Stroke Mechanics - Development Kryptonite With the fundamental BH2 approaches outlined in part one of the August issue (Click Here), we now have a framework to assess the pro strokes. Given the goals of this article, the Type 1 BH2...

September 2025

In my previous article (Four Pillars of the ATP Type III Forehand) I presented a "best practice" guide for hitting a forehand based on my research and work on the court. (Click Here.) In the first article of this two-part...

September 2020

My previous article described the Four Pillars of the Type III ATP forehand. (Click Here.) These pillars are exclusively defined by attributes of the forward swing – that is, they are independent of the backswing and follow through. The Four...

September 2020

How do players actually make the upward swing happen? Our first article on the upward swing in the serve dealt primarily with the role of the torso or trunk. We identified the "cartwheel" action as most responsible for the transfer...

February 2008

In the last article, we examined the role of the lower body during the back swing (Click Here). Now let's move on to the upper body motion in the backswing. This includes the movement of the trunk, the hitting arm...

August 2007

In the first article on the ATP Forehand, we looked at how to create the "dynamic slot," the key technical element in the early forward swing that top players use to turbocharge their forehands. Now in this second article let’s...

June 2012

In this exclusive series of articles for Tennisplayer, I am presenting a new approach to understanding, learning and teaching tennis. The initial articles will cover the forehand, specifically our forehand model which is similar to what you see on the...

May 2012

Of all the technical issues in serving the choice of stance is one of the mostly debated - often hotly. In this fifth segment in his amazing series, Brian outlines his view that the platform stance is the most effective...

January 2019

Introduction Tennis enthusiasts have witnessed several apparent changes in the mechanics of the two-handed backhand (BH2) for decades now. The question is whether these changes represent a systemic evolution or simply individual refinements to the fundamental mechanical attributes that have...

August 2025

Click to watch Brian's 60 Minutes interview. Recently the CBS 60 Minutes production team visited Dr. Brian Gordon in Miami to discuss the reasons height makes a difference in the performance capabilities of elite players. The interview was to acquire...

January 2022

I have stated in many venues that the upward swing of the “power” tennis serve is the most technically complicated movement in all of sport. The upward swing is defined in my work as beginning at the instant the tip...

July 2025

In the final segment of Brian's original series on teaching the serve, he explains his fundamental rule for synchronizing the backswing and the leg drive: the concept of probation. Brian sees a universal problem in junior tennis. The tendency of...

February 2019

Pushing with the legs on the serve contributes to the creation of racket head speed, but as Brian shows, in an indirect way different from conventional wisdom. The leg push naturally and automatically generates the backwards, external rotation of the...

December 2018

My recent articles have questioned the assertion that females can’t hit an "ATP Forehand". (Click Here.) But what is an ATP forehand? Good question. It is not clear when the predominant forehand style on the men’s tour received the official...

July 2020

Many followers of professional tennis have noticed systematic differences between the way men and women execute strokes. Much has been made of this in recent times especially in certain sectors of the tennis world. In 2010 I published several articles...

June 2020

Dr. Brian Gordon is training high level juniors in Florida and teaching them the ATP forehand, based on his ground breaking research. Brian believes that whatever the technical state of the forehand on the women's tour, women, and especially the...

May 2020

So how do you create the complex rotations in the upward swing on the serve described in the last article? (Click Here.) The first key is the timing of the racket entry into the backswing. Brian explains how the hesitation...

November 2018

In Part 2 of Brian’s new series on Teaching the Serve, he explains to maximize the forward somersault rotation he talked about in Part 1 (Click Here), two things need to happen. First, perfect synchronization of the upper and lower...

October 2018

In this exclusive new series for Tennisplayer, Dr. Brian Gordon shows how he applies over 20 years of biomechanical research to the development of elite junior players from his new base in Miami, Florida. In this first article, he explains...

September 2018

When you make a technical change do you ever really know whether it is improving your shot making? In this groundbreaking article, Dr. Brian Gordon explains that the answer is quantifying shot outputs. This means measuring ball speed, net clearance,...

August 2018

Tennis is in a state of perpetual evolution. Is that possible true of the ATP forehand? In this article, Dr. Brian Gordon discusses the differences in his original, minimalistic forehand model and the forehands of players like Nick Krygios and...

July 2018

Brian Gordon changed the way the tennis world looked at the forehand almost 10 years ago now with the results of his biomechanical research, introducing the concept of the ATP forehand. What his data showed was that a compact outside...

June 2018

What drives the mechanics of the forward swing in the ATP two-hander? In the last article we looked at the preparation in what I call the ATP style, or Type 3, two-handed backhand. We focused on the take back and...

How does muscle optimization work in the ATP two-hander? In the last article we looked at some of the underlying principles of muscle mechanics in our teaching system, based on quantitative biomechanical analysis (Click Here.) Now in the next two...

Let’s look at some of the biomechanics underlying the ATP backhand. In the first article I identified the three general types of the two-handed backhand and asserted that there was an optimum type, the type used by top men's pros...

In my previous articles we've looked at the windup and the backswing from a three dimensional, quantitative perspective. We've seen there are many possible ways to organize the motions of individual body segments in the service motion.(Click Here) Players who...

November 2007

The backswing; more complex than it looks, but with clear benchmarks. In my last article I covered the first phase of the serve, the wind up. Now let's move on to the second phase, the backswing. It may look simple,...

June 2007

What does 3D analysis tell us about the first phase of the serve? Last month I introduced a technology and a computer interface that shows how we incorporate 3D measurement and analysis into player development. This on court coaching application...

April 2007

3D quantitative analysis: the leap from interpretation to physics. The world of tennis is becoming more technically advanced. From stroke analysis, to player preparation, to performance evaluation, progressive coaches and players are using an array of innovations and increased expertise...

March 2007

In 1992, after 10 years as a working teaching pro, I decided to try to learn more about the great game of tennis. When reading the popular literature about the game I would often note references to things like "forces"...

March 2006