Follow-through question

[polo02]

Hi guys I recently changed my forehand shot, I used to use a whole lot of wrist before hitting the ball. Now I have learned that you should not use your wrist on the forehand or that it should be laid back right when it hits the ball. My question is the follow-through, do you keep the wrist laid back through out the follow-through or do you pronate after hitting the ball?
Need help with this, because I tried having the wrist laid back through out the follow through but I feels that I am not getting much power or control from that.

Thank you,

 

[paulfreda]

Laid back wrist

Pronation and laid back are two separate considerations.

A laid back wrist is very good as you come into the ball.
You should feel a lot of power if you hold that position thru the entire shot.
It sounds like you may be hitting with just your arm. This will feel weak.
Get to a hitting wall and hit out in front a little more.
You should lean into the shot with your body and try to get your elbow moving forward to get in front of your body. Torso turn can also add power.
This will get you using your big muscles to control your shot and this is an important fundamental for a good groundstroke.

After you understand that, then you can start to release the wrist into the ball so that the wrist is straight and the finish has the top/tip of the racquet pointing at the target. This will actually help keep balls from flying, especially if you are swinging low to high.

Pronation ?? In general, if you are hitting out in front with a laid back wrist, the racquet face will naturally open up, so you may need to roll over the ball (cover the ball) to keep it from flying on you.

 

[Mahboob Khan]

I agree with Paulfreda.

The wrist is laid back/relax in the backswing area; as the racket comes into contact with the ball the wrist stabilizes, you hit through the ball and release your wrist, with proper follow-through over the non-hitting shoulder, your wrist/forearm will have pronated. To understand pronation on forehand:

-- hold your palm out in front as if you are hitting the ball with your bare palm. In this position your thumb is on top.

-- Now move your palm forward, and followthrough on your left shoulder. You will notice that your thumb is down touching your left shoulder and your pinky finger is on top and the entire palm is pointing to left side fence.

What make this happen? pronation of wrist and forearm!

 

[polo02]

Thank you, Paulfreda and Mahboob Khan for you posts.

1- So when I am starting to take back the racket is my wrist straight or laid back?

2- When you hit the ball, do you conciously release your wrist or does it just happen by the momentum of the arm?

 

[Marius_Hancu]

Thank you, Paulfreda and Mahboob Khan for you posts.

1- So when I am starting to take back the racket is my wrist straight or laid back?

2- When you hit the ball, do you conciously release your wrist or does it just happen by the momentum of the arm?

Check this thread:
http://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/showthread.php?t=33747
you'll find lots of info about the wrist release.

 

[dozu]

Stop worrying about the follow-thru.... the ball is gone already !

 

[paulfreda]

More ..

Thank you, Paulfreda and Mahboob Khan for you posts.

1- So when I am starting to take back the racket is my wrist straight or laid back?

2- When you hit the ball, do you conciously release your wrist or does it just happen by the momentum of the arm?

1./ That is up to you. Some take it back straight and then just before the hit the wrist lays back. Others lay the wrist back before they begin the backswing (they are waiting for the ball with the the wrist laid back) and keep it that way all the way through the shot. This is the best way to start, but as you get more familiar and comfortable with the feelings I think it is more natural to lay back sometime in the forward swing. This takes some timing so don't expect it to feel right at first.

2./ At first, you will need to do it consciously yes. But remember that this
should come AFTER you learned to hit mostly with the big muscles of your body. Beginners find it easy to hit with the arm and wrist only and this leads to a very inconsistent stroke.


As for the advice that the ball is already gone so forget the followthrough,
I think one needs a clear idea of what you are trying to do if you want to succeed, so knowing where and what your racquet face should look like in the follow through is very important.

Cheers and have fun ......

 

[Chanchai]

I have been making very similar changes to my forehand as well...

At first, from my view, I felt like my shots were slower... but some opponents told me that I'm actually hitting more solid and heavier shots after the change (from loosey-goosey wristy slap shot to a laidback/firmer forehand with decent pronation).

I admit, my control of the forehand has improved after the change, and I am using less energy for the same amount of pace and topspin.

In my case, my follow through has changed quite a bit, and on high balls my swing path has changed too. On high balls, I used to really have an extremely low to high swingpath, but now it's more like my racquethead dips down just before I hit the ball. Again, this is only talking about hitting very high forehands.

For the general shots... My follow through has changed from what used to be more across the body, to something like a swoop forward and up that ends up over my left shoulder (but it feels like I'm just driving the racquet much more forward than before). The hip turn is less pronounced than it used to be, but it's still there. Stepping in has become much more common in my forehand instead of sort of exploding off the ground with an exagerated hip rotation. I haven't seen myself on tape yet, but my mental impression of my follow-through is that it's a lot like the Robert Lansdorp hold your follow through form (just lookup almost any article on Lansdorp and the forehand).

I like the change, and it's weird because I didn't really do it on purpose. It just sorta happened out of nowhere and has been the way I've been hitting my forehands most of the time lately.

I definitely feel the ball much more than I used to, and I like that.

At the end of the stroke, I do believe I have made some sort of pronation, but it's not like it used to be. It's more like the forearm and arm overall has sort of done the pronating, as the wrist has remained somewhat laid back.

Anyhow... those have been my thoughts on my forehand lately. But I probably won't really know until I tape myself.

-Chanchai

 

[mucat]

Stop worrying about the follow-thru.... the ball is gone already !

I agree with you, dozu. If the backswing and the contact are sound, the follow-thru will be correct. If you finish hitting the ball, you should concentrate on getting ready for the next shot as quick as possible (you know, rebalance, reposition, while trying to read your opponent's next shot at the same time). If you think you follow-thru has problem, it is probably from you forward swing and contact. Your follow-thru will not make your shot any better, the ball already leave your racket....arr...strings. Personally, sometimes when I was off a little bit, I will usuallly be extra carefull about how I make contact, make sure I make clean contact right at the sweetspot (I used a 85) and make sure the angle of the racket (wrist position) during contact is correct.

 

[polo02]

Guys thank you for your advice, I was playing today and your advice really helped a lot. Mucat, I understand what you are saying and yes you are partly right, the problem was the contact also. What agrevated the problem was that I used to hit a little bit too late and without pushing off by back foot, thus it didn't give me the time for a proper swing . With that being said, I didn't know the proper follow through and whether or not to use the wrist ( make it go back to its normal position, I was training myself not to use the wrist at all after contact, thus at the end of the swing it was still laid back and the top part of the racket was pointing towards the sideline, I know horrible). Thanks to the posts I know now that you use your wrist right after contact (Paulfreda's post) and that the followthrough is on your left shoulder, thumb is down touching your left shoulder and your pinky finger is on top and the entire palm is pointing to left side fence (Mahboob Khan's post). Wow Marius Hanku, you guys really talked about this topic extensively before, I really liked the Federer video. Alright, thanks guys this seems pretty clear now.