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Tóm tắt nội dung (trích từ tài liệu gốc): TEC 110 - THE FOREHAND FROM http://ftptennis.net/ftp-tennis-college/ftp-tennis-college-courses/technical-tennis/the-forehand/ PART I - THE FOREHAND OVERVIEW Before delving into the finer details of the forehand it is important to see the overall stroke in action. This gives a good idea of what the stroke should look like when done correctly. Without seeing the overall stroke one would have no idea what to strive towards. Below are several examples of forehands. Some are of professional players, others are not professionals. In both instances the stroke is essentially the same. I've included tw
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TEC 110 - THE FOREHAND
FROM http://ftptennis.net/ftp-tennis-college/ftp-tennis-college-courses/technical-tennis/the-forehand/
PART I - THE FOREHAND OVERVIEW
Before delving into the finer details of the forehand it is important to see the overall stroke in action.
This gives a good idea of what the stroke should look like when done correctly. Without seeing the
overall stroke one would have no idea what to strive towards. Below are several examples of forehands.
Some are of professional players, others are not professionals. In both instances the stroke is essentially
the same. I've included two different angles one from the side and one from behind.
Forehand Swing Examples
Overall Considerations
There are several factors about the forehand swing that must be considered before determining "how"
to swing. These elements of the swing are constant and rarely change. It's because of these factors that
swinging a certain way allows for more consistent and powerful shots.
Physical Laws and Court Dimensions
Physical laws strongly determine, both tactically and technically, how someone should play the game
of tennis. Vic Braden is quoted as saying "The dimensions of the court and physical laws dictate stroke-
production, no coaches opinion or any unique theory."
No truer statement has ever been said about tennis. If you just replace the word "play" with "stroke-
production" this quote would pretty much apply to all sports. To take it a step further, this is pretty
much a universal law of not only sports, but the universe as a whole. How does this apply to tennis?
Physical laws and the actual court dimensions will NEVER change. These are constant values.
Whereas coaches theories on how and why to hit a certain way seem to change as much as a blowing
wind.
Physical Laws
Physical laws are typically conclusions based on repeated scientific experiments and observations over
many years and which have become accepted universally within the scientific community. Basically
these are the laws that make the universe what it is and everyone agrees that they are true.
A prime example is gravity. Gravity as it pertains to the forehand is talked about in great detail here,
but in general terms it has many effects on the game of tennis. No object can overcome the effects of
gravity. In tennis gravity affects many things. It affects the ball. It affects how high the ball bounces,
how far the ball travels in the air before it hits the ground and how high the ball travels over the net.
Gravity also affects how fast the racquet drops during the forehand swing. It also affects how high a
player can jump.
Another physical law that affects how one plays tennis is friction. Court surfaces tend to vary in
roughness. The rougher the court the slower the ball will come off the surface due to the courts
increased friction. Friction will also determine how high the ball bounce off the court.
The surface of the tennis ball is also greatly affected by physical laws. The rough surface creates drag
on the ball as it travels through the air which helps to slow it down it also creates friction which makes
it easier to hit spin on the ball.
Wrong tennis strokes can also affect other physical laws. Swinging too early or too late can adversely
effect the momentum and/or inertia of the racquet making it more difficult to control the racquet. It can
also get your body out of sync with your racquet making it difficult to hit consistent shits.
Unfortunately, on the tennis court most people fight against these physical laws instead of using them
to become a better player. Swinging correctly can take all these physical laws and help someone hit the
ball faster, get better spin and have better control.
Court Dimensions
For a complete description of court dimensions click here. The tennis court is only three feet away from
being three times as long as it is wide. From the baseline you have less than 20 degrees of area to hit
the ball into.
This basically means the court is rectangular and very narrow. Most people think the court is much
wider than it actually is. A great little test for yourself to see if you know the actual court width is to
stand yourself right on the hash mark of the baseline. Close your eyes and put your racquet directly in
front of you.
Then, with your eyes still closed point your racquet to where you think the corner of the singles court
on the other side of the net is.
Then, open your eyes. More than likely you will end up well past the singles sideline corner!
Because of this tennis swings need to mimic a rectangular motion. That is why the swing needs to be
vertical.
A VERTICAL SWING KEEPS THE BALL MOVING MORE IN A STRAIGHT LINE THAN A
HORIZONTAL SWING WILL. HORIZONTAL SWINGS TEND TO MOVE MORE TO THE
LEFT AND RIGHT.
Horizontal swings would work well on a round court, but not a rectangular court.
Another aspect of court dimensions is the net. For a greater description on the net click here. The net is
a high obstacle that makes a player have to lift the ball over the net. Once again a vertical swing is
much more advantageous to lifting a ball over a high obstacle then a horizontal swing is.
Horizontal swings will tend to make balls land in the net as the horizontal force will tend to keep the
ball lower than a vertical force would do.
Efficiency of Swing
The most important aspect to any effective tennis swing is whether the ball lands in or out of the court.
It really doesn't matter how hard one hits the ball or how great the player looks while swinging if the
ball lands out, they lose the point. The number one consideration of any element of the swing is
whether it makes it easier or harder to get the ball to land in the court. One of the reason people who
push the ball are effective is that their swings are very compact and hence, more efficient. This gives
them few opportunities to mess up the swing. Pushers are a formidable opponent for beginning and
intermediate level players because they get almost every ball back into the court, they put the pressure
on their opponent to do the same. Pushers rarely give advance players much of a problem though.
Conclusion
It is important to know how physical laws and court dimension impact tennis strokes. One can either
use them to their advantage or they can be obstacles to ones success. By learning to swing correctly
you can use these laws to help you instead allow them to hurt you.
PART II - THE FOREHAND INTRODUCTION
Section 01 - Introduction To The Forehand
Introduction
The forehand is the most controversial, misunderstood (and worst taught) shot in the game of tennis. It
is the one stroke in today's game that has been "modernized" � no one ever mentions a "modern"
backhand, a "modern" serve, a "modern" overhead or "modern" volley. While some parts of the
forehand swing are slightly different then the way it was hit 30 or more years ago, the general stroke is
still the same.
The biggest difference with today's forehand is the grip players are using. The continental grip and
eastern grip were the two main grip choices of professional players pre-1980. Most pro's today use
either a variant of the eastern grip, a semi-western grip or a western grip. Why have grips changes?
Grips have changed mostly because the court surfaces have changed. Before 1970 most professional
level tournaments were played on grass surfaces.
Three of the four majors were on grass. Only the French Open was being played on a different surface,
red clay.
In 1977 the U.S. Open switched to a hard court and then in 1988 the Australian Open did as well.
The continental grip, and to an extent the eastern grip, make it easier to hit balls that bounce low. Grass
courts tend to keep the ball low so it made sense to use a grip that was better for lower bouncing balls.
As the switch to mostly hard court happened, the balls started bouncing higher, thus making the
continental grip all but obsolete. One of the last professional player to exclusively use a continental
grip was Brad Gilbert (who reached 4 in the world in 1990).
The other big change to the forehand is the follow through or more precisely, where the follow through
finishes. Today's follow through tends to be more compact at the finish leading to a quicker recovery
for hitting the next ball. This adaptation, like the grip, makes sense since today's racquets and strings
allow for the ball to be hit with much more velocity then in the past. The faster the ball is hit the less
time a player has to recover and get ready for the next shot. A lot of professionals now finish the
forehand near their left hip (if they are a right-handed player).
In the past players finished with the racquet well above their non hitting shoulder. The below picture is
of Jack Kramer who was one of the greatest players of all time.
Finishing off the left hip, like many modern pros do, keeps the racquet closer to where it needs to be to
hit the next shot.
Finishing over the non hitting shoulder requires the racquet to travel a much greater distance before it
stops and gets the racquet further away from being in a good position to hit the next shot.
Basically finishing off the left hip acts as a natural brake to stop the racquets momentum as the body
will stop the racquet from moving too far. No matter how fast the swing is, the racquet will stop in the
same spot, on the left hip. By finishing off the left hip, the follow through can look like a windshield
wiper motion when viewed at full speed.
Here is David Ferrer using a windshield wiper follow through.
It does kind of look like a windshield wiper moving across a windshield. The windshield wiper motion
that some coaches say is exclusive to the modern forehand has been around for ever. Look at these
pictures of Rod Laver from the early 1970's. You can see him do a windshield wiper type motion just
like David Ferrer.
In fact Laver's forehand motion in the above images is more "modern" and like what many teaching
pro's teach than Ferrer's forehand is! Ferrer at least still brings his racquet up well above where the ball
was contacted. Rod Laver the inventor of the modern forehand. Who knew? Now of course this is only
one of Rod Laver's forehand shots and he would generally finish with his racquet over his non hitting
shoulder.
Pro's have always finished with their racquets in various positions depending on different situations. If
there is enough time, or they want to add a little bit more spin they will finish over their non-hitting
shoulder.
If they want to add even more spin or they are late hitting the ball they will finish over their hitting
shoulder.
If they do not have much time, or want additional recovery time, they will finish on their hip. That is
why Rod Laver is finishing off his hip in the above images.
Sometimes they will even finish with the racquet on top of their head!
The bottom line is simple, once the ball has been hit it doesn't really matter where the racquet goes and
there is no right or wrong answer as to where the follow through should finish. There are definite
reasons (explained in the follow through section of the forehand) why one should finish over their non-
hitting shoulder, but there are also reasons to finish elsewhere. As a more advanced player myself, I
often finish with the racquet on my hip, but will still finish in other positions when its warranted.
For all the fuss over the windshield wiper motion, its not something that you have to worry about
doing, it is a result of finishing off the hip. If it happens (the windshield wiper motion) fine, but players
shouldn't have to try and have it happen, it will happen on its own. But even most pro's who use this
type of motion will still bring their racquet up to shoulder level before bringing it down to their hip.
Here is a set of pictures showing Bernard Tomic doing just that.
Notice how the racquet ends up higher then his head during the follow through (image 4)? His hitting
hand even ends up higher then his left shoulder (image 5). From image 4 he could easily continue the
racquet up and finish with it over his left shoulder if he wanted to.
Unfortunately beginner and intermediate player often have a hard time trying to emulate a windshield
wiper motion. They will usually not bring their racquet up high enough on the follow through and often
will keep the racquet fairly perpendicular to the ground. That is one of the reasons why I recommend
finishing with the racquet up over the non-hitting shoulder. As mentioned above, many pros (in fact
almost every pro) will finish with the racquet over their non-hitting shoulder at times and some do it
almost every time they hit a forehand. If beginners or intermediate players try to finish on the hip there
is a great chance that the swing will end up being horizontally instead of vertically and they will hit the
ball flat instead of with topspin. The ball will end up being flat because the racquet will never get very
far under the ball and will not come much above the hip on the follow through. This will make players
momentum from the swing pull across the body and their racquet will follow suit. There will be no
way to impart topspin on the ball since the racquet is stays on a relatively flat plain. The below example
shows an intermediate level player falling into the common windshield wiper trap.
There are also many other numerous points to the so called "modern forehand" that coaches use to
"sell" it to you, the consumer. Some of these elements can actually happen when hitting a forehand.
Such things as making sure the butt of the racquet is pointing towards the opponent.
or making sure the hitting elbow points to the opponent on the follow through
are things that can happen on the forehand, but are products of correct swings and are NOT things you
have to think about or be taught to do. Other elements should NOT be done when hitting a forehand
correctly. Moving the wrist before contact to gain additional topspin or the racquet face being closed at
impact are things that should not be done unless you want to be an inconsistent player!
So at the end of the day the "modern" forehand is a good selling tool, a gimmick, a way to get people to
take lessons. But it is no more"modern" then the backhand or serve. It is also no more effective then a
more classical type forehand, Effective forehands are consistent, have plenty of topspin, go deep into
the opponents court and has a reasonable amount of pace. Hitting the forehand as describes in the
following sections will produce these results. And, at the end of the day a forehand is a forehand it
doesn't need to have fancy labels.
Section 02 - Forehand Grips
For most players the grip they use while hitting a tennis ball is an afterthought. Players just grip the
racquet with whatever grip feels natural to them. Not many players think about all the elements that go
into a proper grip. Thought should be put into how low or high on the handle the hand should be
placed, about where to place the hand around the circumference of the handle, about how to place the
fingers around the grip, and last, how tight should the racquet be gripped. There is a lot to think about
in just grabbing a tennis racquet! As Vic Braden says "no matter how many adjustments you might
make in your swing, a proper grip will last a lifetime." The key to that statement is proper grip.
Unfortunately, like many things in tennis, the proper grip is not always the most comfortable, but over
time it will begin to feel comfortable.
Almost every racquet, whether it is the cheapest or most expensive, have the same type of handle.
These handles are octagonal shaped with 8 sides called bevels.
While holding the racquet perpendicular to the ground the top bevel is called bevel 1.
For right handed players, moving clockwise around the handle the next bevel is 2 and so forth.
For left handed players it is counterclockwise.
Since a circle is 360 degrees and there are 8 sides, each side is equal to 45 degrees (360 divided by 8).
If the racquet is held on one bevel and then changes to the next bevel the racquet face will have moved
45 degrees. This is a huge change in the racquet for such a small movement of the hand. Hover over the
below image to see the change in racquet head angle.
Factors Affecting Grip
Many things are affected by the grip. The most obvious is that the grip will control the angle of the
racquet face. At the proper contact point for an eastern forehand grip the racquet will be vertical.
If the same contact point is used, but the grip is switched to a semi-western grip the racquet will be
tilted down approximately 45 degrees.
If the grip is moved to a western grip without changing the contact point, the racquet will have moved
close to 90 degrees.
The grip used will also affect the position and comfort of the wrist, knees and body. The more extreme
of a grip used the more extreme the discomfort and positioning can become. In fact, extreme grips can
cause injury to the joints with long term use. Extreme grips can also affect tactically how someone
plays. Players who use a western grip (discussed below) tend to have a hard time coming towards the
net. Whereas players at the other end of grip extremes (using the continental grip for forehands) will
have a harder time hitting higher bouncing balls.
Usually when discussing grip positions everyone mentions how to hold the racquet in relation to the
bevels, but they fail to mention the other factors that play into a proper grip.
Hand Position
Besides how the hand should be placed around the handle, the racquet must also be held in the correct
position up and down the handle. To obtain the correct position place the butt of the racquet in the palm
of the non-hitting hand
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[Cuối tài liệu]
Andy Roddick � Key Points At Finish Highlighted
This Andy does not move his wrist or forearm so his racquet ends up on edge at the finish.
The last example is Gael Monfils. Gael ends up doing 5 of the 9 key points. Very similar to Caroline
above, he mostly have to do with the feet. Although he does get his belly button pointing much further
away from the net and does move his wrist.
Gael Monfils � Racquet Up To Shoulder Level
Gael Monfils � Key Points At Finish Highlighted
Gael also moves his wrist before the finish. That is why his racquet ends up parallel to the ground.
(To Be Continued)
Section 04 - Common Mistakes of the Forehand Follow Through
Without a doubt the biggest mistake on the follow through is not tracking out with the racquet three
frames towards the target. I would say this is the number one overall problem of the forehand swing,
partly because of the way this part of the swing is neglected by most people who teach tennis. They
either don't talk about tracking out towards the target or most likely teach things that shorten the hit
zone. Even people who teach the follow through correctly may have a hard time getting students to
track out towards the target. Often the student will be so concerned with finishing with the racquet over
the left shoulder that they will immediately try to get the racquet there after contact. This will tend to
shorten the hit zone. Numerous other things will also cause the hit zone to not extend out three frames
past the intended point of contact. Moving the wrist or pronating the forearm, trying to do the
windshield wiper motion,
Many times the racquet not tracking out three frames is due to the movement of the wrist. Even though
this has been mentioned numerous times previously times throughout this course it can't be stressed
enough. The wrist should NOT move until well after the ball has been contacted when hitting the
forehand. It doesn't even need to be moved at all. The main benefit of moving the wrist stressed by
people who teach this technique is an increase in topspin. This benefit can be obtained without needing
to move the wrist by bending the knees and brushing up at a higher angle. The drawbacks of moving
the wrist before contact are numerous. The most immediate concern would be the loss of consistency.
Moving the wrist makes the racquet head unstable which can make off centered shots harder to control.
Moving the wrist also pulls the racquet early out of the hit zone by making the swing more horizontal
then vertical. A more long term concern is the potential damage to the wrist that can happen from
moving the wrist. The racquet is heavy and
Another big mistake is over rotating the right foot too far forward. This tends to happen more for
players who sing horizontally as the body will rotate much more uncontrollably in a clockwise
direction which will pull the foot forward. Bad balance will also tend to pull the right foot to far
forward. This makes recovering for the next shot much more difficult as first the bodies momentum
needs to be stopped and then the body needs to recover backwards which is much more difficult to do
then to recover in a lateral or forward manner.
Many players will leave their left arm down at their side as the racquet swings over the left shoulder on
the finish. This will tend to tighten up the body which can lead to a much less powerful swing as the
body needs to stay relaxed throughout the whole swing. If the body is tensed up at the end it had to start
tensing up before then. Since the follow though is a relatively fast motion the tensing up of the body
will have most likely started before ball contact. The left arm down at the side makes it impossible to
catch the racquet at the end of the swing. This will make the overall finish longer and can make
recovering for the next shot take longer.
Another big mistake is not bringing the racquet high enough on the follow through. There are two times
this is a problem for a player. One is when they are a beginner and they have a tendency to swing
horizontally. The second is a more advanced player trying to finish with the racquet on their hip.
Head looking up before shoulder hitting chin. Even after the ball is contacted the head should not move
to assure that the head does not move before contact. The follow through portion of the follow through
happens so fast that there will still be plenty of time to see where the ball is going and what the
opponent is doing. Just like the racquet and rest of the body, the head needs to be in the same position it
was at the intended contact point.
(To be continued)