Obtaining Pro Power on the Forehand

David W. Smith, Senior Editor TennisOne

The power professional men and women generate on their forehands is impressive to say the least. To the average club or recreational player, or even most tournament competitors, seeing a professional hit a forehand, especially close up, evokes oohs and aahs, as if the observers were watching a mystifying magician conjure up airplanes and elephants out of thin air.

Generating power on the forehand is not about smoke and mirrors, however, nor do the pros break all the known laws of physics. But if you watch closely, you would see that most pros look somewhat similar when stroking shots from similar positions, and the forehand is no exception.

So, if the pros don’t have some mystical Einsteinian key to unlocking that sort of nuclear type power, then theoretically, we should be able to first, understand where this power is coming from, and then employ said power, if not quite with pro type velocity and control, at least with some kind of reasonable similarity.

And that is what I will do within this article.

The Lag or the Pre-stretch

One element that is easily observed among the pros is the position of the forearm prior to contact. This position is often called a “Pre-stretch” or “Lag.” For ease of consistency, I’ll label it a lag for this article.

The Lag is the position of the racquet set back to nearly 90 degrees relative to the forearm. Depending on the grip, this position can be almost natural, as when holding a semi to full western grip, or it can actually be a “stretch,” when players attempt the Lag using an eastern or continental grip.

The Lag not only sets the racquet well behind the hand in this 90-degree angle to the forearm, it also naturally tends to set the racquet head well below the contact point.

This below-the-ball position naturally emphasizes topspin, a needed component to any powerful swing for control and consistency.

Where the Power Comes From

Obviously, power is generated through many sources when talking about tennis strokes. From the legs up, power is a coordinated pattern of movements that work to accelerate the racquet at optimal levels while maintaining control. This last statement, control, is the key, for there are many ways a player can generate racquet head speed, yet have little control of where the tennis ball is heading.

Power that we see the pros execute forehands with comes, not only from this “kinetic chain” of movements of the body, but also from this “Lag” or pre-stretch of the forearm as described above. But how does this position increase the opportunity for power?

Quite simply, lagging the racquet back increases the action of the racquet head through the hitting zone, much like the speed of a marry-go-round horse on the outside of the carrousel goes around faster than a horse nearer the center of the ride.

As opposed to simply bringing the racquet around parallel to the arm (Jimmy Connors was known to do this along with swinging more with his body as a unit rather than letting the arm accelerate past his hips), from the lag position, the racquet head accelerates much faster than the arm or shoulder. By the time the racquet head makes contact, it has passed the forearm and is moving at its highest speed within the swing (as long as the player is not intentionally decelerating the swing). This catching up and passing of the forearm at contact is where racquet head speed is generated. This is why the pros appear to swing so easily yet hit the ball so hard.  

Initial Problems

When the typical tennis student sees a pro hitting a forehand from this position, the initial impression is that if the racquet lays back or lags back, then the player needs to “snap” the wrist to get the racquet back square to the ball and the forearm.

Notice how Roger maintains a very quiet torso within and after the contact of the forehand. The uncoiling of his body prior to contact stops, allowing the racquet to accelerate within the contact window.

This causes the student to change the swing and the contact point. Most players feel that the contact point is just off their front knee or hip. Using the Lag, the contact point is much further in front of the player. If a player were to try and hit the ball off the hip, he or she would indeed need to ‘snap’ the racquet around to get it square to the desired target. This is one sure way to hurt your arm. (This type of action usually causes “golfer’s elbow” or, in tennis, “Server’s elbow,” as it affects the interior epicondyle of the elbow, the opposite side of arm as “Tennis elbow,” which is caused by the same problem on the backhand side.)

By laying the racquet back, the player can use the arm much like a “rubber band,” as I believe Vic Braden has labeled it. Yet, this label can confuse people as they often interpret a rubber band as something that ‘snaps’ back at some point. As you can see in the video clips, there is little snap, but rather a very fluid, almost graceful motion of the entire arm moving through the ball, not just the racquet being snapped through by the wrist or forearm.

In fact, the relative position of the racquet to the forearm remains nearly unchanged within the contact phase of the stroke. What people often misread in a professional player's stroke is the finish of the stroke, which is a passive, relaxation phase. But, at full speed, the finish looks like the player is indeed snapping the racquet through the ball at contact. It wasn’t really until the advent of very clear, slow motion photography could we first observe, then analyze, the actual components of any fast-moving shot in tennis, let alone any other sport!

The Right Snap

With the Lag, a player can employ a type of wrist snap in some situations. This is where the player, when a little late or pressed to hit more topspin, brings the racquet up (called Radial Flexion) within the contact phase of the stroke. This is different from the typical snap of the wrist usually associated with the term wrist snap.

Radial Flexion is where the hand stays in the same plane as the forearm and tilts inward, as opposed to the typical wrist snap that looks like you are waving “bye bye” to someone…usually a movement associated with the snap of the wrist as seen in badminton or racquetball, where the player’s arm almost stops and the racquet is moved very fast around the wrist position.

In the video, Federer is forced to use this type of radial flexion to retrieve a deeply hit ball to his forehand. Note, however, that his racquet face stays in the same plane throughout the contact phase. (Also notice his eyes, how they remain focused on the contact point long after the ball has left the strings.) Recreational and club players ten to flick their wrists at the ball which causes the racquet face to change radically within the contact zone. This again, is one of the differences between the pros and club-level players. The wrist can be used for many shots, but the type of use is critical if the player hopes to become more effective and more consistent.

Power Phase

The real power comes from the timing of the stroke from the lag position. Players often open up the upper body way too early when trying to hit hard. We see this in every sport. Recreational softball or baseball players, when trying to swing hard, tend to open up too early also.

In golf. when players relax and don't try to swing so hard, they end up hitting the ball much farther. This is because the body must slow down the swing when it opens up too early. If we swung from this position without slowing down the swing, we would end up pulling the ball so far to the side that we would never get it in play. That would explain all that time spent in the woods searching for balls. In the same way, the body recognizes this and slows the racquet down to control some aspect of the aim.

The kinetic chain of movements emphasize the explosive coil and uncoil of the upper body starting with the legs driving up into the shot, with the body opening up to a point. This is followed by a deceleration of the upper body followed by a marked acceleration of the arm and, ultimately, the racquet, at contact.

Keep the Plane the Same

As with any stroke in tennis, this simple adage, “Keep the Plane the Same” must be understood and emulated if a player ever hopes to control more and more power. If you look at every clip of Federer, his racquet face stays in the same orientation, or “plane” throughout the hitting phase of the shot.

I have used this phrase a lot in my books, in my workshops, in my lessons, and my articles. It probably is the most important concept a player should work towards achieving. For when we keep the plane the same, we can add more and more power within the shot; and as long as we continue to control the racquet plane within the hitting window, we will have relatively good control at higher and higher speeds.

Conclusion

The idea of power is often misunderstood among various levels of players. Power must be understood within the context of "controlled power," that is, whatever method we use to generate racquet head speed, momentum, and overall pace will only be as useful as the ability to control that power. The "Lag" forehand, is probably the most up-to-date swing pattern using physics, leverage, and human motor learning in a way that indeed generates power within a level of control.
 
The point of this article is that power among pros should not be observed as a "freak of nature," nor as if it were some secret stroke movement that only pros are privy to. However, as with any skilled swing pattern and element of control, players must first understand the components of that movement, then be able to emulate that pattern successfully with conscious control, and finally, execute that desired swing pattern without thought through enough practice to make the stroke become unconsciously successful.

Your comments are welcome. Let us know what you think about Dave Smith's article by emailing us here at TennisOne .

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Your comments are welcome. Let us know what you think about this article by emailing us here at TennisONE.

David W. Smith is the Director of Tennis for the St. George Tennis Academy in St. George Utah. He has been a featured writer in USPTA's magazine ADDvantage in addition to having over 50 published articles in various publications.

David has taught over 3000 players including many top national and world ranked players. He can be reached at acrpres1@email.msn.com.