Is the reverse forehand a feasible way to teach some aspects of the ATP forehand?

[johnyandell]

Stroke, Probably true! Those spin rates are from years ago and don't break out topspin and sidespin.

[stroke]

One thing that is intersest to me, even though Nadal's spin rates were the same regardless of which finish he uses, it certainly appears to me that when Nadal wants to get his hook spin on the ball, he uses the over the head finish. When he uses the across the body Fed type finish, it seems to me to be just topspin, not his signature hook spin.

[stotty]

It's a handy shot to learn for when a player is running wide and slightly late to the ball. It's not all that new. Borg did it a lot. It's not something I like to teach to the point where it becomes a player's basic shot. It works for Rafa but for most players it's a shot best resorted to under given circumstances.

JY and stroke's observations on spin levels are interesting. I didn't know that.

[johnyandell]

Stroke good memory and true! Doesn't mean hitting a bunch of reverse forehand won't help...

[stroke]

My thoughts here are strictly quantitative. Some time ago, in the infancy of spin rates in tennis jargon, JY did a piece on this subject and said Nadal, the poster boy for spin rates at the time, had no more spin on his reverse forehands vs his across the body forehands.

[arturohernandez]

About ten years ago I spent the better part of the year hitting reverse forehands. It was so liberating I mean you can accelerate like crazy and the ball does not go out. Since then I have toned it down some, I still hit it at times but not ALL the time. However, I do notice that the independent arm movement and looseness seem to have stuck around for me.

I was watching Ash Barty hit shots either on the run or inside the court I noticed that she reverses her finish. This seems very effective on her inside in forehand. It keeps the line of the shot straight and the ball seems to accelerate.

I showed it to my daughter and then we tried it out on the court. It was like magic. Suddenly, she could accelerate on balls inside the court. Sometimes they would go out. But really they were barely out. Any ball she hit with a reverse finish inside the court was a winner.

At the end, I told her to just hit her regular across the body finish. It seemed heavier and deeper. It is as if she could accelerate more and create more topspin. Like she spliced the feeling of the reverse on to the regular forehand.

This left me thinking about the ATP forehand and whether the reverse might be a way to teach independent arm movement and acceleration.

Any thoughts?