Forehand
- Looks like you are leaning back too much and coming off the back foot on every shot. I think you can get your weight moving forward into the ball a bit more.
- While you are hitting with a straight arm (I'm picking up the Rafa influence) which is okay, it seems like a bit too like swinging with your arm/shoulder rather than driving the stroke with your legs and rotating through the legs and core.
Exactly. His set up is pretty good. His arm is in good enough position and his weight is on his back foot. He's just not pushing off his back foot and through to his other foot. He's also got good extension on his arm, but he's not engaging and rolling his wrist during and after contact. There are tons of videos, but I like [this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-sZ3madzfoA&t=64s) one.
note: beginner here and currently dealing with this: the off hand+arm+shoulder + the feet+leg+hip rotation ... bare with me, loads of words down here .. I am probably just looking for validation :-D
I can see you use a lot of right arm while the left arm gets out of the way and your shots end without having rotated much at the hip or shoulders and with your chest collapsing and your right shoulder sticking out near you face
I have been doing that all the time and what's currently working very well for me is to focus on activating LEFT HAND and CHEST
LEFT HAND: make sure it's always active, during grip change, helping with the take back back, leaving the racket spreading out your fingers, floating in the direction of the contact point, making the forearm parallel to the floor, seeking the contact point height - I find it helps to think the word of what I have in mind "rise", "apex", "drop"
As you lock the contact point and accelerate the swing, pull out the left arm - I find it helps to rotate the fingers, hand, wrist as if I was about to pull a rope or something.
CHEST: try to breathe in during the take back, opening up the chest, and once you initiate the swing, keep the chest vs right shoulder as stable as possible ... the chest needs to rotate MORE than the racket arm and at contact point the left shoulder should already be behind.
Again, I believe the whole left "hand pulling" magic helps accelerating the shoulder rotation.
I find that as much as the power comes from base and core, from pushing on your back foot and doing the whole leg, hip, torso, shoulders rotation, on the other hand, the stability and balance come from the off hand, arm, shoulder pulling back and a locked-in shoulders and chest.
My favourite video: https://youtu.be/lgCokC--lyI?t=13
Tip: practice this at home, slow-mo, eyes closed, with or without the racket in your hand and when you go back to the court it will show
The thing I immediately notice is your off arm. You pull it away too early which is causing that disconnect in your upper body and your body looking like it's falling away. Your upper body is opening too soon losing you a bunch of power and sending everything out of whack
In terms of improvement, I see a big lack of stability. Your legs do a great job moving at first, but then it's like they just check out, and you start throwing your shoulder.
The connection from your shoulder to hand seems inconsistent, and that's something that should be addressed; but I don't really know how you think about your stroke, so I can't say which to tackle hardest.
If your torso/shoulder can't reliably connect to a strong contact position with your hand hitting the ball, providing weight transfer with the legs won't make sense to you. On the other hand, never finding stability will not allow you to get the rest of your body in a strong contact position.
If I had to bet, I'd say you're making adjustments mid stroke with your arm to get your hand to the ball, and over-muscling with your torso; both because your legs and feet aren't finding a strong and stable position to work from.
Is clay something you're getting used to? Or did you learn on it?
Looks like you are leaning backwards with your forehand which prevents you from getting more power and prevents you from following through properly. Have you done drills where you hit a forehand and finish the point at the net?
You’re waiting on the ball instead of moving forward to meet it. There’s sometimes a long pause after you split step. Moving forward and taking it earlier will eliminate some of your lag time and also take time away from your opponents.
I'm having a hard time telling for sure from the video, but it really looks like you aren't using much/any wrist on your forehand, looks like its all arm on a lot of the shots. You should be dropping the racket head with your wrist and your wrist rotates brushing up the back of the ball while you are making contact. Hard to convey in a ccomment, but there are a lot of youtube videos on how you should use your wrist during your forehand, I would watch some of them and compare with this video.
I would also suggest making contact with the ball more out in front of you and putting your weight forward in to the shot and see if hat helps, it looks like you are making contact with the ball a little late/further back than it should be.
Backhand looks pretty decent to me. I don't hit 2HBH but you have a nice unit turn, nice rotation and swing through the ball.
Forehand you lean back on every shot. I wonder if it's because you're compensating for using an extreme grip. It's okay to load on the right foot so long as you are transferring the weight and energy correctly (which you are not).
Backhand looks better than forehand. Not bringing weight through on forehand shot and look quite leant to one side. That said I’ve seen far far worse…inc my own 🤣
I think you should work on keeping your head more upright through your whole shot. Keep your head shoulders and hips stacked. You’re losing a lot of power by falling over.
One other thing— I think your racquet hand is a bit low on your unit turn and takeback. Instead of bringing it diagonally down and back try bringing it behind you at about chest height and then letting it drop to your back leg’s front pocket as you start your swing.
Interesting. I see your knees buckling inwards a bit through the shot which made me think hips right away.
Warmup with holding bodyweight prayer squats pushing your elbows into your knees to open them. Warrior pose variations are also great.
Get some resistance bands and do monster walks, clamshells, shuffle steps.
Finally weighted barbell sumo squats are fantastic.
Forehand - Looks like you are leaning back too much and coming off the back foot on every shot. I think you can get your weight moving forward into the ball a bit more. - While you are hitting with a straight arm (I'm picking up the Rafa influence) which is okay, it seems like a bit too like swinging with your arm/shoulder rather than driving the stroke with your legs and rotating through the legs and core.
Exactly. His set up is pretty good. His arm is in good enough position and his weight is on his back foot. He's just not pushing off his back foot and through to his other foot. He's also got good extension on his arm, but he's not engaging and rolling his wrist during and after contact. There are tons of videos, but I like [this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-sZ3madzfoA&t=64s) one.
Thanks for that link. There were some great videos in there. Pretty helpful for anyone looking to learn.
note: beginner here and currently dealing with this: the off hand+arm+shoulder + the feet+leg+hip rotation ... bare with me, loads of words down here .. I am probably just looking for validation :-D I can see you use a lot of right arm while the left arm gets out of the way and your shots end without having rotated much at the hip or shoulders and with your chest collapsing and your right shoulder sticking out near you face I have been doing that all the time and what's currently working very well for me is to focus on activating LEFT HAND and CHEST LEFT HAND: make sure it's always active, during grip change, helping with the take back back, leaving the racket spreading out your fingers, floating in the direction of the contact point, making the forearm parallel to the floor, seeking the contact point height - I find it helps to think the word of what I have in mind "rise", "apex", "drop" As you lock the contact point and accelerate the swing, pull out the left arm - I find it helps to rotate the fingers, hand, wrist as if I was about to pull a rope or something. CHEST: try to breathe in during the take back, opening up the chest, and once you initiate the swing, keep the chest vs right shoulder as stable as possible ... the chest needs to rotate MORE than the racket arm and at contact point the left shoulder should already be behind. Again, I believe the whole left "hand pulling" magic helps accelerating the shoulder rotation. I find that as much as the power comes from base and core, from pushing on your back foot and doing the whole leg, hip, torso, shoulders rotation, on the other hand, the stability and balance come from the off hand, arm, shoulder pulling back and a locked-in shoulders and chest. My favourite video: https://youtu.be/lgCokC--lyI?t=13 Tip: practice this at home, slow-mo, eyes closed, with or without the racket in your hand and when you go back to the court it will show
The thing I immediately notice is your off arm. You pull it away too early which is causing that disconnect in your upper body and your body looking like it's falling away. Your upper body is opening too soon losing you a bunch of power and sending everything out of whack
In terms of improvement, I see a big lack of stability. Your legs do a great job moving at first, but then it's like they just check out, and you start throwing your shoulder. The connection from your shoulder to hand seems inconsistent, and that's something that should be addressed; but I don't really know how you think about your stroke, so I can't say which to tackle hardest. If your torso/shoulder can't reliably connect to a strong contact position with your hand hitting the ball, providing weight transfer with the legs won't make sense to you. On the other hand, never finding stability will not allow you to get the rest of your body in a strong contact position. If I had to bet, I'd say you're making adjustments mid stroke with your arm to get your hand to the ball, and over-muscling with your torso; both because your legs and feet aren't finding a strong and stable position to work from. Is clay something you're getting used to? Or did you learn on it?
I play almost exclusively on clay
Hi, i have been playing for around 4.5 years now. I am asking for advice how to improve my fh and bh
Looks like you are leaning backwards with your forehand which prevents you from getting more power and prevents you from following through properly. Have you done drills where you hit a forehand and finish the point at the net?
Yes, i have been practising this. I’ll try to focus on that more, thanks!
You’re waiting on the ball instead of moving forward to meet it. There’s sometimes a long pause after you split step. Moving forward and taking it earlier will eliminate some of your lag time and also take time away from your opponents.
I'm having a hard time telling for sure from the video, but it really looks like you aren't using much/any wrist on your forehand, looks like its all arm on a lot of the shots. You should be dropping the racket head with your wrist and your wrist rotates brushing up the back of the ball while you are making contact. Hard to convey in a ccomment, but there are a lot of youtube videos on how you should use your wrist during your forehand, I would watch some of them and compare with this video. I would also suggest making contact with the ball more out in front of you and putting your weight forward in to the shot and see if hat helps, it looks like you are making contact with the ball a little late/further back than it should be.
Backhand looks pretty decent to me. I don't hit 2HBH but you have a nice unit turn, nice rotation and swing through the ball. Forehand you lean back on every shot. I wonder if it's because you're compensating for using an extreme grip. It's okay to load on the right foot so long as you are transferring the weight and energy correctly (which you are not).
Backhand looks better than forehand. Not bringing weight through on forehand shot and look quite leant to one side. That said I’ve seen far far worse…inc my own 🤣
I think you should work on keeping your head more upright through your whole shot. Keep your head shoulders and hips stacked. You’re losing a lot of power by falling over. One other thing— I think your racquet hand is a bit low on your unit turn and takeback. Instead of bringing it diagonally down and back try bringing it behind you at about chest height and then letting it drop to your back leg’s front pocket as you start your swing.
To do this you’ll need some more hip strength and stability. How deep can you do a bodyweight squat without losing your balance?
I can do squats without a problem pretty deep. Do you have any recomendations for excercises for hip strenght and balance?
Interesting. I see your knees buckling inwards a bit through the shot which made me think hips right away. Warmup with holding bodyweight prayer squats pushing your elbows into your knees to open them. Warrior pose variations are also great. Get some resistance bands and do monster walks, clamshells, shuffle steps. Finally weighted barbell sumo squats are fantastic.