Photo Study of James Blake's Strokes

When James Blake hits his flatter forehands, the ball probably has as much forward air speed as any player produces on a groundstroke, in large part because almost all of his swing speed gets converted into forward ball speed. Only a small portion goes into brushing up the back of the ball to produce topspin. Whether he's about to hit relatively flat or not, James usually sets his racquet back much as you see here, pointing it behind him at a height a little below that of the ball. This semi-open stance is also his usual. It gives him a nice mixture of rotational and linear power.