Carlos Alcaraz straight arm forehand!

[Smecz]

One thing that has been puzzling me lately, one of the best players out there Carlos Alcaraz, plays straight-handed forehand, and still pulls it to give the ball power.

How is it now with teaching tennis that you should play forehand with your arm bent.

When, at the beginning of learning, most people were taught that the hand should be bent at the forehand, while I always played with a straight hand in such a comfortable way, and secondly, Federer played like that; p.

And now I see Carlos Alcaraz who is currently one of the best tennis players who plays with a straight hand!.

Tennis players such as Nadal, Federer, Del Potro, Dimitrov strike straight-handed forehands, and have very positive effects.

My point is that straight-handed hits were criticized years ago when Federer played and before, now after Alcaraz I see that you shouldn't delete something right away.

I can't imagine Carlos playing with a bent arm now, this straight arm suits him!!.

There are players who play with a bent arm such as Gasquet, Sock, Medvedev, Murray, Kyrgios etc.

And that suits them, it's their way of playing and the effects they give to the ball.

A straight arm and a flex arm forehand can be a very good shot, but maybe it really should be a matter of fitting the individual player, not just imposed by the coach!!

What do you think, should forehand players be taught with a straight hand and with a bent one so that the player can then choose what suits him better?!.

 

[mac-1210]

What the best in the world do versus what average players do are two very different things. Straight arm forehands lead to very small hitting zones...much less margin for error. Easier to control the forehand when the contact point is slightly closer to the body, more flexibility to adjust,less chance of injury etc. I'd say for the vast majority of people having a bent arm should be the preference.

 

[ballmachineguy]

Interesting question. I know that if you rotate your upper body quickly with your arms relaxed it is natural for your arm to straighten. It takes effort to contract the muscles that keep the arm bent. Learning tennis from scratch, people rarely do as much with the upper body as they should and use the arm movement to get the racquet to contact. Very hard to keep the arm straight in that case. So most use bent arm because other parts of fh technique are lacking at first. Add trying to hit topspin, and without the other aspects of good fh technique, you will want to “brush up” with a bent arm.

Personally, I hit bent arm for 40 years righty, then when learning lefty, was easier to let it go straight. I already did the other things more correctly though.

My sister, on the other hand, doesn’t bend her arm on backswing or forward and hardly turns her torso at all. Nothing powerful but consistent. Her torso already facing the net, so she is always in correct ball striking position. Drives me crazy hitting with her. Hard to watch.

It would be very interesting to take someone that wanted to learn tennis and start by teaching them the body mechanics irrespective of the arm and not having a racquet in their hand. Just the movements that get the hitting shoulder properly out-front. Get all of that dialed first and then when they start swinging the racquet see what happens. I wouldn’t be surprised to see a straight arm.

P.S. Not saying hitting with bent arm is wrong. Both styles work well of course.

 

[Smecz]

What the best in the world do versus what average players do are two very different things. Straight arm forehands lead to very small hitting zones...much less margin for error. Easier to control the forehand when the contact point is slightly closer to the body, more flexibility to adjust,less chance of injury etc. I'd say for the vast majority of people having a bent arm should be the preference.

What the best in the world do versus what average players do are two very different things. Straight arm forehands lead to very small hitting zones...much less margin for error. Easier to control the forehand when the contact point is slightly closer to the body, more flexibility to adjust,less chance of injury etc. I'd say for the vast majority of people having a bent arm should be the preference.

Okay, but I naturally play with a straight arm, while someone else may want to play with a bent elbow like Djokovic.

Why should I kill my individualism, etc., why should someone force themselves to learn to play with a straight forehand, since the pn prefers to play with a bent elbow?!.

Let's say a player like Ernest Gulbis, when it comes to forehand, he breaks the basics, and yet he played, and he was even good at it.

Coaches often impose something on us, but many colorful parrots such as Medvedev, Gasquet,
Kyrgios just won't let their individualism be killed.

And it's actually good for them, preferences are often more important than we think, because the game should not only be effective, but also healthy and enjoyable.

Forcing someone to learn something that doesn't suit them is not good, and if my bent elbow will not help me at all in the game, it will only make it difficult, then I should continue to play like this because the coach / instructor teaches me that?!

Carlos Alcaraz plays a arm straight nextgen forehand and is number two in the world, moreover the way he plays forehand, I will honestly say that I have never seen anyone hit like that.(Unigue style)

His forehand seems so simple, and it's the highest technical level!.

Currently, I don't buy this talk anymore to play one way or another, etc. Mainly, everyone should be able to know if a given way of hitting suits him and whether he does not hurt himself (injuries).

Making a person happy with a one-handed backhand when they want to play a two-handed backhand,defeats the purpose.

Recently I watched live how Jan Leonard Struff played, he played very nicely, he was strong from the forehand, but if I had to learn such a forehand, I would not have much effects on the court, because this style of hitting does not suit me..

 

[Jonesy]

Do what works, for you. For some the SA is better for the others the BA is better. Normally these things show with time as folks will tend to stick with what feels more natural for them, which can be different for others.

Any coach that imposes only one way to do things in tennis is a terrible coach, and i've met many like that. Learning tennis should be done in a fluid manner and a good coach will adapt what works in general to each student particularities to get the best possible results.

 

[Smecz]

Do what works, for you. For some the SA is better for the others the BA is better. Normally these things show with time as folks will tend to stick with what feels more natural for them, which can be different for others.

Any coach that imposes only one way to do things in tennis is a terrible coach, and i've met many like that. Learning tennis should be done in a fluid manner and a good coach will adapt what works in general to each student particularities to get the best possible results.

On point, that's what I mean, when I was a teenager I was constantly told not to hit the ball with a straight forehand, and now I see Carlos Alcaraz, and what where are all these experts?!?!

 

[Smecz]

Interesting question. I know that if you rotate your upper body quickly with your arms relaxed it is natural for your arm to straighten. It takes effort to contract the muscles that keep the arm bent. Learning tennis from scratch, people rarely do as much with the upper body as they should and use the arm movement to get the racquet to contact. Very hard to keep the arm straight in that case. So most use bent arm because other parts of fh technique are lacking at first. Add trying to hit topspin, and without the other aspects of good fh technique, you will want to “brush up” with a bent arm.

Personally, I hit bent arm for 40 years righty, then when learning lefty, was easier to let it go straight. I already did the other things more correctly though.

My sister, on the other hand, doesn’t bend her arm on backswing or forward and hardly turns her torso at all. Nothing powerful but consistent. Her torso already facing the net, so she is always in correct ball striking position. Drives me crazy hitting with her. Hard to watch.

It would be very interesting to take someone that wanted to learn tennis and start by teaching them the body mechanics irrespective of the arm and not having a racquet in their hand. Just the movements that get the hitting shoulder properly out-front. Get all of that dialed first and then when they start swinging the racquet see what happens. I wouldn’t be surprised to see a straight arm.

P.S. Not saying hitting with bent arm is wrong. Both styles work well of course.

Interesting and important observations when it comes to beginner amateurs and amateurs who already play often play as they feel comfortable or as they learned from the trainer or instructor at the beginning.

I know amateurs who reflect the same way all their lives, without any change in technique.

But is it really important how I hit the ball to the end, or what effect we give to the ball matters?!.

I remember once watching a guy in a tournament who had a very strange forehand, it would be hard to recreate it...

Everyone was surprised how he can play like that, surprisingly he reached the semi-finals,
it was a true orthodox forehand.

My point is that sometimes they say yes, sometimes they say yes, and still everything works out in practice whether it is possible or not.

As for your sister, her forehand must look hardcore epic .

But there really is no such thing as a correct shot, any shot can be correct if the ball goes into the court.

You can question most of whether a given play is nice, clean, etc., but most are about the ball and its flight.

The truth is that mainly in sport (especially professional) what counts are the effects and results, so play straight as long as you have benefits from it!


It annoys me that many trainers/instructors treat their knowledge as a revealed truth which they teach without reflection, thinking that it is absolute!

 

[Dragy]

Do they really teach to bend the elbow? I know they thrash to have better spacing, and sometimes - to not lick out the elbow fully straight. For the latter there’re injury talks, and I get why, if you really try to force straight arm.

They also say to flex the elbow across as you hit the ball. Although this instruction might be odd, it has one great benefit: to achieve it the way required, a student has to rotate the arm and make elbow point out rather than down. This motion is very important, and particularly SA FH players miss it at times. Which causes flat slaps on the ball instead of proper topspin-imparting swings.

Meanwhile there are coaches of all sorts and beliefs. Many just go with what they learned at some point decades ago

 

[badmice2]

It's not necessarily that he is hitting with a straight elbow, but he is conscientious of his hitting zone so well that he's making contact as far in front where his elbow straightens out. This is not to say that he doesnt bent his elbow at all. in fact he likely bent it more than you expect. It really comes down to how much time he has to fully leverage a contact point to maximize his biomechanics.

 

[Smecz]

It's not necessarily that he is hitting with a straight elbow, but he is conscientious of his hitting zone so well that he's making contact as far in front where his elbow straightens out. This is not to say that he doesnt bent his elbow at all. in fact he likely bent it more than you expect. It really comes down to how much time he has to fully leverage a contact point to maximize his biomechanics.

I know that the arm, even when it looks straight, is a little bent, otherwise it would be hard to close the shot.

Otherwise, the arm is blocked and the game would be unpleasant.


The point is that playing with a straight hand is more natural than with a bent hand.

Kyrgios, Sock, Medvedev play with a tight bent hand as long as they quickly close the shot and give it rotation, etc.

But it's not natural that with a bent elbow you have less power and less range.

Carlos shows the world that playing with a straight arm (slightly bent) is correct and gives him a lot to his game.

A generally straight arm at the forehand also gives us more chances to penetrate the ball and finish the action faster.

Holger Rune also plays more straight arm than bent arm, and you can see that his forehands are strong and more aggressive than people who play with bent arm
like, for example, Dominic Thiem.

Okay, I understand that they are professionals, and there is nothing to compare to them, but mainly most atp tennis players play with a bent elbow.

Two tennis players, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer, have won 42 grand slams together with a straight arm.

And now I see another player who can dominate tennis playing with a straight arm, and generally there are few players who play with a straight arm.

In the Atp tour, there were not many straight arm players, and so far it is not promising, but the question is whether those players who play with a straight arm today simply break from the pattern of playing with a bent elbow

Haven't many top players in history played with a straight arm?!

Are Carlos Alcaraz, Federer, still just exceptions that confirm the rule that you should play with your elbow bent?! I don't think so!.

I've seen most of the forehands from Sampras, Kuerten to Mcenroe, Borg all with bent elbows.


However, I remember at the beginning when Federer started winning his first grand slams, the coaches/instructors said not to play with a straight arm, the interesting thing is that this guy won 20 slams!!!.

Please understand me well a professional is a different class of player, but when I see a certain way of playing that gives results, and someone tells you not to play like that and that it's not right, then what am I supposed to think?!...

I'm pasting an article on the subject:

Tennis Forehand Technique - Bend Or Extend At Contact?

Roger Federer has really popularised the straight arm forehand. Is this the best way for you to hit your forehand or is it better to use the bent arm forehand? Most ATP and WTA Pros use the bent arm forehand but is that the most effective way to hit a forehand? Let's go over the pros and cons of...

www.top-tennis-training.com

 

[5263]

Do they really teach to bend the elbow? I know they thrash to have better spacing, and sometimes - to not lick out the elbow fully straight. For the latter there’re injury talks, and I get why, if you really try to force straight arm.

They also say to flex the elbow across as you hit the ball. Although this instruction might be odd, it has one great benefit: to achieve it the way required, a student has to rotate the arm and make elbow point out rather than down. This motion is very important, and particularly SA FH players miss it at times. Which causes flat slaps on the ball instead of proper topspin-imparting swings.

Meanwhile there are coaches of all sorts and beliefs. Many just go with what they learned at some point decades ago

This is an article on using the lag that blends info for hitting with both SA and bent...

The Forehand Lag in 6 Easy Steps

www.congruenttennis.com