Just added a very comprehensive video of the first stage of the forehand I would like you to reach. This video includes multiple camera angles and key checkpoints to help you develop the biomechanical forehand as the foundation from which your forehand will evolve later.
Tomas, thank you for posting this video full of checkpoints for us to reference. My question relates to checkpoint #6 regarding the bent wrist (extension) at the end of the follow through. This begins at roughly 6:45 in your video. After observing how the pros finish their forehand follow throughs and also asking a highly skilled tennis player friend of mine to demonstrate his follow through to me, it seems that a lot of times the wrist is bent in the opposite direction from what you suggest. The wrist ends up in flexion rather than extension. Can you provide more clarification on this topic?
In this course one learns the fundamentals of the forehand or they learn to stabilize it because they have problems with it, meaning with the technique.
The main problem of not controlling the ball well is the wrist, in other words the wrist can move in many different ways and that changes racket angles rapidly. So if you don’t come with the right racket angle at contact which lasts 0.004-0.007 seconds, you will likely miss.
The margins are very very small in how many degrees you can be off.
Therefore one of the main objectives when learning tennis is to STABILIZE the wrist in such a way that it can move so that it slaps the ball but that it doesn’t move too much or in the wrong planes.
That is what a wrist in extension at end does – it keeps the wrist moving only in one plane.
When you have problems on the forehand and you would actually intentionally want to finish in flexion, it’s game over, you have will have no control, your wrist will be too loose, the balls will spray around.
One should actually have no idea about how they finish with the wrist eventually because the stroke is over, the ball is on the way.
But when you are learning, you need a basic form that helps you LIMIT the amount of movement human joints allow as that moves the racket head angles too much.
That’s actually why tennis technique exists – it needs to limit the movements of all joints.
That’s why beginners cannot play tennis, they see no form in their mind’s eye and just whack at the ball having no idea how to stabilize the racket head through contact.
Now the more skilled the player is, the more they are relaxed.
The more relaxed they are, the softer they hold the racket, they have hit over a million balls and their wrist now “knows how to behave” through contact.
This happens without any tension, it is just some light firmness at contact, for example in my case.
Therefore with that much more skill level and relaxation the wrist then starts to relax and let go SOONER after the contact and therefore it goes into flexion.
None of that is conscious and it should NOT be taught in my humble opinion.
It is a result of highly skilled tennis player who is now very relaxed playing tennis after having played it for many years.
The same goes for example for the stupid “tap the dog” instruction made popular by Rick Macci who is trying to imitate what Roger Federer did on his forehand.
He is trying to “teach” and make players DO the movement which actually is the result of complete relaxation of the wrist before contact so that Roger can slap the ball harder.
That again comes from years of playing a high skill level of tennis and not because Roger was taught to close the racket face.
So when you observe the pros understand that they are at a level of timing, ball judgement, hand eye coordination and relaxation which you cannot even imagine and that there are very very few things that you can actually apply to your game observing them.
That’s why you will see very few video analyses of the pros on my Youtube channel because it’s mostly pointless and deceiving. Just like it’s pointless to try and learn to drive a car like a Formula 1 driver or try to dive into the water like Olympic water diving champions do. 😉
It is completely unattainable, and so are most things that you observe from the pros.
So trying to learn a high level relaxation which is the result of many years of playing tennis and having a multitude of abilities at a very high level and just thinking that you can copy the form of such a player and hit a good shot, is not going to end well.
Thank you for the prompt reply and the reference to the article on the one degree error. It clearly shows how slim the margins are.
To be totally honest, when doing shadow swings at home I feel much more comfortable and natural with my wrist slightly extended in the follow through anyway. And I do have a big problem with forehand control so that’s why I’m here! Ending the forehand follow through with the wrist in a state of flexion doesn’t feel comfortable at all at this point. Just wanted to get clarification on this before ingraining many repetitions into my muscle memory. I truly appreciate your solid advice for us students of the game!
Tomaz
January 5, 2025
You’re welcome, Stephen.
Note that this is called Biomechanical forhand which means this gives you the biomechanical foundation of the forehand.
That just means that the forehand is based on the natural mechanics of the body which makes it effortless and controlled. Eventually every player evolves their own style “on top” of this forehand.
The main reason why we want to stay longer in extension is because that’s what the wrist does on a normal (not very high or difficult ball) just after contact.
See the image of Tsitsipas’ forehand below and see how immediately after contact the wrist is still in extension and only later goes into flexion.
We want to “programme” that part into the wrist so that “it knows” what to do when hitting the ball.
Once the ball flies off and the wrist has moved “correctly” through the contact, it then relaxes (in this case when a pro hits a forehand) into flexion.
If the person we are teaching the forehand does not see that clearly in their mind’s eye, then their wrist doesn’t know how to move through contact and then the player feels very unstable at contact.
So to make it clear for the player when learning a forehand what the wrist should do through contact, we just keep it in extension until the end, it just turns around.
As you get better and this becomes more second nature, the wrist will naturally relax sooner after contact and may end up in flexion.
This is terrific Tomaz thank you. Also thanks for your recent video shorts on how much to turn the shoulders on FH, and the one about the key to having a relaxed wrist on FH. The advice in those short clips is excellent…people could pay for several hours with a coach at many places and learn less than the advice in those clips!
Can you please let know the name of the video that you have created using parallel lines down the court using your foot? To demonstrate the linear part of the strike?
But actually any video editing software has simple lines and arrows to add to videos. A very good free program is Capcut – https://www.capcut.com/, it works on all devices.
I wonder if the speed of the stroke is important in terms of biomechanics. I noticed that students You teach, they strike the ball pretty slow and not hard.
I tried to play some time on the wall and played very, very slow. I mean, my backswing was slow and my accelaration and hitting the ball was also very slow. After some repetitions, i noticed that my arms became very connected with the upper body. At the begining of the session i needed to remember that body goes first and then arms follow but later, after this slow process of hitting the ball i felt as a big one unit rotating and swinging. I didnt have to remember anymore that body goes first and i felt amazing control and feel of the ball.
Is it something important (slow pace) to teach at the begining or even if i would play faster and harder, my arms eventually would “connect” with rest of the body but it would take much longer?
So let me start here: the usual problem of every tennis player is that they use their arm too much and not the body enough.
When you hit fast, you tense up the arm even more than usual because you don’t know how to use the body yet.
So at first the ONLY WAY to relax the arm is to play SLOW!
Once the arm relaxes more and your focus is on the body, you will be able to engage the body well (rotation) and feel that the arm follows along.
As soon as you attempt to hit hard / fast, you will engage the arm too much (since you don’t know how to hit fast with a relaxed arm yet!) and you will again revert to the usual way of using the arm too much.
So yes, it is important to play at around 50% of the usual power so that the arm starts to relax and that you feel body rotation leading and arm coming along.
Then you need to gradually over weeks and months start adding 5%-10% extra power and see if you can still maintain the same feeling of body initiating the stroke and the arm following.
Now keep in the mind that arm is not just loosely flying around. The arm HAS TO ENGAGE to AIM and to control the racket face. But it engages AFTER the body does. It needs to be swung first and then you engage it as you aim and spin the ball.
when someone totally new (beginner/first time) in tennis is coming to You for a lesson, do You start teaching technique first or biomechnical things first? Or maybe on the first lesson, You mix both at the same time?
19 Comments
Tomaz
August 20, 2023Just added a very comprehensive video of the first stage of the forehand I would like you to reach. This video includes multiple camera angles and key checkpoints to help you develop the biomechanical forehand as the foundation from which your forehand will evolve later.
Stephen Harvill
January 4, 2025Tomas, thank you for posting this video full of checkpoints for us to reference. My question relates to checkpoint #6 regarding the bent wrist (extension) at the end of the follow through. This begins at roughly 6:45 in your video. After observing how the pros finish their forehand follow throughs and also asking a highly skilled tennis player friend of mine to demonstrate his follow through to me, it seems that a lot of times the wrist is bent in the opposite direction from what you suggest. The wrist ends up in flexion rather than extension. Can you provide more clarification on this topic?
Tomaz
January 4, 2025Hi Stephen,
In this course one learns the fundamentals of the forehand or they learn to stabilize it because they have problems with it, meaning with the technique.
The main problem of not controlling the ball well is the wrist, in other words the wrist can move in many different ways and that changes racket angles rapidly. So if you don’t come with the right racket angle at contact which lasts 0.004-0.007 seconds, you will likely miss.
The margins are very very small in how many degrees you can be off.
https://www.feeltennis.net/one-degree-error/
Therefore one of the main objectives when learning tennis is to STABILIZE the wrist in such a way that it can move so that it slaps the ball but that it doesn’t move too much or in the wrong planes.
That is what a wrist in extension at end does – it keeps the wrist moving only in one plane.
When you have problems on the forehand and you would actually intentionally want to finish in flexion, it’s game over, you have will have no control, your wrist will be too loose, the balls will spray around.
One should actually have no idea about how they finish with the wrist eventually because the stroke is over, the ball is on the way.
But when you are learning, you need a basic form that helps you LIMIT the amount of movement human joints allow as that moves the racket head angles too much.
That’s actually why tennis technique exists – it needs to limit the movements of all joints.
That’s why beginners cannot play tennis, they see no form in their mind’s eye and just whack at the ball having no idea how to stabilize the racket head through contact.
Now the more skilled the player is, the more they are relaxed.
The more relaxed they are, the softer they hold the racket, they have hit over a million balls and their wrist now “knows how to behave” through contact.
This happens without any tension, it is just some light firmness at contact, for example in my case.
Therefore with that much more skill level and relaxation the wrist then starts to relax and let go SOONER after the contact and therefore it goes into flexion.
None of that is conscious and it should NOT be taught in my humble opinion.
It is a result of highly skilled tennis player who is now very relaxed playing tennis after having played it for many years.
The same goes for example for the stupid “tap the dog” instruction made popular by Rick Macci who is trying to imitate what Roger Federer did on his forehand.
He is trying to “teach” and make players DO the movement which actually is the result of complete relaxation of the wrist before contact so that Roger can slap the ball harder.
That again comes from years of playing a high skill level of tennis and not because Roger was taught to close the racket face.
So when you observe the pros understand that they are at a level of timing, ball judgement, hand eye coordination and relaxation which you cannot even imagine and that there are very very few things that you can actually apply to your game observing them.
That’s why you will see very few video analyses of the pros on my Youtube channel because it’s mostly pointless and deceiving. Just like it’s pointless to try and learn to drive a car like a Formula 1 driver or try to dive into the water like Olympic water diving champions do. 😉
It is completely unattainable, and so are most things that you observe from the pros.
So trying to learn a high level relaxation which is the result of many years of playing tennis and having a multitude of abilities at a very high level and just thinking that you can copy the form of such a player and hit a good shot, is not going to end well.
Stephen Harvill
January 5, 2025Thank you for the prompt reply and the reference to the article on the one degree error. It clearly shows how slim the margins are.
To be totally honest, when doing shadow swings at home I feel much more comfortable and natural with my wrist slightly extended in the follow through anyway. And I do have a big problem with forehand control so that’s why I’m here! Ending the forehand follow through with the wrist in a state of flexion doesn’t feel comfortable at all at this point. Just wanted to get clarification on this before ingraining many repetitions into my muscle memory. I truly appreciate your solid advice for us students of the game!
Tomaz
January 5, 2025You’re welcome, Stephen.
Note that this is called Biomechanical forhand which means this gives you the biomechanical foundation of the forehand.
That just means that the forehand is based on the natural mechanics of the body which makes it effortless and controlled. Eventually every player evolves their own style “on top” of this forehand.
The main reason why we want to stay longer in extension is because that’s what the wrist does on a normal (not very high or difficult ball) just after contact.
See the image of Tsitsipas’ forehand below and see how immediately after contact the wrist is still in extension and only later goes into flexion.
We want to “programme” that part into the wrist so that “it knows” what to do when hitting the ball.
Once the ball flies off and the wrist has moved “correctly” through the contact, it then relaxes (in this case when a pro hits a forehand) into flexion.
If the person we are teaching the forehand does not see that clearly in their mind’s eye, then their wrist doesn’t know how to move through contact and then the player feels very unstable at contact.
So to make it clear for the player when learning a forehand what the wrist should do through contact, we just keep it in extension until the end, it just turns around.
As you get better and this becomes more second nature, the wrist will naturally relax sooner after contact and may end up in flexion.
P.S. The images were taken from this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=th0A8Ns3eLE
Michael in the UK
August 25, 2023This is terrific Tomaz thank you. Also thanks for your recent video shorts on how much to turn the shoulders on FH, and the one about the key to having a relaxed wrist on FH. The advice in those short clips is excellent…people could pay for several hours with a coach at many places and learn less than the advice in those clips!
Tomaz
August 25, 2023Great to hear that, Michael!
And here are the links to videos you mention for other members to see in case they missed them:
– Shoulder rotation: https://youtube.com/shorts/okxNLkhrwCg
– Relaxed wrist: https://youtube.com/shorts/Q4ApvJdKneU
– and one more – Wrist control: https://youtube.com/shorts/HnZfML2Davk
Muhammad Hismanola
November 7, 2023Hi Tomaz, the download link doesn’t seem to work. Could you please take a quick look on it ?
Tomaz
November 7, 2023Fixed!
Clyde Passagne
January 10, 2024Happy new year mate,
Can you please let know the name of the video that you have created using parallel lines down the court using your foot? To demonstrate the linear part of the strike?
Thanks
Tomaz
January 10, 2024Likewise, Clyde!
Can you tell me the exact time in the video where you see those lines?
I have been using Cyberlink Powerdirector now for several years to edit my videos: https://www.cyberlink.com/index_en_US.html
But actually any video editing software has simple lines and arrows to add to videos. A very good free program is Capcut – https://www.capcut.com/, it works on all devices.
Patrik Aleksandrow
April 9, 2024Hello,
I wonder if the speed of the stroke is important in terms of biomechanics. I noticed that students You teach, they strike the ball pretty slow and not hard.
I tried to play some time on the wall and played very, very slow. I mean, my backswing was slow and my accelaration and hitting the ball was also very slow. After some repetitions, i noticed that my arms became very connected with the upper body. At the begining of the session i needed to remember that body goes first and then arms follow but later, after this slow process of hitting the ball i felt as a big one unit rotating and swinging. I didnt have to remember anymore that body goes first and i felt amazing control and feel of the ball.
Is it something important (slow pace) to teach at the begining or even if i would play faster and harder, my arms eventually would “connect” with rest of the body but it would take much longer?
Tomaz
April 10, 2024So let me start here: the usual problem of every tennis player is that they use their arm too much and not the body enough.
When you hit fast, you tense up the arm even more than usual because you don’t know how to use the body yet.
So at first the ONLY WAY to relax the arm is to play SLOW!
Once the arm relaxes more and your focus is on the body, you will be able to engage the body well (rotation) and feel that the arm follows along.
As soon as you attempt to hit hard / fast, you will engage the arm too much (since you don’t know how to hit fast with a relaxed arm yet!) and you will again revert to the usual way of using the arm too much.
So yes, it is important to play at around 50% of the usual power so that the arm starts to relax and that you feel body rotation leading and arm coming along.
Then you need to gradually over weeks and months start adding 5%-10% extra power and see if you can still maintain the same feeling of body initiating the stroke and the arm following.
Now keep in the mind that arm is not just loosely flying around. The arm HAS TO ENGAGE to AIM and to control the racket face. But it engages AFTER the body does. It needs to be swung first and then you engage it as you aim and spin the ball.
Here’s more on playing slow: https://www.feeltennis.net/playing-slow/
Patrik Aleksandrow
April 10, 2024Amazing explanation, Tomaz. You can talk and explain tennis things with very understandable way. Thats a gift.
Dont know how many times i already told this but… Thank you once again. 🙂
Tomaz
April 11, 2024Very welcome!
Nguyen Hong Quan
August 10, 2024Fantastic Lesson; Thank Feel Tennis.
Patrik Aleksandrow
September 28, 2024Hi Tomaz,
when someone totally new (beginner/first time) in tennis is coming to You for a lesson, do You start teaching technique first or biomechnical things first? Or maybe on the first lesson, You mix both at the same time?
Tomaz
September 28, 2024The teaching method for beginners is like this: https://youtu.be/97PdO1R-eoA
Patrik Aleksandrow
September 28, 2024Thank You! 🙂