Hitting buggy whip forehand long

[FiReFTW]

I think I have a pretty good feel for my normal forehand groundstroke, and its slowly improving with time, of course I hit it in different ways depending on situations.
One forehand I can't seem to get a feel for, is the buggy whip.
When I was stretched wide and there was no other way but to be late on my forehand, usually I tried to hit a defensive slice forehand, but ive started trying the buggy whip now for the past 2 times ive been out in these situations, and it just doesn't work, the ball has a very high trajectory upwards and goes long.
Since its a totally different type of stroke that ive hit of course its new to me and im not acustomed to it, but it just feels like impossible to hit it any other way than by the ball going very high and long, since the swing is so upward.
Does the racquet face have to be more closed on this type of swing? Its certainly not too open because the ball does have some topspin alltho maybe not as much as it should, and that would not happen if my face was open, then I would get backspin.
Any thoughts?

 

[NuBas]

If I remember correctly, only times I used it is when I am late to contact the ball out in front so it bounces high and contacting it late and high, I just whip it back. My racquet face is normal but its more of a brush than it is hitting through the ball.

 

[Bender]

If I remember correctly, only times I used it is when I am late to contact the ball out in front so it bounces high and contacting it late and high, I just whip it back. My racquet face is normal but its more of a brush than it is hitting through the ball.

That's one way a reverse forehand can come into use, but you can actually hit them even when you're making good contact in front of your body. It really comes down to how vertical your swing is, and also has little to do with the grip employed on the forehand.

Rafa is the best example of this, because when you watch him play matches you'll notice that his contact point is very much in front of the body but uses the reverse followthrough despite making contact well in front of the body.

One thing I've noticed about Rafa's forehand is that he straightens his back and leans slightly backwards on his forehand (illustrated perfectly in the photo above) a lot more than the next two players with the forehands most similar to his; Federer and Verdasco. See below a photo of Roger hitting his forehand, where his upper body is far more vertical.

This lean increases the verticality of the overall swingpath even though the swingpath on its own isn't particularly vertical. In his matches, his rally forehands exhibit this backwards lean, while his putaway forehands do not.

I'm guessing that because the 'lean' causes the swingpath to become very vertical, the more natural swingpath can only be the reverse followthrough, and not the windshield wiper forehand that he uses primarily in his practice sessions.

But anyway this is hardly relevant for the reverse forehand as most people will use them. To OP: if your reverse forehands are sailing long, it's because your racquet face is too open; chances are that your initial racquet swingpath leading to contact is identical to your normal forehand, and you're tacking on the reverse finish. The followthrough does not make the stroke; the stroke induces the followthrough.

If you want to hit reverse forehands when you are rushed, you need to change your swingpath that causes the reverse finish; not attempt to hit your normal forehand with a reverse finish. That's probably what's causing you to hit home runs.

 

[NuBas]

That's one way a reverse forehand can come into use, but you can actually hit them even when you're making good contact in front of your body. It really comes down to how vertical your swing is, and also has little to do with the grip employed on the forehand.

Rafa is the best example of this, because when you watch him play matches you'll notice that his contact point is very much in front of the body but uses the reverse followthrough despite making contact well in front of the body.

One thing I've noticed about Rafa's forehand is that he straightens his back and leans slightly backwards on his forehand (illustrated perfectly in the photo above)

Great observation and I think the reason why he leans back is probably as a counter balance, that and plus to create more vertical path. I don't do the whip myself all that often but I see how it can be done making contact in front, though I think you kind of have to catch the outside of the ball and definitely more closed racquet face and have good bite on ball. OP can also think about drawing a large C-like shape.

 

[Bender]

Great observation and I think the reason why he leans back is probably as a counter balance, that and plus to create more vertical path. I don't do the whip myself all that often but I see how it can be done making contact in front, though I think you kind of have to catch the outside of the ball and definitely more closed racquet face and have good bite on ball. OP can also think about drawing a large C-like shape.

You put it perfectly re: counterbalance. It's almost like Newton's Third Law on the tennis court ('for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction')--because his contact point almost never changes (since he hits with a straight arm and makes contact in front of his body every time), when he pushes with his legs slightly backwards, it adds additional power to his arm and racquet, which are moving forwards. It's basically the same thing as the scissor kick double backhand, where the raised leg kicks back and the racquet and arms swing forward for additional power.

The fact that this lean increases the swingpath's angle adds additional spin to bring the ball back into the court, since additional power aimed up will cause a ball to fly long.

I hit a lot more reverse forehands than most people I know (basically if I'm not in the perfect position to hit the forehand, my swingpath naturally switches to the reverse finish), and they usually aren't any less powerful than my normal rally forehand, so this is one area that I can speak about at length, I think.

Edit: obviously this is mostly just an observation on my part mixed with attempts to reconcile what I've seen with what I know of tennis theory, so perhaps @JohnYandell can share his thoughts? Love to read what he thinks of the reverse forehand, its technique, and its applications.

 

[NuBas]

LOL I used this for another tips thread but it also has the reverse forehand @ 1:20. You can kind of see Roger going a bit backwards too.

Another buggy whip at 2:10, leans back.

 

[Bender]

LOL I used this for another tips thread but it also has the reverse forehand @ 1:20. You can kind of see Roger going a bit backwards too.

Yeah it's something that I think happens a lot more with straight arm forehands since they are more sensitive to the contact point than double bend forehands.

But even then Murray and Gasquet with their double bend forehands hit plenty of shots with the reverse finish, and I'm pretty sure they would lean back slightly as well to maintain their minimum spacing between their bodies and the incoming ball.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[FiReFTW]

Bender I think you have a good point, I think im focusing too much on that followthrough, and instead of swinging very verticaly so that the followthrough will happen as a result of the shot, im hitting similar to my regular stroke, too much penetration and forward swing but still with a very low to high path, but it makes the ball fly too long because I add too much forward swing, instead of really hitting verticaly. Well in any case I will try to focus on that and see how it goes and will tell if it clicked.