Forehand, arm bended? Elbow close to the body?

[leon]

Hi!
Hello to everybody, many familiar people from TW forum

Question:
Agassi seems to keep his elbow tack to the body, as he does a back swing and part of the forward motion. While most of the others players, keep they arm father from the body, and more straightened. Agassi seems to bend his arm close to 90 degrees, while other players seems to keep it much more open, more like 130 degrees. I'm thinking, is it a good idea, to keep the elbow close to the body, as it will shorten the backswing, which I really need to do (happened to be late, when play with big hitters). It also seems to take some stress of the arm.
Please help.
Thank you.

[johnyandell]

Leon,

I think if you look at the players with less extreme grips, they aren't as tight in--ie, Pete, Federer, Kafelnikov. But if you look at Roddick, Ferrero, and Moya, you'll see they are closer to Agassi.

The exact angle though is going to vary depending on ball height. It won't alwasy be parallel to the court. For example, it will tilt down on lower balls.

The elbow is only part of the puzzle though. The real way to look at it is the position of the whole hitting arm, including the wrist. I'd suggest you read through the Myth of the Wrist article and also Commonalities Across the Grip Styles in the Advanced Tennis section. That'll give you a really good idea of how to set this up for yourself.

Let me know how it turns out.