Tennis Forehand: Mastering the Essential Shot

Since you’ll be using your dominant hand to execute your forehand stroke during a game, it needs to be your strongest one. Your best tool in a match will therefore be your tennis forehand, but perfecting one will require a lot of practice. You will most likely master the tennis forehand slowly at first, putting more emphasis on consistency than power. When learning the tennis forehand, getting the ball over the net should be your top objective. But as your abilities advance, you’ll notice that your forehand gets better over time, leading to faster shots and strokes that fly straight over the net. Having stated that, let’s delve into the intricacies of the forehand in tennis.

The Tennis Forehand Technique

The tennis forehand is a challenging but relatively easy move to learn. Depending on the kind of forehand stroke you plan to hit, you should hold the racquet handle with an Eastern, Western, or Continental grip when performing a forehand. Bringing your dominant hand and foot back and putting most of your weight into this position is the ideal technique to execute a forehand stroke in tennis. When you move your weight from the rear to the front at the point of contact, you may apply an amazing amount of force to the ball by doing this. This gives your shots greater force and makes it possible for you to smoothly transition through the follow through’s natural actions, both of which are extremely crucial. There are, nevertheless, a few distinct varieties of forehand tennis shots available.

Tennis Forehand Types Shots:

Flat Shot:

With a flat shot, your opponent will have less time to react and return the ball because of how quickly the ball travels through the court. You would hold something with a Western grip.

1. Maintain eye contact with the ball as it gets closer while you’re in the ready position.
2. Mark the location where you will hit the ball and advance toward it while bringing your racquet back. Depending on how much timing you have, adopt one of the following four stances: closed stance, semi-open stance, open stance, or neutral stance.
3. After settling on your stance, put the majority of your weight into your back foot and shift it all to your front foot when you strike the ball.
4. Swing your racquet toward the side that is opposite of your initial swing. You get a full swing from the follow through, enabling you to throw all of your strength into the shot.

Topspin Shot:

A topspin shot is a tennis forehand that makes advantage of topspin, which accelerates the ball’s descent toward the ground and produces a higher, more difficult-to-return bounce. You would need to utilize an Eastern or Western grip in order to make a topspin shot.

1. Assume the ready position at first.
2. Depending on timing, you must adopt one of the following four stances as you approach the ball: open, neutral, semi-open, or closed.
3. The topspin shot is the same as the flat shot up until this point. The racquet motion you employ to smash the ball, however, is the primary distinction between the two. A topspin stroke is achieved by brushing the ball with the racquet face in an upward motion. This will impart topspin to the ball, accelerating its descent towards the ground and raising its bounce.
4. Finally, ensure that your racquet completes the whole swing’s natural actions by following through.

Slice Shot:

The slicing stroke, a backspin tennis forehand, will change direction as the ball travels through the air and lands on the ground, causing it to bounce lower. For this shot, you’ll be using the Continental grip grip.

1. Maintain a ready posture and be prepared.
2. As you get closer to the ball, adopt one of the following four postures: closed, semi-open, open, or neutral.
3. Place your racquet back above your shoulder after deciding on a stance.
4. You must swing in a brushing action, which is similar to a sideways slash at the ball’s exterior. A slice aims to create backspin by striking the ball from high to low, as opposed to a flat stroke, which hits the ball squarely in the middle.

Inside-Out Forehand:

When you run around your backhand to hit a forehand instead, it’s known as an inside-out forehand. When you have more time to manage the ball’s general direction, you should usually employ this stroke. For this shot, you can utilize any forehand tennis technique.

1. Take a ready position to begin.
2. Ascertain the location of the opponent’s ball.
3. To go to the other side of the ball, side step is preferable to sprinting around your backhand, which uses a lot of energy. Which stroke you play at this stage is entirely up to you, but the optimal approach is to hit a shot that will either put you in position for a winner or a winner itself.

Moonball:

The moon ball has topspin, so it functions like a lob. This shot can offer you more time to recover from specific scenarios, thus it might be a good change of pace for your game plan.

1. You begin by assuming the prepared posture.
2. Using one of the following four stances—open, neutral, semi-open, or closed—approach the ball.
3. You must return your racquet after selecting a stance. You will be hitting the ball with your weight on the back foot as opposed to using a topspin shot where you hit through the ball.

Tennis forehands known as moon balls are typically employed as defensive shots, although you can still play aggressively with them. Hitting the ball over your opponent’s head when they are volleying at the net is one method to use it aggressively.

Swing Volley:

In order to give your opponent less time to react to the shot, the swing volley is an extremely aggressive approach shot in which you execute a tennis forehand before the ball hits the ground. Although the flat and topspin shots are the most frequently used, you can employ any tennis forehand style for this play.

1. Starting from the ready position is where you should be.
2. You have to sprint towards the ball before it bounces, and it’s easier to strike when you’re airborne—just a few inches above the ground will do.
3. The power of the shot will be produced by the approach’s momentum rather than by moving weight from the back to the front. Therefore, your speed approaching the ball will determine how hard you hit it.</li >
4. The ideal approach to hit the ball at the point of contact is to swing straight; this will cause the ball to descend in proportion to the amount of topspin you apply.

You should try to stay as far away from your opponent as possible since this will allow you ample time to get to the net and take the ready position.