The Lesson Process:
The Forehand

Kerry Mitchell

The lesson process in tennis is complicated and can entail many pitfalls that delay or stall a player's progress. As a coach and trainer I find that virtually every individual that arrives at my door is a product of some or most of these pitfalls.

Some difficulties are not the fault of the player himself/herself, but the result of poor instruction or poor practice regimes. Some can be overcome, and sometimes, others can't. For example how much time club players really have to spend practicing is usually limited by other commitments, regardless of their desire to improve.

Each stroke also has its own technical pitfalls that can make the teaching process more difficult. You can spend hours talking about the complexities of the strokes. But does that necessarily help the student?

My feeling is that there are two keys to making lessons effective for players. These are simplicity and efficiency. As I have evolved as a teacher I have made these concepts the basis for my approach.

In teaching strokes it is important to know which information to impart, but equally important, to do it in the right sequence. Too much information, or information given at the wrong time, can produce negative results.

In this new series of articles I'll be explaining how I apply this approach with the wide range of players who come to me for lessons. I'll start with the forehand in this article and then move on to the backhands, both one hand and two hand. Thereafter we'll expand to the other strokes in the game.

When a student arrives on my court for a forehand lesson, there are certain things I look for right away. These are: footwork, alignment at contact, rotational ability, the arm swing and the follow through (extension), and finally dedication to making changes. The student must see for himself how all these factors are interconnected and feel how he can combine them to create a relaxed, easy swing with natural power.

Forehand Footwork

In almost all cases, the first issue that I address with my students is footwork. Footwork in my opinion is the least understood and most difficult part of a good forehand--or any other good shot, for that matter. Understanding footwork and improving it means you also have to address the complex topic of stances. Many instructors still teach footwork as it was taught in the1950's, stressing "stepping into the shot," even though the instructor himself/herself may hit open stance most of the time. Typically, open stance hitting is incorporated much later, and is recommended for mainly defensive play.

This I feel is just the reverse of how it should be taught. When players are taught only neutral stance hitting at the beginning of their development, the sequence of elements that make a good forehand is broken from the first step.

When the main footwork concept is to step in with the front foot, players often end up either too close or too far away from the ball. High balls are also very difficult if not impossible to play and this is one reason I think that so many club players gradually default into extreme grips.

Some instructors counter these problems by simply having the player move back and take the ball lower. The result is every ball then has a defensive aspect, and the potential for aggressive play is negated. The real solution is connecting good movement to the other parts of a good swing.

Open Stance

Open stance hitting became the norm on the forehand in pro tennis (and is now used more on and more the backhand as well) because ball height and ball speed increased with the power of the modern racket and the onslaught of topspin. Players and instructors from my era who learned the game in the mid to late 70's remember the "horror and outrage" of the coaching establishment at how Bjorn Borg hit his forehand.

Borg rarely stepped in on his forehand and also hit with far more topspin than other players of his day. This made neutral stance hitters quiver when they had to exchange groundstrokes with him. But as the benefits of his style started to become apparent, change started to occur. Aided by the new rackets, this led to a predominantly open stance style in the pro game.

However this change was not reflected in most teaching. The neutral stance remained dominant, with the idea that the most important step was the front foot step into the shot.

This idea is the cause of the most basic problem I see in teaching. It creates what I call "a non-dominate foot lead." This means the player reaches the ball with the front foot step, and usually by stepping across the body to do so.

This non-dominant lead precludes proper set up and coiling, and must be changed immediately if the player wants to develop the forehand to its real potential. The longer the player has played, the more difficult this change can become.

What many players and instructors fail to recognize is how the chain of events that creates a good forehand breaks down when players reach the ball with the front foot. This is why I address this problem first.

Let's take a look at how the breakdown occurs. Good rotation is limited because stepping across with the non-dominant foot gives the player the impression that he is fully turned. In reality, the shoulders and hip never fully rotate and are too closed at contact.

Because the shoulders do not rotate, the acceleration of the arm is restricted and the arm comes across the body too soon and too far. This creates what I call "the hug yourself position" at the finish. Players with this constellation of problems often can't understand why they have no control when they try to hit with power.

The player senses the lack arm speed and this can cause him to gradually increase the size of the back swing in an effort to overcome the lack of racket speed. In the end this causes timing problems, making the contact late. The result is a tense, muscled shot that lacks either consistency or power. All this stems from the seemingly innocent advice to step into the shot.

Don't get me wrong on neutral stance hitting. I'm not opposed to it at all and I believe it has its place in the natural flow of hitting a good forehand. But the step into the shot has to occur in the right sequence, after the player has created the proper set up.

I also believe in a concept I call "True Alignment," which is a deeper investigation of stances and what happens to them during the hit. Based on a close analysis of video of top players the position of the feet and legs is often much less open at contact than generally believed. For more on that, Click Here. But my point is article is less what happens to the feet during the hit than how to set them up.

I believe that learning open stance positioning is actually the proper foundation for learning to hit neutral stance, and also, how to transition seamlessly between them.

Dominate Foot

Production of power and spin on the forehand is created by good rotation. The fact is that this rotation of the body must be created through training of the dominant side. To create rotation the player must set up in the proper turn position.

The use of the legs is critical in the creation of this turn. In a good turn position the player will be weighted on the dominate leg just before striking the ball, which today is often called the loading step.

Players who focus on stepping into the shot usually do not load the dominant leg. Instead they place their weight primarily on the front foot as they step in. This ends up blocking their ability to rotate.

It is important to note that the open stance set up I am talking about is not the extreme open stance with both feet parallel to the baseline. This variation, while used under pressure in pro tennis, also makes it difficult for less advanced players to turn and to rotate. Some teachers, in my view, have gone too much to the other extreme in teaching "modern tennis" with this exaggerated version of the basic set up. Watch how in all the animations, the body turn with the hips includes bringing the back foot partially forward and around. For these reasons the proper set up stance could be described as semi-open.

After the loading of the dominant leg the second component in the turn is the position of the hips and shoulders. When you turn on the forehand the hips should turn about 90 degrees to the intended direction of the shot. The front shoulder will be rotated somewhat further back, slightly past the hips. The non-dominate arm is extended toward the sideline.

Arm Swing

A bigger, better turn does not create a longer arm swing, in fact, the opposite. The racket take back and the turn are not interconnected. With a good turn the arm stays on the right side of the body. I will often have the player reach with the racket hand towards the side fence as they move to the ball to prevent the back swing from extending behind the body plane.

The key here is to face the side fence with the hips and shoulders without stepping across with the non-dominate leg, and also, without taking the racket back behind the plane of the torso.

As the forward swing starts, the player now learns to rotate the shoulders forward into the shot. I describe the forward swing as primarily a pushing action. The shoulders and arm push the racket forward and the ball over the net. This creates a tremendous sense of control. Power comes naturally as the rotation helps accelerate the arm creating natural racket head speed through the hitting zone.

Followthrough

Good rotation now allows the followthough to come to the proper position. When players eliminate the front foot cross step to the ball, they learn the dominate hand travels to a higher and more extended position they are accustomed to finding.

This is what I call a classical finish. I believe the classical finish should be developed first if you want a forehand that is not only consistent, but that is a weapon.

To make this all happen, the player needs to keep the backswing on the right side. The long back swing, created by bad foot work and lack of a good turn is a serious impediment in developing a solid forehand.

In the 80's, early 90's, pros started teaching what is commonly known as the arm loop. You still see it today. This is the conscious effort to loop the racket arm in preparation to striking the ball.

The problem with this method is that the arm moves, but often nothing else. There is little or no rotation of the shoulders and hips, so the player is literally "arming" the ball.

With today's increased ball speed and spin, even at the recreational level, this causes major timing issues, creates late contact positions, and also produces more vertical swing patterns, but with very little forward arm motion.

Using the arm, players sometimes can create a lot of topspin, but with little power. In extreme cases their forehands can actually have under spin and side spin, because a gigantic loop precludes them from getting under the ball. And of course without some topspin, they cannot keep the ball in the court when they attempt to add power.

The Lesson Process

So how does the lesson process work when dealing with various combinations of the problems described above? The first thing I do is have my students hit easy, controlled balls usually using the service box or 3/4 court.

Now I can see just how they are moving to the ball and how that relates to the other factors. What I look at is the order of the feet as they move to the ball. Are stepping forward or across with the non-dominate foot?

When I see this tendency the first thing I have them do is hit off the dominant foot only. I teach them to model the proper turn and set up on the dominant foot and to practice this motion without the ball first.

I then add movement to the ball, so that they learn to arrive in the open stance set up position anywhere on the court. From here they are prepared to hit with either stance using good rotation and good extension.

With most students, this feels unnatural at first. This is because without the large front foot step they will initially stop too far from the ball. But as the process continues, most players naturally adjust. And as they start to get closer to the ball with the dominant leg, controlling the speed and direction of the shot automatically gets easier.

The next step is to look at the back swing and see if and how far it goes behind the body. If it is a bit long with a tensed arm I will have them start with the racket hand no further back than the dominate hip, similar to the length of swing on a half volley. This tends to naturally produce a longer follow through and a relaxed, smoother swing.

After a little work, players notice that we can keep a rally going much longer and also that they can exchange balls in rhythm as well as vary speed. I find the back swing will eventually lengthen again somewhat naturally as they relax into the process. But I stay vigilant to make sure any motion behind the plane of the body doesn't reappear.

After they start to have success in the short court then I move them back to the baseline. Initially they often notice a lack of power, but in general they will still have more control. As the player continues to work on understanding and connecting all the parts, the power and depth will return.

The end goal is to create a very traditional swing. I believe that this has to be the base for all sound development. In the rush to copy the most modern elements in the pro game, the fundamentals we've looked at are often overlooked. The progression should be exactly the opposite - building a foundation that will naturally allow the shot to evolve and incorporate advanced elements such as a variety of finishes.

Whether you lack power or control, this simple process will help you find what you're looking for. Understanding the connections between the set up, the body rotation, and length of the swing, and how each aspect affects the others, will open the door to exploring the real potential in your forehand.