"Modern" Club Play:
Fully Open Stance

Analyzed by John Yandell

Every year I do a video analysis clinic for my friend Marc Moran, the tennis director at one of the great Bay Area clubs, Club Sport in Pleasanton. Marc loves having his players videoed, but it also gives me a chance to take a concentrated look at what is happening in club tennis.

We film the players, then let them see their strokes in comparison to certain key positions we extract from our pro high speed footage. Then Marc and I make recommendations accordingly and we go back out on court and work on what we’ve seen.

What’s Modern?

This year the clinic was on the "modern" forehand—what is happening in the pro game, and how it may apply to all levels.

One of the fascinating things to observe is how adult club players are trying more and more to incorporate pro elements, and what this really means for their strokes. The two most interesting issues that I saw in this clinic were, first, the use of extreme open stance, and second, the windshield wiper action in the forward swing--what I call hand and arm rotation. (Click Here.) So in the next two articles I want to take a look at both these, starting in this article with the extreme stance. I love it when articles on the site tie together, and this one is directly related to the issues we saw in our analysis of Andy Murray’s forehand a couple of months ago. (Click Here.)

One of the players we filmed was Mariana Meirelles, an athletic and an accomplished club player, with a smooth, consistent forehand, one that she hit from an extreme, very modern open stance.

So that’s great right? Modern is good. Very modern is better. We should all try to play like the pros right?

Those are the buzz words from some coaches, who want to make a major distinction between "old school" and "new school." Guess which one is good and which one is bad?

In Mariana’s case however, let’s talk a close look at her open stance and how it affects the rest of the stroke. Are the top players benefiting from it and do those alleged benefits really apply to all levels?

In the pro game there are three related reasons for using some version of open stance. The extreme grips. The extreme contact heights. And the amount of body rotation in the forward swing.

You can’t hit a shoulder high ball with neutral stance. And with a severe grip like Nadal or Djokovic, players tend to rotate the body much further around in the forward swing. To do this they are mostly in the air with one or both feet.

Extra forward torso rotation can be an advantage, but that theoretical advantage is often negated by fundamental problems club players encounter when they try to use extreme open stances.

The problem is most club players play most rally balls closer to waist level. They aren’t in the air with both feet because they don’t need to be. And using an extreme open stance can actually retard the ability to turn in the first place, as we will see.

But the first problem here is understanding "open stance." The term by itself is too vague because there are actually two major variations with important differences.

The first variation is fully open stance, which means that the player’s feet are set up along a line that basically on a line parallel to the baseline. That stance is used often in pro tennis, but it is not typically preferred. Players use it when they are forced on time, when they are running, and also in some situations on the return.

But when they have time, most players prefer to set up semi open rather than fully open. Semi open means the left foot is off set forward and is closer to the net. If you draw a line across the tips of the toes that line is at an angle of about 30 degrees to 45 degrees to the baseline.

That’s about half way between a fully open and a square or neutral stance, in which the player steps into the shot so that a line drawn along the tips of toes is basically perpendicular to the net.

Preparation and Stance

So what is the difference and why do pro players set up semi open when possible? It has to with body rotation in the preparation phase. And then with the racket path in the forward swing.

We have seen many times that to create a great upper body turn, the shoulders need to turn at least 90 degrees to the net and usually a bit more. The hips also turn, but not a far. (Click Here.)

This difference in the hips and shoulders is a positive thing—often called the "x" factor.

In the uncoiling phase the hips go first and trigger the shoulders as the body rotates forward toward contact.

The problem with the extreme open stance, however, is that pro players usually can’t achieve the same amount of hip turn. This means that the forces generated by the uncoiling are also reduced. A player like Andy Murray, as we have seen, although very strong, lacks the same high velocity forehand as the other top players, probably due in part to this factor.

So how does this all translate when it comes to a club player? That gets us back to Mariana’s forehand. She definitely hits it from a full open stance. And as I said it seems smooth and probably is pretty consistent as well.

But when we look at the video we can see that she is losing significant leverage in the preparation phase. The extreme stance also appears to affecting her forward swing so that she comes across too soon rather than extending outward further toward the other side of the court.

Let’s start with the preparation. There are several interesting aspects to look at here.

First Mariana’s hip turn is actually very good—it’s the shoulder turn that is lacking. Watch how she starts the preparation by keeping both hands on the racket.

But watch what happens to her left arm. When the hands separate, it should stretch across her body, straighten out and extend til it points at the sideline. We’ve seen this position many times in previous articles and it is one of the keys to a great forehand at any level.

But Mariana’s left arm doesn’t do that. Instead it stays bent and compressed. Is this related to the hip turn? Probably. With that extreme open stance the degree of hip turn she achieves probably actually blocks her ability to fully turn her shoulders.

Even the top players can’t turn both to the same degree. They make a full shoulder turn and the hips turn less. With Mariana it’s the opposite. She gets the hip around, but not the shoulders.

There is one other element in her preparation which seems somewhat artifical, or at least is timed incorrectly. This is the coiling on the outside or left leg. Mariana has a good step out to her right as part of the turn.

But she takes a second step after the turn and then goes way down in the knee, possibly even too far. If you look at good players the step out and knee bend are continuous, and that is what I think Mariana should do. Drop her weight over the outside foot as she steps to her right.

If you look at top players you see that once the knee bend starts in the loading phase it’s continuous. The bend doesn’t start and stop and start again. So she should try to smooth that out, even it means not going down quite so far.

Forward Swing

So much for the preparation. Now let’s look at the forward swing. And obviously it is related to what comes before. What happens in the preparation determines what is possible as the player swings forward to contact.

For Mariana, the super wide base with the fully open stance appears to have a negative influence on the forward path of the racket. Given the position of the feet, the torso can rotate more around from the player’s right to left, and also probably rotate faster.

But I think this affects the path of the racket—makes it come around too far too fast--and keeps it from extending as well as it could.

The idea on a basic forehand drive is to reach an extension point at around eye level and with good spacing. This should be one to two feet from the torso when the racket hand reaches the left edge of the player’s torso.

If the torso rotates too far too soon, it pulls the racket off this path and limits the player’s ability to maximize velocity in the basic drive. This is what is happening to Mariana.

Look at the maximum extension point on her forehand. On a basic drive, the angle of the forearm should be about 30 to 45 degrees to the court. Mariana’s arm however has come up more sharply and is virtually perpendicular to the court.

Her hitting arm is also too compressed or close to her torso. The spacing should be significantly more.

As I said, I watched her hit, and her forehand is definitely functional. The question is how she could make it more powerful and effective?

Definitely the first step would be to go way from that extreme stance. But a smaller adjustment is often more difficult than a large one. I find it’s often hard for players to move from the fully open to the semi-open stance, due to the relative similarity.

Overcompensate

So in this case I would recommend what I call an "over compensation." This is making a more extreme change than may be necessary in order to facilitate the change that is actually desired.

What I would suggest is that Mariana learn to hit from natural or square stance--at least for a period of time until she improves her technical issues. And then let it all morph to a semi-open.

Why? Because it is much easier to feel the full turn when the opposite foot comes across. This is a good reason for starting beginners with the neutral stance as well.

We have looked at the keys to a full turn many times. It’s actually one of the easiest elements to develop for players at all levels. But nonetheless out there in the world of club tennis—unfortunately— it remains a rarity, even an extreme rarity. But then most club players don’t have subscriptions to Tennisplayer…

Since Mariana has a semi-western grip, let’s use Novak Djokovic neutral stance forehand as a model for her turn. Again I think this adjustment will allow her to straighten out the alignment issues with her shoulders and hips.

Watch Djokovic’s gorgeous full shoulder turn with the left arm stretched across and pointing at the sideline. Look specifically at the angles of his shoulders and hips.

The shoulders are turned a little past perpendicular with the net. It’s harder to tell the exact angle of his hips, but they are probably 45 degrees or so.

This in my opinion is the correct relationship, compared to what we saw with Mariana who had the shoulders turned less and the hips turned as much or possibly more.

Forward Swing

Once she has improved her turn, Mariana should create a model of a new extension point for the forward swing. This is the furthest point the racket travels upwards and outwards toward the far side of the court.

Let’s use a Roger Federer forehand as a model also hitting a neutral stance. Note this finish can happen with a wiper like Federer is demonstrating, or without.

The checkpoints are as follows: Wrist at eye level. Hand coming across to the left edge of the torso. The forearm is at about a 45 degree angle. The upper arm is roughly parallel to the court surface.

Notice also the great spacing between the racket hand and the torso. It can be up to two feet depending on the size of the player, the length of the arms, etc. Federer is definitely beautifully extended on this one.

For Mariana, hitting for this extension point from a neutral stance should naturally increase her power and depth. It might feel a lot easier as well, since the racket is traveling on an arc closer to the target for a substantially greater distance than in her current swing.

Once she is comfortable, she can gradually let the stance slide toward the semi-open. This means, again, a line along the toes crosses the baseline at about a 30 to 45 degree angle.

Or not. It’ll be up to her but she may find that the neutral stance is actually more effective on many of the balls she faces. This is because, again, a neutral stance is much more natural with lower ball heights. (Click Here.) With her grip which is slightly shifted toward the semi-western, however, some version of the semi-open stance may end up being the ultimate for Mariana to develop a more aggressive and powerful forehand. Whichever way it goes, I predict this exercise of focusing on her stance and the extension point will make a big difference.