Hello Everyone- Last post everyone was a great help with my daughters serve. We are in the process of improving it. Can you please critique my daughter's forehand. She uses a 26 inch racquet. Her grip is semi-western. Thanks http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2XndUVZkGe8&feature=youtu.be
very cute. looks like she really likes tennis. Have her hold the racquet in both hands longer. currently she is letting go with the left hand too early and bringing the racquet back with one hand. This will lead to errors and 'break down' during rallies because under pressure that right arm will move back at different speeds/degrees each time. She should hold with both hands on the racquet in front of her body. Then rotate the trunk while still holding with both hands and the racquet still in front of her torso. (unit turn) Then when the left hand reaches to about the right shoulder she can let go with the left, extend that left hand out and drop the racquet w/ the right hand. Like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ImeQaAyFPc
Emily's Forehand Very nice! There is a lot to like about this forehand. I especially appreciate the position of her elbow ... how it stays down and forward during the backswing. Whoever taught it to her did a good job. MG
Overall I think her technique looks great! Here's my analysis. My first impression was that her overall stroke reminded me a lot of Rafael Nadal. This is a great model. As you can see, her preparation looks great, she has two hands on the racket and is ready to prepare for her unit turn. Next picture. Still looking pretty good. However, as previous posters as mentioned it would do her good to keep her hand on the racket slightly longer. As you can see, Nadal's shoulder has turned so it is at least perpendicular to the net. Your daughter's shoulders are probably about 75% of the way there. This should be a pretty easy fix and should help her develop easier power. Next picture. Here's where things start to differ. When Rafa starts hit forward swing he pronates his forearm. This is evident by how the back of his hand is pointing skyward, as the arrow indicates. This causes his racket face to point directly at the ground. As you can see, your daughter does not fully pronate her forearm and therefore the back of her hand is pointing backwards towards the side fence. This causes changes in her racket position at contact, as we'll see later. Next picture. As you can see here, your daughter does a great job extending upwards into contact. Looks almost identical to Rafa minus the changes we noted in the last picture. Next picture.
Here is where the pronation during the takeback takes effect. As we can see, Rafa has a much steeper racket angle during contact than your daughter. This allows him to generate much more topspin while still controlling his power, whereas your daughter's shots will turn out much more flat and hard to control. Next picture. As you can see, Rafa is taking advantage of his slightly closed racket face in order to pull up and across the ball at contact in order to simultaneously produce topspin and power. This is shown by how his racket face is still in line with how it was at contact and we cannot see his stringbed. As we can see by the racket face of your daughter post-contact, she is doing more pushing through contact rather than pulling across. This is a result of her racket face at contact. After adding pronation during the takeback to produce a slightly closed racket face at contact, the technique is to brush up and across the ball at contact. So, all in all: - Make sure to keep hands on racket longer during unit turn. - Try fully pronating the forearm in the takeback. - When swinging forward, try brushing up and across the ball to produce maximum topspin and power, just like Rafa. Hope that helped! Your daughter's strokes look great. Good luck.
Thanks for the positive remarks in regards to her forehand. We will focus on the hold rhythm much more during her forehand practice sessions as suggested
Very impressive follow through...I thought it might have been "too much racket" for her when I first started watching...but she has great control of the racket...well done...with your permission, I would like to show my students her forehand. Especially the follow through, which I try to stress to my kids. Again, great job!
Yes. Her stroke looks excellent imo. I like the way she leads the forward swing with the elbow. That looks perfect. That's gona come in handy for her a million times. Follow through looks nice too. And she seems to have good focus.
