Interactive Forum February 2021: Mackenzie McDonald Forehand

[johnyandell]

Mackenzie McDonald Forehand

My friend and fellow Norcal pro Rosie Bareis developed Mackenzie—in part influenced by her study of Roger Federer. He starred at UCLA and has been ranked as high as 59 in the world. Check out his forehand grip, his outside backswing, his straight hitting arm. But something looks different in some of his finishes.

What do you see?

[stroke]

He obviously has a great forehand, I would just say it is the classic ATP type 3, to use BG terminology, rather than the Fed Nadal model type 3. He does not get the fully straight arm, particularly in the follow through, and probably because of that, he cannot optimize the shoulder iexternal/nternal rotation of the model type 3. Also it really looks to me like he does not have the independent arm action that is so important to the model type 3 fh.

[jeremy93]

2 things stand out to me.. First he does not pronate in the take back.. at all. Secondly, and this is by far what stands out the most, he has a very low finish. In this video he follows through at his hip in every single forehand except for 4 or 5. That’s probably over 90% of his forehands from this sample video. Very unusual. Not a fan of that. It’s not like he is inside the baseline when hitting these shots. He often has his hand only going to about the center of his chest after contact. I like everything else in his forehand though.

Thoughts everyone?

[tommyhorton]

He looks like a really great mover and looks like he gets a lot of his power from how well he uses the ground with his legs. He has the ATP backswing but when he pulls the racket forward, it doesn't seem to have the elastic lag flip, it looks a little tight with his grip and wrist. He finishes with the catch the finish windshield wiper to the hip, similiar to Coria from Argentina. It looks like he has the ability to take it on the rise well and absorb power but I don't think he can blast people off the court with his technique. I haven't seen him play but he must win a lot of matches with his movement and his heart.

[stotty]

I tend to agree with stroke here. The independent arm action doesn't seem to be there at times. His preparation and initiation of the the backswing seems real nice but then his racket face goes rather on edge throughout most of the stroke. This is in stark contrast to Roger whose racket goes into a dog pat position at the transition point where the backswing merges into the forward string.

And, yes, extension could be better, but I wonder if that is a consequence of what's happened before. Be interesting to get JY and BG's critique on Mackenzie's forehand.

[doctorhl]

It seems that his style may require a lot of core strength.

[rthodges]

His forehand reminds me a lot of Del Potro and Tsitsipas, especially his backswing and the way his wrist lays back at the start of the forward swing. Like others said, he seems not to have much independent shoulder movement vertically or horizontally. I think he’s like Delpo in that it’s predominantly a classical forehand with a modern finish.

[stroke]

BG, please let us know so we can put a bow on this.

[johnyandell]

BG has left the room...

[stroke]

BG has left the room...

Did not know that.

[johnyandell]

Well just taking a break from the Forum...