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Stop Over Analyzing Your Forehand

Jordan Coons

Are you having trouble with your forehand stroke? If so, you are not alone. I know what you are going through. As I learned the game of tennis, I too, had trouble hitting a consistent forehand and lacked the confidence in it to make it a great tennis stroke.

I took up tennis for the first time at the age of twenty. Now, as a USPTA Elite Tennis Professional, and having taught tennis for the past fourteen years, I feel that my late start may have provided me with a certain advantage — an understanding as to how to approach the game from an adult point of view and the difficulties there in..

I remember having so much trouble with my forehand, trying so many different approaches to do my best to master this stroke. I would over analyze it in so many ways. From the take back to the follow through, grips, spins, swing speeds, you name it; all of which I've changed countless times. The result usually worked for a day or two, or even a week, only to find myself back to being as inconsistent as ever and with the belief that I might ever be able to really master this stroke.

If this sounds all too familiar, I may be able to help by showing you the facts about what you really need to know about the forehand and what it will take to make it a reliable consistent part of your arsenal. I short, I will show you what you need to focus on to start making your forehand click.

As I started understanding just how much I misunderstood my forehand, I started to figure things out. I know these things will iron your forehand out, getting you the results you have been searching for.

Fact 1: Contact Is the Most Important Part

I know, that sounds like something you have heard about a million times right? Not so fast!. This is what I mean. You have to start working on a contact point that can be seen.

I discovered that I could not see my contact point during my swing (most likely for a number of reasons, however, since we are not over analyzing things, it really doesn’t matter and truth be told, it didn’t matter, since the steps we will be working on will take you past the problems that are holding you back).  This is key — you have to develop the ability to see your tennis racquet take the ball away as you swing forward through the ball Now, you can't actually see the hit. This happens much too fast for the human I to process, you can, however, see the blur of the racquet as it moves through the contact zone. And you have to train yourself to see it, not sometimes, but every time! (This is possible; take it from me, someone who never saw the ball before. Now I can see it 90 percent, or more, on my forehand strokes).

What you need to focus on is a sign of the racquet striking the ball — perhaps a certain color on your racquet that can easily be seen. An example, for babolat users, might be to watch for the white stripes towards the throat of the racquet taking the ball away. This is the most important stage.  You can’t kind of see it or think you might have seen it. You have to keep trying until you actually see the blur of the racquet move through the blur of the ball.

I have worked on this for so many years now that, if I miss hit a ball I can actually see the racquet striking the ball off center of the strings. Get great at this step until you can do it, not only during short court tennis or rallying from the baseline, but during match play, which will prove to be the toughest challenge of all. I cannot stress the importance of this enough  If you take away only one thing from this article let it be the contact

Fact 2: The Take Back On the Backswing Doesn’t Matter.

As a Teaching Pro, I obviously want you to hit with the correct form. But, by mastering fact one, fact two will fix itself.

I've tried so many different kinds of backswings, continuously altering it to figure out that one specific backswing to answer all forehand situations. But the problem is, there is no one solution, so don’t worry about it. The backswing will change depending on the situation.  It will settle into a main pattern as your contact point becomes stronger through seeing the tennis racquet hit the ball away. But be willing to let it adjust according to the situation you find yourself in (when your strokes gets shaky, it isn’t the backswing or follow through, it is this of focus lack, of seeing the racquet hit the ball. Since the follow through is an afterthought, we are going to leave it alone.

Drills

Here are a couple of really easy drills to guide you through this concept of truly seeing the contact.

To successfully implement the concept that I have presented, the first drill is to simply drop feed a ball and watch closely for a couple things — letters and lines on the racquet.

I obviously drop feed the ball for my clients but the beauty of this is that you don’t need someone to assist you, you can drop it yourself. During my lessons, I ask students to explain what they see. Letters on the ball or the line that travels around the ball or for our club, we mark our tennis balls with a dot so they could see that as well.

Once we have established that they are keeping their eye on the ball as they swing, I have them start looking for the racquet hitting those letters, lines, or dots. Once they begin seeing the racquet strike the ball, we move on to short court rallies. You can do this with a hitting partner. You will probably no longer see letters or lines, but that is okay, you are just looking for the racquet.

Remember, at best, you will only see a very blurry racquet hit a very blurry ball. Again, if you have a part of the racquet that is easily visible, it will help you tremendously. If you don't, you can add a piece of florescent tape to the throat of the racquet. As you start to move around the court, it takes more concentration and effort to continually see the racquet meet the ball, but don’t let that deter you.

I believe you can cut down on your practice time if you practice this concept. You probably should practice shorter times more frequently because it takes so much concentration to continually remind yourself to watch the contact point and to then realize, that even though you have been telling yourself to watch the racquet strike the ball, you just hit the last three balls without seeing the racquet at all. It is mentally taxing, but so worth doing.

Fact 3: Go Back to Fact 1

Fact 1 is the most important one to figure out.  Take the time to get Fact 1 right and be persistent on seeing the racquet take the ball away each and every time. Practice this concept for the next three months. (At least three times a week during)  You will see a difference in your forehand, And I'll go out on a limb here and predict a drastic difference. Work on it, and Good Luck.

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