John Yandell: Building the Modern Forehand: The Backswing(s): Page 2

The movement from side to side in the backswing is much less than the movement upwards or backwards. This makes it even harder to follow.

Side to side movement is the third dimension. How much does a player move his racquet out to his right, and back to his left?

It’s also related to whether or not the player closes the racquet face, and, if so, how much.

Typically, the less the player closes the face, the more he moves the racquet to his right at the start of the backswing. And the more he moves it to the right at the start of the backswing, the more he tends to move it back to the left as well.

Conversely, the more the player closes the face, the less he tends to move his racquet to the right at the start of the motion, and the less movement back to the left thereafter. The only exception appears to be Marat Safin (more on that below).

Haas keeps his racquet literally on edge, and moves his racquet head the furthest to the right at the start of his backswing, around two feet as the motion starts upward. He then moves the…