Nadal needs a Flat Forehand ASAP !

S

svijk

Semi-Pro
His trademark high topspin forehand to the righty backhand is not a devastating shot anymore. Some of the good right handed payers have learnt to negotiate it easily, with their 2BH.

What used to be tough shot to handle has been neutralized effectively. His recent losses have been to tall right handers with a 2BH.......Cilic, Del Potro, Djokovic and Soderling.

This could be a potentially a huge problem in his career going forward unless he comes up with some new tricks. One of them is a Flat FH shot which zips after bouncing instead of sitting up and also helps shorten points.

Not sure how he can develop one with his extreme grip though :confused:
 
S

Serendipitous

Guest
Well, to be fair to Mr. Nadal, the guys who beat him recently are pretty tall (del Potro and Cilic).
 
Cup8489

Cup8489

G.O.A.T.
i've thought this for years, to be honest. he's so built and a natural athlete, you'd think he'd be able to put more on the ball when it comes to power. i mean sure, the steady play with alot of spin has worked for him, but maybe go for more sometime, be much more aggressive, and see what happens?

i remember that the Rotterdam final this year, he was injured in the second set, and stopped trying to run everything down, and started going for more, and broke murray...4 times in a row? murray kept breaking back b/c nadal had nothing on his serve, but you could see in that match he has the power, but he doesn't use it like he could :/
 
T

TheMagicianOfPrecision

Guest
svijk said:
His trademark high topspin forehand to the righty backhand is not a devastating shot anymore. Some of the good right handed payers have learnt to negotiate it easily, with their 2BH.

What used to be tough shot to handle has been neutralized effectively. His recent losses have been to tall right handers with a 2BH.......Cilic, Del Potro, Djokovic and Soderling.

This could be a potentially a huge problem in his career going forward unless he comes up with some new tricks. One of them is a Flat FH shot which zips after bouncing instead of sitting up and also helps shorten points.

Not sure how he can develop one with his extreme grip though :confused:
Click to expand...

A flat forehand vs Federer would mean that he never beats him again!
So...sure, bring the beach-boy a flat f-hand
 
S

Serendipitous

Guest
Cup8489 said:
i've thought this for years, to be honest. he's so built and a natural athlete, you'd think he'd be able to put more on the ball when it comes to power. i mean sure, the steady play with alot of spin has worked for him, but maybe go for more sometime, be much more aggressive, and see what happens?

i remember that the Rotterdam final this year, he was injured in the second set, and stopped trying to run everything down, and started going for more, and broke murray...4 times in a row? murray kept breaking back b/c nadal had nothing on his serve, but you could see in that match he has the power, but he doesn't use it like he could :/
Click to expand...

That's a really good point. He was generating seamless power in that match (when he felt like it).
 
Cup8489

Cup8489

G.O.A.T.
Serendipitous said:
That's a really good point. He was generating seamless power in that match (when he felt like it).
Click to expand...

on top of that, it showed how dangerous he could potentially be on hardcourts if he just harnessed that power more often..i mean murray is no slouch on the hardcourts, and nadal was making him pay for ANYTHING short at all in that set.

for reference, here are the highlights from the match
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1bwG7BTTso
 
S

Serendipitous

Guest
Cup8489 said:
on top of that, it showed how dangerous he could potentially be on hardcourts if he just harnessed that power more often..i mean murray is no slouch on the hardcourts, and nadal was making him pay for ANYTHING short at all in that set.

for reference, here are the highlights from the match
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1bwG7BTTso
Click to expand...

I don't see why Nadal doesn't put more power on his shots. He clearly knows how to do it.


He'll miss but he'll also hit some winners. It will save his knees.


I think it's also a technical issue. Federer's forehand has a lot of spin AND it can zoom through the court.
 
S

svijk

Semi-Pro
TheMagicianOfPrecision said:
A flat forehand vs Federer would mean that he never beats him again!
So...sure, bring the beach-boy a flat f-hand
Click to expand...

Note that I mentioned that he needs it against tall righties with a good
2BH.....doesn't have to use against Fed if he doesn't want to......ever heard of shot-selection???
 
[d]ragon

[d]ragon

Hall of Fame
I agree, his loopy forehand only really works against Federer. Against taller guys with bigger strokes, they can just drive the ball through the court and hit more down on it since it kicks up high, especially if he hits it short (which he does alot). He should hit it with a flatter trajectory so it doesn't have alot of air time to give his opponents time to set up and give them a chance to hit the ball more down into the court. And definitely, Serendipitous said, save his knees; shorter points, less chance for his opponent to pummel the ball into corners.
 
Mr.Brightside

Mr.Brightside

Rookie
svijk said:
Note that I mentioned that he needs it against tall righties with a good
2BH.....doesn't have to use against Fed if he doesn't want to......ever heard of shot-selection???
Click to expand...

yeah i think we've all seen that the loopy shots are the best way to beat federer
 
bluescreen

bluescreen

Hall of Fame
i remember back in like '04 when he was playing hewitt at the australian open he was hitting flatter than ive ever seen from him. at that time he didn't hit his over-the-head follow through hardly at all either. perhaps he should consider going back to that style of play on hard courts.
 
namelessone

namelessone

Legend
No matter what the nature of his shots is(spinny or flat),he needs to make them land deeper,no matter what happens,even if he makes an error. No more near service line shots,he needs to hit near the baseline so that he can at least keep the rally neutral,if not gain on offensive advantage. The last matches in which he got creamed,delpo at uso and cilic yesterday,he actually hit some shots long and the big guys had a tougher with those balls and Nadal actually came in to finish those shots. Unfortunately for Nadal those balls were few and far between.

It's real easy to see why these guys have success against Nadal,it's because Nadal short,loopy balls come right into their strike zone so they don't even have to do much but swing away. It's like shooting fish in a barrel. Nadal is basically offering the match on a platter. That's why both Cilic and DelPo looked like they didn't even break a sweat in those matches. They said "thank you" and executed their gameplan.
 
Jason Vorhees

Jason Vorhees

Banned
SuperDuy said:
**** are you dumb? roddick hits a flat forehand usually.
Click to expand...

To answer your question: No!

To own you: Just get off this forum because if you knew anything about a flat forehand then you would know that roddick doesn't have one anymore. Hence the reason he hits 0 UE's but 0 winners from the baseline.
 
N

NamRanger

G.O.A.T.
Roddick 2 sets in against Federer at the AO this year :


0 Winners off the forehand



Um, really?





And yes, Nadal has huge power off the forehand, he just doesn't use it. The guy can hit blindingly fast forehands but just doesn't do it for whatever reason.
 
T

tennis_pr0

Semi-Pro
I couldn't agree more. The whole "I'm just gonna grind and get every shot back and grunt really loudly" will work on most players, but not the top players in good form. When you take the great players, let's just say Federer, he has the ability to play defense, but depending on the conditions and his opponent, he can play great offense. To truly be the best, in my opinion, you need to be able to rise to the occasion and make changes in your game sometimes. Nadal does not seem to be able to do this. For a while his style worked, but I feel like more players are catching onto it now. I think it would be safe to say that at least five players would be able to even beat him at the FO now. People are not intimidated by his game anymore, and he doesn't seem to want to make any adjustments. I'm all for Nadal, but I'm just not impressed with his game anymore. Dozens of players can play the defense he can now, so that's not going to win him matches anymore.
 
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