Being in Position: Footwork at the baseline

Coach Dan McCain

When it comes to playing in the back court behind the baseline, anyone will agree that being in position while hitting your shots makes ball-striking much easier than being out of position. In this article, we will define what “being in position” means when it comes to your footwork, and then discuss when these positions are appropriate.

Traditional schools of thought will tell you that when it comes to your feet, being in position for a groundstroke translates into one of two options: either you hit your forehand or backhand with an open stance, or you hit with a closed stance. We will see shortly why these titles (open and closed) can be deceptive, but let’s be clear first what they mean.

The open stance forehand for a right-handed player involves the player positioning his right foot forward in front of his/her hip, parallel with the baseline, and his/her left foot dragging behind the torso. Typically, a well-executed open stance forehand includes a deep knee bend with the right leg, commonly called “loading,” where the player takes a seat with his right leg during the back-swing as the racquet head drops below the ball, and then the player stands up with the right leg and he/she brushes up the back of the ball hitting through the shot.

The closed stance on a right handed player’s forehand involves both feet directly below a player’s shoulders, standing comfortably shoulder width apart, with his entire body lined up sideways. Of course, if the player turns around 180 degrees, he will be in a closed stance position for the backhand.

The most common misconception regarding the open stance is simple. Open stance doesn’t mean open. Just because it’s entitled “open stance,” does not mean that the player’s shoulders and hips should be open (or squared up facing the net) as he/she takes the racquet back. Players who shy away from the open stance have a limited understanding of proper shoulder and hip rotation. The open stance positioning with a player’s feet, in an ideal world of technique, does not change a player’s need to turn completely sideways during the loop or back-swing while preparing for a shot, nor does it affect the way a player needs to turn into his contact point. Regardless of whether or not a player chooses to use the open or closed stance during a particular shot, shoulder and hip rotation remain constant and should be executed consistently in the same way no matter which type of footwork is chosen.

Players also need to be aware that the name “closed stance” also has no bearing on shoulder and hip rotation. Even though a player’s feet may be closed on a shot, they still must adhere to the rules of how to turn the shoulders and hips through a topspin shot.

With my students, I refrain almost completely from using these two terms, “open” and “closed” stance. Here’s why: to achieve best results for a particular shot, there must be some element of weight transfer. Most coaches will tell their students not to move backwards while hitting their shots, which is good advice, but moving backwards through a shot is infinitely better than not having any momentum or weight transfer move in any direction. In other words, it’s better to lean somewhere than to go nowhere.

What the terms open and closed stance promote in some students is a lack of weight transfer in any direction.
I tell my students to step into their shots with one foot or the other. More specifically, being in position for a shot means to step into a forehand (or backhand) with one foot and drag the other foot behind on the ground. This way, by literally stepping into a shot, a player is nearly guaranteed to transfer their weight in some direction.

Also, when the player does step into his/her shot, generally speaking a large step into any shot is better than a small one, since a large step provides a wide base, giving greater balance. Conversely, small steps into a shot subtract from one’s ability to remain balanced, but smaller steps, sometimes referred to as “stutter steps,” can be useful when a player misjudges a ball traveling toward them. These “stutter steps” can help a player adjust to an unexpected bounce before settling into a wider base, or before stepping into a shot with one foot or another.

Conversely, if a player feels they must arrive at a shot with an open or closed stance, they may fall into the trap of hopping into one of these positions, stopping, and then swinging through their shot with no momentum moving in any direction. The player may hit the shot with an open or closed stance, but if a player runs toward a ball and jumps into one of these positions instead of stepping in with one foot or another, the player’s ability to generate pace will be crippled due to the near impossibility of weight transfer forward, backward, or to the side.

For a right handed player to achieve a proper open stance, one must step into a forehand with the right foot, drag the left, and complete the stroke. For a closed stance, one must step into a shot with the left foot, drag the right behind, and then execute the stroke.

So when is it appropriate to use the open and closed stances? Well, in short, it depends. But there are very simple rules a player can follow to make his/her life infinitely easier when it comes to making decisions about footwork.

For forehands, most top male ATP touring pros use the open stance almost exclusively unless a ball landing short in the court arrives in a rally. Balls landing with any relative depth at all in the court garner open stance. The reason for this is pretty simple: by stepping into a shot with the outside foot and using an open stance, a player can get to the shot in fewer steps, taking less time and energy, and also recover back to the middle of the court after following through in fewer steps, also saving time and energy. It takes an extra step to use a closed stance to get to a deeper ball, but also takes more steps upon recovery in preparation for another shot thereafter. And with the men hitting their shots with greater pace than ever, due to racquet technology and advanced levels of strength conditioning over the past decade, their footwork must be as efficient as possible in order to track down shots with heavy pace and spins.
So, in other words, save time. Save energy. Hit open stance forehands. Why take five steps to a shot when you can get there in three?

On the other hand, most pro’s are using the closed stance with greater frequency to hit their backhands, and use the open stance for defensive positions. Right-handers in this case would step into the open stance shot with their left foot when they are pushed wide or pushed back deep behind the baseline. The open stance topspin backhand is useful for the same reasons an open stance forehand is useful, but when the open stance backhand is used outside of defensive parameters, it subtracts from one’s ability to move forward into the court, and subtracts from one’s ability to play offense when shorter balls arrive.

Typically, ATP players with one handed topspin backhands will use the open stance backhand far more sparingly than players with two-handed backhands. Since the open stance provides a natural positioning for hip rotation two-handers want to rotate their hips and shoulders through the shot and one handers do not. Also, because of this same reason, open stance slice backhands do not exist for ATP players, since the slice backhand requires the same sideways body posture through the shot as a one handed topspin backhand does.

Forced out wide into a defensive situation, Federer hits a one-handed open stance backhand to recover more quickly.

This contrast in open stance backhand frequency can be seen in two of the game’s greats today in Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic. Djokovic uses, like many two-handers, the open stance backhand in defensive situations far more than Federer does. Both of these players, however, use the open stance forehand almost all the time unless they are attacking a short ball.

So what are the rules? Being in position means to step into a shot with one foot or the other. Within that idea, open stance forehands are used all the time unless the ball lands short in the court. Closed stance backhands are used exclusively, unless you don’t have time to step in with your right foot (for right-handers), or unless you are pulled wide or deep in the court.

By using these rules to your advantage, and knowing the benefits of open and closed stances, you can begin to make your own decisions responsibly with your footwork. You can begin to break these rules - but for your own (hopefully) good reasons from time to time. You can discover that how you move can determine how well you play. You can find out that by simply being in position for your shots, they will get a lot easier. And perhaps most importantly, you can learn how to take fewer steps, literally move less than you have before, and at the same be in better position not only for your shot but also be in better position in the court during your rallies.