Controlling Play With The Forehand (Tactics)

[prattle128]

My forehand is my best side, so when I'm in a baseline rally I generally use it to construct and control play. I have my own (probably rather basic) tactics of how to work points with my forehand, but I was curious what tactics you guys use to control points with your forehand?

Generally when I'm playing, the only real tactics that I use are...

• Hit inside-out forehands to opponent's backhand
• Hit to each corner with forehand
• Let opponent change direction, hit forehands crosscourt from either side of the court

If you guys have other ways that you work points with the forehand, I'd love to hear it.

P.S. If you guys have tactics that you employ to try and start controlling a point with your forehand, I'd love to hear that as well.

Thanks.

 

[nhat8121]

tactic is easy, it's all about execution.

fh or bh, just keep the ball deep...

 

[RoddickAce]

My forehand tactics revolve around wrongfooting my opponents:

If I run around my backhand to hit a forehand but I don't really have control of the point yet, I rip a flat forehand to my opponent's backhand to draw a weak reply.

• If the reply is back to my backhand side, I either hit a relatively well-spun inside-in forehand to the open court or a short angle inside out forehand to wrongfoot him if he tries to cover the line.
  
• If the reply is to my forehand side, I hit a short angle cross court to open up his court positioning. If the reply is back to my forehand, I either hit the ball down-the-line or short angle crosscourt to wrongfoot him.

If my opponent hits a backhand down-the-line to my forehand, instead of opening up his court position by hitting cross-court, I rip a flat ball down-the-line back to his backhand if he moves to cover the crosscourt angles.

 

[larry10s]

^^^^^ thats all you need to know

 

[Slazenger07]

One of a few reasons I love being lefty...controlling the point with high percentage crosscourt forehands to my right handed opponents backhands, then when Ive got them leaning towards the backhand, I burn them down the line.

 

[BU-Tennis]

My forehand tactics revolve around wrongfooting my opponents:

If I run around my backhand to hit a forehand but I don't really have control of the point yet, I rip a flat forehand to my opponent's backhand to draw a weak reply.

The first part is the only thing i am not understanding. If you are not in control of a point then how do you "rip" a forehand, especially a flat one, to your opponents backhand. If you have time to rip a forehand, especially if its an inside-out one, then i would say you're in control of the point.

But to the OP, the idea of controlling a point with just your forehand, minimizing shots hit to your backhand, revolves around playing crosscourt shots until you have a short ball and you can then go down the line.

The idea when you have an obvious stronger side is to make sure your partner knows that (don't tell them but if it truly is stronger then they should notice). When your opponent is afraid of one side then they will try to hit shots to your backhand they normally wouldn't. So hitting deep crosscourt forehands to their forehand will result in them trying to go down the line, which will result in many misses if you're keeping your forehand deep enough. When you go to their backhand you open yourself up to hitting a backhand, and not ones that you can run around.

 

[Djokovicfan4life]

The first part is the only thing i am not understanding. If you are not in control of a point then how do you "rip" a forehand, especially a flat one, to your opponents backhand. If you have time to rip a forehand, especially if its an inside-out one, then i would say you're in control of the point.

I would argue that there really is no such thing as total control of a point at the lower levels. You see some good shots mixed with crappy ones. Same goes for their tactics-- sometimes good, sometimes not. At the 4.0 level and below the technique isn't developed to the point that you can hit enough good shots in a row to dominate a point. All it takes is that slight mishit short up the middle and suddenly you're not in charge anymore.

 

[BU-Tennis]

^^^^^I agree with you about at lower levels "control" over a point is a very grey area. Its just that in the proper use of the word "control" you don't have to hit an incredible shot to put your opponent off-balance or draw a weak reply. I guess I consider control as meaning you're standing still, making your opponent move, and you get easy balls in the middle to attack, considering i'm a classical kind of tennis guy and prefer flat deep shots to the corners with a nice short slice to attack net.

 

[Nellie]

I think that one of the more effective things is to position yourself slightly to the backhand side so that your opponent has a choice of hitting to your better side or hitting a more difficult shots to the backhand.