My Forehand ABSOLUTELY SUCKS!

AJK1

Hall of Fame
I have been playing tennis for about 3 years after playing squash for about 20 years, and my FOREHAND SUCKS BIGTIME! I have had many tennis lessons and thought i was going ok. But when i play matches i just fall back into old habits, and i have no follow through, and the ball keeps hitting the net half way up, or sails long. I have no power, and find it very hard to generate power when i need it. I can't afford lessons at the moment, so how can i improve my forehand??? I want consistency and be able to have the confidence to go for the odd winner without making a fool of myself?? HELP!!
 

Kaptain Karl

Hall Of Fame
First of all, thank you for giving good information. I rarely click on threads like yours these days. They are usually just whine sessions with no useful information we can use to help you. You provided us with some good info....

AJK1 said:
But when i play matches i just fall back into old habits, and i have no follow through, and the ball keeps hitting the net half way up, or sails long. I have no power, and find it very hard to generate power when i need it.
This is not so unusual. I don't even remember what "old coach" it was who said it, but many of my coaching colleagues like to repeat it. It is, "Practice doesn't make perfect. Perfect practice makes perfect."

Your comment makes me think you compete differently than you practice. (This happens a lot at the club levels. Heck! It still happens for some Pros.)

I suggest you work on "game-based drills." These are drills where you are still keeping score. There is the element of competition built into them. (If you SEARCH "game-based drills" here you'll find some great drills Mahboob and others have shared.)

Specifically, I suggest you work on some baseline drills -- and you concentrate on hitting FHs in them. Also, you can do some Alley drills which are game-based.

If the game-based drills are not adding enough pressure, "raise the ante." Play for lunch ... beers ... who pays for the court time. (But first, just try playing them straight.)

Keep smiling...!

- KK
 

cervelo

Rookie
Kaptain Karl said:
Your comment makes me think you compete differently than you practice. (This happens a lot at the club levels. Heck! It still happens for some Pros.)

I suggest you work on "game-based drills." These are drills where you are still keeping score. There is the element of competition built into them. (If you SEARCH "game-based drills" here you'll find some great drills Mahboob and others have shared.)

If the game-based drills are not adding enough pressure, "raise the ante." Play for lunch ... beers ... who pays for the court time. (But first, just try playing them straight.)

Keep smiling...!

- KK

I've mentioned this in a couple other threads that Karl has taken part in ... and my comments aren't intended to disagree with his ...

I find that there are two types of "successful" players in this world when it comes to dealing with pressure: those who respond well to it, and those who know how to relieve it.

Some people are able to put pressure on themselves to see if they can live up to it. I don't necessarily like this approach for everyone. Putting pressure on yourself in practice can have mixed results for matches, sometimes, suddenly you end up feeling the pressure no matter how much you've trained to experience it. It's a weird thing really.

Personally, I am not a player who likes the prospect of living up to acknowledged pressure - my goal is simply to focus on something that distracts me from any pressure. With my tennis, I'm quite analytical, so I know how to divert my attention from the fact that I'm serving 4-5, "ad out" 2nd serve, and focus on what I'm trying to do with respect to my game plan.

In the above example, as I'm facing a break/set point serving to the ad court, I'll examine how have I gotten my 2nd serve to work for me thusfar- not to hit an ace, but to set up my FH (which is my weapon). I'll re-examine what I am trying to do against this opponent? I'll ask which strategy best applies to this very moment?

I rework the feeling of pressure and turn it into a "how can I figure this out?" mentality... I'll be thinking analytically and strategically ... and sometimes it works sometimes it doesn't ... but I make it a point to never fail to "face up" to the pressure by actually avoiding it and using my head to strategize.

I mean, you hafta accept the risk of losing before you hit the first ball- that's tennis! With that mindset, the pressure seem less suffocating.
 

nViATi

Hall of Fame
AJK1 said:
I have been playing tennis for about 3 years after playing squash for about 20 years, and my FOREHAND SUCKS BIGTIME! I have had many tennis lessons and thought i was going ok. But when i play matches i just fall back into old habits, and i have no follow through, and the ball keeps hitting the net half way up, or sails long. I have no power, and find it very hard to generate power when i need it. I can't afford lessons at the moment, so how can i improve my forehand??? I want consistency and be able to have the confidence to go for the odd winner without making a fool of myself?? HELP!!
The only way is to play more matches. It seems that the problem is that you get overwhelmed by the pressure of a match and lose confidence.
 

mclee025

Rookie
I can feel your pain because your forehand kind of sounds like mine did a few months ago. I had a long layoff from tennis where I played a few years of racquetball. When I came back, my tennis forehand -- that was once a fairly natural stroke -- was very awkward.

After a lot of analysis I realized that it all had to do with poor form. Instead of using my body in the stroke, I was using way too much arm. The power from all your strokes should come from your body and not your arm. So, as a start, make sure you get your shoulders into the stroke.

Here's a good check for that for the forehand side. Assuming you are right handed, when you set up for the stroke, your left shoulder should be tucked under your chin. When you finish, your right shoulder should be under your chin.

I found that if I used my body properly, the stroke dynamics is a lot simpler. I got more power and consistency was a lot easier to find. If you browse the forum, there are lots of discussion about good stroking technique. Go read about the kenetic chain that talks about how to get the body into the stroke.
 

Kaptain Karl

Hall Of Fame
cervelo said:
I've mentioned this in a couple other threads that Karl has taken part in ... and my comments aren't intended to disagree with his ...

I find that there are two types of "successful" players in this world when it comes to dealing with pressure: those who respond well to it, and those who know how to relieve it.
Your opening sort of made me wonder what "the drop of the other shoe" was going to feel like. But I do not at all disagree with your post.

I advocate practicing pressure. You offered a way to deal *with* the pressure. Yours is one way....

- KK
 

cervelo

Rookie
Kaptain Karl said:
Your opening sort of made me wonder what "the drop of the other shoe" was going to feel like. But I do not at all disagree with your post.

I advocate practicing pressure. You offered a way to deal *with* the pressure. Yours is one way....

- KK

Yeah, but I think it's easy to "white knuckle" yourself when practicing with this pressure. I used to do the ol' "drop this set and it's an extra 2 miles running later ..." or "punish/reward" myself during matches or practice sets ... I think this approach can be bad because of the heightened demand/expectations and the tension created by it.

I started to make my "mental change" when, a few days after a pressured loss or win, I would think back to those times where I felt the pressure, and honestly, I couldn't really remember any specifics because I was consumed by the intensity. However, after the "change", I would remember those times where I felt the relief of imposing my strategy and either won or lost a toughie; these times were so instructive because I UNDERSTOOD what happened when it came down to X's and O's. The emotion didn't get to blur the strategy/analysis.

I like the practice of pressure-less tennis, rather than the practice of dealing under pressure. Does that seem different somehow? Because the second approach really worked for me when the "punish/reward" thing did not.
 

AJK1

Hall of Fame
It's been a long time since i posted this thread, and my forehand now is a weapon. Had some coaching and things improved out of sight.
 
S

Sandy40

Guest
Do you have access to a ball machine? I was having issues with following through, and I spent a few hours with a ball machine doing only forehands, and I noticed a marked improvement in my forehand after that. Have played 2 matches since. I focused on only 2 things - keeping my eye on the ball, and following through.
 
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Sandy40

Guest
Sorry - just realized that it's no longer an issue ;) I guess the coaching helped. Cheers.
 

Trainer

Rookie
It's been a long time since i posted this thread, and my forehand now is a weapon. Had some coaching and things improved out of sight.

Did it have anything to do with "pressure"?

Or did you just need to develop the shot with better technique?
 

Ten_is

Rookie
just remember this:

1. low to high
2. use your shoulders and full upper body turn with non-dominant arm
3. focus on hitting sweetspot every single time


If you focus on these three things, you'll be okay. stay loose, don't think too much or stress how you'll be hitting it or grip etc.. just chill out man.
 

Ten_is

Rookie
Off the Wall:

Someone once told me don't try to imitate anyone's style. Focus on fundamentals and technique. Your own style builds eventually. He was right.
 

AJK1

Hall of Fame
Actually, the thing that improved my forehand the most was something that's not mentioned much on these boards: Footwork
Early preparation and footwork moving to the ball and hitting the ball at the right spot (the hitting zone) was the secret.
 
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