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Private Lessons:
Forehand Preparation

by Scott Murphy

Borg prepares for the next shot with a balanced ready hop.

One universal problem I see when people come to my teaching court or camps is poor preparation on the forehand groundstroke. If this fundamental element is incomplete or poor it is likely the stroke will never reach its potential. Using pictures of some of the world’s great pros as examples, let’s examine the elements of sound forehand preparation.

Watching the Ball

Good preparation for any stroke starts with effective use of the eyes. Firstly, by using your eyes, you’ll know when to make an all-important ready hop. Just before your opponent strikes the ball it’s crucial to make a balanced ready hop. You want to try to time the landing of the hop so the feet touch the ground just as your opponent hits the ball. This will set your leg muscles to move one way or the other; knowing when to ready hop means you’ll respond more quickly and accurately because you’re assessing physical cues your

Agassi "coiling"- eye on the ball- head level- shoulders square- weight on the back foot- fully turned. Note position of the non racket arm.

opponent may be giving you just ahead of the ball leaving his racket.

Using your eyes effectively is also critical in avoiding a problem I see constantly, the inability to establish the correct lateral distance from the ball. Players will actually place their bodies where their racquets need to be, in great part because they don’t track the ball long enough or with a still enough head to avoid overreacting while establishing position. Keep your head still, your shoulders level, and watch the ball until you hear it hit your strings. There are two other means of establishing a better range of contact that will be mentioned momentarily.

Turning the Body

Once you’ve established the ball is coming to the forehand side, initiate a unit turn, or the “coiling” phase of the stroke. The hips, trunk, and shoulders, in that order, rotate back until the shoulders are sideways to the target. The racquet is actually the last part of this kinetic chain.

Hingis is "locked in"- wrist laid back, elbow is bent and inside, racket in front of the plane of her shoulders.

In conjunction with this turn, the non-racket arm moves across the body to form an approximately 90-degree angle with the plane of the shoulders. Most pros will keep the non-hitting hand on the racquet throat to help initiate the turn and ensure the position of the arm before letting go. The position of the non-racket arm can also assist in distancing yourself laterally from the ball. Keeping the ball at that arm’s length will prevent crowding of the swing. Additionally, it helps assists overall balance and sets up a synchronization of the arms during the forward swing.

Just before the forward rotation of the shoulders, the wrist should be locked into a laid back position and the elbow should be bent and relatively tight against the body. At the same time, the racquet head should be in front of the plane of the shoulders.

Borg keeps the ball at arm's length and his back foot to the inside of his contact point.

Lastly, when fully prepared to swing forward, the back foot should be planted with the weight of the body loaded on the back leg. The position of the back foot should be to the inside of where the ball will be struck. This is yet another means to avoid crowding the shot. If the back foot is planted to the outside of the incoming ball you’ll be right in its path, thereby causing you to pull your shot in an attempt to make room for the swing.

Now you’re ready to pull the trigger. In the next article I’ll talk about how to best utilize good preparation and complete the forehand ground stroke package.

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Scott Murphy is one of America's top teaching pros. He is the director of the Nike Tahoe Tennis Camp. He has taught privately in Marin County, California for twenty years. A high level senior player, Scott has been ranked numerous times in both singles and doubles in Northern California. Scott is already well known to TennisONE readers for his great "Ask the Pro" answers.

Last Updated 6/1/00. To contact us, please email to: webmaster@tennisone.com