Jannik Sinner Forehand Analysis- Footwork, Technique, Swing Path And MORE!

Summary

In this Performance Plus Tennis lesson, John Craig dissects Yannick Hanfmann's forehand technique, a key factor in his successful 2024 season. Craig highlights various stances like open, neutral, semi-open, and dynamic open, explaining their applications. He emphasizes the importance of left hand placement, coiling, and body rotation for generating racket head speed. The video also covers the contact point, racket face positioning, and the inside-out forehand swing path for power and topspin. Craig's analysis aims to help viewers enhance their forehand performance by incorporating these professional techniques.

Takeaways

• 🎾 Yanic Center's forehand is a crucial part of his success on the ATP Tour in 2024.
• 👣 Center uses different stances depending on the situation: open stance, neutral stance, semi-open stance, and dynamic open stance.
• 🕺 Open stance is used when running out of time or space, allowing for weight transfer and power generation.
• 🚶 Neutral stance with a wide stance is used in the middle of the court, pointing towards the target for better positioning.
• 🏃 Semi-open stance is adopted when the ball comes in quickly, providing a balance between neutral and open stances.
• 🤸‍♂️ Dynamic open stance or double open stance is used when moving to the ball, involving springing off the right leg and shifting over the ball.
• 🤲 The importance of keeping the left hand on the racket for a longer time to set up a good coil for the forehand.
• 🪢 Yanic's forehand technique involves strings facing the back fence, creating a lag that generates racket head speed, though it's not recommended for recreational players.
• 📏 Contact point should be forward with the racket vertical at contact, and the racket flips over the ball after contact, which happens spontaneously.
• 💪 Generating power in the forehand involves a combination of leg drive, left hand pull away, and shoulder rotation, with the body weight transfer being critical.
• 🔄 The racket should roll around the hand due to relaxation, creating an inside-out forehand motion that enhances power.

Q & A

What is the focus of today's tennis lesson?

The focus of today's lesson is on analyzing the forehand technique of Yanic Center, a top-rated player on the ATP Tour, and how his forehand contributes to his success in the 2024 season.

How does Yanic Center generate racket head speed in his forehand?

Yanic Center generates racket head speed through a combination of footwork, hip rotation, and a strong coil created by his left hand staying on the racket until it's almost adjacent to his right shoulder.

What are the different stances Yanic Center uses in his forehand?

Yanic Center uses four different stances: open stance, neutral stance, semi-open stance, and dynamic open (double open) stance, each used in different court situations to optimize power and balance.

Why is the left hand's position on the racket important in setting up a forehand?

The left hand's position on the racket is crucial as it sets up a beautiful coil that is key to generating power. It should stay on the racket until it's almost adjacent to the right shoulder, creating a lag that contributes to racket head speed.

What is the recommended racket face angle for recreational players when learning the forehand?

For recreational players, it is recommended to keep the racket face above the hand with the strings facing the camera, as it simplifies the drop of the racket to create racket head speed.

How does Yanic Center's contact point with the ball affect the power of his forehand?

Yanic Center's contact point is forward with the racket vertical at contact. After contact, the racket flips over, which is a spontaneous action due to the short contact time, and it contributes to the power and spin of his forehand.

What is the significance of the shoulder rotation in generating power in a forehand?

The shoulder rotation is significant as it allows for a tremendous load in the back leg and a powerful leg drive. The left arm's stretch and the subsequent pull away, combined with the leg drive, create a sequence that generates a lot of power.

What is the term used to describe Yanic Center's swing pattern in his forehand?

Yanic Center's swing pattern is described as an 'angular swing' which is a semicircle movement, going low to high but more around and out in a semicircle.

How does Yanic Center achieve topspin on his forehand without dropping the racket too low?

Yanic Center achieves topspin by dropping the racket about one foot below the ball and then coming up at an angle, which is enough to generate plenty of spin without losing drive.

What is the 'inside out' forehand and how does it contribute to power in Yanic Center's swing?

The 'inside out' forehand is when the swing goes from inside and out, away from the body. This technique, along with the racket rolling around the hand and falling into the lag, contributes to more power due to the extension and the angular path of the swing.

What are the key takeaways from the lesson to improve one's forehand performance?

The key takeaways include setting up with the left hand, using different stances for various court situations, pulling away with the left hand while pushing with the leg for perfect sequencing, getting the contact point out in front, and maintaining a relaxed and fluid swing.

Outlines

00:00

🎾 Yanic Center's Forehand Techniques and Stances

John Craig's tennis lesson focuses on analyzing Yanic Center's exceptional forehand, which has contributed significantly to his successful 2024 season. The lesson breaks down various stances used by Center, such as the open stance for reaching wide balls, the neutral stance for middle court play, the semi-open stance for quick ball retrieval, and the dynamic double open stance for aggressive shots. Craig emphasizes the importance of footwork, body rotation, and weight transfer in generating racket head speed and power. He also discusses the benefits of using different stances depending on the player's position on the court and the ball's trajectory.

05:01

🤸‍♂️ Advanced Forehand Mechanics and Body Dynamics

This section delves into the biomechanics of Yanic Center's forehand, highlighting the role of his left hand in setting up a powerful coil and the unique positioning of his racket strings facing the back fence to create lag and racket head speed. Craig advises against this technique for recreational players due to its difficulty but appreciates its effectiveness in professional play. The summary also covers the importance of contact point positioning, racket face angle at contact, and the follow-through that results in a natural flip of the racket over the ball. Additionally, the analysis includes the shoulder rotation and leg drive that contribute to Center's forehand power.

10:02

🚀 Enhancing Forehand Power with Proper Technique

The final paragraph of the script provides key takeaways for improving forehand performance. It underscores the significance of setting up with the left hand, using different stances, and the coordination between the left hand pull and leg drive for optimal power and sequencing. The summary points out the importance of a relaxed and fluid swing, contact point positioning, and the inside-out motion that facilitates racket head speed and topspin. Craig encourages viewers to implement these techniques to enhance their forehand's performance, emphasizing the need for body engagement and a measured approach to hitting the ball with speed and spin.

Keywords

💡Forehand

The forehand is a fundamental stroke in tennis played with one hand, typically the dominant one, and involves hitting the ball with the palm facing the direction of the shot. In the video, Yanic's forehand is highlighted as a crucial part of his game, with a focus on his racket head speed and the various stances he uses to generate power and control.

💡Racket Head Speed

Racket head speed refers to the velocity at which the racket head moves through the hitting zone, which is a critical factor in generating power in a tennis shot. The video discusses how Yanic generates high racket head speed, which is a key component of his effective forehand.

💡Unit Turn

The unit turn is a term used to describe the initial movement in a tennis stroke where the player rotates their body to prepare for the shot. In the script, it's mentioned that Yanic steps out with his right foot and turns his hips to initiate this turn, which is essential for setting up a powerful forehand.

💡Open Stance

An open stance in tennis is when a player positions themselves sideways to the net, with their back foot closer to the net than their front foot. The video script explains that Yanic uses an open stance when he's pulled wide and has no time to adjust, allowing him to still load up on the back leg and generate power.

💡Neutral Stance

A neutral stance is when a player's feet are positioned parallel to the baseline, providing a balanced platform to hit the ball. The video describes how Yanic uses a neutral stance when he is in the middle of the court and can step forward to hit the ball with a full rotation.

💡Semi-Open Stance

A semi-open stance is a position between a neutral and an open stance, typically used when a player is moving towards the ball and needs to adjust quickly. The script mentions Yanic using this stance to play a ball that comes in quickly, allowing him to maintain balance and power.

💡Dynamic Open Stance

The dynamic open stance, or double open stance as referred to in the video, is a technique used when a player is still moving towards the ball and lands on the right leg, then springs into the air to hit the ball. This stance is dynamic and requires good balance and athleticism, which Yanic demonstrates.

💡Coil

Coiling in tennis refers to the winding up of the body, particularly the shoulders and arms, before uncoiling to generate power in a shot. The video emphasizes the importance of Yanic's left hand staying on the racket to set up a good coil, which is crucial for creating racket head speed.

💡Contact Point

The contact point is the location where the racket meets the ball during a stroke. The video explains that Yanic's contact point is forward with the racket vertical at contact, which is ideal for generating topspin and power.

💡Top Spin

Top spin is a type of spin applied to a tennis ball that causes it to dip downwards after being hit. The video script discusses how Yanic hits a good top spin drive, emphasizing that it's not necessary to drop the racket way below the ball to achieve this spin.

💡Inside-Out Forehand

An inside-out forehand is a shot where the backswing starts with the racket inside the body and swings out and around to hit the ball. The video script describes Yanic's forehand as an inside-out technique, which allows for a powerful and extended swing.

💡Angular Swing

An angular swing refers to the path the racket takes during a stroke, which is not just up and down but also around in a semi-circular motion. The video explains that Yanic's swing has an angular pattern, which contributes to the power and effectiveness of his forehand.

Highlights

Yanic Center's forehand is a significant contributor to his successful year in 2024.

Analysis of Yanic's racket head speed and the skills behind it.

Techniques to apply Yanic's forehand skills to improve your own game.

The importance of footwork and unit turn in setting up the forehand.

Utilizing the open stance when out of time or space.

Neutral stance and its application in the middle of the court.

Weight transfer and sequencing for generating power in the forehand.

The semi-open stance and its use in quick ball scenarios.

Dynamic open stance or double open stance for moving to the ball.

The role of the left hand in setting up a powerful forehand coil.

Yanic's unique racket string position facing the back fence.

Contact point positioning and racket verticality at impact.

Shoulder rotation and its contribution to racket head speed.

The significance of leg drive and left arm stretch in forehand power.

The concept of an inside-out forehand and its impact on power generation.

Importance of racket position for generating topspin without excessive racket drop.

Striking the ball with the right hand position for optimal power.

Key takeaways for improving forehand performance.

Transcripts

hello everybody John Craig here with

performance post tennis welcome to

today's lesson we're going to take a

deep dive into the amazing forehand of

yanic Center who's having a terrific

year in 2024 and his forehand is a big

part of it as a top rated forehand on

the ATP Tour and he does so many things

so well look at the racket head speed he

generates and we're going to talk about

how he generates that racket head speed

what skills he has in his forehand that

you can apply to your forehand to get

the most performance out of your

forehand let's go back first and we're

going to start with the work and you'll

see when yanuk makes this move here he

steps out with his right foot and he

turns the toes of his right foot out to

the side and it helps turn his hips and

get him into the unit turn you can see

that first move stepping out getting the

unit turn and he comes out and this

first Ball's pulling him wide and when

he gets there and lands on his right

foot the ball is arriving so he is going

to hit an open stance and we can see

that open stance here so you want to use

the open stance uh when you run out of

time or run out of space as he did here

you can still load up on the back leg

still create tremendous rotation as he

does uncoil and create tremendous power

and it'll also save you two steps if

you're pulled out on a wide ball so

there's the open stance next 4 e hits

you're going to see is going to be what

I call a neutral stance where he

shuffles in puts his left foot forward

he's got a beautiful wide stance here

and now the line of his stance is

pointing in general towards his Target

okay looks really really good here so

that's the next stance he uses and you'd

use this more often when you are in the

middle part of the court and you can get

behind the ball and take a step forward

and you can see here he's on his back

leg here and we'll just draw a little

line here as he plays the ball look

where how he moves forward he shifts

into that ball and transfers his weight

in look at that shift into the ball and

he just gets that weight transfer in and

that's part of the system of sequencing

that creates tremendous power for him

and then the next one is interesting

because it's also in the middle of the

court but as he makes his move the ball

comes in quickly and he plays a

semi-open stance so now his stance is

more on almost a 45 degree angle not

quite um but typically a semi-open

stance is about halfway between the

neutral and the full open stance and he

uses that here and there he goes in his

stance here as he plays that ball see

that there we go and he goes through the

ball off he goes so we saw three stances

there now as we move ahead we're going

to see one more stance and this is

really fun I love this stance a lot okay

and we're going to clean this up we're

going to move ahead and in this

particular forehand here he's going to

hit What's called the dynamic open

stance or what I call a double open

stance it's dynamic in nature and double

open in technique he lands on the right

leg once Springs in the air LS on the

right leg twice here it goes one

two and you would use this when you're

moving to the ball and you're not quite

to it and you're going to land and

spring up in the air he spring still

moving to his Rock right see he's still

moving to his right to spring up to that

ball so when he lands on the right leg

you can see he's not quite to the ball

yet we'll draw the line here right there

put the lines there where his body is

and when he plays the ball look how he's

continuing to shift over over over over

and there he goes it's a beautiful

double open stance look at that look

where he lands as he plays that ball so

he flies up in the air and he shifts

over and plays it dynamically it's a

great shot I love the double open stance

look how athletic and dynamic that is so

if you get pulled wide and you can't

load and keep your balance just spring

off the right leg spring off it right

there push off go in the air play that

ball and land and with balance and carry

on okay beautiful forehand so let's go

back again and we're going to take a

look from the side view and look at a

couple of things that yanuk does so well

on his forehand okay so when he sees the

ball coming his first move is going to

be with the right foot stepping out and

the left hand and this is a key piece

most wreck players are not keeping the

left hand on the racket long enough but

you can see his left hand is staying on

the racket until the really the left

hand is almost adjacent to the right

shoulder and that's exactly what you

want to do because that sets up a

beautiful coil that we're going to look

at later in his forehand okay you'll see

it from the different Viewpoint so stick

around for that and then once the left

hand comes off it does a beautiful

stretch out and it sets him up in the

coil look at that stretch and it's

actually amazing how it's beyond

parallel to the Baseline if we can get

that left arm to be parallel to the

Baseline and get a good coil we're in

great position now the other key piece

here that we see is that yanic strings

are facing The Back Fence and this is

really kind of The Next Gen 4 hand

technique don't highly recommend this

for recreational players who don't have

the practice time to really perfect this

it takes a tremendous amount of skill to

go from this position to this position

to

contact so I say at this point in time

for most recck players I would be less

inclined to be here at this stage and

I'd be in the stage where the racket

face is above the hand okay above the

hand and the strings are facing the

camera and that will make a simple more

simple uh drop of the racket to create

racket at speed but without this um

position now you might be asking well

why does he do this well he does this

because this position you're going to

see this later in the video from a

different angle it it puts him in a

position where the racket's lagging well

behind the hand so when he starts to

rotate and pull that hand forward this

little move here creates a tremendous

lag and then therefore a lot of Racket

head speed through the ball okay but

regardless of the position he he's in

after this which is really his style

this position I highly recommend you get

here get in this position here this is

beautiful positioning okay and then

finally let's take a look at where his

contact point is contact point is

forward and the racket is vertical at

contact amazing how the racket actually

flips over watch this after contact it

actually flips over it turns actually

turns over the ball it doesn't open it

actually closes over the ball okay now

that's something that happen

spontaneously he not doing that on

purpose because the ball's already gone

and it's only on the r on the racket for

125th of a second approximately so I

don't think that's on purpose it just

happens to happen let's see if it

happens again here when he hits right

here let's see what happens ens the

racket comes in it's vertical contact

look and this one doesn't turn over

quite so much but this angle is perfect

okay that's perfect angle after the ball

is gone what we don't want is the racket

to be open at this stage in the swing

okay it actually feels like it closes

over the ball all right okay let's go

forward here and take a look from a back

view now it's going to be very

interesting because we're going to see

how he's able to use his coiling so when

he sets up to hit this forehand and we

go to the coil stage with his left hand

on it just came off let's go back and

look at it and then it comes off watch

how he continues to coil right here and

we're going to draw a line on a shoulder

angle look at that now when we go to

contact look how much rotation he gets

to contact his shoulders are now really

facing the net they're parallel uh to

the to the Baseline and to the net so

he's rotated his shoulders more than

90° uh to get to contact so he's

generating tremendous power initially

through the leg drive and the left hand

pulling away watch his left hand

here it's beautifully stretched and now

watch it come away in a semicircle and

tuck in while the right leg goes from a

flexed position a loaded position and

watch it explode up up and then the

rotation happens and here comes the

shoulder power the shoulder power into

contact that's beautiful isn't it so

we're going to go back here I'm going to

show you something really fascinating

we're going to go back here here we go

here's his line of his shoulders and now

watch how much shoulder turn he gets he

gets in here he gets past 90 Dees now

watch this the momentum of that shoulder

turn takes

him 180 degrees look at that his

shoulders actually end up in the same

180° angle away from where they were

initially so if you're trying to get

more power on your forehand make sure

you get that tremendous load in your in

your leg particularly your back leg get

this amazing stretch in the left arm and

then learn how to sequence the drive of

the leg with the pull away of the left

arm and get those shoulders to rotate

around and look at the lag he gets there

look at that beautiful lag we're going

to talk about that in a moment and

there's his contact out in front and

then that momentum just takes him right

around into that beautiful finish look

at that so think about getting your body

behind uh your swing get it into your

swing let your swing follow your body

around the weight of your swing is going

to come from your body that's critical

for performing a really good powerful

forehand okay next up let's take a look

at that um that setup he has here again

look how the strings are now facing the

camera now they don't face it for very

long but you're asking maybe why does he

do this well it's because he gets the

reca to roll around his hand because

it's so relaxed it rolls around the hand

right here and falls into the lag and

you'll notice here this is called an

inside out forehand notice where the

hand is now and we'll put a little draw

on there and now watch how a swing goes

from inside and it goes out and now look

at the at where the hand is now and look

at the line it goes out away from the

body and that's also critical to

creating more power so many correct

players are just simply too close to the

ball to even rotate into it and then get

this beautiful extension where the reted

speed happens so you've got to make sure

you have a good measurement look how the

ball is out away from the left hand the

left hand is actually setting up the

distance okay and he's measuring it with

the left hand while he's coiling and

then he swings out to the ball inside

and out and then what the racket does

and the hand does watch it goes out and

around so it actually goes out from here

and let's go back in a little bit right

there's where it starts and now we're

going to draw

this line here goes out and it comes

around it's actually a semicircle that

if it was a camera above yanek looking

down at his at his swing from above you

would see the pattern of his swing is

semicircle it's really what's called an

angular swing it's it's going low to

high for sure but it's more around out

and around in a semicircle now he's

hitting a lot of Top Spin so let's take

a look and see just how low the racket

gets compared to the contact point it's

good Top Spin good Top Spin drive so if

you think need to get below the ball a

long way that's a fallacy all you need

to do is drop that record about one foot

below the ball right there and come up

and you can hit tremendous Top Spin the

ball doesn't know how low you come from

it just knows the path you're taking as

you may contact so if it's coming up on

about a 45 degree angle in the contact

it's going to respond with plenty of

Spin and you can see yanuk is hitting a

very good drive that's got a blend of

speed and spin on it so don't think

about getting U your racket way below

the ball because you'll end up hitting

way too much Spin and not getting any

drive on it here's another one okay and

here's another key thing and um you

don't want your you don't want your hand

to get below the ball either you want to

get that racket head lower than your

hand right there but you don't want to

be dropping your arm in because it'll

weaken you so don't think about dropping

your hand and your arm okay and let the

racket just float out in your hand here

look look at that beautiful Ang strike

angle right there it's perfect for

generating power okay so lots of things

covered in this video I I think there's

a lot of detail in here that we need to

really Implement into our forehand but

the key takeaways are the setup with the

left hand the back leg um there's

different stances that you can use um

pulling away with the left hand while

you push with the leg look at that that

perfect sequencing right there the pull

of the left hand as the leg drives

getting to contact out in front

beautiful and very very relaxed and

fluid if you can Implement these things

into your forehand you can improve your

performance so thanks for watching

today's video please leave your comments

down below subscribe to the channel if

you've not done so already U leave us a

like and uh stay tuned we've got a lot

more coming here at Performance Plus

tennis thanks so much for watching

today's video and we'll see you in the

next lesson