Your Strokes:
John Chen Forehand

Analyzed by Jeff Counts

When John first contacted me, he said that he was a 4.5 level player who hit with top juniors in Taiwan on a regular basis. However, he was very eager to improve his forehand, which he said took too much energy to generate pace. We met up a few weeks ago and I let the camera roll, always curious about what I would find.

At first glance it was clear that John was a remarkable athlete. I later found out that he had had years of advanced training in the martial arts, and was currently competing in marathons, with race times under 4 hours. These physical gifts, combined with certain elements of technique, had taken his game to a high level. But as I watched him hit forehands, it was clear that something was off. He was hitting the ball hard, and I could see advanced elements in - the double bend hitting structure, excellent prepartion, acceleration through the ball. But as i watched I became convinced he should have been hitting the ball even harder, and also with less effort.

Before the miracle of digital cameras and pro stroke archives, I most likely would not have been able to help John. The stroke just happens too quickly. The preparation is usually clear. The finish of the stroke is usually clear. But there is a whole world in between that blurs right by--including the vital contact point. In John's case this is what I felt I needed to see, something that would be impossible without using video. There is just no way to get into the stroke mechanics and make alterations when you can't see what is happening.

Let's start with John's preparation, which is world class, and consider how it matches up to John's current article on how the pro's prepare (Click Here). Watch how he uses his left hand, which starts on the throat of his racket, to create a full unit turn. Notice where he releases the left hand - it's when his left hand is aligned with his ear. As he releases his left hand, his entire left arm remains stretched straight across his body, preserving the unit turn until he is ready to initate the forward motion. Now onto his hitting arm and racket. As he smoothly lifts the racket upward, he establishes the double bend hitting structure behind his body at shoulder level. In the final frame we see a perfect preparation with the double bend established above and behind the body, and the left arm holding in the upper body turn.

From this great preparation, John begins his downswing and his motion into contact. What I see here is is one sense quite simple. We can clearly see that John is contacting the ball late. But in another sense it is quite complex. This goes to the question of why he was late. I could feed John balls all day and say "hit the ball earlier" and it wouldn't have made any difference. It wouldn't make any difference because I would be telling John WHAT to do, not HOW to do it. And until we address the "how" - the new body positioning and movements needed - John will be stuck with the same ingrained stroke.

I thought that John's forehand was a stroke practically begging to be taken to the next level with an earlier contact point and more of a wiper finish. But how? The good news here is that much is right with the stroke coming into contact. John maintains the double bend all the way to contact, and he leads the stroke with the butt cap of his racket. Combining these advanced technical elements with great preparation, and John was able to hit the ball quite hard.

Open the Shoulders First

To understand why John is contacting the ball late, we must understand how the shoulders and torso must open up towards the net first, allowing the hitting structure to come forward toward the ball. The opening torso, when done correctly, pulls the double bend forward. The key image to look at is when John's racket is "in the slot" - that is, when the racket is parallel to the side fence. Now we can see if his rotating torso is pulling the double bend forward.. Here I compared John to Scoville Jenkins and Juan Carlos Ferrero when their rackets are in the same position.

Unlike the pro models, John has not opened up his shoulders, which prevents the hitting structure from coming forward.

What jumped out at me with the comparison was how much farther the pros opened up their shoulders. John's chest is facing the camera, while the two pros have rotated until the torso is almost facing the net. Another key point. The pro's left arms have started to drive backwards to aid the upper body rotation. John's left arm is fully extended forward towards the net. John's upper body is therefore impeding the hitting structure from coming forward.

"Pull" the Racket Forward

The second reason John's "slot" position is farther behind his body than the pros is because the pros have started to "pull" the racket forward towards the ball, along with the added torso rotation. Watch how Juan Carlos Ferrero combines these two elements - torso rotation and a pulling motion - to achieve a great slot position. The "pulling" of the racket forward is indicated by the elbow in relation to the side of the body. As you pull the racket, the elbow will start to slide in front of the side of the body.

Work To Do

I said earlier that you can't just tell a player to "hit the ball earlier". The player has to learn new movements, and engage new muscles, to alter a stroke. And this takes specific, focused exercises along with lots of repetition. My favorite exercise to teach the pulling motion comes from Nick Bollitieri's amazing "Killer Forehand" video. In this exercise, I had John start with his shoulder open to the net, and held onto his racket with the butt cap of the racket facing the net. With the shoulders already open, John felt what it was like to have the shoulders cleared out of the way so that he could pull the racket forward. I did this at mid court as someone fed him easy balls. I learned this exercise from Nick's "pull the towel" exercise, and it's my favorite exercise for teaching the modern forehand.

John described to me how "different" it felt to use torso rotation and a pulling motion to get the racket in the slot. It engaged new muscles and took quite a bit of repetition before it started to feel comfortable. But once John felt the power of properly being "in the slot", he was hooked.

The Windshield Wiper

Once we got the rotation and pulling motions down, it was time to work on the windshield wiper motion. John was coming across the ball too much, and I wanted him to learn how to use arm rotation to keep the racket behind the ball for a longer period of time. With the wiper motion, instead of coming across the ball, you move through, up, and then over so that the racket draws a rainbow like path. The connection between ball and strings is maximized and great acceleration is possible through the hit with the technique. You can really feel your shoulder and arm work the ball with a proper wiper motion.

To teach the wiper motion, I use a "big ball" - one of those big springy balls you can get at a drug stroke - to help a player get the feel of the motion. The big ball makes a player much less likely to slap at the ball, and instead work the ball with the entire double bend hitting structure. The physical sensation of the big ball pressing into the strings, hand, arm, and shoulder, is amplified with this exercise. I started by having John open his shoulder quite a bit, and then he pulled the racket forward to the ball. On contact I told him to feel his entire arm drive the ball as he drew the rainbow path.

After we did this a few times, I taped the exercise and we took a look. I was thrilled with the result. John was clearing his shoulders, pulling the racket better, and best of all, had a great wiper motion! In the video on the left, watch how John's upper arm drives forward towards the fence as he executes the wiper motion. He is really driving through the ball as he simultaneously rotates the entire hitting structure over.

At the beginning of our work together, I told John that we would be successful if we could move his contact point several inches farther forward. The late contact point was the reason he was having to work so hard. John had a great contact point with the "big ball" exercises, but it was time to translate the new stroke into actual play. So after working on the "pull the towel" drill, followed by the "big ball" exercise for a few hours, I had him play short court, followed by regular hitting. If I saw he was reverting back to old habits, we would go through the exercises again.

Success!

On our final day together, I taped John rallying and the results were fantastic. He was contacting the ball several inches farther in front of his body, had a good wiper motion, and was hitting the ball harder, with much less effort. In the clip on the left, watch how John fully opens his torso, followed by a great pull of the double bend forward to the ball. Notice as well how his elbow is in front of the side of his body.

I encouraged John to repeat the "pull the towel" exercise and the "big ball" exercise as he continued to integrate the new forehand into his game. To really make new motions "stick" it requires repeated and focused attention over time. But the effort was well worth it for John - who new was using less energy to hit the ball much, much harder.