The Basics of Forehand in Tennis

Joe Dinoffer talks about the significance of having a great forehand technique and introduces some ideas for exercises for beginners.

In this volume, we will cover your basic forehand but you will quickly see that we go beyond the typical racket back and bend your knees. Instead, the idea is to accelerate the learning process to acquire a forehand that will become your best friend. A shot you can hit with confidence. One that will serve you well for your entire tennis career. No doubt there are hundreds of approaches that will each work in different ways. However, in this program we will share a basic progression to get you started. Then at the end, we will share some common problems and how to fix them. Let's start with some ideas for the new player of any age who is trying to hit a forehand for the very first time. In this first step, Colindy (ph) is simply pushing a beach ball forwards. This simple exercise gives her an immediate feel for several essentials of her ultimate forehand. Contact point, pushing forwards with the palm of the hand and creating forward spin or top spin. Depending on the beginner you will want to perform this exercise five to ten times. If needed, use a hand racket at first to quickly accelerate the learning process. Of course, whenever you mention top spin to a beginner you will run the risk of someone making it far too complicated as they try to emulate what they think they have seen on television. Here is a quick look at some examples of what not to do as demonstrated by our entertaining friend, Biju (ph). These attempts may look exaggerated and some definitely are but we have all seen some very complicated attempts at hitting a top spin forehand over the years. Of course, the main idea is to keep it simple. After Biju is finished we will get back to Colindy. The next step in our simple approach is for her to play connect the dots. A concept that almost everyone is familiar with. Everything is the same as step number one except now we have a dot on her right hand and also one on her left shoulder. We just tell her to connect the dots and she gets the idea of one of the basic finishing points for the forehand. Note that the beach ball offer some resistance so that she will have to push it forwards and not come up off the ball too quickly. Step number three is to introduce footwork. I like using the words, happy feet. We all know that movement, positioning and balance are essential for every shot in tennis. So right away, I suggest establishing happy feet as a standard that has to be an ingredient of every single on court experience. A good metaphor is to think of a car. When the feet are moving the engine is running and the car is ready to drive. If the feet are not moving the engine is not running and you are not going anywhere. Now watch Colindy add movement to the ball by giving her a recovery position. In this case a pair of doughnuts to return to after each hit. In this step, she will start figuring out how to adjust her steps and distance to the ball. Please note that at this stage we are intentionally not mentioning footwork patterns but I am intentionally changing the position of the ball she must move towards. Just sit back and observe. You maybe surprised that with little to no information new players will start doing many things on their own. You will probably see some balls hit with an open stance, some with a closed stance and some hit even with the semi-open stance. Depending on from what direction she is moving towards the ball.