Develop a lethal attacking forehand
Summary
TLDRIn this tennis tutorial, Richard Bryce from Tennis Hacker shares insights on improving the short attacking forehand. He discusses the importance of early ball recognition, biomechanics, and technique, including the unit turn, racket drop, and proper leg drive. Bryce emphasizes the challenges of timing and kinetic chain sequencing, offering his practice experience as a left-handed player recovering from an injury. He also highlights the significance of footwork and spacing, providing a free footwork program. The video concludes with advice on ball recognition and a web class on vision training for enhanced on-court performance.
Takeaways
- đŸ The video aims to improve the short attacking forehand in tennis, focusing on technique and common sticking points.
- đ Early ball recognition is crucial, but the focus starts with biomechanics and technique, particularly the importance of a good quality preparation.
- đââïž A unit turn is essential for preparation, involving rotation of the upper body, getting the pelvis side on, and loading the outside leg for power.
- đ The racket drop is a passive process initiated by driving through the hip, creating a lagging motion that turns the body into a whip effect.
- đ€žââïž The kinetic chain is vital for efficient power generation, sequencing from the hip, through the torso, and into the arm for contact with the ball.
- đŁ Footwork is key to hitting high-quality short forehands, with a wide split step providing a stable base for efficient movement.
- đ The timing of the hip drive in relation to the ball's position is often a sticking point for players, affecting the ability to hit with power and control.
- đ Spacing and setting up in the right position are critical for utilizing an Inside Out swing path and generating speed.
- đ Over-rotating or inefficient timing can reduce power; it's important to continue working on these aspects to optimize the stroke.
- đ ïž Practice with a ball machine can help improve ball recognition and footwork by providing random feeds that simulate various court scenarios.
- đïž Training and improving the visual system off the court can significantly enhance on-court performance by aiding in accurate ball reading.
Q & A
What is the main focus of Richard Bryce's video?
-The main focus of Richard Bryce's video is to help viewers improve their short attacking forehand in tennis, covering both technique and common sticking points that players might face.
Why is early ball recognition important in tennis?
-Early ball recognition is important because it allows players to set up in the right position and have good timing for their shots, which is crucial for effective play.
What is the significance of a unit turn in tennis forehand preparation?
-A unit turn is significant in tennis forehand preparation as it involves rotating the upper body and loading the outside leg, which helps in setting up the kinetic chain efficiently for creating racket head speed.
How does Richard Bryce describe the process of the racket drop in a forehand swing?
-Richard Bryce describes the racket drop as a passive process where the racket naturally lags behind as the player drives through the hip, creating a whipping motion that leads to efficient racket head speed.
What is the role of the chest muscles in the forehand swing according to the video?
-The chest muscles play a role in the forehand swing by kicking in and firing forwards after the initial hip drive, contributing to the overall power and control of the shot.
Why is footwork important for hitting high-quality short forehands?
-Footwork is important for hitting high-quality short forehands because it helps players move efficiently to the ball and set up in the optimal position for making contact, which is essential for power and control.
What is the purpose of the free footwork program mentioned by Richard Bryce?
-The purpose of the free footwork program is to help players improve their movement on the court, which is crucial for better ball recognition and setting up in the right position for shots.
How does Richard Bryce address the issue of over-rotating during the forehand swing?
-Richard Bryce addresses the issue of over-rotating by suggesting that players should focus on the timing and sequencing of the kinetic chain, and make adjustments to ensure they are not over-rotating, which can affect the power and control of the shot.
What is the importance of spacing in tennis when setting up for a shot?
-Spacing is important in tennis as it allows players to have the appropriate distance from the ball for their swing path, enabling them to generate power and control in their shots effectively.
How does Richard Bryce suggest practicing to improve ball recognition?
-Richard Bryce suggests practicing with a ball machine that provides random feeds in terms of width and depth to improve ball recognition, as well as working on on-court drills to enhance the visual system's ability to read the ball accurately.
What additional resource does Richard Bryce offer to help improve visual system function for tennis players?
-Richard Bryce offers a web class that teaches players how to train their vision and includes brain-based training techniques to help improve visual system function for better performance on the court.
Outlines
đŸ Improving the Short Attacking Forehand
Richard Bryce, a tennis coach, introduces a video aimed at enhancing viewers' short attacking forehand skills. He discusses the importance of early ball recognition and the biomechanics of the technique, emphasizing the unit turn and loading the outside leg for a powerful swing. Bryce shares his personal experience of relearning to play left-handed after an injury and the challenges he faced in developing his forehand. He offers a free footwork program to assist with the necessary movement and stresses the importance of proper preparation and kinetic chain sequencing for an efficient forehand attack.
đââïž The Role of Footwork and Spacing in Tennis
The second paragraph delves into the significance of footwork and spacing in executing a successful forehand shot. Bryce highlights the importance of a wide split step for stability and efficient movement, which is a common trait among top players. He discusses the unit turn, loading the outside leg, and the timing of the hip drive in relation to the ball's position. Bryce also points out common issues such as over-rotation and incorrect chest-arm angle, which can affect the power of the shot. He emphasizes the need for proper spacing to allow for an inside-out swing path and mentions a ball machine setup that helps improve ball recognition and footwork by providing random feeds.
đ Enhancing Ball Recognition for Better Tennis Performance
In the final paragraph, Bryce focuses on ball recognition as a crucial skill for tennis players. He explains that recognizing the ball's trajectory early is essential for setting up in the correct position and timing the shot. Bryce shares his practice routine, which includes random ball feeds to improve his ball recognition and footwork. He also discusses the importance of training the visual system to enhance on-court performance. Bryce introduces a web class that teaches viewers how to train their vision and other brain-based training techniques to improve their game, offering a link to the class for interested viewers.
Mindmap
Keywords
đĄShort Attacking Forehand
đĄBiomechanics
đĄUnit Turn
đĄKinetic Chain
đĄRacket Drop
đĄFootwork
đĄSpacing
đĄBall Recognition
đĄInside Out Swing Path
đĄPractice
đĄVisual System Training
Highlights
Improving the short attacking forehand in tennis involves recognizing short balls and stepping in to attack down the line.
Technique is important, but addressing sticking points can help players overcome common issues.
The presenter shares personal practice insights, having to relearn to play left-handed after an injury.
Early ball recognition is crucial, but the focus starts with biomechanics and technique.
Good preparation involves a unit turn, rotating the upper body, and loading the outside leg.
The racket drop is a passive process initiated by driving through the hip.
Creating racket lag is essential for generating efficient racket head speed.
The chest muscles and torso rotation are key in the follow-through after contact with the ball.
Footwork is critical for setting up the right position to attack short forehands.
A wide split step provides a stable base for efficient movement.
The unit turn's appearance varies among players, but chest rotation and leg loading are consistent.
Timing the hip drive in relation to the ball's position is challenging for many players.
Setting up at the right distance from the ball is crucial for an Inside Out swing path.
The presenter emphasizes the importance of spacing and setting up in the correct position.
Ball machine practice helps develop skills like ball recognition and appropriate spacing.
Focusing on one aspect of the stroke at a time is recommended for steady improvement.
Ball recognition is the first and potentially most important part of the game.
Training the visual system can significantly improve a player's ability to read the ball.
The presenter offers a web class on training vision and brain-based techniques for tennis improvement.
Transcripts
hey Richard Bryce here tennis hacker in
this video I want to help you to improve
your short attacking forehand so
recognizing that short ball stepping in
and attacking it down the line we're
going to be talking about the technique
but the chances are you might already
have a reasonable understanding of the
technique so we're also going to be
talking about some of the sticking
points and things that can hold players
back and what I want to do is show you
some of my own practice because this is
something that I've been working on
fairly recently I'm naturally a
right-handed player but unfortunately I
injured myself in a mountain B crash so
I'm having to relearn to play
left-handed and one of the things that
I've been working on is developing the
ability to step in and attack my
forehand and there was a few things that
I was struggling with but I finally
managed to overcome them so I want to
point out what they are because they're
very common problems so hopefully you
find the video helpful if you do be
awesome if you give me a thumbs up and
if you haven't subscribed to my channel
before it's much appreciated if you
could do that as well the first thing
that's going to be important is early
ball recognition but we're going to
focus on that towards the end of the
video we're going to start by talking
about the biomechanics and the techniqu
and as always that's going to start with
a good quality preparation now for a
good preparation we're going to need a
unit turn so we're going to need to
rotate our upper body we're generally
going to want to get our pelvis side on
and we're also going to want to load our
outside leg so for me as a left-handed
player I'm loading my left leg and my
left hip as a right-handed player you'll
be loading your right hip so we're doing
all those things to basically prepare
ourselves to set up and so that then we
can use our kinetic chain efficiently to
create the rack Ahad speed so for me I
finished my unit turn there my body is
rotated now I'm about side on
potentially you could try and rotate a
little bit more if you want to get more
power and you've got better timing I go
to about side on at the moment but it's
something that I'm working on and then
I've loaded into this outside leg so
that I can then drive through them you
can see for me I'm about to initiate my
leg drive so we're going to start the
swing by throwing the outside or back
hip forwards as we do that that's then
going to initiate the racket drop so the
racket drop is a it's kind of a passive
process you drive through the hip and
you don't really do much with your hand
but as you drive through the hip the
racket just naturally lags behind
because you pull on your torso and pull
on your body but then the idea is that
you drive through the hip the Torso then
starts to rotate forwards that creates
this lagging motion where you turning
your body into a little bit of a whip
and then hopefully you've done all of
the the hard work with your muscles so
that from this point forward so you can
see here we've got the racket lag
position from this point forwards the
chest muscles are going to start to kick
in and they're going to be firing
forwards and then all of the work is
done by the time that you make contact
with the ball out in front of the body
and then the follow through is just
going to be a product of momentum and
what you'll also see is that back leg
coming through that's going to be really
important as well so we're driving
through that back or outside leg we've
got the
contact racket comes through and then
the hip pivots round afterwards then if
we take a look at another one slightly
different position we've got the unit
turn now the way that the unit turn
looks is kind of unique to each person
for some reason I tend to hold the end
of my racket as I do my turn haven't got
a clue why uh maybe because my right
shoulder isn't moving properly anymore
so I can't properly bring it across my
body but that sort of thing is going to
be less important as is the exact
position of your racket so this is the
position that I take my racket into when
you watch top players you'll see a lot
of different variation the key pieces
are going to be the chest rotating and
loading the outside leg but then the
tricky bit is all about this bit it's
timing driving through your hip in
relation to where the ball is if you
start that too late which is what a lot
of players do that's the kind of the big
sticking point for most people you end
up being late on the shots which creates
a lot of the difficulty but driving
through that hip at the right time
relative to where the ball is and then
the sequencing of the kinetic chain so
hip torso Arm coming through in that
order but it's easier said than done
this is the difficult bit that you have
to play around with and if you get all
that right and and you can get a nice
early contact that's how you're able to
generate efficient rack head speed and
how you're able to hit with power and
control one of the keys to hitting high
quality short forehands is going to be
your footwork so to help you with that
side of things I've created a free
footwork program I'll place a link to
the free program up there and I'll place
a link to the free program down in the
description so that you can get hold of
it and start working on
it okay so let's take a look from a
slightly different angle and one thing I
want to point out here is the width of
the split step having a nice wide stable
base is really important for efficient
movement when you watch top players play
they all have wide split steps so it's
something I continue to try and work on
and if you stand with a narrow base it's
something I highly recommend that you
work on as well because setting up in
the right position is one of the most
important parts of the shot but then you
can see from there we've got the unit
term with the upper
body where I'm rotating I'm loading into
this outside leg and then from there the
key piece is going to be driving through
the back of the hip at the right time
followed by the Torso doing those things
to create the racket lag now I want to
point out a couple of things here the
first one is this if you look at the
position that I'm in here look at this
angle between my arm and my chest if you
watch top players play it'll look
slightly different um the chest will be
like that and the arm will be slightly
further back so they have a little bit
more stretch in their chest I'm not
timing this as efficiently as I would
like to so this is what I'm continuing
to work on uh because of the way I'm not
timing it quite as well I'm losing out a
little bit of power so that's something
that I'm going to continue to work on
and the other thing is I'm probably over
rotating a little bit so if you look at
the angle of my chest there the Baseline
is there I should probably be a little
bit more Square on here so this suggests
that the timing the sequencing of my
kinetic chain is a little bit off so I
want to continue to work on that as well
to try and create additional rack Ahad
speed but this is what it looks like
from this angle uh all the same things
apply so this one I got a good upper
body rotation and then it's all about
timing the hip Drive sequencing the
kinetic chain now that we've talked
about the technique I want to talk about
something else that's going to be really
important and that's your spacing and
setting up in the right position the two
hardest things in tennis one are the
timing that we just talked about when
you drive through that back hip and the
sequencing of the kinetic chain but then
before that we have to set up in the
right position most people set up too
close to the ball and because they set
up too close to the ball they're not
able to use the Inside Out swing path so
here you can see how far I am away so
this is a short ball and on a short ball
we set up a little bit closer but you
can see how far I am away from that ball
in order to get the Inside Out swing
path so unless you have the the correct
spacing so if I take that out the way
unless you have the correct spacing so
at this distance here as I'm driving
through the hip I've created the racket
lag I can now Swing Out to the Ball
which is how you create the
speed if you set up too close it doesn't
allow that to happen so the hard part or
the first hard thing in tennis is really
focusing on the spacing the footwork and
setting up in the right position so
that's why that footwork program and
working on that side of things is so
important now if I just talk a little
bit about the practice what you'll see
is I've got my ball machine set up to
help me develop these skills it's not
just giving me one short ball it's
giving me random feeds widthways so I
don't know exactly where it's going to
go sometimes ever having to move out
wide like I just did sometimes it's
going more centrally so I'm stepping in
and hitting kind of more of an inside
out forehand but then it's also
alternating randomly between short and
deep so here I've got a deep ball and
what this is helping me to doing by
practicing in this way it's helping me
to kind of improve my ball recognition
and my footwork so I have to recognize
whether the ball's going short recognize
whether the ball's going deep and then
get the appropriate spacing for it
because again on these deep balls it's
even more important that you're further
away so on the short balls you're a
little bit closer on the Deep balls
you're a little bit further away but
this is the stuff not setting up in
these optimal positions that tends to
hold players back back so this is stuff
that I've really had to focus on
transitioning from playing a
right-handed one-handed back end where
you're fairly close to the ball to now
playing a left-handed forehand that is a
massive difference in how far you set up
away from the ball so I had to spend a
considerable amount of time working on
fixing my spacing before I could focus
on the minute details of the technique
so the stuff that I was talking about a
moment ago with the timing driving
through the hip and trying to sequence
my kinetic chain and get the optimal
timing for your Strokes you have to kind
of think about things in order it's not
about what I need to work on it's not
about what anyone else needs to work on
you got to figure out where your stroke
is growing wrong and you need to
practice and fix that underlying problem
until it's done and then move on to the
next thing and that's the only way to
really make you know steady improvements
over time where it goes wrong for so
many players is they try and work on too
many things all at once or things that
are too advanced at the start and then
they end up spinning their wheel so it's
really important that you kind of think
through that in terms of developing your
Strokes so now you understand the
technique and you understand the
importance of spacing so that you can
use efficient biomechanics the last
thing I want to talk about is the ball
recognition because that's the first and
potentially the most important part
Because unless you recognize the ball
early enough you can't set up in the
right position and you can't have good
timing so part of training your ball
recognition is the stuff that you do out
on Court and I've just showed you the
setup of how I practice it but in
addition to that something that I highly
recommend for players is training and
improving how your visual system
functions the reality is most players
visual systems don't work well enough to
allow them to read the ball accurately
enough to do all the things they're
trying to do on coure it's one of the
big things that holds them back the good
news is that we can actually train and
improve our visual systems and it makes
a massive difference when we combine
that with good oncore practice so to
teach you more about that I've created a
full web class that's going to teach you
how to train your vision and teach you
some of the other brain-based training
techniques that I've used to help get
this get to this point with my left hand
so it's going to lay out the whole
process for you if you're interested in
learning that I'll place a link to the
class up there and I'll place a link to
the class down in the description as
well okay hopefully this video has been
helpful to you if you have any questions
about the stuff that I've covered I
would love you to leave a comment down
below if not I will catch you next time
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