I have been frustrated with my forehand. I tried immediately relaxing my wrist on the unit turn. It resulted in being able to easily get under the ball, easily able to drive the hip, and easily able to complete the semi-circle/uncoil. Lastly, the wrist flipped. I will have to work on this because sometimes my wrist wouldn't flip because I would tighten up. I have to be conscious of the wrist flip. Even when the wrist would not flip, I still got a quality shot with top spin that I could easily place. Thank you for the wrist guidance! I did self feeds. I will try it with a ball machine.
All for this. Tennis should be about getting the most devastatingly accurate ball with as little effort as possible. That little acceleration at contact by letting the power of the racket do its job is changing my game for the better.
Thanks for the comment Barry. I have always had problems loosening up on my forehand. Every other shot in match play I can loosen up decently but my forehand has always had something against me. It would just taunt me and say "haha, you can't figure me out!" I've spent most of the past few years trying to figure out how to loosen it up and I'm finally making a break through. I've always know looseness was the way but just telling yourself to loosen up in match play does not work. I've tried loosening my shoulder, bicep, tricep, forearm and the hand. I always thought it was dangerous to loosen up the wrist. Of course, it's the wrist part that makes everything else loosen up for me! This universe really likes to make us suffer sometimes. Funny part is that my backhand is loose in matches and I'm definitely loose with the wrist but I figured out how to loosen it up with the elastic energy of the forearm. I've tried to use the elastic energy of the forearm for the forehand and it just never worked out for me. I'm glad you're feeling like you're getting results being effortless. I think for most people it's a difficult place to go with being so tense most of their tennis lives and then having that belief shattered. I'm a believer that looseness is the way! Good luck and stay loose!
Very well description .Your right .No other video descripset the topspin like that ! I have also played a lot af sqash and ther i youse the coninental grip to get the pull and flextecnich S to get effortles pover. So if I youse the hiprotation as the powerbase and arm and wrist as you described I will get a lot of effortless topspin power like Raffa and Iga S.
Thanks for the comment Olaf. Yes! You are so correct about this being like a squash shot. I use the slice squash shot when pulled out to my forehand side. It's a very effective way to defend but it's also really fun to hit! I hope this helps! Good luck and stay loose!
Hola Gene. Really enjoyable video. Appreciate time and effort put into it. Great explanation on the biomechanics of the stroke and role of the hand and body. The Spanish try to simplify things by speaking of the hand, not the wrist, although the wrist is obviously involved. They say "Move your hand through contact", which is what you have explained very well in this video. Gracias amigo. Looking forward to your next video.
Thanks for the comment Roberto. I have seen and heard about using the hand a lot from the Spanish way of teaching. I have tried it myself. I always interpreted it as loosening up the hand and I have never had great success in loosening up in match play well enough with this concept. It seems like loosening up the wrist is how I got to use the hand better in my forehand. Thanks for sharing the hand concept. I'm always open to everyone else's tennis experience and hoping it will help me as well. Good luck and stay loose!
Thanks for the comment Rudy. How did it go? I'm finding that this is the biggest change for my forehand that I've ever made for the better. I can truly say that I don't think about technique anymore. It's just happening! I never thought the day would come when it would be so automatic. Now I understand how the pros can just come out and perform so well day after day. Good luck and stay loose!
Yes. Very nice (observations and notes/tips). Just one little caveat/correction/question (as you will): The wrist being lose will "snap" through the contact/strike zone from the full extension to the neutral "aligned" position after the impact. The flexion part ("cocking the wrist") is a product of more or less active /intentional flexion of the wrist, as far as I can see. (Or then you just have learned some other loose technique to flex the wrist passively!). But then again, you don't have to flex the wrist; the neutral position will do. Anyway, these fundamental "simple" ideas and your dialogue style demonstration of them (challenging the watcher to try and feel it by himself) is once again guaranteed Gene Molina quality, simply a didactic master-piece. The loose wrist is pivotal to all and everything we want from our Fed-esque forehand. But by the same token, the well-timed internal shoulder rotation might also have a function in adding topspin to the equation. They work together in a loose swing, as if enhancing each other. And another "caveat"; with this setting, a loose wrist and arm, one should get the maximum racquet head speed (in the contact) and that we want. It gives control as well as spin and speed, looseness gives control at the end of the day, yes - but the dwelling time of a ball in the string bed actually decreases as a function of racquet head speed: more we have this coveted racquet head speed, shorter time the ball stays in the strings, not the other way round, as we might intuitively assume. At least, this is what some physical experiments on the issue do imply! - Okay, stay loose and play the ball, not the opponent, with free shots and free mind!
Jack is back! Thanks for the comment as only you can deliver with such word mastery. It's all coming down to letting go more and more. I've definitely tried to loosen the hand to get looser but it doesn't work as well as loosening up the wrist does for me at the moment. My forehand is now at a level I have only dreamed of. The next steps are to take it into competition to see if it can hold up to pressure. I've definitely done some competing with point play and I can say this has the best potential of anything that I've tried so far. It's interesting that you mention the ball stays on the strings for a shorter time than what we assume. I am definitely one to admit when I'm wrong and frequently welcome being wrong because if you're never wrong it means you're not trying hard enough. So let's say that it's not staying on the strings longer but what if it's pushing into the strings more. So if the ball gets compressed into the strings for say .1 cm with the old way of hitting with less speed because of tightness. Instead with this new increased racket speed from looseness it compresses into the strings for .2 or .3 cm. Does that make a difference? Thanks for making me look at it a different way. Good luck and stay loose!
I've tried continental grip then snap with loose wrist from base line.. It works perfectly. Never had such effortless & powerful tast flat shots with depth. The struggle I have is it works well only at low balls under conti- grip. I have to make quick decision to use conti-grip as predicting incoming is a low ball during take back. Once start taking back, if the ball bounces higher (than waist), the ball will fly floatly out of bound as I can hardly switch to eastern or semi-W to provide square/topspin contact. Otherwise, I have to move backwards to wait until the ball falls low thus hit late, though result isn't too bad. Any better tips other than "practice makes perfect"?
Thanks for the comment Desknotelan. Remember that the demonstration with continental grip here was just so you can feel the movement of your arm when hitting the forehand. You should be trying to use that feeling to swing across the ball with your eastern or semi western forehand grip. The suggestion I would make is to take the ball on the rise. You should make contact at shoulder level or lower with your regular forehand grip. Try to use the across the ball method I explain in previous videos for this. It changed my timing on the rise for sure. I don't back up much anymore because I can just take everything on the rise and not miss time the shot. It was definitely the most difficult shot for me to learn other than the kick serve. Let me know if that helps. Good luck and stay loose!
Hi Gene, Thanks again for another very enlightening concept. Since I incorporated it into my forehand swing, I’ve been hitting the ball with a lot more spin, and I really like the triggering effect of the wrist snap. How ever great I feel hitting from the baseline, I’ve had less satisfying results when moving into the court or trying to flatten out high balls. Also, it seems it takes a lot more time to complete the swing. Lastly, I’ve been less successful with my backhand when I try to do the wrist snapping. Do the same principles apply for the BH as for the FH? I look forward to hearing from you.
Thanks for the comments and question Alastair. I'm glad you're feeling the looseness that can come from this concept. Moving in requires the across the ball method more than the spin method. Once a ball is short, now you need to clear the net by less height and the hitting across the ball method is the way to go. You can still add spin to this if you want but it's more across for sure. The backhand is a different animal. I found my looseness with my one hander through stretching my forearm forward so it would drop back and stretch down so that then it would be taken by my hip rotation to contact. If you have a two handed backhand then you need to practice the snap of the wrist method with your left arm(if you're a righty, right arm if you're a lefty). Let me know if that helps. Good luck and stay loose!
Thanks Gene for getting back to me. I’ve been trying out different swings. Of all the pieces you’ve been teaching, I find the out-to-the-left concept very successful, especially in terms of power. When I put it into practice I try to keep my head down so this helps me to hit the ball as it comes off the ground. It doesn’t work on every shot, and that’s one my biggest issues: finding the right swing according to the type of ball I get. Anyway, thanks again for your valuable videos and your relevant comments. Take care!
Thanks for the comment and question nice-elvztrip8812. I get anxiety when it comes to social media. I like to share my ideas and then hide for a while to decompress. Hopefully you're still working on your tennis. I should be coming out with some new videos on the forehand and backhand soon. Good luck and stay loose!
I don't mean to spoil the party. But, I think this video is spreading bad information. The wrist is passive just before, during and after contact. Topspin comes primarily from the swing path which is low to high with a level or very slightly closed face at contact. the wrist doesn't move or release until the ball is long gone. Trying to use the small wrist muscles to add power or spin is a fools errand. Timing an incoming ball with a wrist snap is near impossible and will lead to many unforced errors. Also, trying to snap the wrist at contact can lead to wrist injuries. Watch high speed video of Federer and Nadal and you will see the wrist is laid back before, during and after contact. They release the wrist as a natural part of the follow through after the ball is long gone off their strings. The majority of high level coaches do not teach "wrist snap" or an active wrist at contact.
Thanks for the comment USJoe7. There is no party to spoil. We are just exploring and reporting information. I understand that the typical way of understanding a tennis stroke has been explained the same way over and over again. I'm just reporting what I've experienced. You are right that the wrist is passive. I don't believe I have explained that you should be using the wrist on purpose in any of these videos. I've definitely explained what the movements are but do not believe we can move the wrist on purpose. If we were to use the wrist, we would be tensing it up which would not let us get the snap. I've been practicing this looseness with the wrist for quite some time now and my forehand has never been better. It's never been this loose in match play before and I'm loving it. I can never go back to the tightness I used to experience now that I have seen the light. I still have much to explain about how I got here. Hopefully I can get some more information up for everyone to explore. Good luck and stay loose!
라켓헤드의 무게만을 이용해서 손목을 수동적으로 사용할 수도 있습니다. 그러나 그 경우에도 손목의 움직임은 동영상에서 설명한 바와 같이 움직여야 합니다. 그리고 손목이 수동적으로 움직이는 경우보다 능동적으로 움직이는 경우 파워와 컨트롤 모두 좋아질 수 있습니다. 저는 페더러나 나달도 손목을 능동적으로 사용하고 있다고 생각합니다.
Thanks for the comment cmhtc69. It's definitely a theory that has to be proven. Hopefully this gets some people talking and trying to see if this is what happens or if it's something else. Either way, we have to provide theories to be proven wrong or right to get to the next part of the learning process. Good luck and stay loose!
This is the first time I’ve ever seen anyone demonstrate the mechanics and positioning of the wrist !! So helpful, thanks.
I have been frustrated with my forehand. I tried immediately relaxing my wrist on the unit turn. It resulted in being able to easily get under the ball, easily able to drive the hip, and easily able to complete the semi-circle/uncoil. Lastly, the wrist flipped. I will have to work on this because sometimes my wrist wouldn't flip because I would tighten up. I have to be conscious of the wrist flip. Even when the wrist would not flip, I still got a quality shot with top spin that I could easily place. Thank you for the wrist guidance! I did self feeds. I will try it with a ball machine.
All for this. Tennis should be about getting the most devastatingly accurate ball with as little effort as possible. That little acceleration at contact by letting the power of the racket do its job is changing my game for the better.
Thanks for the comment Barry. I have always had problems loosening up on my forehand. Every other shot in match play I can loosen up decently but my forehand has always had something against me. It would just taunt me and say "haha, you can't figure me out!" I've spent most of the past few years trying to figure out how to loosen it up and I'm finally making a break through. I've always know looseness was the way but just telling yourself to loosen up in match play does not work. I've tried loosening my shoulder, bicep, tricep, forearm and the hand. I always thought it was dangerous to loosen up the wrist. Of course, it's the wrist part that makes everything else loosen up for me! This universe really likes to make us suffer sometimes. Funny part is that my backhand is loose in matches and I'm definitely loose with the wrist but I figured out how to loosen it up with the elastic energy of the forearm. I've tried to use the elastic energy of the forearm for the forehand and it just never worked out for me.
I'm glad you're feeling like you're getting results being effortless. I think for most people it's a difficult place to go with being so tense most of their tennis lives and then having that belief shattered. I'm a believer that looseness is the way! Good luck and stay loose!
Very well description .Your right .No other video descripset the topspin like that ! I have also played a lot af sqash and ther i youse the coninental grip to get the pull and flextecnich S
to get effortles pover. So if I youse the hiprotation as the powerbase and arm and wrist as you described I will get a lot of effortless topspin power like Raffa and Iga S.
Thanks for the comment Olaf. Yes! You are so correct about this being like a squash shot. I use the slice squash shot when pulled out to my forehand side. It's a very effective way to defend but it's also really fun to hit! I hope this helps! Good luck and stay loose!
Hola Gene. Really enjoyable video. Appreciate time and effort put into it. Great explanation on the biomechanics of the stroke and role of the hand and body. The Spanish try to simplify things by speaking of the hand, not the wrist, although the wrist is obviously involved. They say "Move your hand through contact", which is what you have explained very well in this video. Gracias amigo. Looking forward to your next video.
Thanks for the comment Roberto. I have seen and heard about using the hand a lot from the Spanish way of teaching. I have tried it myself. I always interpreted it as loosening up the hand and I have never had great success in loosening up in match play well enough with this concept. It seems like loosening up the wrist is how I got to use the hand better in my forehand. Thanks for sharing the hand concept. I'm always open to everyone else's tennis experience and hoping it will help me as well. Good luck and stay loose!
Thanks Gene(ius) , tomorrow I will use it. It will take time to succeed but it is a great theory that deserves to be put in practice.
Thanks for the comment Rudy. How did it go? I'm finding that this is the biggest change for my forehand that I've ever made for the better. I can truly say that I don't think about technique anymore. It's just happening! I never thought the day would come when it would be so automatic. Now I understand how the pros can just come out and perform so well day after day. Good luck and stay loose!
Hello coach, thank you so much for this great explanation.
Im wondering.. can I apply it on backhand too?
Yes. Very nice (observations and notes/tips). Just one little caveat/correction/question (as you will): The wrist being lose will "snap" through the contact/strike zone from the full extension to the neutral "aligned" position after the impact. The flexion part ("cocking the wrist") is a product of more or less active /intentional flexion of the wrist, as far as I can see. (Or then you just have learned some other loose technique to flex the wrist passively!). But then again, you don't have to flex the wrist; the neutral position will do. Anyway, these fundamental "simple" ideas and your dialogue style demonstration of them (challenging the watcher to try and feel it by himself) is once again guaranteed Gene Molina quality, simply a didactic master-piece. The loose wrist is pivotal to all and everything we want from our Fed-esque forehand. But by the same token, the well-timed internal shoulder rotation might also have a function in adding topspin to the equation. They work together in a loose swing, as if enhancing each other. And another "caveat"; with this setting, a loose wrist and arm, one should get the maximum racquet head speed (in the contact) and that we want. It gives control as well as spin and speed, looseness gives control at the end of the day, yes - but the dwelling time of a ball in the string bed actually decreases as a function of racquet head speed: more we have this coveted racquet head speed, shorter time the ball stays in the strings, not the other way round, as we might intuitively assume. At least, this is what some physical experiments on the issue do imply! - Okay, stay loose and play the ball, not the opponent, with free shots and free mind!
Jack is back! Thanks for the comment as only you can deliver with such word mastery. It's all coming down to letting go more and more. I've definitely tried to loosen the hand to get looser but it doesn't work as well as loosening up the wrist does for me at the moment. My forehand is now at a level I have only dreamed of. The next steps are to take it into competition to see if it can hold up to pressure. I've definitely done some competing with point play and I can say this has the best potential of anything that I've tried so far.
It's interesting that you mention the ball stays on the strings for a shorter time than what we assume. I am definitely one to admit when I'm wrong and frequently welcome being wrong because if you're never wrong it means you're not trying hard enough. So let's say that it's not staying on the strings longer but what if it's pushing into the strings more. So if the ball gets compressed into the strings for say .1 cm with the old way of hitting with less speed because of tightness. Instead with this new increased racket speed from looseness it compresses into the strings for .2 or .3 cm. Does that make a difference? Thanks for making me look at it a different way. Good luck and stay loose!
I've tried continental grip then snap with loose wrist from base line.. It works perfectly. Never had such effortless & powerful tast flat shots with depth. The struggle I have is it works well only at low balls under conti- grip. I have to make quick decision to use conti-grip as predicting incoming is a low ball during take back. Once start taking back, if the ball bounces higher (than waist), the ball will fly floatly out of bound as I can hardly switch to eastern or semi-W to provide square/topspin contact. Otherwise, I have to move backwards to wait until the ball falls low thus hit late, though result isn't too bad. Any better tips other than "practice makes perfect"?
Thanks for the comment Desknotelan. Remember that the demonstration with continental grip here was just so you can feel the movement of your arm when hitting the forehand. You should be trying to use that feeling to swing across the ball with your eastern or semi western forehand grip. The suggestion I would make is to take the ball on the rise. You should make contact at shoulder level or lower with your regular forehand grip. Try to use the across the ball method I explain in previous videos for this. It changed my timing on the rise for sure. I don't back up much anymore because I can just take everything on the rise and not miss time the shot. It was definitely the most difficult shot for me to learn other than the kick serve. Let me know if that helps. Good luck and stay loose!
Perfect video. Just one point, actualy the hip movement creates raquet lag, thats why turning the hips first is so important
Hi Gene,
Thanks again for another very enlightening concept. Since I incorporated it into my forehand swing, I’ve been hitting the ball with a lot more spin, and I really like the triggering effect of the wrist snap. How ever great I feel hitting from the baseline, I’ve had less satisfying results when moving into the court or trying to flatten out high balls. Also, it seems it takes a lot more time to complete the swing.
Lastly, I’ve been less successful with my backhand when I try to do the wrist snapping. Do the same principles apply for the BH as for the FH?
I look forward to hearing from you.
Thanks for the comments and question Alastair. I'm glad you're feeling the looseness that can come from this concept.
Moving in requires the across the ball method more than the spin method. Once a ball is short, now you need to clear the net by less height and the hitting across the ball method is the way to go. You can still add spin to this if you want but it's more across for sure.
The backhand is a different animal. I found my looseness with my one hander through stretching my forearm forward so it would drop back and stretch down so that then it would be taken by my hip rotation to contact. If you have a two handed backhand then you need to practice the snap of the wrist method with your left arm(if you're a righty, right arm if you're a lefty). Let me know if that helps. Good luck and stay loose!
Thanks Gene for getting back to me. I’ve been trying out different swings. Of all the pieces you’ve been teaching, I find the out-to-the-left concept very successful, especially in terms of power. When I put it into practice I try to keep my head down so this helps me to hit the ball as it comes off the ground. It doesn’t work on every shot, and that’s one my biggest issues: finding the right swing according to the type of ball I get. Anyway, thanks again for your valuable videos and your relevant comments. Take care!
Hello coach how are you now? Why you stop uploading videos? I'm your fan, I'm from Philippines 🇵🇭
Thanks for the comment and question nice-elvztrip8812. I get anxiety when it comes to social media. I like to share my ideas and then hide for a while to decompress. Hopefully you're still working on your tennis. I should be coming out with some new videos on the forehand and backhand soon. Good luck and stay loose!
Don’t turn your shoulder too much, keeping the stability
I don't mean to spoil the party. But, I think this video is spreading bad information. The wrist is passive just before, during and after contact. Topspin comes primarily from the swing path which is low to high with a level or very slightly closed face at contact. the wrist doesn't move or release until the ball is long gone. Trying to use the small wrist muscles to add power or spin is a fools errand. Timing an incoming ball with a wrist snap is near impossible and will lead to many unforced errors. Also, trying to snap the wrist at contact can lead to wrist injuries. Watch high speed video of Federer and Nadal and you will see the wrist is laid back before, during and after contact. They release the wrist as a natural part of the follow through after the ball is long gone off their strings. The majority of high level coaches do not teach "wrist snap" or an active wrist at contact.
Thanks for the comment USJoe7. There is no party to spoil. We are just exploring and reporting information. I understand that the typical way of understanding a tennis stroke has been explained the same way over and over again. I'm just reporting what I've experienced. You are right that the wrist is passive. I don't believe I have explained that you should be using the wrist on purpose in any of these videos. I've definitely explained what the movements are but do not believe we can move the wrist on purpose. If we were to use the wrist, we would be tensing it up which would not let us get the snap. I've been practicing this looseness with the wrist for quite some time now and my forehand has never been better. It's never been this loose in match play before and I'm loving it. I can never go back to the tightness I used to experience now that I have seen the light. I still have much to explain about how I got here. Hopefully I can get some more information up for everyone to explore. Good luck and stay loose!
라켓헤드의 무게만을 이용해서 손목을 수동적으로 사용할 수도 있습니다. 그러나 그 경우에도 손목의 움직임은 동영상에서 설명한 바와 같이 움직여야 합니다. 그리고 손목이 수동적으로 움직이는 경우보다 능동적으로 움직이는 경우 파워와 컨트롤 모두 좋아질 수 있습니다. 저는 페더러나 나달도 손목을 능동적으로 사용하고 있다고 생각합니다.
Do not agree. Look at Federer or Nadal. No flexion, no radial movement.
Thanks for the comment cmhtc69. It's definitely a theory that has to be proven. Hopefully this gets some people talking and trying to see if this is what happens or if it's something else. Either way, we have to provide theories to be proven wrong or right to get to the next part of the learning process. Good luck and stay loose!
They’re still letting the wrist go through contact though. Otherwise they would have very little racket head speed.
First!
Thanks for the first comment again Akif!
like