Interactive Forum: Open and Neutral Stances

[ralph]

Open/Neutral Stance

One observation about the neutral stance hit is that there is a 180' rotation of the the torso. This is not your old school forehand. Also, a question is begged about hitting open stance for a medium height ball. Can one hit effectively by hitting open stance on waist height balls? I believe I have seen players do so, especially on inside/out or inside/in shots.

Ralph

[johnyandell]

I think the answer is yes. You definitely can hit any ball at any height open stance. The more extreme guys are going to tend to step in only on lower balls.

You can definitely rotate fully--180 degrees or whatever it is in the given case--with a neutral stance, but not without either rotating or pivoting the front foot on coming up off the court.

The general tendency is going to be to play certain balls at certain heights with different stances--it's not hard and fast and the more extreme the grip the less neutral stance and the lower the average ball when it is used.

[uspta459626672]

What I saw

David had to hit over a higher ball, that is why he had to hit the open stance. On the Neutral Stance he was hitting a driving forhand; you can tell because after contact the racquet stays on line longer than with the open stance. The open stance looks like he pulled accross the ball to be able to hit aggressive and still come over it.
What do you think?

This month's Interactive Forum gives us a chance to discuss the Open and Neutral Stance on the forehand as shown in these high speed clips of David Nalbandian.

Having been hit at nearly identical locations to the same target, these two forehand clips give you a unique opportunity to contrast the footwork variations without distraction.

Why did he hit open stance in one version and neutral in the other. Was it arbitrary?

Do the footwork variations have influence over the rest of the stroke?


Neutral Stance






Open Stance

[EricMatuszewski]

Does anyone out there think it's easier to hit a high ball with a more neutral stance, or are we at a consensus that high balls are easier with more open stances and lower balls are easier with more neutral stances?

What about speed versus spin?

Do you all feel that neutral stance is more conductive to ball speed rather than spin when compared to open stance hitting?

[tennisplayer]

Seems to me that in the neutral stance stroke, Nalbandian is moving forward to a slower, falling ball... well past its peak height. I think this is a natural reaction that results in better timing than waiting in open stance for the ball to come close. In the open stance hit, it looks like he's facing a faster (deeper?) ball that is still high.