Around The Bend November 2018

AROUND THE BEND

NOVEMBER 2018

PAGE 11

H B C C T E N N I S N E W S

TIPS FOR IMPROVING YOUR FOREHAND SWING By Luke Burden, Director of Athletics

4. Finish/Follow through The control for our stroke comes from the follow through. The ball will tend to “fly” when we stop the racket head on contact or shortly after contact. To improve your control try to allow the racket head to follow through and continue in its path towards the target. Try to incorporate some of these tips on your forehand next time you step on the court and turn that weakness into something your opponents will become scared of.

Why is my forehand weak?

Often players tend to lack confidence in their forehand which really limits them to what they are able to do on the court. Have a read through these tips to improve your forehand and have more fun competing on court.

The most important stage in any stoke is the preparation and this is no different with the forehand.

1. Prepare the racket head. This is the most important step and needs to be done before anything else. As you can see in the picture, the racket head is up and is prepared by turning the hips and shoulders. Often players think of “taking the racket back”. This tends to confuse players as it is most natural to take the racket back without turning. This results in the racket being laid back and only using your arm. If you are having trouble generating pace or control on the forehand, think about turning the hips and shoulders, instead of taking the racket back. 2. Move to the ball This may sound obvious, however there is a correct way to move to the ball. We often hear we need to side step across to the ball, however to enable us to prepare the racket head and turn the hips and shoulders, we must “turn” and “run” to the ball. As you can see in the photo sequence, Federer and Serena turn and run, finishing with the weight on his and her right leg before contact. 3. Drop the racket head and accelerate through contact Now that we have prepared and moved into position it is time to hit the ball. To generate pace and also help us control the ball, we need to “drop the racket head” under the ball and accelerate from under the ball. The fastest part of our swing should be on contact.