The Reverse Forehand Revisited

The reverse forehand: where Nadal gets his game.

A few years ago, I wrote an article for Tennisplayer on the “Reverse Forehand.”  It was the first article that really explained the shot, which has become one of the most important shots in pro tennis.  I called it the reverse forehand because during the followthrough the racket goes upward and backward, finishing on the right side of the player’s body. (Click Here.)

I pointed out how players I had trained like Lindsay Davenport and Pete Sampras used the shot, and explained the mechanics of hitting it.  At the time I also predicted that one day, a player would come along who would hit the reverse forehand almost as his normal forehand.  And now that day seems to have arrived with Rafael Nadal. 

But, after all these years, it still amazes me how poorly the reverse forehand is understood by the so-called experts.  You never read about the reverse forehand in the magazines. You never hear any of the television commentators talk about it.  This is because the “experts” never take the time to study it, so they don’t understand what they see.  

The finish is the key to understanding Pete’s…