Modern-ForehandThe open stance position is the new trend for hitting the modern-forehand in tennis. The racquet is held high at about head level. In this position the player has a great deal of potential energy, both in the form of gravity with the racquet head up high and the form of elastic stored energy in the tensed muscles that are stretched in the coiled position.
As the racquet starts to drop and begin an oval path (loop) the hips start to uncoil. The hips and knees begin to straigthen. In sequence with the uncoiling of the hips the next event is the uncoiling of the torso and then the shoulders as the racquet is brought forward to contact the ball.
The back leg is fully extended to powerfully drive the body up and forward. Many professional players actually leave the ground during this point.
Keep in mind that only medium grip pressure is required to stabilize and guide the racquet at ball contact. This is because the forward momentum will carry the racquet through the ball without much effort.
After the contact the shoulder, torso and hips naturally rotate towards the non dominant side following the path of the racquet resulting in a stretch of the opposite side musculature which decelerates the racquet.
In summary, these are the technical characteristics of the modern forehand:
Also, universally acknowledged as a very important component of successful forehand stroke production is the coordination and summation of forces generated by the sequence of body rotations occurring from the ground up.
Momentum is the product of the mass and velocity of a body part. There are two types of momentum: linear and angular, both generated from ground reaction forces. In the modern forehand, a significant amount of angular momentum is generated by the rotations of the different body segments: legs, hips, trunk and upper arm.
The topspin forehand is used for different tactical reasons than those of the modern day (power and speed), the need for height over then net and depth close to the baseline has imposed the topspin forehand as the most-used ground stroke in modern tennis.
The development of a modern-forehand has clearly revolutionized the tennis game today.
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