One of the primary obstacles faced by tennis players and their coaches is an excessive fixation on minor technical details of strokes.
They strive to achieve the perfect stroke, meticulously replicating the technique of their idols such as Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, or Novak Djokovic.
However, they become frustrated when they realize that executing the stroke flawlessly is an elusive goal, only achieved sporadically.
This frustration stems from the mistaken belief that it is possible to execute the stroke perfectly every single time.
Instead, I propose shifting the focus away from attaining flawless technique and towards understanding the fundamental biomechanical principles that generate power and provide optimal control over the body.
Novak Djokovic Forehand Analysis
By closely observing Djokovic's forehand technique, we can discern that his follow-through varies in three instances. Twice, his follow-through extends above his head, while on the third occasion, it remains closer to the shoulder.
Novak Djokovic's forehand follow-through is just one example of the stroke adaptability.
Interestingly, none of these follow-throughs align with the commonly taught method of finishing over the shoulder.
Furthermore, his forehand technique incorporates different stances, with a neutral stance on the first shot, a neutral stance on the second, and an open stance on the third.
This adaptability in his stroke is necessary due to the diverse situations he encounters, including the type of ball he receives and the desired shot he intends to execute.
Each forehand Djokovic played in this point was hit from a different stance.
Thus, it becomes clear that fixating on minute technical details is futile, as one's technique must constantly adapt to the unique characteristics of each ball. No two balls are the same, and therefore, one must approach each shot with flexibility and adaptability.
I recommend that you also check out the Holding Your Ground video article as I go into much more details on how much the strokes have to adjust depending on the distance to the ball, direction of the ball and contact point height.
A Forehand Stroke Explained By Feels
After I hit the forehand, I'll explain what it feels like and break it down for you. We're not going to focus on technique, such as the position of the racket head or elbow, but instead, we'll focus on biomechanics and feel.
So, what am I doing? First, my body is rotating.
My hips and body are rotating and I experience a sensation of pushing into the ball.
When I hit the ball, my body has a large mass, so I cannot move it very fast. Therefore, I push my right hip into the ball. This creates a steady, continuous push through the ball.
What is my arm doing? My arm is swinging before contact.
I try to let my arm swing partially in order for gravity to help me accelerate.
When the ball is higher, I swing less, and when the ball is lower, I swing more.
What I feel is an element of letting go. I don't completely control the movement; there is a partial swing.
My wrist has a lag, and when I hit the ball, I'm slapping it. I feel the slap through my hand and the racket face as if I am slapping the ball with a big hand.
The dynamic wrist lag allows me to slap the ball (with feel) and add another source of power.
When the ball makes contact with the racket, my arm is driving and keeping the direction.
All ground strokes, including two-handed backhand, one-handed backhand, and forehand, follow the same components.
The arm is driving (partially pushing) in the direction of the target.
To summarize, I'm pushing with my body, swinging with my arm, slapping with my wrist, and driving the ball if it's a normal forehand or a backhand groundstroke.
These four sources of power and control are present in every groundstroke I hit except that they vary in the amount, meaning how much I apply each of them.
These 4 sources of power and control apply to both forehands and backhands.
If you focus on feeling and using the 4 major "feels" of the stroke you will find it much easier to develop good strokes as you will not be focusing on small irrelevant details of the stroke that cannot be always replicated.
8 Major Mistakes Related To 4 Feels
I will now demonstrate the forehand hit incorrectly showing you 8 different ways you can execute it wrong when it comes to body rotation, swinging, using the wrist and driving through the ball.
See if you recognize yourself in one or more of them...
1. Body Rotation
The main purpose of body rotation is to give you a stable source of power and good control of the arm and racket as it stabilizes the contact through the push.
a) Not enough body rotation
In this case, the hips tend to stay back, resulting in a stroke that looks something like the image below.
This is one of the most common problems at recreational tennis because players hit the ball too late and the hip is not able yet to rotate forward by the time player hits the ball.
The common mistakes when it comes to body rotation on the forehand side.
b) Too much body rotation
You may also overdo body rotation and stepping into the ball and you keep pushing the hip and body too much into the ball.
That prevents the arm from swinging well as the arm will accelerate only if the hip decelerates at some point. Strokes hit like that have good control but no power and very poor accuracy.
2. Arm Swing
Swinging your arm provides you with the biggest source of effortless power as you use gravity to help you accelerate the racket.
a) Not enough swing
What does it look like when a player doesn't feel the swing? They just move their arm back and forth with stiffness, and the racket doesn't swing.
If your strokes don't have a component of swinging, you will struggle with generating power.
Here's how arm swings look like when not done nough or done too much.
b) Too Much Swing
On the other hand, what happens when the player swings too much? They lose control, and their arm goes all over the place.
So the player might have good power but they have very poor control of the ball meaning that they make a lot of unforced errors.
3. Wrist Lag & Slap
The "slap" is another source of effortless power as it allows you to use the trampoline effect of the string bed and bounce the ball off the racket easily.
In order to use your wrist and hand well you need enough wrist lag in the first place.
a) Not Enough Wrist Lag & Slap
When a player lacks wrist lag, they will have their racket head on the right side (for right-handers) of the hand, making it difficult to slap the ball.
This results in a pushy motion, limiting the player's ability to spin or accelerate the ball.
Do you recognize yourself in any of these forehand wrist lag positions?
b) Too Much Wrist Lag & Slap
Overusing wrist lag & slap leads to a loss of control. While it may feel powerful, excessive slapping can result in poor synchronization with other components of the swing, such as the drive and push of the body.
Therefore, it's important to find the right balance between wrist lag and other components to achieve a perfect swing.
4. Arm Drive
Driving the arm forward towards the target area is the key to good accuracy of the stroke and the key to "taming" the swing and the wrist lag that brought a lot of power into the contact.
Power is great for tennis but it needs to be controlled to be consistent and that's the role of the arm drive.
a) Not Enough Arm Drive
If the arm is not driving, the player tends to hit the ball like in baseball, and the moment they hit the ball, they release the arm.
This usually happens because the player feels very good power and they hope that eventually they will learn to control the ball despite not controlling the follow-through - but that actually never happens.
Not driving enough gives you power but no control, driving too much gives you control but no power.
b) Too Much Arm Drive
On the other hand, if the arm is driving and pushing too hard, the stroke is too linear and too pushy, the arm moves too slow.
In this case, the player is too controlled and afraid of missing the ball, resulting in the arm being pushed too hard. Also, if the arm is the only driving force, the hip tends to stay back.
Summary
This is a brief overview of the four major biomechanical components of a stroke or swing, which are commonly referred to as "feels."
Rather than focusing on minor technical details of the stroke, it is more beneficial to concentrate on these sources of power since the stroke needs to be adaptable to a variety of situations.
The objective is to sense each "feel" being present and applied with the appropriate amount of force while hitting the ball.
You can use the eight common mistakes as a reference point and then practice repeatedly and play in different scenarios to identify the ideal adaptation of each "feel."
Now I can make better use of the warm-up when doing mini-tennis and 3/4 tennis. Thank you, Tomaz.
Wonderful, thanks for sharing!