FH footwork

[Wilander Fan]

I am hitting with a new coach and he is really pressing me to hit off the front foot on FHs. Ive basically been driving solely off the back foot most of my life and it works most of the time but, watching some video I can see it can lead to alot of shanks or can put me in a bad recover position. Basically, the new coach wants me to plant the front foot and drive into the ball with the back foot dragging forward. Normally, I plant my back foot and drive on that with the front foot just landing in the direction I am moving into.

Anyway, I ran some drills just hitting from the front foot and it does seem more stable but my normal forehand is generally reliable. I suppose leading with the front foot has the advantage of keeping your weight forward and leads to a better recovery position but its a bit more awkward to generate alot of topspin from that position. Is there any reason why I should use one type of footwork over the other?

 

[Ash_Smith]

You can hit from the front foot, from the outside foot and from the back foot. Each requires you to use a different system of power generation for maximum efficiency. Hitting off front foot requires liner momentum, hitting of outside foot requires angular momentum and hitting off back foot requires vertical momentum.

As a general rule most balls around the baseline will be hit off the outside foot or the back foot, with hitting off the front foot mostly used when the ball is short and low, in conjunction with a hop-through step.

 

[julian]

I am hitting with a new coach and he is really pressing me to hit off the front foot on FHs. Ive basically been driving solely off the back foot most of my life and it works most of the time but, watching some video I can see it can lead to alot of shanks or can put me in a bad recover position. Basically, the new coach wants me to plant the front foot and drive into the ball with the back foot dragging forward. Normally, I plant my back foot and drive on that with the front foot just landing in the direction I am moving into.

Anyway, I ran some drills just hitting from the front foot and it does seem more stable but my normal forehand is generally reliable. I suppose leading with the front foot has the advantage of keeping your weight forward and leads to a better recovery position but its a bit more awkward to generate alot of topspin from that position. Is there any reason why I should use one type of footwork over the other?

Could you elaborate the phrase "dragging"?
Are you talking about a clay surface?

 

[sureshs]

Normally, I plant my back foot and drive on that with the front foot just landing in the direction I am moving into.

Could not visualize this. What stance are you using?

 

[Lance L]

I'm not sure what it would even mean to hit off the front foot. I try to step into the ball as I'm hitting, really feel my back foot pushing in. I then end the shot on my front foot, of course. Are you talking about something different than that?

 

[boramiNYC]

If you want to improve as a player you should be able to have good control of your legs. Unless you are a one legged person you should practice various ways the both legs enhance upperbody movements and maintain balance. They include stance angle and width, weight shift direction and rate, push off by ground reaction force, force transfer from linear to angular (upperbody rotation), etc. If you can't do well in any of these lowerbody uses, it will manifest as some weaknesses in your swing that the opponent can take advantage. Your coach probably saw your tendency to overuse the back foot for the balance and wants to teach you the weight shift to the front foot that not only reluctantly maintain balance but also more actively involve in helping the swing. Unless he wants you to change to some archaic closed stance for everything kind of thing, just do the best you can as he says.