Success in tennis often depends on how seamlessly all your body segments function together, yet many players struggle with developing their forehand with solid fundamentals in place.
When performed properly, forehand is a fault-tolerant stroke – small preparation or execution inaccuracies rarely lead to missed shots. This article will examine key biomechanical movements which contribute to this tolerance for errors.
The Stroke
An effective tennis forehand requires coordination among multiple muscle groups – particularly hips, back, and shoulders. Furthermore, it must generate force within an acceptable range and at just the right moment in time; furthermore, its swing should be smooth and balanced for optimal performance. Finally, an ideal forehand must adapt itself perfectly to each shot’s ball bounce and wind conditions.
One of the most frequent mistakes amateur players make when learning forehand play is using a straight arm forehand stroke, which not only has less power than bent arm forehand but also lowers their margin of error due to hitting out in front of your body and leaving no room for error; any small miscalculation, bounce issue or gust of wind could potentially make this mistaken approach miss the ball entirely.
To avoid this situation, you should learn to use a bent arm forehand. This stroke is more effective for all levels of players and can be taught quickly in just a few steps. However, you must understand the distinction between “style” and “technique.” Style refers to external characteristics of a tennis stroke such as loopy backswings or odd off-hand movements while technique refers to biomechanical principles that influence power, control and injury risk.
Studies assessing the kinematic characteristics of an ideal tennis forehand stroke have analyzed its kinematics. According to these analyses, shoulder internal rotation accelerates as soon as the racket is brought forward while wrist flexion decelerates during follow through phase of stroke. Furthermore, trunk muscles play a significant role in axial rotation while female tennis players may require greater activation of external oblique than male players in order to attain full range of motion in rotator cuff during forehand stroke.
Important findings in these studies also included that square stance forehands produce higher peak values of shoulder internal rotation torque and wrist flexion torque than open stance forehands, due to increasing vertical acceleration during swing, creating more kinetic energy that transfers onto the ball.
The Follow Through
Follow through is one of the cornerstones of an effective tennis forehand stroke, as it enables a player to gather and transfer energy collected by his body during lower parts of his stroke onto his racket for transference as power and strength to make an effective forehand shot.
To achieve maximum energy transfer, a player must ensure the unit turn is conducted effectively. A unit turn occurs when the rear leg steps out in the direction of the ball while simultaneously, its upper arm begins rotating and moves forward with its racquet.
By doing so, a player is able to tap into all of their body’s elastic energy reserves and transfer as much force to the racket at impact as possible.
To ensure this follows through appropriately, players should also employ an effective rear leg drive. This is necessary because a strong back leg drive will initiate pelvis rotation and increase separation angle – essential because these allow the player to store an abundance of elastic energy that can then serve as extra power during a stroke.
Studies on the biomechanics of various tennis strokes reveal how closely player performance and efficiency of their movements are connected. Strokes with proper motion can produce great amounts of power; while those that do not can impede energy transfer and result in injury.
This research examined and compared selected kinematic variables and their timing during tennis forehand shots at different skill levels. A Vicon eight camera, 400Hz system was utilized to capture the data of six ATP professionals (elite) and seven high performance players during cross court and down the line forehand shots, played using forehand shots with forehand shots played across court or down the line. Results demonstrated that elite group had later maximum pelvis/trunk rotation velocity spikes than high performance players during forehand strokes played cross court/down the line during forehand strokes played cross court or down the line than high performance players.
The Backswing
Forehand stroke requires lower limbs to push and stretch in a sagittal plane while trunk and upper limbs rotate horizontally, creating an intricate coordination of movement that requires careful monitoring between foot contact with ground and racket impact point to hit ball with precise direction and speed.
Footwork of a tennis forehand is also crucial. Feet should be spread wider than shoulder width apart to provide a solid base of support, which allows large muscle groups to contract and store elastic potential energy while smaller muscles respond specifically. In order to transfer these forces produced in large muscle groups into rotational torques that will produce speed on impact. Footwork coordination needs to be coordinated with trunk rotation as well as upper limb movement in order to produce maximum racket speed upon impact.
Important to keep in mind is the continuous nature of forehand stroke, making recovery actions as crucial as force production. Recovery actions help maintain continuity in forehand stroke while increasing power and control by channeling force produced in larger muscles into rotational torque in shoulders and upper arm.
As soon as a forehand reaches the “touch” link in its sequence (just before impact), its racket hand must start rising slowly due to hip rotation lag; this allows the shoulder and arm to fully rotate before beginning their stroke and also increases momentum of swing forward towards ball.
Mistakenly, players and coaches often focus on only the stylistic elements of a player’s stroke to judge its success; when in reality it is biomechanical principles and body movements which truly determine success; an exceptional technique does not necessitate having an extravagant style.
The Impact
Although topspin forehanding may appear straightforward, it’s actually a complex movement requiring all parts of your body to function perfectly in order to execute successfully. Any mistakes in execution of these biomechanical components could result in inaccurate shots and resultantly increase ineffectiveness of shots; for optimal effectiveness of tennis stroke, ankles, knees, hips, shoulders and elbows must work in harmony in a coordinated fashion in order to maximize effectiveness of strokes.
Touch links, connecting legs, hips and upper bodies to head and shoulders, are an integral component of an effective topspin forehand. The touch link connects these bodies so as to overcome inertia of legs and hips by storing elastic potential energy in large muscle groups and then transferring this energy directly onto racket through angular momentum transference. Furthermore, touch links are responsible for proper racket placement during impact – which determines its amount and type of spin produced.
Beginners learning topspin forehand often make the mistake of using a straight arm when learning the stroke, which reduces control, flexibility, power, and increases injury risks. A properly executed bent-arm forehand uses all ranges of the kinetic chain to generate maximum power while limiting injuries.
Studies on the biomechanics of successful tennis forehands have conducted extensive analyses. Their research revealed that an ideal angle of impact depends on ball speed and direction of contact; additionally, an appropriate distance must be maintained between racket and ball during contact phase.
Patrick Mouratoglou provides an in-depth breakdown of Juan Martin del Potro’s famed topspin forehand. Mouratoglou is renowned as a coach who has worked with Serena Williams, Simona Halep, Coco Gauff, Stefanos Tsitsipas and Fernando Gonzalez among many other stars.
Though two-handed backhands remain increasingly popular, many players still struggle with producing consistent and powerful forehands. If this is your situation, check out this video from Team Tennis Academy Pros to learn how to engage the bigger muscles for effortless power through drills focused on biomechanics. In particular, progression one outlines unit turns as key for unlocking powerful forehands.