hitting my forehand too close to my body

[LHM]

I am looking for some back to basics tips on my forehand. I seem to have got into a very bad habit of hitting my forehand too close to my body.

I feel like each time I hit my forehand my whole arm and elbow is jammed into my body. While I hit my forehand like this is doesn't feel right and the results are a total mess, balls are going long or into the net and I have no confidence in my forehand. Basically my forehand feels way too compact.

A little google search I have done indicates that I should be hitting the ball earlier, out infront of me and have my arm and elbow extended away from my body? Is this correct and can you give me some simple tips to get out of this bad habit? Its grating on my mind !

 

[Uncoil]

Use your off arm to gauge the distance of your hitting zone.

 

[LeeD]

Start by drop feeding, you dropping the ball and hitting a couple hun.
Then get your buddy to feet you from about 25' away, slow and easy.
However, some player's hit with more bent arm than other's, so the elbow to body distance vary's a lot. What matters is how good the ball comes off your racket, not looking like Fed/Dimtrov in pictures.

 

[EddieBrock]

Make sure your arm isn't too close to your body and use your left arm for distance. Make sure you keep your shoulders turned until you're ready to swing. I found that I was opening my shoulder too soon and keeping them closed helped. Also remember you want to hit the ball with your racket and not your body, so don't trying to run into the ball. Think about where your ideal contact point is as you're watching the ball come towards you. Some videos I saw that might help

Specifically about finding contact point

Approach shot strategy starts at 45 seconds and he talks about clearing space so you don't get jammed

 

[SystemicAnomaly]

Use your off arm to gauge the distance of your hitting zone.

Yes, this. After a full unit turn, release your top hand from the racket and extend it our toward the side (fence). The off hand provides a great spatial reference.

 

[Limpinhitter]

I am looking for some back to basics tips on my forehand. I seem to have got into a very bad habit of hitting my forehand too close to my body.

I feel like each time I hit my forehand my whole arm and elbow is jammed into my body. While I hit my forehand like this is doesn't feel right and the results are a total mess, balls are going long or into the net and I have no confidence in my forehand. Basically my forehand feels way too compact.

A little google search I have done indicates that I should be hitting the ball earlier, out infront of me and have my arm and elbow extended away from my body? Is this correct and can you give me some simple tips to get out of this bad habit? Its grating on my mind !

It's a lot easier to give accurate advice if you post a video of what you are talking about. Having said that, I've seen this before and in my experience the feeling that you are setting up to close to the ball and getting jammed is a misinterpretation.

More likely, you are not rotating your upper body enough to cause your chest to face the target before contact. I call it clearing the upper body. In that way, your body is out of the way (cleared), and contact is further forward into the court. You body can't jam your swing if your chest is facing the target before contact.

Try to picture this. If you are employing the much talked about "kinetic chain" concept in which you initiate your forward swing by rotating your right hip (assuming you're a righty), which pulls the torso, then the shoulders, then the arm and racquet in a chain of events, your upper body will be turned toward the target before contact and out of the way of your swing, and again, your contact point will be more forward into the court.

Having not seen your forehand, I will guess that, at contact, your side (left shoulder), is still facing the target rather than your chest facing the target.

Check out how Federer rotates and clears his upper body before contact (picture #3). As you can see he is not set up that far from the ball. If his side was still turned to the target, his body would jam his swing:

 

[KenC]

More likely, you are not rotating your upper body enough to cause your chest to face the target before contact. I call it clearing the upper body. In that way, your body is out of the way (cleared), and contact is further forward into the court. You body can't jam your swing if your chest is facing the target before contact.

Try to picture this. If you are employing the much talked about "kinetic chain" concept in which you initiate your forward swing by rotating your right hip (assuming you're a righty), which pulls the torso, then the shoulders, then the arm and racquet in a chain of events, your upper body will be turned toward the target before contact and out of the way of your swing, and again, your contact point will be more forward into the court.

Great advice from Limpinhitter, as usual. Hitting the ball out in front as much as possible leads to better weight transfer and better accuracy. There is something that helps before the shot, I call it "watch the ball with your back foot." Meaning, where you put your back foot sets up the entire shot, so as you are tracking the ball you are determining where the back foot will plant and initiate the the sequence of events that drive the shot. Never underestimate the importance of proper footwork in tennis. Combine this with an aggressive contact point and your strokes will becomes formidable weapons.

 

[scotus]

Clay Ballard covers that topic here:

 

[jga111]

I have been learning from the ground up 3 years and have been technically analysing all parts of my game. There is a lot of good advice here regarding the contact point and timing (hit it early).

But if you are like how I used to be (and still are at times) your problem is even before that. And what is that?...

Too many steps. Over-stepping, over-shifting. Typically you may have this scenario:

* Hit the ball back from the left side of the baseline.
* Opponent hits it back to the right side of the baseline.
* You move towards the ball -..

This is where you could be going wrong as I have. Making one too many steps and before you know it, the ball is right at you.

The best way of correcting this is to have someone good at the net, giving you light feeds all over the pace. Hitting them back to him gently so he can volley them easily elsewhere. It is an exhausting exercise, but its amazing what this does for your footwork - and your anticipation of where you should be when striking the ball. It will help you get a feel of where you should be before you even strike to hit the ball.

The issue for me is all about footwork - don't overstep and learn to be more familiar with your range of space available to you. You will see the pros barely making a few shifts from one tramline to the other; its that utilisation of space we are talking about. My suggested routine will absolutely help address this.

Best of luck.

 

[The Unknown]

Use your off arm to gauge the distance of your hitting zone.

What do you mean by this exactly? Thanks

 

[SystemicAnomaly]

What do you mean by this exactly? Thanks

Did you take look at the images I posted in #5? The "off arm" extends out to the side for a relatively short time but can be used pretty effectively for gauging your position relative to the incoming ball.