The Straight Arm Forehand Part III - Roger Federer

[lukman41985]

"But watching Roger simultaneously coil his upper body and sink down to the ground is something more. He shows how far the pro forehand has really evolved. This double coil is a move that has much in common with martial arts roundhouse kicks. Or figure skating twirls. Or any sport that stores potential energy in a winding/sinking, unwinding/lifting fashion. So the sequence is coil/sink. Then uncoil/lift."

I always thought of Rog as a de facto tai chi master. Awesome article, Jeff. Thank you so much.

[uspta146749877]

Are you referring to a June issue ?

"But watching Roger simultaneously coil his upper body and sink down to the ground is something more. He shows how far the pro forehand has really evolved. This double coil is a move that has much in common with martial arts roundhouse kicks. Or figure skating twirls. Or any sport that stores potential energy in a winding/sinking, unwinding/lifting fashion. So the sequence is coil/sink. Then uncoil/lift."

I always thought of Rog as a de facto tai chi master. Awesome article, Jeff. Thank you so much.

Are you referring to a June issue ?

[jeffreycounts]

"But watching Roger simultaneously coil his upper body and sink down to the ground is something more. He shows how far the pro forehand has really evolved. This double coil is a move that has much in common with martial arts roundhouse kicks. Or figure skating twirls. Or any sport that stores potential energy in a winding/sinking, unwinding/lifting fashion. So the sequence is coil/sink. Then uncoil/lift."

I always thought of Rog as a de facto tai chi master. Awesome article, Jeff. Thank you so much.

Glad you like it! I find his ability to coil/uncoil and hit the ball so far in front of his body to be pretty amazing. Tai chi master indeed!

[johnyandell]

June is up!

[oliensis]

Federer's Forehand & Sampras' Serve

The extra-tight and early "wiper" or wrap-around action on Federer's forehand is, I agree, probably a function of extra-fast racket-head speed. And it reminds me of the way Sampras' racket-head whips through on his serve, leaving his elbow as the highest part of the arm at a certain point in his follow-through (unlike almost everyone else except for Mirnyi and Henman, and maybe a couple of others).

As someone wrote about Sampras' serve (was it you, John Yandell?), the high elbow on the follow-through is a passive function of numerous other biomechanical activities, not something one should try to do actively. Likewise, the tight wrap on Federer's forehand is a function of the larger than normal articulation of Federer's storing of potential energy in his unit turn and load, and then the subsequent explosive release of kinetic energy snaking out through the kinetic chain with great efficiency.

I think the inside-out action on the F forehand makes it even more like Sampras' serve as well. An object traveling at a constant speed in a "circle" or an arc is, in physics, considered to be accelerating at all times (if I remember my college physics right). And when you take an accelerating object (moving in an arc), and take its angular momentum (traveling on the arc and convert that to linear momentum (hit the ball back in the direction from which it came) the fact that the racket head is traveling along an arc (circle) rather than in a straight line (like classic eastern forehand) will impart more energy to the ball as the ball travels away from the racket on the tangent of the arc of the racket.

I think it's no coincidence that F's forehand and S's serve are widely regarded as among the best. And I suspect that it's all the things that lead up to F's tight wrap and S's high elbow that make them so.

[fourpeck]

Federer Forehand

Ok, no doubt he has a beautiful stroke that we could all take something away from (provided our raquets are light enough or our strength and coordination sublime). However, I am surprised that the author did not mention how he literally catches his forehand with his left hand on the follow-through. This could be the single one and only "swing-thought" that Roger has which actually guides his whole (and admittedly, varied) motion....his secret!

Of course I don't know this for fact but everyone has their own little swing cues in golf, tennis, bowling, baseball, etc. The key here is that none of the other "straight-armers" shown in video finish like this. So, maybe the whole front load, extention, rotation and contact out in front are simply the result of his ingenious focus on the simplicity of collecting his raquet handle in his left hand at the finish of his stroke.

Think about it.

John Peck (4peck@sbcglobal.net)

[whozon3rd]

Snap?

Just wondering if there is a subtle snap going on during the forehand right before contact. By that I mean a blocking of the torso allowing the racquet "to catch up". Like I said it's subtle since the follow through will cause body rotation disguising the snap. Great stuff.

[ochi]

hips blocking

"Just wondering if there is a subtle snap going on during the forehand right before contact. By that I mean a blocking of the torso allowing the racquet 'to catch up.' Like I said it's subtle since the follow through will cause body rotation disguising the snap."

Glad you asked that. I've wondered about it for years, because some of my best forehands have felt as if I had blocked my hips for an instant. It hasn't happened often, and is not something I can do at will. It's most likely to occur inside the baseline, striking the ball on a somewhat shot hop, with a short takeback

[bottle]

Hips Line

My most recent attempt to lag hips derived from the Chris Lewit article on kick serve. Consciously I applied his principle to serve, forehand and one-handed backhand. Dropping balls, there was little discernible difference on the ground strokes-- until I played a match and hit sharp angles all over the place. Since then I'm sure I've regressed, but this is the only time in personal history when one tennis idea immediately improved three (3!)
different strokes. Some inspiration also came from the book "My Usual Game" by David Owen. The first thing that helps hackers at a golf camp is to be less loosey-goosey with the hips to unleash more rubber band like release of the transverse stomach muscles. And the beneficial instruction could be as simple as that. Personally, I'm winding hips back but not forward-- or at least minimizing them where they used to rotate forward.

[bottle]

Compressing Legs as Racket Lifts up (but not very high)

I like Jeff's article very much-- especially since I have a Federfore.

I just point out two things: Federer really rocks sideways in film sequence here; and, it took Eric Matuszewski two years to figure out that he would get better results if he simultaneously laid back wrist and rolled it down while right on the ball.

I'm grateful to him for condensing his experience for others to share, and see this idea as similar to that of the other pros-- e.g., Doug King-- who want you to counter your swing through the ball.

Trying to perform this double wrist action also helps keep eyes glued to
contact.

That said, there's undoubtedly a time to cock one instant earlier and then let the wrist go as a last propulsive link.

All the instruction in words and film about how and when to double-coil,
and lift the arm then to the outside during forward UBR seems super--
can't wait to try all such new ideas-- the greatest pleasure in tennis as far as I'm concerned.

[bottle]

Left Knee and Right Wrist

After a morning of hitting these, I came back and looked at the famous nine sequences in high-speed archive once again.

Jeff's noting of the right angle in Federer's left leg seems borne out in different sequences, but it develops early as he's running, with knee often revolving down like a cam to empower and enable a really wide final hitting step with the right foot-- this a kind of lowness in itself.

There, Roger doesn't always bend his right knee more than a normal human being. He's climbing a circular staircase in other words before he fires that right knee.

Staying away from the ball really improves these shots. And making contact both out to the side and forward is an idea I can easily accept.

About lifting the arm to outside as basic precept, however, I dunno. Yes,
Jeff's sequence shows it but many of the sequences I just watched don't.

The arm gets pretty far back behind body toward fence-- then with all the body rotation it gets way out to side quickly through solid body-arm connection.

It seems to me a lot of us have been discussing things like this for years or lifetimes by now. Another endless topic is whether during contact wrist should A. stay back; B. go back; C. go forward.

Jeff's article and the nine high speed sequences have Roger's wrist going forward (closing to a mild position). To me there isn't any more question on this point unless it's whether the wrist is winding the strings up at the same time, or would that be the forearm doing it (assisted by twisting shoulder rotors).

Personally, I'm glad I can hit A. and B., as well as C., although I'm thinking about throwing static wrist (A.) overboard.

[bottle]

Sorry to Go On

so much, but I'm in high blabbing gear. I looked over the earlier posts.
One of the questions was whether there should be a "snap" or "block"
to stop the hips. I myself tried to use the word "lag." To me, a Federfore
is all about smoothness. I don't think there should be any snap-- that's just my personal opinion, and I did take one class in Tai Chi after all.

[bottle]

More Liver for Livermore

The reason I didn't answer sooner was that I took these ideas to the Bottlemore Livermore Laboratories, camping in the outer lobby for two weeks while anxiously awaiting the experiment.

As usual, the results were inconclusive. He who stays solid with Okkerish early shoulders bringing the racket in smooth, slow and deliberate travel sideways behind the back as if to caress the oncoming ball can unleash the full power of contracting arm in the opposite direction, startling both opponent and crowd. It's terrorists. (Sorry, here's a towel to wipe your eyes.)

He who stays loose, however, preserving independence from the shoulder, can try a million tricks. What if he Okkers not at all, just keeps his shoulders in their super wound back position? Might be good to deal with a ball jamming him, but he must finish high to avoid killing his left arm and use lots of legs.

One interesting development came from saying, "Okay, the arm is all, and the body merely its groveling subordinate." In this fashion, the twenty different players were able to simulate efficiency within half a percentage point of those who Okkered all the way.

Tom Okker wrote, "I put power in my topspin forehand, not with excessive wrist action, but by taking a slightly longer backswing and by swiveling my forward shoulder toward the target just before I've hit the ball." (By "forward shoulder" he surely must have meant his hitting shoulder)..."Opening my shoulders early allows me to apply that extra speed at the right time. It causes my arm-wrist-racket unit to whip up and through the ball at the moment of impact. This extra burst of speed is essential for imparting enough topspin to the ball to make an appreciable difference in the type of shot produced."

To do it, he also blocked his left leg-- really stiffened it even if bent-- in a closed stance.

So, returning to our long arm open forehand discussion, the left knee rolling down practically to the court can still the hips as right leg plants and drives, giving Ochi an extra burst of acceleration from the gut.

[bottle]

A Stroke for the Masses?

Is the Federfore, as I call it, or the Roger Federer genre of forehand, as JY of Tennis Magazine suggested, truly a stroke for the masses which is too difficult to time for most top pros because the ball comes so much faster on the tour?

It's a great thesis, but one that all thinking players should question-- simply because so much about this demonstratedly high potential stroke remains unknown.

Also, how slow is the ball down here in the masses? Very fast, one could say. It just goes out.

On the other hand, my wife, a 4.5, and I, a 4.0, both certified on the same day by a pair of USPTA and USPTR pros from different parts of Virginia, once split up to play doubles on High Knob mountain with two thirtysomethings formerly sponsored by Arthur Ashe.

The one, captain of his college team, was a White House guard, and let me hit that week with a slightly cracked oblong racket given to him as a present by Monica Seles.

He gave me a free lesson, too, suggesting that I hit down the center more.

His brother, leaner and taller, hit the ball even harder, and when that three-set match was over, Susan and I just thanked our lucky stars that those two brothers were accurate enough, and kind enough, not to have hit either one of us.

But I didn't have my Federfore at that time so can't really know how it would have fared.

I just know it's easier to time than any other forehand I've tried. One winds shoulders back as one runs and sinks down, too-- see Jeff's article-- but final extreme windup of shoulders and most of the key racket work occur very late, which makes the stroke easier to time.

The big questions emerging after five years of playing with it are these: Should arm swing independent of body throughout, and if so, in what proportions to upper body rotation and when.

Jeff's article plus my on-court experiments plus Oscar Wegner theory about change of direction (image: a rock on the end of a string) plus long arm Tiny Tom Okker's old contribution cited above make me think that after slow approach with all elements the shoulders swivel at maximum force in a different direction from the slow arm which then fires with every big muscle available in a similar direction.

Another way of putting this is that, simultaneously, rotating upper body and easing arm approach the ball in their separate and deliberate ways.

The shoulders fire first while the slow arm keeps going for a millisecond.

Then arm fires sideways, too, almost backward toward the body.

This sends the racket head big time way out front through, up, and across the ball.

The key to arm health in this system, "it seems" (which means I surmise,
which is permissible, I hope!), is keeping wrist passive but not sloppily so. The slight wrist play is due to the other forces and not to tiny wrist muscles which at most provide a little starch for fine control.

[bottle]

Revise and Refine Always

Ease upper body rotation past place where you usually accelerate it into the ball.

At same time continue easing racket butt toward right fence and out front
a bit. This motion could be upward. It could be sideward. It could be pronounced. Or miniscule.

The exciting departure here is what the shoulders do. By waiting to accelerate them by still turning them, you will finally accelerate them in a new direction for better power-- sideways. You could rock sideways too
if you kept the eyes and your head carefully trained on contact for long enough.

And accelerate upper arm sideways to the left also through firing big muscle on the outside of shoulder-- you'll feel it, maybe even in your sleep.

The double bend genre of shots instead uses deltoid muscle on the inside of the shoulder for the same purpose. One might want to switch to this for high balls during the French Open.

One might also add biceps muscle to scissor the arm as Roger does maybe half the time.

The stroke then becomes a summing of sideway forces to send racket head simultaneously up, across and through the ball with huge extension-before- wrap the RESULT!