Head Position in Pro Tennis:
Forehands

John Yandell

It's commonly taught in tennis coaching that players should keep their heads "still" or relatively still at contact. It's a key point in Chris Lewit's great article this month. (Click Here.)

But what does that mean? Coaches often point to the extreme example of Roger Federer whose head is virtually sideways pointing toward the sideline at contact. But as Chris says a still head position can be quite different for different players.

So let's use our amazing high speed video to investigate the range and variety of head positions at contact for multiple elite players. And also look at how the head gets to the "still" position, how long it stays there, and what happens to the head after contact.

This month we will look at the forehands and the backhands next month.

You may be amazed at what the video tells us. Since the contact of the ball on the strings is about 3 or 4 milliseconds it is rarely captured in regular 30 frame video, much less the small fractions of a second before and after contact.

But as subscribers know (or should know!) the footage in the High Speed Archive is shot at 8 times or in some cases even more, Compared to the framerate of normal video. These frames allow us to freeze the exact contact and see the position of the head before during and after contact.

Let's start with Federer. You don't a highspeed camera to see that Roger turns his head sideways and appears to hold that position until the ball is long gone. But what are the actual durations here?

Counting frames tells us that he starts this head turn about 1/10 of a second before contact. It takes him about 1/20 of a second to get to his full sideways head position at contact.

The contact itself is much briefer--it takes only 4 or so milliseconds or 4/1000 of a second. This is why it has been literally and correctly said no human being has ever seen the contact between the ball and the strings.

The shortest event the human eye can clearly resolve is about 1/25 of a second—ten times too slow to the impact as anything but a blur.

After the contact Roger keeps that famous sideways head position for another 1/20 of a second.

So is that it? Is a sideways head position key to having a great forehand? The fact is none of the current top players are close do everything Roger does and some do the exact opposite.

Take the current top player is the world, Jannik Sinner. It's been said he has the best forehand in the game. How does his head position compare to Roger?

The fact is he has very little sideways head turn on his forehand. Looking again at the high speed video frame by frame we can see this.

With his left arm fully stretched his head position looks similar to Roger, with his chin pointing over his hitting shoulder, About 1/20 of a second before contact, he turns it very slightly to his right, but nothing like Roger.

He appears to be looking at the ball at contact. His head stays in this same position for about 1/10 of a second more.

So a radically different head position from Roger. But like Roger his head is still at contact and well after contact. That's an interesting commonality given the differences.

If Roger and Jannik are the possible extremes for head position, what about other top players?

Djokovic like Roger and Jannick has his head turned over his chin with his left arm stretched and his head pointed basically forward toward the net. About 1/20th of a second before contact, he turns his head toward the contact, probably a little less than Sinner.

And like the other 2 players he holds this position for at least 1/10th of a second after contact. Recognizing the commonality yet?

Let's see with Zverev. It's the same. At the turn his chin is over his shoulder. He turns his head toward the contact a little less than 1/10th of a second, probably turning a little more than Djokovic. And like all the others keeping that position for about 1/10th of a second after contact.

Casper Rudd and Carlos Alcaraz both have a head position turned further toward the ball, though not quite as far as Roger. But guess what?

The timing is the same. They reach a still head position about 1/10th of a second before contact and hold it for about 1/10th after.

So the conclusion? It's not the actual head position at contact that matters. It's the timing of getting there and then keeping it there during and after the hit.

How does it happen and why the differences? Learned technique? Spinal flexibility? Player intuition? Personal preference? Who knows.

But as a player you want it to happen. With a super slow motion iphone and some frame by frame analysis see what your pattern and timing is.

Next: is it the same timing pattern on the backhands or different? And is there a difference between a one hander and a two-hander? Stay Tuned.