Help me improve my cross court forehand! (added a hitting video)

Buffster

Rookie
Hi guys,

I've been progressing quite well the last couple of months. My backhand is my strongest baseline stroke and my forehand is coming along pretty well. There's one part of the forehand I'm struggling with though and that's the cross court forehand. For some reason I have a hard time getting into position well for that stroke. I've attached a video I shot today and hope you could give me some feedback that would help me improve my cross court forehand.

Video link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0Jhn_vtijE

Thanks in advance! :)
 

ATP100

Professional
Watch the video, look at your backhand.
Almost all the time, your weight is neutral, going forward, or going left.
Now, look at forehand, don't look at stroke, look at your feet, you are going the wrong way a lot of the time. Practice moving to your right when hitting forehand, this will help.
 

Buffster

Rookie
Thanks for your useful response :)

What exactly do you mean by going the wrong way?

I do see that I hit from an open stand the majority of the time and hang backwards more on my forehand. For some reason I have more trouble getting into the right position and giving myself the opportunity to get my weight forward. Would you say this is due to the fact that I hit too much from an open stance?
 

arche3

Banned
It might be because you add an extra motion into your FH take back? The racket points towards the side fence and the hitting side faces the back fence. So you are pronating on the take back and then flipping it back to begin the forward swing. It's an extra element not present in most FH's. It does not look right to me. I would start with that as it does not seem to add anything of value to your present FH.
 

LeeD

Bionic Poster
Seems all that extra loop motion makes you LATE at times, so CC forehands might be harder for you when you don't plan well in advanced.
 
I wonder if you play squash or maybe even golf?

(your wrist reminds me of the all mighty, it moves in mysterious ways!)

You have a funny little wrist motion on your BH as well, but it is nothing compared to the massively complicated structure that is your forehand!

With regard to the crosscourt, you do seem to be pulling up off the shot a bit, do you find the errors are dragged in to the net or do they go long? As someone above pointed out, your weight seems to be going in the wrong direction.
 

dozu

Banned
bring the right hip forward and you will have a much easier time hitting CC.

that FH loop does look a bit scary... if you keep the racket head pointing UP in the initial take back, it will be less scary.... reason being that an UP racket head has room for the DROP.
 

Buffster

Rookie
It might be because you add an extra motion into your FH take back? The racket points towards the side fence and the hitting side faces the back fence. So you are pronating on the take back and then flipping it back to begin the forward swing. It's an extra element not present in most FH's. It does not look right to me. I would start with that as it does not seem to add anything of value to your present FH.

I see exactly what you mean, the takeback does have a weird "travelling path". I'll see if I can get out the pronation at the beginning, but it will probably be hards as that is what I'm used to.

Seems all that extra loop motion makes you LATE at times, so CC forehands might be harder for you when you don't plan well in advanced.

That might be the case and like I said above, I should change my take back. The main problem I have with CC forehands though, is that I have a hard time getting into the right position and moving my bodyweight forward on the shot.

I wonder if you play squash or maybe even golf?

(your wrist reminds me of the all mighty, it moves in mysterious ways!)

You have a funny little wrist motion on your BH as well, but it is nothing compared to the massively complicated structure that is your forehand!

With regard to the crosscourt, you do seem to be pulling up off the shot a bit, do you find the errors are dragged in to the net or do they go long? As someone above pointed out, your weight seems to be going in the wrong direction.
LOL :) Regarding other sports, I have played squash, but I hardly ever do that lately. And yeah, I manage to get the shot into play and with some dept most of the times, but I have a hard time being agressive with it. It's also the stroke that gives me most unforced errors, primarily hitting into the net.

bring the right hip forward and you will have a much easier time hitting CC.

that FH loop does look a bit scary... if you keep the racket head pointing UP in the initial take back, it will be less scary.... reason being that an UP racket head has room for the DROP.
I'm going to hit later today and driving my right hip forward will be one of my main priorities. The other one will be the takeback, I realise it's not helping my forehand.

One more thing, don't you guys think my arm is too stiff when it hit forehands (and again primarily) CC forehands? I personally have the feeling that the motion should be much smoother.
 

dozu

Banned
I'm going to hit later today and driving my right hip forward will be one of my main priorities. The other one will be the takeback, I realise it's not helping my forehand.

One more thing, don't you guys think my arm is too stiff when it hit forehands (and again primarily) CC forehands? I personally have the feeling that the motion should be much smoother.

right hip forward - just wanted to clarify that I meant you step the right foot forward so it's in front of the left foot.... this way you don't need to pull across your body to produce CC ball.

the stiffness - all the pros, at the beginning of the FH take back, has the racket head UP, this will make the racket feel light in hand, so the arm/hand can relax, that allows a free fall of a racket drop, which starts the forward swing smoothly.
 

Buffster

Rookie
Huh? Right foot forward? At which point? Doesn't putting the right foot in front of the left get me into a closed stance?
 

toly

Hall of Fame
Hi guys,

I've been progressing quite well the last couple of months. My backhand is my strongest baseline stroke and my forehand is coming along pretty well. There's one part of the forehand I'm struggling with though and that's the cross court forehand. For some reason I have a hard time getting into position well for that stroke. I've attached a video I shot today and hope you could give me some feedback that would help me improve my cross court forehand.

Video link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0Jhn_vtijE

Thanks in advance! :)
If we want to hit cross court FH, we can use next different possibilities:
1. Hit the ball earlier. We should start the swing earlier. It is very popular.
2. Use the wrist to direct ball to the left. This is very tricky.
3. Change the stance. Turn entire body counterclockwise before backswing. This is not always possible.
4. Use more bent elbow to decrease angular momentum of the “human racquet”. Thus we can increase angular acceleration and hit the ball earlier. This is also very popular.
5. Maybe something else?
 
Last edited:

Mahboob Khan

Hall of Fame
If we want to hit cross court FH, we can use next different possibilities:
1. Hit the ball earlier. We should start the swing earlier. It is very popular.
2. Use the wrist to direct ball to the left. This is very tricky.
3. Change the stance. Turn entire body counterclockwise before backswing. This is not always possible.
4. Use more bent elbow to decrease angular momentum of the “human racquet”. Thus we can increase angular acceleration and hit the ball earlier. This is also very popular.
5. Maybe something else?

I thought we were talking about FH. Counterclockwise or anti-clockwise turn is for the BH; for FH the upper body turn is clock-wise. Stand in front of the clock and look at the needles!

I think he hits ok when he gets shots in the center, however, when the ball is wide to his forehand (cross court shot) he gets surprised, bit out of position, and have this uneasiness with cross court shot. I also felt that because of minimal upper body turn, he uses his wrist-forearm more to overcompensate for his lack of proper upper body turn.

Sir, watch the ball early, watch it as you hit it, and then watch it all the way to your opponent, watch it when your opponent hits it, judge the ball to your forehand, move, take the racket back/full body turn clockwise, open stance, hit out in front, bit more out in front as compared to down the line, and go for it.

Mahboob Khan
 

NLBwell

Legend
Would like to see how far in front of your body you are contacting the ball, but can't from the ground-level behind viewpoint.
 

arche3

Banned
The op fh does not resemble dj at all. For one the op racket head does not point up.
Dj points up like every other pro. Dj does not have the racket flip like the op. Not the same at all. Dj goes from high to drop through swing. Like all top pros.


the inverted loop is fine, look at djokovic

all the power from the loop is lost if you dont stay with the shot. thats your problem, i think.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0RndYbEl3s#t=4m31s
 

pushing_wins

Hall of Fame
The op fh does not resemble dj at all. For one the op racket head does not point up. Dj points up like every other pro. Dj does not have the racket flip like the op. Not the same at all. Dj goes from high to drop through swing. Like all top pros.

the difference , the op wrist is more laid back at the top of his loop
 
Top