Learn a More Powerful Forehand -- Like Fernando Gonzales's
Wednesday January 24, 2007
Fernando Gonzales has reached the semifinals of the Australian Open largely on the strength of one of the best forehands in tennis, which he hits with an exceptional mix of power, topspin, and often incredible angles. Fernando's forehand swing is bigger and faster than the one illustrated in this step-by-step, photo-based lesson. Learning this somewhat less ferocious version will be an easy, yet major step toward having your own huge forehand.
Comments
it taght me in a way. the way u worded it was hard for me to understand.. i would get it more if you showed a video on what you just said.
Hi Lauren,
I’m sorry you found the step-by-step hard to understand. Sometimes seeing the flow of the stroke as you can in a video does help. Try saving each of the photos in the step-by-step article into a folder on your computer. Name them 1.jpg, 2.jpg, etc. so that they’ll appear in the right order when you open the first photo and then click on the NEXT button in your pioture viewer rapidly enough to see the stroke much like a slow-motion video. I try this out with all of my stoke photo sequences. It works surprisingly well.
JC
yes lets follow how gonzales palys & get beat by a 200 + ranked player in the 1st round of us open
I feel that you use too much of your arm on the stroke and not enough hip rotation with the shoulder and arm coming into play. I like your open stance and the way you have the racquet back without doing the full loop thus ensuring your timing is correct.
So, it might be difficult to grasp the details in this explanation. It might be because you NEED already to know the basics of a forehand to understand. However, it is still true that Gonzales’ tremendous forehand is produced by : (1) We are all taught to make a C-backswing. His backswing is cut at the top, so the top of the C is taken away. This saves time. (2) Although he saves time by cutting the top of his C in the backswing and thereby saves time, he brings his racquet further back than many others (a mini version of the swedish Robin Soederling). This will give more power/thrust, but it the time won in cutting the C in the backswing is lost here. (3) He uses his legs (with bend and rotation – in a half open stand – 45 degrees ca.) to store energy – once driving forward, this energy is translated to racquet speed.
This is the clue. This is what fits Gonzales’ style. The problem is that all his focus is on his forehand – that is why you see opponents trying to hit on his backhand, and often very wide – he then often returns with a backhand slice. If the return is not so wide Gonzales has a great one handed backhand at his disposal. But notice that he often tries to hit an inside-out forehand no matter what. And this makes his shots not so varied as e.g. Federer. And this is why Gonzales will never be ranked no 1.