The role of the wrist in the modern forehand is a topic that is widely discussed among tennis players and coaches. There are many different viewpoints and theories as to what is actually happening and also as to what coaches should teach players.
I have spent a lot of time researching this topic and experimenting with my findings on the court over the last few years and my viewpoints have changed a few times. Spending time and exchanging ideas with one of Germany’s leading golf instructors, Oliver Heuler, got me thinking in new ways in regards to this topic.
I first heard the term “late-hitting” in golf swing theory but looking at all of the best forehands in the world, I believe it is obvious that the same principle applies in the modern forehand!
Players that utilize late-hitting, basically build up an extreme angle between the racket and the forearm at the beginning of the forward swing. The racket moves back as the arm is already moving forward. This angle is then released towards the contact point. It seems to be crucial that the angle is build up late because energy will otherwise be lost. We can think of the way a rubber band works as an analogy for this concept!
Can You See What I Mean By Late Hitting In This Video ?
[jwplayer file=https://www.onlinetennisinstruction.com/support-files/LateHitting_Video1_neu.mp4]
Now let’s have a look at some forehands that are not quite as good and what we can see is that they do not make use of the late hitting concept!
Not So Great Forehands – Can You See The Difference ?
[jwplayer file=https://www.onlinetennisinstruction.com/support-files/LateHitting_NotSoGreatForehands.mp4]
Players hitting their forehands in this way can certainly hit a very clean ball and
Hewitt and Wozniacki both hit solid forehands. But these forehands lack that
little bit of extra acceleration and I believe the lack of the late hitting
concept is the root of this problem!
Measuring The Angles
We need to look at the angles as well as when they are achieved. What we will see is that
all of the top male players build up this extreme angle between the wrist and
the forearm really late in the swing, whereas some of the female players, like
Wozniacki for example, get into an extreme angle as well, but they do it too
early in the swing and therefore do not make use of the late-hitting concept.
Video: Angles And Timing On Great Forehands
Video: Angles And Timing On Not So Great Forehands
Wozniacki’s racket moves roughly the same distance but over a longer time frame, which results in less accelearation. Looking at the forehands of Hewitt and Hantuchova we can see that they never get into this really pre-stretched position and therefore the racket travels a shorter distance over roughly the same time period, which basically means less racket head speed.
