Learn how to play tennis: The Forehand

the tennisforall
tennis coaching book
by evvy

The second of three sample chapters from The Forehand, which is Part 1 of an ongoing digital tennis book.
If knowledge is power and technical communication an art form, then this is the tennis book no tennis coach will want you to read... for it could put them out of a job.
Want to teach yourself, your pupils or your kids tennis? Or are you just an interested observer of tennis?
Whether you are just starting to learn tennis, or you want a fuller understanding of the advanced stuff that you do on court every day and take for granted, read on. Technical tennis has rarely been so thoughtfully communicated and artistically presented.

Chapter Two: Tennis Grips

Your understanding of the various grips is essential to your technical knowledge of the game of tennis and I will be dedicating a full section to the underlying principles of how to 'grip' the racket, for every shot and in pretty much every situation, and why different types of spin encourage different ways of holding the racket. But first of all we need to get you up and running on the forehand.

Forehand Grip: A Selection Box
Connecting with the ball in the perfect place makes a stroke so much easier. The perfect contact that good players strive for (and achieve consistently through much practice) is a true friend of good tennis technique; it is the perfect platform from which you can deliver the right stuff to the other side of the net. In some situations, it is more difficult to hit a bad shot off a perfect contact than a good one. But the one thing that does a great job of messing up a perfect contact, is a bad, ill-chosen tennis grip.
Of course there's isn't just one perfect contact for a tennis forehand, but rather each contact should be perfect for the particular stroke being hit. For example, a heavy topspin forehand is often easier to hit on a higher, chest high ball than a low, knee high contact, and aggressive cocktails of power and topspin are usually hit further forward of the body. Then there is an untold number of advanced player-intentions, like hitting cross-court or swerving the ball down the line (with sidespin and topspin), which will require a particular variation within the framework of those three, ever-present constants.

Palm Power & Two Extremes
In an effort to keep things immediately relevant, the images to the right are the same as the previous section on contact point, and I've kept the same order. But this time I've zoomed in so we can take a closer look at the grips.
Before flicking through the full set, go first to the second letter n (Mandlikova) and then to the letter s (Roddick). These two forehand grips represent two extremes of the forehand grip spectrum. First, though, let's touch upon what gives forehand grips their primary source of strength.
I'll call it palm power.
Basically, the palm of your hitting hand is your primary source of strength on the racket handle: where the palm of your hand is, there too will the greater share of your strength be when playing a forehand. So, looking at Andy Roddick's grip, we see the palm of his hand under the racket grip (of a racket that is edge-ways to the ground), which locates his strength predominantly beneath the racket, enabling him primarily to hit upwards for topspin.
By contrast, Hana Mandlikova's palm is, at best, behind the racket (perhaps even a touch on top), which puts her power palm behind the racket grip (and maybe also a touch on top). Hana's primary source of power is behind the racket grip, which means her primary direction for hitting is through, for a flat, moderately spun drive (or, as her palm is a little too close to the top of the racket for topspin, she could also power down on the ball, from above, for slice).
I believe the ideal grip for beginners and intermediates, and also for general forehand play, is somewhere in-between these two extremes. A good example can be seen in image t.

It's worth mentioning when considering grips that the position of the racket I'm talking about is always edge-ways to the ground. This is usually the angle of the racket at contact, so an edge-on to the ground racket shall be the one we use when considering grips.
t
Michael Chang's grip is in between the two previously mentioned book ends, with the palm of his hitting hand both behind the grip and also some way under it. This is one version of the all-purpose topspin and power grip: basically, it allows the best of both worlds.
e
If you see the knuckle of a player's thumb on top of the racket grip, you know that the palm of his hand will be somewhere beneath it. Goran's forehand grip is similar to Chang's grip. This image, which was snapped a fraction after contact, hints at how players use the palm under to whip the racket head up and through for topspin. Hana Mandlikova's grip would have been nowhere near as natural (or useful) for powering up the racket head for topspin, especially on such a high ball.
n
Lleyton Hewitt is another palm under merchant, with the knuckle of his thumb directly on top of the racket grip. His grip is a close relation to Roddick's.
n
This is just about passable as a forehand grip, but if the thumb were any further to the front it might better be classified as a backhand grip. If there's one grip here I'm not fond of, it is this one.
Why?
Because the palm power is on top of the racket, where it’s least needed; too much 'strength' on top and not enough underneath it. One world class clay-court player in particular has used a similar grip to whip up much topspin, but more often this is the grip that has kept world class net players from making serious progress on European clay and high-bouncing U.S. hard courts. With the odd exception, I would banish this grip to grass courts, the distant past and the social Sunday tip tap.
It is not for the baseline play of talented youngsters.
i
This grip is a couple of centimeters further round the racket grip than Mandlikova's and the difference on court will be enormous. Perhaps a fraction short of Michael Chang's all-puspose grip, Tim Henman's is nevertheless a great all-rounder for both power and topspin.
s
We're back at Andy Roddick. Having viewed a few other grip variations, you should now know that this is about as extreme a forehand 'palm under' grip as you can get, though in the full section on grips we'll see whether Alberto Berasategui or Thomas Muster's grips are a couple of millimeters further under.
f
Pete Sampras' grip is similar to Tim Henman's: not quite enough underneath for excessive topspin on clay courts, but good enough for one of the most aggressive forehands the game has ever seen (on every surface but clay!).
o
Patricia Tarabini's grip served her pretty well on slow courts, though. Did you work out that she's met the ball forward of her hitting hand to direct the ball at an acute, cross-court angle?
r
The knuckles on Agassi's hand (as opposed to the ones on his fingers) aren't as far to the fore of the (bottom of the) racket grip as Roddick's, which tells us that this isn't quite as extreme a 'palm under' grip as Roddick's, although the palm is further under than Sampras and Henman's, which gives Andre a little more potential for topspin, and with it the ability to mix it better on clay courts.
a
Wayne Ferreira does ok on clay with moderate palm power.
l
Great close up of Lleyton's palm under grip, with the knuckles of his hand beneath the grip and the knuckle of his thumb on top. To confound any hard-and-fast theories on the perfect grip for the whippy-topspin, clay court game, I should point out that Hewitt has used this palm-under grip to greater effect on grass and hard courts than he has on European clay, which is not his favourite surface.
Oh, by the way. The contact of the racket head with the ball, which occurs behind the hand, is due to Lleyton hitting an inside out forehand. This is the opposite of a cross court forehand, directed from the inside out, to his right-handed opponents backhand corner. But I'm getting ahead of myself again and too close to the more advanced 'particulars'.
l
Monica Seles right (non-dominant) hand holds the racket in a one handed backhand grip (see forthcoming backhand section), while her left (dominant) hand is situated in a palm-under, Agassi-like grip. As I mentioned in the previous section, this is the ultimate push-me pull you of tennis strokes: this is a loose analogy, but the forehand grip pushes the racket, whilst the backhand grip kinda pulls it, giving a blend of forehand and backhand racket head-whip.
Although a two handed forehand is not something you would actively encourage or force aspiring players to use, it is certainly worth trying, and something which should be allowed in those who take naturally to a two-handed style. It certainly fosters the ability to whip the racket through the air with greater speed than can be achieved with one hand, as Seles proved time-and-again.

THE FOREHAND
3 Sample Chapters (of the full 12)

THE FOREHAND Chapter One

THE FOREHAND Chapter Two

THE FOREHAND Chapter Three

THE SERVE
Two sample Chapters (of the full 12)

THE SERVE Chapter One

THE SERVE Chapter Two

Juan Carlos Ferrero

Tennis for All?

Simon Roberts:
A County Tennis Odyssey

Anabel Croft

Andy Roddick

Elena Dementieva

Gabriela Sabatini

Tim Henman

Jimmy Connors

Venus and Serena Williams

Serena Forehand

Mary Joe Fernandez

How to hit a tennis backhand: Part 1

How to hit a tennis backhand: Part 2

How to hit a tennis backhand: Part 3

How to hit a backhand: Part 4

How to hit a backhand: Part 5