Your Strokes: Barry Gaines Forehand

How appropriate is open stance at lower levels, and how does it affect biomechanics? If you are an avid club or NTRP and you have studied the Stroke Archives and seen that most balls are hit open stance, is that conclusive evidence that you should do the same--hit 80% of your forehands open? In this month's Advanced Tennis article, we take a look at open and netural stance in pro tennis. (Click Here.) In the future I plan to write more about the correlations between the pros and the rest of the tennis world and more on what we should model. But when it comes to the stances, the short answer is probably not. We saw in our analysis of pro stances that ball height and grip style were the main factors that dictate stance. The ball is so high at contact on most pro balls that open stance is a virtual necessity. In addition, the extreme grips and extreme shoulder rotation shared by so many top players make it difficult to step in without blocking the stroke. The left arm doesn't come across, and the rear foot points partially forward. But what if you have a mild semi-western or...