Forehand – 015

A magnetic contact encourages good technique, by drawing the racket head through.
It also encourages players to angle their weight forward and into the shot.

But there is another essential forehand element which would be impossible without a magnetic contact.

Shoulder Spin

Run the click-thru of the Pete Sampras forehand and watch how the spun shoulders drive the whole forehand through to it’s ultimate destination.

This is one more reason why the full turn (of the shoulders, if not always the full body) is essential to racket head speed: if you don’t turn, where is the stroke going to unwind from?

These are first principles applied to tennis, guys: without a turn and swing there is no forehand.

Although the spun forehand pans out from the shoulders down, this is ultimately a coordinated execution of elements which takes many years of constructive practice to perfect.
Be patient.

Everything but the Eyes

The Henman forehand again. Notice how everything spins but the head, because the eyes are fixed onto the contact and this is the steady heart of the stroke.

It’s like there’s a thin rod of steel running top to bottom through Tim’s core, around which everything spins, and his eyes hold the whole thing in place – not with rigid stiffness, but relative stillness, and to fully explore myriad subtleties of tennis technique we’ll need to explore the English language, too.

Forehand 16