Forhand Music Video

[Stefan]

First, my compliments to the music editor of the Forhand Music Video for their selection of the Blade Runner Love Theme. It fit really well with the subjects and the slow motion. I don't know if it implies that the women are humanoids, but i did notice a lot of similarities in their forehands.

The similarity i am most curious about is the begining of the stroke. My college coach beat me over the head about starting the forehand with the racket lower so that there is less loop in the stroke. Actually he beat all of us over the head with this, including our #1 who never listened to him anyway. But i noticed that every woman shown has the loop (starting high and then bringing the racket down at the beginning of the stroke.)

So my question is, does the loop matter? I decided that the reason our coach was telling us this was because of our level of tennis, and the idea that starting with the racket low decreased our margin of error. Once you reached a higher level, a player would be good enough that it wouldn't matter anymore. And when you are at that level, having the loop would actually increase your racket head speed.

Anyone have a thought on this?

[johnyandell]

Starting with the racket low isn't the key to preparation. The simplest is going to be at waist level and straight ahead, like Roddick. But this usually has nothing to do with what happens next.

The loop is fine--provided it does it's job. The problem is most players don't turn with the body and so the loop is thrown out of synic with the body and tends to get far too large for many players. It's the same with the straight backswing though. No turn, and everything else is thrown off.

The backswing is NOT the key to preparation. Go read the forehand articles in Advanced Tennis, especially the one on commonalities. Then read the Myth of the Backswing. All this is laid out there in detail.