Interactive Forum December 2022: Holger Rune Forehand

[johnyandell]

Holger Rune Forehand

He’s only 19 and already in the top 10 and from the unlikely country of Denmark. Here’s his forehand.

He has very early hand separation—very different from Carlos Alcaraz--but still gets a great turn and left arm stretch.

What do you guys think of his backswing? ATP or? In any case it’s an explosive weapon to say the minimum.

Share your thoughts in the Forum!

[jeremy93]

What stands out to me is as John said, early separation of the hands. Also, he hits with his dominant arm very close to straight and he has great extension outwards towards target during forward swing swing and he even often gets his dominant hand quite high after contact (eye level or a bit higher). Thanks John.

[jeffreycounts]

For me the way he kind of locks in with the straight arms, racket in front of the body, before taking it back. And even then he only take it back halfway and then pauses again before really getting his arm back! Seems like you'd be late hitting the ball when you do all that, but he's not. He actually hits the ball way in front.

lockhed.jpg

[jeremy93]

For me the way he kind of locks in with the straight arms, racket in front of the body, before taking it back. And even then he only take it back halfway and then pauses again before really getting his arm back! Seems like you'd be late hitting the ball when you do all that, but he's not. He actually hits the ball way in front.

lockhed.jpg

I find it a bit odd that some coaches teach to turn with both arms straight.

[jschoeman]

Grip seems to be around a pointer knuckle at number 4 heel pad 3.5 or 3 (4/3.5) combined with a straight arm at contact like a righty Rafa. His take back doesnt lift his hand above the elbow but rather even to the elbow so there's a compact loop, one could say that his take back is a low take back. It almost looks as if initially he's going to take it back to WTA land because of his wrist position but then he hits the pro hand position nicely to the right with the racquet to the right of the hand. Nice ATP forehand. His swing path is a bit steep up and hand finishes above eye level. I wonder if he can really flatten one out a centimeter over the net... Would be nice to see him mix up his shots and finishes with a few low finishes somewhat covering the ball. I wonder if he knows how to implement the dynamic slot and whether he's changing how deep the racquet flips based on what shot he wants to produce because with those forehands there wasn't much variation.

[klacr]

Early hand separation, reminds me of another strong European player with a big forehand...Tomas Berdych.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA, PTR
Delray Beach
SETS Consulting

http://www.setsconsult.org

[rstrecker]

Relative to John’s question, Rune looks closer to the ATP Typoe III model to me than to what Brian Gordon calls the ATP Classic model. He does have a pause with the racquet partway back, as noted above. After the pause, he extends his arm back and pulls it in closer to the body but the transition from back swing to forward swing looks like a positional “pat the dog,” motion, pretty similar to Roger. Again, as others have noted, the loop is small. I don’t see a Novak type of motion where the hitting side of the racquet is turned to face the back fence and and then brought forward as a way to gain momentum. (Some of this may be a function of grip which seems relatively mild for a top player.

[stroke]

It looks like a model Type 3 forehand to me. Very compact, like Roger and Tsitsipas, with the to me independent arm action which separates the model Type 3 from the Classic ATP Type 3.

[tennishans 50]

Holger Rune Forehand

He’s only 19 and already in the top 10 and from the unlikely country of Denmark. Here’s his forehand.

He has very early hand separation—very different from Carlos Alcaraz--but still gets a great turn and left arm stretch.

What do you guys think of his backswing? ATP or? In any case it’s an explosive weapon to say the minimum.

Share your thoughts in the Forum!

Holger Rune is using the optimal biomicanical way with the racquet above his hands, face pointing at the ground, and that gives the flip. As to the difference to alcaraz. He has a bigger turn with his left hand past his right chin, his elbw in line with his shoulder, which gives a stretch on his back shoulder, which gives a much earlier acceleration with more power. but both Rune and Alcaraz use the same fundametals/keys for the optimal forehand. The double straight arms is no problem but secure that the turn is optimal.

[doctorhl]

For me the way he kind of locks in with the straight arms, racket in front of the body, before taking it back. And even then he only take it back halfway and then pauses again before really getting his arm back! Seems like you'd be late hitting the ball when you do all that, but he's not. He actually hits the ball way in front.

lockhed.jpg

I wonder if his straight arm and racket head position before arm separation contribute to what seems like excellence balance prior to the flip.

[smithc]

I call the pause "stalking the ball", I stole that instruction from someone. A lot of players stalk the ball as you can move better in that position. Also, there is a connection between your racquet face, eyes and the ball. Players can judge the ball flight and know when to begin the swing to strike the bal, so stalking does not cause late contact points. This maybe nuts, but think of a piston in a car - most of us have a picture of that cycle in our heads (maybe older guys like me) that is what the swing path reminds me of - elbow is the rotation point.

Shouldn't this discussion have more about free-wristedness in it since "Free the Wrist" is the motto of the Patrick Mouratogalou Tennis Academy? And when Patrick is demonstrating forehand whether working with Holger or not, he shows a lot of wrist and forearm going every which way--. same thing on serve and backhand.

Little gremlins tell me it's very fashionable at tennisplayer nowadays to make fun of Patrick, but nobody can get away with saying "ooh-la-la" like him, and maybe all teaching pros should develop a slight French accent.

Of course the Romanian tabloid Cancan attributes the breakup of Simona Halep's marriage to Patrick taking his shirt off during a bike ride. And Patrick's nice young wife terms that nonsense. And most tennis players would rather think about stuff like this than total emancipation of the wrist into a more prolonged movement that would make flip or mondo less harsh as Don Brosseau urged in these spaces long ago.

Bottle (John Escher)

[johnyandell]

I think Patrick is way way off base on the wrist thing.

[stroke]

It may be just me, or maybe just a tennisplayer.net thing, but I would rather hear more about the Patrick wrist thing than the term "mondo".

[johnyandell]

OK Stroke I will bite, what is mondo?