none of the stuff you are talking about is possible.
StringSnapper
Hall of Fame
It is actually ferocious. Rafa absolutely tearing the felt off some of those lasso forehands...
enishi1357
Semi-Pro
Someone on this board actually cracked the code. I forgot who but reading that is what helped me "find" it as well. It's actually quite simple but requires thinking outside the box.
Povl Carstensen
Legend
Wonder if the weather ever gets good enough for me to demonstrate my Federer fh.
Dolgopolov85
G.O.A.T.
Forget others, Nadal does not use a lasso finish when he goes flat and fast.
ByeByePoly
G.O.A.T.
Thread could have been titled:
Cracked the forehead
zalive
Hall of Fame
That's the sequel!
ByeByePoly
G.O.A.T.
Hope not ... Curious is a nice guy and he is keeping ttw alive ... we can't afford any Curious downtime.
It's hard to know if Curious has cracked the fh code or that fella with the 2hfh flipper FH with the messed up reverse grip. The low flipper 2hfh would not require a helmet ... that ain't nothin.
Chas Tennis
G.O.A.T.
Compare your forehand to high level forehands using the same camera angles. Include a camera view from the side that shows racket face tilt at impact. 5 or 10 d. closed? etc.
Current top forehands have variations, starting with straight arm or bent arm. Some are adding extra motions in racket positioning before forward motion (Sock & others). Pick a model(s) forehand for comparison.
I don't believe that any have the helicopter finish that you do in the OP shadow swings. Follow through paths vary. There are options in the take back and follow through.
Most use the off arm by speeding it up and then pulling it in to add to trunk/body rotation rate. You don't. Look at videos. Demo speed up feeling with off arm using a can of soup.
You can find other differences.
You may have improved your approach to the ball - most important - and that is why it feels good. ? Compare to your old videos.
Current top forehands have variations, starting with straight arm or bent arm. Some are adding extra motions in racket positioning before forward motion (Sock & others). Pick a model(s) forehand for comparison.
I don't believe that any have the helicopter finish that you do in the OP shadow swings. Follow through paths vary. There are options in the take back and follow through.
Most use the off arm by speeding it up and then pulling it in to add to trunk/body rotation rate. You don't. Look at videos. Demo speed up feeling with off arm using a can of soup.
You can find other differences.
You may have improved your approach to the ball - most important - and that is why it feels good. ? Compare to your old videos.
Last edited:
tlm
G.O.A.T.
Yes I’m well aware of that but I’ve heard a lot of comments here that he arms his shots more than most pro players.
ByeByePoly
G.O.A.T.
StringSnapper
Hall of Fame
Do you mean you "feel the lag"? That was huge for me on the fh too. Great feelingOk sounds crazy and I can't blame you
Curious
G.O.A.T.
I prefer the flip to lag and that is a nice byproduct of the loose throwing motion. I think the key is the extreme wrist bend during the take back. I feel like that is the main cause of looseness. Try and see how it feels.
StringSnapper
Hall of Fame
Yeah i know what you mean. I think the "lag" feeling is just a by product of the wrist flipping
To be quite honest, Chas: I cracked the code, in 2012. It took some time to transform it into real tennis techniques...
You are right trying to relax the arm and upped body ( instead of emulating somebody's else swing path). Shadow swings look much better.
Try to incorporate Nadals footwork
He steps through the shot with his left foot or ( if he is late) moves right foot back. Either way his hips rotate a lot and his upper body closely follows hips rotation.
This is the source of his power.
And no, he is not arming the ball a single bit.
Try to incorporate Nadals footwork
He steps through the shot with his left foot or ( if he is late) moves right foot back. Either way his hips rotate a lot and his upper body closely follows hips rotation.
This is the source of his power.
And no, he is not arming the ball a single bit.
FiReFTW
Legend
Check Melbourne weather forecast if you don't believe me
How is it so cold? I thought its very warm in australia all year long.
Curious
G.O.A.T.
Not that cold but bloody rainy!
FiReFTW
Legend
It says 14 degrees celsius (57F), thats pretty cold, far from summer warmth.
Curious
G.O.A.T.
You know it's winter here, right?
FiReFTW
Legend
You know it's winter here, right?
Never really bothered looking up how australia weather is, I just know that alot of people said its always extremely warm and winter is still not cold.
StringSnapper
Hall of Fame
I did a road trip around Australia a few years ago, there is actually a huge variety of weather which i found really interesting. Its just so big, so much land. For some reason I imagined it would all be the same.
It never really snows anywhere except in some mountains near Sydney and in Hobart. I heard it got down to 4 degrees celcius in melborne recently though. But that is probably as cold as it ever gets really.
BTW Melborne is probably one of the coldest cities in Australia lol. Its because its further away from the equator. Going up (more towards the equator) Sydney is warmer, Brisbane is getting tropical, cairns is tropical. I live in Perth and its mediterranean style weather, defined seasons. Summer here (in Perth) gets up to 40 celcius... its winter at the moment, but is usually 16 degrees as a max during the day down to about 6 celcius first thing in the morning.
FiReFTW
Legend
When they have time no.
But otherwise heck yea they do, and often!
I even see Nadal often block the ball back with almost no backswing when he is really caught late and off guard.
But these pro players can improvise on the spot and have hit millions strokes from all sort of difficult positions.
Thats why people often say federer has 30 different forehands.
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