Help fix my forehand wrist position on follow through

[Kenfly]

Hi all. I need some advice and help with my forehand follow through especially on my wrist. I noticed that my wrist stays ‘cocked’ back all the way through the follow through however I see from a lot of tennis instruction online that it should be relaxing after impact and going into a neutral position. I'm wondering what can I try to fix it, i do think my wrist is fairly relaxed already but keen to hear your thoughts. Should I try things like consciously flipping the wrist after impact?

Video:

Photo of my wrist cocked back on follow through:

https://imgur.com/Ae03k6V

FYI i use a grip between eastern and semi western for my forehand. The shots on here are closed stance but I normally hit semi open out in the court. Just that the balls were bouncing short during this clip.

 

[ballmachineguy]

The follow through is ONLY the result of what your racquet does through the contact zone. You can’t just randomly choose to do things with your follow through. There aren’t choices.

If you do something different in your follow through it will only be due to changing the way you strike the ball. Do you want to change that?

 

[Kenfly]

@ballmachineguy thanks for that that's great food for thought. do you have any recommendations on what i could tweak on the way i can strike the ball?

 

[ballmachineguy]

@ballmachineguy thanks for that that's great food for thought. do you have any recommendations on what i could tweak on the way i can strike the ball?

Nope. Looks good!

 

[ballmachineguy]

Sorry your thread died a premature death, Kenfly. You only had a troll answer your question, none of the pros that frequent here. I was looking forward to other opinions.

 

[nyta2]

Hi all. I need some advice and help with my forehand follow through especially on my wrist. I noticed that my wrist stays ‘cocked’ back all the way through the follow through however I see from a lot of tennis instruction online that it should be relaxing after impact and going into a neutral position. I'm wondering what can I try to fix it, i do think my wrist is fairly relaxed already but keen to hear your thoughts. Should I try things like consciously flipping the wrist after impact?

Video:

Photo of my wrist cocked back on follow through:

https://imgur.com/Ae03k6V

FYI i use a grip between eastern and semi western for my forehand. The shots on here are closed stance but I normally hit semi open out in the court. Just that the balls were bouncing short during this clip.

i do both...
my rally shot keeps the palm down on the follow through... tends to be deeper+heavier+pace... ie. hitting through
when i'm trying for more spin my palm tends to face the net on the follow through like your pic... typically used on baseline-halfvolley, brushy sharp angle, defensive (high) topspin lobs, buggy whip fh... guessing cuz i'm brushing up the back more (vs. through because i don't want to add pace)

 

[Kenfly]

Sorry your thread died a premature death, Kenfly. You only had a troll answer your question, none of the pros that frequent here. I was looking forward to other opinions.

Thanks for bumping! Not at all your opinion is valued

i do both...
my rally shot keeps the palm down on the follow through... tends to be deeper+heavier+pace... ie. hitting through
when i'm trying for more spin my palm tends to face the net on the follow through like your pic... typically used on baseline-halfvolley, brushy sharp angle, defensive (high) topspin lobs, buggy whip fh... guessing cuz i'm brushing up the back more (vs. through because i don't want to add pace)

If i understand correctly by focusing on hitting through your palm goes down on follow through? Is there anything you’re focusing on to get this hitting through motion? I assume more forward movement before collapsing/hinging the elbow back to your body? Thanks

 

[Fintft]

Thanks for bumping! Not at all your opinion is valued

If i understand correctly by focusing on hitting through your palm goes down on follow through? Is there anything you’re focusing on to get this hitting through motion? I assume more forward movement before collapsing/hinging the elbow back to your body? Thanks

I'm low level, but my answer would be that I throw the racquet at the ball.

 

[johnmccabe]

This is not the kind of detail I would focus on. It likely depends on the ball you receive and what you are trying to do to the ball. If you really want to find out, go on a court and hit some rallies with a real person. Compare the forehands with high vs low contact point, knee height vs chest height. Try to vary net clearance, just above the net vs 2-3x net height. Then see what the video shows. My guess is more ISR, higher contact point, lower net clearance, you're more likely to see the wrist position you want to see. Having the wrist in extension position during the follow through is not technical flaw. It has nothing to do with actively locking it, so-called "cocked". The way your racquet comes through indicates your whole arm is very relaxed and nothing is being cocked. With your strokes, it's a waste of time hitting these indoor gimmicky feeds. Hit with a ball machine on a real court at the minimum.

 

[nyta2]

Thanks for bumping! Not at all your opinion is valued

If i understand correctly by focusing on hitting through your palm goes down on follow through? Is there anything you’re focusing on to get this hitting through motion? I assume more forward movement before collapsing/hinging the elbow back to your body? Thanks

I'm low level, but my answer would be that I throw the racquet at the ball.

this. i just think of throwing the racquet at the ball - from low to high of course.

 

[nyta2]

This is not the kind of detail I would focus on. It likely depends on the ball you receive and what you are trying to do to the ball. If you really want to find out, go on a court and hit some rallies with a real person. Compare the forehands with high vs low contact point, knee height vs chest height. Try to vary net clearance, just above the net vs 2-3x net height. Then see what the video shows. My guess is more ISR, higher contact point, lower net clearance, you're more likely to see the wrist position you want to see. Having the wrist in extension position during the follow through is not technical flaw. It has nothing to do with actively locking it, so-called "cocked". The way your racquet comes through indicates your whole arm is very relaxed and nothing is being cocked. With your strokes, it's a waste of time hitting these indoor gimmicky feeds. Hit with a ball machine on a real court at the minimum.

i personally find that these details are useful observations for what i'm actually trying to do the affect the ball... to later make them reproduceable and/or help me debug when the ball is not going where i want it ito... that said, i'm very visual/analytical about the way i learn... some folks are very feel oriented players (so analyzign details like this doesn't help them).

 

[Dragy]

Hi all. I need some advice and help with my forehand follow through especially on my wrist. I noticed that my wrist stays ‘cocked’ back all the way through the follow through however I see from a lot of tennis instruction online that it should be relaxing after impact and going into a neutral position. I'm wondering what can I try to fix it, i do think my wrist is fairly relaxed already but keen to hear your thoughts. Should I try things like consciously flipping the wrist after impact?

Video:

Photo of my wrist cocked back on follow through:

https://imgur.com/Ae03k6V

FYI i use a grip between eastern and semi western for my forehand. The shots on here are closed stance but I normally hit semi open out in the court. Just that the balls were bouncing short during this clip.

Do you have any issues on court with this shot?

Talking about the clip, you do actually get lowish shortish balls. And you play them mostly flat, slapping from behind. But you still need to at least lift them over the net - so you possibly lick your wrist a bit to achieve more open stringbed at impact.

I’d suggest exploring if you can swing with more arc rather than straight from behind on such low balls. Such arc will require you to swing from inside the ball, dropping racquet head between the ball and your leg. Like this:

This will create more steep racquet head angle and will work with more relaxed wrist finally to keep ball from launching too high.

But again, what’s your issue with the shot, other from visual imperfection, when actually playing?

 

[johnmccabe]

i personally find that these details are useful observations for what i'm actually trying to do the affect the ball... to later make them reproduceable and/or help me debug when the ball is not going where i want it ito... that said, i'm very visual/analytical about the way i learn... some folks are very feel oriented players (so analyzign details like this doesn't help them).

I'm the same type as you. The only reason I think this case is not very useful is it's way after the contact point. I think BMG is right that the follow through is the result of the swing. backtracking and analyzing from this part of the swing to figure out what's wrong "upstream" is not something I would spend time doing. the OP has a very nice swing. he probably will gain much more focusing on other aspects of his game.

 

[nyta2]

I'm the same type as you. The only reason I think this case is not very useful is it's way after the contact point. I think BMG is right that the follow through is the result of the swing. backtracking and analyzing from this part of the swing to figure out what's wrong "upstream" is not something I would spend time doing. the OP has a very nice swing. he probably will gain much more focusing on other aspects of his game.

for me, the finish is an indicator of how i came through the contact... helps me, but maybe not the next person...

 

[ChaelAZ]

Hi all. I need some advice and help with my forehand follow through especially on my wrist. I noticed that my wrist stays ‘cocked’ back all the way through the follow through however I see from a lot of tennis instruction online that it should be relaxing after impact and going into a neutral position. I'm wondering what can I try to fix it, i do think my wrist is fairly relaxed already but keen to hear your thoughts. Should I try things like consciously flipping the wrist after impact?

Video:

Photo of my wrist cocked back on follow through:

https://imgur.com/Ae03k6V

FYI i use a grip between eastern and semi western for my forehand. The shots on here are closed stance but I normally hit semi open out in the court. Just that the balls were bouncing short during this clip.

Is there an issue beyond the technical part you are trying to fix, or that you think the follow through is causing - consistency issues, balls too short/long, no power?

 

[Kenfly]

Thanks all for the discussions and am reading through all the tips for sure! Hope to add some more videos on different type of balls. Unfortunately it’s been raining here a lot so screen tennis has been the only opportunity I can play.

@johnmccabe on the ISR I do think I’m lacking a lot of this so will try experiment and have a hit. Any tips on how this might feel that I’m activating it correctly? I read somewhere it might feel like I’m trying to elbow someone in front?

@Dragy thanks for screenshots! I do want to get more spin on my shots so will try this out.


@ChaelAZ i do think my forehand is more inconsistent compared to my backhand which could be impacted by many things. I think I tend to shank it more/don’t hit in the middle of the stringbed as consistently.

Additionally I also noticed that my racquet is twisting in my hand (starting off with eastern on the swing for forehand, and on some shots it’s finishing at a semi western grip) which to me sounds like I need to grip tighter? Or get better at hitting sweet spot more consistently

Agree with the comments that the imperfection above is caused most likely by my swing as opposed to issues in the follow through itself

 

[Kenfly]

Updated with video on a rally with a friend so a bit more variety in the shots coming at me. Looks to be the same issue with my follow through so will try to make some tweaks particularly around elbow, ISR. Any other improvement suggestions would love to hear please. Thanks