open stance forehand...how not to pull off from the ball?

[pushing_wins]

problem: not enough drive on forehand

this problem is more pronounced when i hit cross-court, with higher balls, when i m trying to hit hard or when i m not too warmed up

analysis:
- i feel i m always pulling off the ball, my head is turns too early
- too much pushing off the right leg into the wrong direction resulting in too much rotation. this could be the result of improper backswing and improper loading
- contact point to too close to body



solution:
- shorten the backswing, no raquet drop end of backswing
- try to hug myself with non-hitting arm as i start the forward swing


suggestions, anyone?

 

[Vyse]

Use a semi open stance so you can still go forward. the full open stance should only be used in the most dire of circumstances, just use semi open, much easier. Fully open is stupid and hard to use

 

[pushing_wins]

Use a semi open stance so you can still go forward. the full open stance should only be used in the most dire of circumstances, just use semi open, much easier. Fully open is stupid and hard to use

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTEsGt3gVu8

second forehand is very open

it is ideal in some situations

 

[10nistennis]

Not enough drive eh?


Are you hitting too in front of you? Too early? Many times when this happens you will try to arm the ball, creating not only poor drive, but poor topspin and other mechanics.



What you might want to try is to keep your contact zone a little bit in front of you. As you hit the ball, extend through the ball, into the direction you are hitting the ball. Your weight should be transferred from your back foot to your front foot during contact.



Another remedy is to have your non-hitting arm extended and pointing to the side fence during preparation. This allows you to get the proper body rotation before and during contact, and it allows you to not have too early of a rotation.

 

[5263]

I think you got it when you mentioned pulling your head out too early. Try it with your head staying more still and focused on the contact area. It is ok/even good, for the body to pull out to the side with the open stance, but not to the extent that it pulls the head away too. Usually the problem I see is the head LEADing the rotation in an effort to pull more powerfully. Try to reverse this and have the head be the last thing to rotate out.

 

[charliefedererer]

To drive those forehands deep crosscourt employ more of a forward leg and upper body thrust in addition to the rotational energy from your open stance. Also you can "flatten out your swing" more, with more margin of error from the low part of the net you are hitting over, and the longer court area to hit into on a crosscourt shot. Keep your more compact swing for shorter balls and DTL shots.

 

[LeeD]

Lower your racket tension to around 50 lbs. on normal sized rackets.
If you mishit more often, you're brushing the ball.
If you can hit without too many mishits, swing harder and get better.

 

[pushing_wins]

Lower your racket tension to around 50 lbs. on normal sized rackets.
If you mishit more often, you're brushing the ball.
If you can hit without too many mishits, swing harder and get better.

u call that advice

 

[pushing_wins]

I think you got it when you mentioned pulling your head out too early. Try it with your head staying more still and focused on the contact area. It is ok/even good, for the body to pull out to the side with the open stance, but not to the extent that it pulls the head away too. Usually the problem I see is the head LEADing the rotation in an effort to pull more powerfully. Try to reverse this and have the head be the last thing to rotate out.

how to brake your head and the left side?

the right side has to hit against a strong left side for the right side to release properly

when u telll someone to hit it hard, their head will move. if u tell someone to do the reverse, as you have suggested, that is unnatural.

i think the pros must have a different trigger point to accomplish this naturally.

 

[cellofaan]

solution:
- shorten the backswing, no raquet drop end of backswing
- try to hug myself with non-hitting arm as i start the forward swing

I would certainly not try this. The racket drop at the end of the backswing helps accellerating the ball. If you leave it out, you'll probably start trying to use muscle power to get enough racket speed.
The non-hitting arm should rotate along with your shoulders, quite the opposite of hugging yourself.

Trying to hit the ball a little more in front of you is a good advice, coupled with shifting your weight forward. You really have to hit through the ball, instead of pulling out of it.

Do have a video of yourself? It's a lot easier to give advice when we can actually see what you do. If you don't feel comfortable posting it, you can still compare it with instructional videos (ie Fuzzy Yellow Balls) and videos of pros hitting the ball.

People tend to think they have much better technique than they actually have, and seeing yourself on video can be a revelation.
You could also post it

 

[LeeD]

Pushing Wins.... or does it?
That is advice given by old ArtLarsen himself. Well over your head, of course, and over mine too, in 1975, when I played doubles with his troupe of former top level '50's tennis players.
Softening tension in your racket forces you to hit through the ball, not brush up on it. The longer contact time easily mishits whenever you brush up or across, down or a combination of, and causes a frame driven mishit.
If you can hit with soft tensions, you hit through the ball....aka Nadal and Federer.
Why do you think they use such soft tensions, and both play a completely different style of game?
Think about that, while you ponder whether advice given is good or bad.

 

[pushing_wins]

Pushing Wins.... or does it?
That is advice given by old ArtLarsen himself. Well over your head, of course, and over mine too, in 1975, when I played doubles with his troupe of former top level '50's tennis players.
Softening tension in your racket forces you to hit through the ball, not brush up on it. The longer contact time easily mishits whenever you brush up or across, down or a combination of, and causes a frame driven mishit.
If you can hit with soft tensions, you hit through the ball....aka Nadal and Federer.
Why do you think they use such soft tensions, and both play a completely different style of game?
Think about that, while you ponder whether advice given is good or bad.

\


low tension is a subset of good forehands

it is a sufficient condition, not a necessary conditions

dropping names works agaisnt u, it makes u less credible

 

[pushing_wins]

I would certainly not try this. The racket drop at the end of the backswing helps accellerating the ball. If you leave it out, you'll probably start trying to use muscle power to get enough racket speed.
The non-hitting arm should rotate along with your shoulders, quite the opposite of hugging yourself.

Trying to hit the ball a little more in front of you is a good advice, coupled with shifting your weight forward. You really have to hit through the ball, instead of pulling out of it.

Do have a video of yourself? It's a lot easier to give advice when we can actually see what you do. If you don't feel comfortable posting it, you can still compare it with instructional videos (ie Fuzzy Yellow Balls) and videos of pros hitting the ball.

People tend to think they have much better technique than they actually have, and seeing yourself on video can be a revelation.
You could also post it

http://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/showthread.php?t=148232

 

[pushing_wins]

I would certainly not try this. The racket drop at the end of the backswing helps accellerating the ball. If you leave it out, you'll probably start trying to use muscle power to get enough racket speed.
The non-hitting arm should rotate along with your shoulders, quite the opposite of hugging yourself.

Trying to hit the ball a little more in front of you is a good advice, coupled with shifting your weight forward. You really have to hit through the ball, instead of pulling out of it.

Do have a video of yourself? It's a lot easier to give advice when we can actually see what you do. If you don't feel comfortable posting it, you can still compare it with instructional videos (ie Fuzzy Yellow Balls) and videos of pros hitting the ball.

People tend to think they have much better technique than they actually have, and seeing yourself on video can be a revelation.
You could also post it

i m trying to drop the racquet head as i come forward.

u throw a ball with your hand cocked forward, not with your wrist laidback.

 

[LeeD]

Since you know it all, you tell yourself how to cure your brushing stroke.

 

[Blake0]

This is where the left hand comes into play. It really helps me get the weight transfer timing right. You can look up all the posts SA has made on using the left hand for spacing yourself and for helping your weight transfer.

Keep both of your hands on the racket until your shoulder/hips are fully turned and then let go and extend your left arm and use it as a guide to help you get the weight transfer into the ball. Don't make the mistake of pulling your left arm back and then swinging, it may cause you to turn your shoulders too early. Try to let your shoulder turn take your left arm back. So as you uncoil your shoulders, your racket is swinging forward and your left arm is going back, look at the 2 videos of federer here, you can really see how he uses his left arm in the second federer video.

http://www.hi-techtennis.com/index.php?more=true

 

[Joe Average]

Well, as others have mentioned, the open stance requires a more conscious effort (at first) with the shoulder turn. Maybe this will help you visualize it. First get into the neutral stance. Now move your left foot (assuming you're right-handed) over to an open stance while keeping your upper body still. This is how it should look as you're ready to hit an open-stance forehand. The non-hitting hand is often used to bring the racquet back. By using this hand, you're forcing your shoulders to turn. This is a good thing. Often players using the open stance get lazy (or in my case, too old to comfortably stretch that trunk) and kind of flip their racquets back. This results in little shoulder rotation and sometimes an open racquet face.

 

[dwhiteside]

oops wrong thread disregard

 

[5263]

how to brake your head and the left side?

the right side has to hit against a strong left side for the right side to release properly

when u telll someone to hit it hard, their head will move. if u tell someone to do the reverse, as you have suggested, that is unnatural.

i think the pros must have a different trigger point to accomplish this naturally.

I'm not up on the terms you use here like brake your head and trigger point, but I would suggest that if you move your head to hit harder, that would be a good definition of trying to over hit. There is plenty of good vid showing players with a relatively still head as they smoke the ball.

For me, you can only count on stroking as hard as you can maintain form of the stroke. Any more, and you are over hitting and will be erratic in your placements.

 

[Scott Baxter]

Your body and oftentimes racket will follow the motion of your head. Growing up my coach used to tell me pretend like you're balancing a glass of water on your head when you hit ground-strokes. If you watch Federer's ground-strokes his head is virtually motionless.

My advice: Focus on not moving your head. Keeping a steady head gives you a good core balance and makes you much less likely to pull away from the ball.