Your Strokes:
Paulo Caneiro: Forehand

Analyzed by John Yandell

Check out Paulo's forehand and that court!

This month's Your Strokes is has a bit of an exotic flavor, coming to us from a well-known coach in Brazil, Paulo Carneiro. It was filmed on amazing looking red clay court that appears to be surrounded by jungle.

Paulo writes that he has been a coach for 25 years and was an elite junior player. I am willing to bet he was a pretty rough customer on the dirt. (And probably still is.)

He sent in this clip of his forehand which he says has always been his problem side. If you've read the instructions for submitting footage you know I ask people to use a shutter and try not to frame too wide. This piece of footage doesn't really have those qualities, but I was able to see a couple of elements anyway that I thought could really help him. And I loved the fact that it was coming from the jungle in Brazil--or so I imagined. So here it is.

A big, world class turn, but what happens next?


If you look at his turn and set up, you'd think Paulo was about to rip a huge, world class topspin forehand because the coiling looks great. It's impossible to say with complete precision due to the footage, but I'd guess the grip is a moderate semi-western, similar to guys like Nablandian, Hewitt or J.C. Ferrero.


Compare his turn to Ferrero--it's got the classic elements with the left arm stretch. This is a major commonality that we have identified in the forehand articles in the Advanced Tennis section.(Click Here.)







J.C Ferrero: A similar grip style and similar turn.


So Paulo's left arm looks great at the completion of the turn, but watch it after that! I don't think I've seen anything quite like it before. The left arm stays straight as he starts the forward swing, and spins to Paulo's left almost like a helicopter blade! His arm looks almost completely rigid--and maybe like he is actually trying to spin it. It comes around and points at the ball--still straight. The spin continues and as the racket starts to drop down the left arm is almost pointing to the opposite side fence.










Compare the movement of the left arm.


Compare this to J.C. or any other top player. Yes, you want your left arm to move and rotate with your body. But what you see with the top players, is that the left arm just relaxes, and flows with the forward swing. J.C.'s arm starts to bend much sooner at the elbow with the hand staying in front of the body. Watch how it relaxes, bends and collapses and folds in toward the body.Pablo's left arm doesn't do that. It stays rigid.












Notice how Paulo's arm is rigid and pointing to the side, while Ferrero's just relaxes and folds in.


It's also possible that Paulo's racket arm is too straight and not in the double bend hitting arm position going into and out of the contact--it's just too tough to tell for sure from this video. But compare that to J.C.'s hitting arm position.


Which brings us to thenext point I definitely can see--the racket path through and after the contact and the followthrough. Again, if I am correct at all about the grip structure, we would expect to see a somewhat lower followthrough more across the body with some significant hand and arm rotation after the hit and the face of the racket turning somewhat over and downward toward the court. We can see this in the angle of the forearm and racket face for Ferrero.



Compare the racket path through and after the hit.


But Paulo's finish doesn't look like that. Watch how quickly Paulo's hand comes up--almost straight up after contact. It's not the finish you would see with a more conservative grip style either, in case I'm wrong about that grip. This would be like Agassi or Pete with the racket on edge or close to on edge, and the forearm is at an angle more like 45 degrees to the court.


Paulo's racket just doesn't move through the shot. Instead it moves radically upward. At the highest point his hand looks like it might be a foot over his head. I'm just guessing, but I think this is probably what happens when you try to brush up the ball for topspin the way you would be taught if you had a classic grip--but you don't have a classic grip.






Paulo should learn to relax the left arm and let in rotate and fold more naturally like Ferrero.


So what's the solution? Two things. First to rein in that left arm! After the stretch Paulo should make the effort to let the arm collapse and probably focus on bending his left elbow and pulling it gently into his body. Or if he just totally relaxes the arm, that could happen on it's own.


The second thing is the finish. Paulo needs to create a new finish point, lower, more across the body, and with some hand and arm rotation. The Ferrero image can serve as a blueprint. He should create the position physically and then practice without the ball until he can execute the swing and find the position automatically as a natural extension of his preparation. His hand and arm need to rotate across and over as a unit.






With a grip like Paulo's the hand and arm should naturally turn over, finishing more across the body and lower.

One of the keys to doing this (or execute any new position or key) is being able to do the swing with your eyes closed. This forces you to visualize yourself executing the motion inside your mind's eye, and also, visualize how that feels. Now he can use that same image as a key by visualizing it when he is swinging and actually hitting the ball.

So Paulo that's it! Report back later and let us know if that helps. Send in some video if you wish. And tell us some more about that court.