Two-Handed Backhand – 007

While we have Marat in the frame of our thoughts – hitting on the rise – I’d like to return to what I call magnetism in tennis strokes.
By hitting the ball forward of your body – or, more precisely, forward of your hitting shoulder – you are creating a kind of magnetism.

Forwardness = Magnetism

Forwardness of contact will draw your efforts through & into the stroke.

Run frames 6 thru 8 where Marat is purposely meeting the ball further in front of his body – he’s engineered some magnetism to help accomplish greater aggression – he’s created a kind of Black Hole, into which his efforts are then sucked.

Carry on through to frame 12:- if Marat hadn’t kept moving forward, he would’ve fallen over.

Such is the forwardness of this connect, and he catches the forward momentum at the end of the stroke by moving with it.

Make it Magnetic

When attacking from the baseline, either on the falling or rising ball, you can create a greater pull in your contact by either keeping the ball further forward (when behind the baseline) or meeting it further up the court like both Andy Roddick and Rafa, below.
In fact you get two clear pictures of how to time a (relatively shallow) loop of the racket head, as each shifts forward to meet the ball, and engineer a power-giving magnetic contact.

This extra magnetism – extra forwardness – extra pull – encourages your body weight onto the front foot (via a Foot Line or Closed Delivery) and into the shot, as well drawing the forward shifting thump of the extra hand.

Flawed Magnetism

Obviously, fowardness has its limits – you can over extend – too far forward, and your efforts will peak before you meet the ball… oh, and you could fall over if you don’t move with it.

As with any tennis stroke, the trick is to activate each element in the right order, and deliver a perfect bundle to a perfect Connect 3 that perfectly serves your intentions.

‘That’s a whole lot of meaning in one sentence, brother. Are you showing off again?’

Just writing it as I see it, sista. And maybe a little bit.

Two-Handed Backhand 008