Alcaraz forehand checks out

[most_exhausted_player]

SW grip but straight arm swing like Rublev. Watch the ball into the string from behind. He might be the only other person on tour watching the ball like that. Ferrero has a lot of first hand experience on how Federer evolved. Taking some elements from his game is logical choice.

 

[Visionary]

I'd love to see the slow motion video analysis of this. The teenager smacks the ball real fast.

 

[xlv]

Didn’t know he is SW grip. I was assuming he is western grip.

 

[Rozroz]

seems like SW

 

[Slapper]

SW grip but straight arm swing like Rublev. Watch the ball into the string from behind. He might be the only other person on tour watching the ball like that. Ferrero has a lot of first hand experience on how Federer evolved. Taking some elements from his game is logical choice.

Alcaraz has arguably the the nicest forehand on tour at the moment. It will be one of the most feared shots in tennis soon.

A key difference between Alcaraz's forehand and Fed's (and Nadal's) is that Alcaraz takes the racquet back and up, whereas Fed and Nadal take the racquet up and back i.e. the loop starts from the beginning of the take back. Some people consider the back-and-up take back to be characteristic of the 'next gen' forehand (as opposed to the 'modern' forehand of Fed / Nadal) but some old players had a similar take back e.g. Philippoussis comes to mind (and his was also straight arm). I always felt that Fed's forehand was technically perfect/ideal but lately I am starting to think that the back-and-up take back is superior as it allows you to take a bigger cut at the ball without losing time on the backswing.

 

[McLovin]

I'd love to see the slow motion video analysis of this. The teenager smacks the ball real fast.

Not an analysis, but good slo-mo:

 

[Oval_Solid]