Developing an ATP Style Forehand: Pull, Flip, and Roll!

[johnyandell]

wbc is no longer a subscriber.

[nikae]

There is one opinion on this subject that I would dearly love to hear from....none other than worldsbestcoach. I know that you guys pooh-pooh'd him into submission...but I always found his comments to be rather thoughtful and insightful, not to mention provocative. I am curious if he would call this approach to a forehand to be a "backward emphasis" of which he was rather critical if I understood him correctly.

Yes he would call it that for sure. I know, because he sent me a lot of private messages, trying to teach me the forehand his way so I know what he had in mind. Few times he promised me some videos that he would make just for me, and later use them for teaching/making money, but he never sent me anything of that.

[johnyandell]

BG is one of a kind that is for sure!

[10splayer]

Commencing the stroke from the outside backswing position is one of the best coaching tricks/tools ever. But having the wrist cocked upwards is essential. Also having the arm set in precisely at the point where the racket is meant to be "pulled" forward is critical. If not careful students will simply take the racket back further once you feed balls in...that's no good...they have to understand the pull...the counter rotations.

I have my kids shadow stroke the move many times before I feed balls in. Getting them to "feel", even observe, the counter-rotations as they "pull" through. As John mentions in his the month's serve article, if you cannot make and feel the positions without the ball, what chance do you have when balls are fed in. Same principle applies here...and probably with every stroke.

The beauty of this is by no means restricted to those learning to flip for the first time. Some accomplished students flip better than others...are more optimised than others. So I am getting sub standard flippers to flip infinitely better by getting them to relearn the move from the outside backswing position. It's working a treat.

I have been teaching like this for almost a month and now have the experience of having coached a dozen or more kids to become either flippers from scratch or better flippers than they were before. It's quick easy stuff...genius. I think BG must be gifted to develop and bring all this to us. What a remarkable man.

Nice post. An example of an already outstanding pro becoming better.

[stotty]

The outside backswing

Remember there is a difference when you tap the dog(wrist cocked) and pet a
dog(you don't want that unless it is a real dog! The key to the flip is the
sequencing of the movements and the racquet head is above the wrist(tap the dog) when you pull. Also, remember the pull makes the racquet head flip.
Don't flip it to make it pull! good luck. rick macci

Commencing the stroke from the outside backswing position is one of the best coaching tricks/tools ever. But having the wrist cocked upwards is essential. Also having the arm set in precisely at the point where the racket is meant to be "pulled" forward is critical. If not careful, students will simply take the racket back further once you feed balls in...that's no good...they have to understand the pull...the counter rotations.

I have my kids shadow stroke the move many times before I feed balls in. Getting them to "feel", even observe, the counter-rotations as they "pull" through. As John mentions in this month's serve article, if you cannot make and feel the positions without the ball, what chance do you have when balls are fed in. Same principle applies here...and probably with every stroke.

The beauty of this is by no means restricted to those learning to flip for the first time. Some accomplished students flip better than others...are more optimised than others. So I am getting sub standard flippers to flip infinitely better by getting them to relearn the move from the outside backswing position. It's working a treat.

I have been teaching like this for almost a month and now have the experience of having coached a dozen or more kids to become either flippers from scratch or better flippers than they were before. It's quick easy stuff...genius. I think BG must be gifted to develop and bring all this to us. What a remarkable man.

[RickMacci]

Remember there is a difference when you tap the dog(wrist cocked) and pet a
dog(you don't want that unless it is a real dog! The key to the flip is the
sequencing of the movements and the racquet head is above the wrist(tap the dog) when you pull. Also, remember the pull makes the racquet head flip.
Don't flip it to make it pull! good luck. rick macci

[don_budge]

Calling on worldsbestcoach...

There is one opinion on this subject that I would dearly love to hear from....none other than worldsbestcoach. I know that you guys pooh-pooh'd him into submission...but I always found his comments to be rather thoughtful and insightful, not to mention provocative. I am curious if he would call this approach to a forehand to be a "backward emphasis" of which he was rather critical if I understood him correctly.

[konrad]

I must say the forehand lesson by mr Macci was so spot on that my forehand improved from one day to another.

[aethyr]

The trick is to feel the weight of the racket head. You do start the forward motion with a pull, but pull the head of the racket as opposed to pulling your hand. I know that is a little nebulous, but it is a little tricky. Hold the racket snug, but not tight. The movement of the head from outside to inside will stretch your muscles even though you feel yourself pulling the racket head and give you the power boost of the SSC and the "flip". Don't let the butt of the racket handle come off of the heel of your hand.

don

Ok, there's two concepts here - how hard to grip the racket and how firm the wrist should be. My question is how its possible to keep the wrist loose when you have a long weighted stick in your hand that you are suddenly whipping forward. The racket head whips around, but not facing the correct angle and direction because my wrist is loose...unless I control it with a firm wrist. Note, by firm wrist, I don't mean straight wrist. My wrist is pulled back almost the entire time. But I do feel like I still need to control the other axis of motion of the racket head during the pull.

I just want to make sure I'm absolutely doing every correct. I can generate power, I always could, but I want to make sure I'm generating power correctly and efficiently to increase my consistency. I don't want to retool my forehand incorrectly!

[howardb]

Superb article

This video has certainly been helpful. Made things clearer and simpler in a confusing area. Having come to tennis as an 'older' player this approach is just terrific. Tried it already this week and what a diff in power since before I was inept on the backswing. ActuallyI was not good on the whole stroke. So I am excited about the whole video. Making me stay on right side of body, etc. !
Thx much to Rick.

[tennis_chiro]

Snug but not tight

If you hold it so softly, how do you control the tremendous acceleration that results from the pull?

The trick is to feel the weight of the racket head. You do start the forward motion with a pull, but pull the head of the racket as opposed to pulling your hand. I know that is a little nebulous, but it is a little tricky. Hold the racket snug, but not tight. The movement of the head from outside to inside will stretch your muscles even though you feel yourself pulling the racket head and give you the power boost of the SSC and the "flip". Don't let the butt of the racket handle come off of the heel of your hand.

don

[aethyr]

If you hold it so softly, how do you control the tremendous acceleration that results from the pull?

[johnyandell]

I'd say firm enough to keep a bird in your hand without crushing it. Lack of control is probably related to the racket path and where the swing is headed.

[aethyr]

Great video. I've tried to experiment with it. I have a few questions. As you begin to pull forward, how firm should you keep your wrist? Or perhaps at point do you firm up the wrist? I pretty much had to keep it firm throughout, otherwise it was too uncontrolled. If I kept it loose at the start of the pull, I got better speed, sure, but no control whatsoever. But maybe I'm missing something?

[bottle]

I had an upbeat experience similar to that of Geoff the first time someone came in on me.

It wasn't so much where I aimed but rather the combination of pace and plunging spin that put the ball on my opponent's ankle.

"Wow," I said to myself. "This shot's really going to be good as soon as I fully figure it out."

This second video by Mr. Macci seems to take me a long way in that direction.

And no, I didn't have everything perfectly understood after the first video, started well but then came to think the arm would go back some more before it patted the dog.

And I detected other misunderstandings about WRIST in the communications of two tennis writers whom I respect and will consider always to be knowledgeable. (No, not the knowledgeable Rip nor the knowledgeable Steve.)

The moral of this story is that no matter how wonderfully and clearly and unguardedly something is explained, intelligent people still are going to go off on other tracks.

But I think the cup now is only an inch or two from the lip.

And I have no plan to abandon the rest of my game, in which most grip changes are going to take big knuckle only from one pointy ridge to the next.