Follow Through

I had been hitting my forehand in something of a classical manner, where the racquet would end up pointing forward after I hit the shot, but if you look at any photograph of any top pro hitting their forehand, whether it be Nadal or Roddick or Agassi or Federer, their follow through is amazing.

Literally the racquet will be either above their left shoulder or somewhere above their left arm. Indeed, there's a bit of wrist pronation going on.

Vic Braden once said that what you do after you hit the ball doesn't matter. He claimed the racquet can be all over the place. But that's much like saying a baseball player hitting a ball can do anything after they hit the ball. Indeed, they can't. Baseball hitters have so much momentum that the bat keeps moving far after they hit it.

You also see this with American football players when they run to tackle a quarterback. They want to hurt the quarterback so much that they run full-speed. However, an astute quarterback typically just takes a few steps forward, and the would-be tackler, running full-bore, completely misses his target. He can't adjust that quickly if he runs that hard and that fast.

Similarly, to get power, you have to really swing fast, and this motion needs to go somewhere, so it follows through over to the other side of the body. You see nearly all modern players striking the ball with tremendous follow through. None of that compact McEnroe shot making. It's especially important when you want to generate a lot of spin.

I find that thinking more about the follow through has helped me keep power on shots that are on the run, when I'm likely to be more defensive. You have to give the racquet a pretty good swing, and let the momentum carry the racquet on.

(And I haven't begun to talk about feet position, hip, shoulder, etc).