The biomechanics of the forehand has changed drastically on the men's professional tour in the last few years. Also on the women's tour the biomechanics of the forehand has changed towards more compact strokes. On the one hand this has to do with the fact that the athletics as well as the material have developed towards higher performance. The ball is hit faster and has more spin, so that the ball bounces more aggressively towards the player. Also more extreme angle play is possible. But the last point refers more to men's tennis.
What effects does this development have on training with children and young people?
The nature of our body or our arms with the appropriate joint clearance naturally allows a wide range of our arms. The closer we are to the body with our arms and rotate with the upper body, the movements of the upper and lower arms also go in this direction. The separation of both arms is also possible during an upper body rotation with a wide span. As a result, many children naturally prefer long and loopy movements to allow a long acceleration path from the racket to the ball, in order to play the not yet so fast balls at high speed. Since at this age the kinematic chains are not yet optimally used, although the young players would already be able to use them, the acceleration energy must be generated by the long and loopy movement alone. At a young age, the contact point timing in front of the body still works relatively well because the balls do not yet bounce towards you as quickly, but at the latest by the age of 15, players with growing bodies and better levers are able to generate faster ballistics and also more aggressive bounce. Here, the contact points at return and baseline rally are often too late due to long backswing movements.
In the next three videos we see three different forehand techniques with different biomechanics and effects on the ballistics of the shots.
Racket still at backswing when ball hits ground
Early upper body rotation and crossing the body (racket) after late contact
Video 1 and 2 show a young U10 player.
We see that the backswing movement starts excellently with a unit-turn and both hands remain on the racket. Please observe the ballistics of the ball. Where is the racket at the moment the ball bounces off the ground? The player has the racket far above his head and lets the racket swing slightly behind the shoulder axis. The tip of the racket will then point slightly behind the body to the left. The resulting question is: Can the racket hit the ball well in advance of the body? The answer is NO. The point of impact is inevitably close to the body and because of the late point of impact it is not the upper arm that can come forward first, but the forearm that bends too early and the swing out movement goes to the inside of the body much too early (crossing the body too early). As a result, an optimal ball flight curve cannot take place and the bounce on the opponent's side is not aggressive enough. The opponent can hit the ball in the comfort zone.With a late contact point, extreme angles are not possible either. What can still be mastered without great difficulties in children's tennis is becoming more and more of a challenge in youth tennis.
Racket dropping already on bounce of ball
Let's now look at video 3 and 4.
Here we see a team player in the upper regional men's area. Since the men's team is played with aggressive spin and high athleticism, this player with a wide backstroke movement would have only little chances for a good contact point and aggressive ballistics, so that the opponent could get problems with his comfort zone at contact point. Again, pay attention to the position of the racket at the moment the ball hits the ground. The racket has already passed the backswing movement and is on its way to the point of impact. You can clearly see that the racket does not make a pure C-shape backswing, but rather changes into an I-shape dropping directly after the unit turn. This means that the tip of the racket will NOT point backwards until the racket head has reached the "lag drive" position. This allows the ball to be hit further forward, diagonally in front of the body. The upper arm clearly moves forward and up first, before the forearm bends and the racket moves over the horizontal wrist-snap in a wiping motion from right to left in a wide arc. This ensures that the strings of the racket are longer parallel to the net at the point of impact and the impact on the ball surface is more intense. The result is a better ballistic of the ball with more spin and depth.
Upper arm goes up and forearm bends after
In video 5 and 6 we see a perfect, compact stroke movement of the forehand with almost stretched arm diagonally in front of the body at the contact point. The player drops the racquet immediately after the unit turn. The tip of the racket points towards the observer. This kind of movement towards the lag drive is the I-FORM. The player is the Canadian Felix-Auger Alliasisme, Top 20 player on the ATP Tour.
Here the key points for a modern forehand biomechanics:
compact unit turn (shoulders, arms, hands and racket are one unit) while the player has recognized the direction of the ball
the unit turn is a fluent move without stop of the racket and the left hand staying as long as possible on the throat of the racket
the player places himself in good balance into a semi-open stance or open stance when time is limited
the loading phase is finished with the right leg bending and pushing into the ground (angle of upper leg and lower leg approximately 45 degrees)
while the elbow is still away from the body and the racket head drops in an I-Form directly into the lag drive position
the left arm starts to leave the position parallel to net or baseline
the right leg starts to stretch until leg and hips build one line
the racket accelerates from inside of body to diagonal away from body
the shoulder axis (chest) is pointing to direction right net-post on contact with ball
the upper arm goes up almost onto shoulder level while the head is still fixed onto contact point
the strings stay as long as possible vertical and facing the target
slightly before upper arm reaches the shoulder height the forearm starts to bend and the racket tip is accelerated with tremendous velocity in a shape of a bow from right to the left until the racket tip shows to the ground (next to left shoulder) and the right elbow into target direction.
the shoulder and hip rotation has now reached the final rotation position pointing now to the left net post.
the weight transfer from right to left leg is almost finished with the left foot landing and intercepting the body weight
the body is put fast and efficient back into balance
In the last three videos you can see Roger Federer in practice executing two different forehands with different net clearance and depth of the ball. Watch precisely onto the racket swing path and position of the upper arm and forearm when he swings through the contact point. As longer the racket head swings away from the body, diagonal towards the contact point, as higher is the net clearance, spin and depth of the shot.
So much for now! Stay healthy, work out hard at home or outside, if allowed and keep hoping that we can return soon onto our loved courts around the globe.
“Respect all, fear none.” COACH DIMI