Your Strokes: Rohan Gupta Forehand

[johnyandell]

Keep us posted. Big upside for you!

[eaglesburg]

Rohan,

I wouldn't worry about the grip. It's not necessarily related to extension--look at Djokovic and Nadal. Also in junior tennis and not being the tallest player in the state your grip is going to be suited to the contact height of the typical junior ball.

I also wouldn't try to copy one player slavishly. You are looking for the elements of stance, posture and extension. Working through the stroke archive you'll find images that resonate.

The real work is modeling the positions without the ball. And yes working on the ball machine first is probably really good. It's not the number of balls you hit it's the quality.

Finally get technically solid in the center of the court or two steps out. If you really feel it will happen on the run. You can always check yourself with video.
But again I would get the stance the posture and the extension in a basic situation DOWN. That won't be a small accomplishment without adding complications and distractions.

Okay, I'll work on it. Thanks!

[johnyandell]

Rohan,

I wouldn't worry about the grip. It's not necessarily related to extension--look at Djokovic and Nadal. Also in junior tennis and not being the tallest player in the state your grip is going to be suited to the contact height of the typical junior ball.

I also wouldn't try to copy one player slavishly. You are looking for the elements of stance, posture and extension. Working through the stroke archive you'll find images that resonate.

The real work is modeling the positions without the ball. And yes working on the ball machine first is probably really good. It's not the number of balls you hit it's the quality.

Finally get technically solid in the center of the court or two steps out. If you really feel it will happen on the run. You can always check yourself with video.
But again I would get the stance the posture and the extension in a basic situation DOWN. That won't be a small accomplishment without adding complications and distractions.

[eaglesburg]

Just read the new article about my forehand. It was a great article. You layed it out very clearly for me. And while I have tried to make some of these changes before, hopefully your method of really breaking down the swing visually and kinesthetically into checkpoints helps me this time around.
But of course, I have to have a few questions.

1) Should I try to change my grip? I imagine that might help with the extension.
2) who would be a good model for me? I'm guessing djokovic but just making sure.
3) if I put in a couple of forehand specific hours on the ball machine each week on top of my normal playing, about how long should it take for this technique to become ingrained (ie not break down in a match)? And should I avoid match play while fiddling with my forehand?
4) there will still be times I have to hit open stance when stretched wide. Do I need more shoulder turn on these, too?

[johnyandell]

Would love to discuss my latest article, "Your Strokes: Rohan Gupta Forehand"