The Mystery of the Continental Grip
Look at the two grips above. By some definitions, both can be considered the “continental” grip. Both have the index-knuckle on bevel 2 (marked by the yellow line), and yet, in spite of that,...
A Primer on the One-Handed Backhand
The one handed backhand is a simpler stroke than the forehand. If that doesn’t seem accurate to you, chances are you’re executing the shot incorrectly. There are only a few fundamental tenets of the...
The Serving Throw Vector
The serve is a throw. The serving motion in tennis utilizes the exact same throw chain as all the throwing motions across sports. The baseball pitch, the volleyball spike, the NFL touchdown pass –...
All Forehands Are Inside-Out Forehands
I work with a 10-year-old girl named Anna who presents with an interesting issue. When she’s pulled out wide on the forehand, her stroke looks great, but when the ball comes right to her,...
Flat, Spin, and Everything in Between
The primary way you adjust your forehand is by altering the tilt of your torso through contact. As we’ve discussed before, there exists only a small range of optimal movement patterns that allow for...
The Queen of Clay
Back in 2005, the 19-year-old Rafael Nadal won his very first French Open title, beating then world #1 Roger Federer in 4 sets along the way. Last year (2020), at the same tournament, something...
Compact, Efficient, Elite – Aslan Karatsev’s Versatile Forehand
In almost every article, I say something along the lines of “lead with the hips” or “power comes from the hips, not the arm,” but how do you actually put that concept into practice?...
Free the Feet, Free the Hips
Whenever possible, you want to power your forehand using both of the primary engines that accelerate the stroke: positive balance and rotation. Lean into the shot, ending with your weight deeper into the court...
How to Hit Really Really Hard (Without Missing)
At the start of our forehand power checklist, we distinguished between effortless power and effortful power. Obviously, in order to hit really, really hard, you have to use both, but the manner by which...
Which Forehand Stance is Best?
The following is an excerpt from the book The Fault Tolerant Forehand, which will be released on April 15th! Stance is similar to grip – it doesn’t matter that much. With an open, semi-open,...