The Fognini Forehand

By Jeff Counts

At Wimbledon this year Fabio Fognini took Carlos Alcaraz to five thrilling sets (click here for highlights), something that nobody saw coming. Fognini is at the very tail end of his career. At 38 years old, the Italian hadn't won an ATP Tour main draw match in nine months before stepping onto the court to face the nearly invincible 22 year old Carlos Alcaraz, fresh off his Roland Garros conquest.

Although age has clearly caught up to Fognini over the past year, anyone who has followed his career knows what a brilliant athlete he is. At 5'10, Fognini punches way above his height, with powerful, penetrating ground strokes combined with outrageous shot making. He was No. 9 in the world in 2019 and has won nine ATP singles titles, including the 2019 Monte-Carlo Masters. He has wins over Nadal (at the Monte Carlos Masters), Sasha Zverev, Juan Martin Del Potro.

I have been watching and filming Fognini over the past few years, fascinated by his ground stroke technique (and mercurial personality). After the news broke that he almost took out Alcaraz, I went to my footage, shot at 960fps, and thought it was time to break down his forehand first.

The body stores and releases energy like a whip

Fognini is very powerful and hits an incredibly heavy ball. But he combines this power with an initial whip like movement that I compare to a shark whipping it's tail to propel itself foreward. This initial whip like motion is best observed from a rear top angle which I was lucky enough to capture at 960 fps.