The Short Forehand – How To Stop Making Unforced Errors
Man o man, how crazy is this short forehand?
You play all the right shots from your baseline and eventually produce a short ball from your opponent that lands right around the “T” and just sits up there begging you to crunch it off for a glorious winner.
That’s right, you’re about to be the man (gals, you know what I mean)…
And you’re right, you hustle on up, your salivating at this put-away chance, and you completely bury your shot into the middle of the net.
Or way deep, or wide, or somewhere other than your intended target.
Big time unforced error and you feel like an idiot.
And that feeling carries over to future points and it’s a big time downward spiral.
And after an opponent misses that short forehand, I love it when I hear them say, “Oh man, I had you…”.
Uh huh, you sure did, but that’s game thank you very much.
Look, this short forehand is NOT an easy shot. There’s a lot that can go wrong.
You’ve got no pace (ball speed coming into your racket) that you can work with, and so if you want to add any pace to your shot you have to perform two functions that take a lot of racket skill.
That’s providing racket head speed that produces shot direction and depth control.
What’s the #1 mistake we make on this short forehand?
It’s mostly with our feet as we play this shot. We tend to stop and stay stopped as we swing through the ball, and it’s really tough to control that shot from a stationary position.
Most of us need incoming pace to be able to hit with pace and maintain control.
So, what’s the cure for those short no nothing forehands where we think we should be able to end the point?
It’s first of all a mindset, this is never a one shot opportunity. It may end up that way, but you’ve always got to think that this is going to be at least a two shot sequence.
As set up to play an approach shot and then see what happens.
What do we do on approach shots with our feet? That’s right, we get set up prior to contact to be able to move through our approach shot in order to have a good court position for our opponent’s next shot.
Even if you play a good shot without moving your feet, if your opponent anticipates where your shot is going and can then get there and make a decent play on your shot, because you haven’t moved through your shot, you’re still stuck slightly behind the “T”, and that’s not a great spot to be when your opponent is now receiving your so-called big time put-away.
Check out this short video clip and see if you can relate to some or all of it.
So, obviously we need to be thinking two shots to be able to have better stroke mechanics but to also be able to be in the right place at the right time just in case our opponent guesses where we’re going to play our shot off of that short forehand.
Speaking of forehands, if you haven’t done so already, pick up your copy of my detailed DVD & instantly downloadable lesson on the forehand groundstroke you can make sure you’ve got the perfect stroke mechanics to handle not only this short ball but also those forehands when you’re back on the baseline.
You can easily add this lesson’s instructional videos to your computer, video iPod, iPhone, and other portable video player. That’s right, you can take this lesson to the practice and match court with you.
Grab your Forehand Lesson copy now – click here, or better yet, do what Mark S. from Milwaukee did today. Here’s what Mark wrote to me…
“Brent, I want to get the complete lesson portfolio. I have been talking with many people here in Milw. Giving out your webtennis.net information. Hopefully some will sign up.
How could I pay and have the initial lesson fee go toward the complete lesson plan fee. Any other discounts, possible would work for me, up to you, though.
The people I am playing with, see a dramatic difference in my play with just the serve & volley and 1/2 volley lesson work I have done.
Thanks, Mark.”
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So, I’m happy to make the same offer to you that I did to Mark today. If you’ve recently bought one of my lessons, I’ll be happy to refund that lesson if you want to pick up an All Lessons Package at a 4o% discount.
Once you purchase your All Lessons Package at the 40% discount, just send me an email to remind me to refund your recently purchased single lesson.
Often, the opponent who is in trouble tries to push the ball to my backhand, figuring that way I won’t be able to do as much with it. Indeed, If I try to run around it, the ball might have fallen lower and a bit deeper by the time I’ve gotten there — and in any case if he now guesses right I’m out of position for the next shot.
I could never figure out how to hit that one-(or two-)shot short high put-away using a one-handed backhand. That’s one of the reasons I developed a more ambidextrous style, so that I usually hit one-handed extreme-eastern forehands (grip like Bill Tilden or Pete Sampras) off either side.
Totally agree with you Brent. As a matter of fact, it happens to me all the time, but i’ve sent so many balls out, that in the end you get it, now i never go for the winner, cause the ball is completely dead when it comes to you, if you focus you eyes you’ll even see that has none or little spin. Because of that now i’m very much careful with those shots, it takes a lot of effort to put some pace on that ball, and it’s better to play safe to any corner and finish the point in the net, at least, that works for me.
Thanks a lot for the Tip Brent. Take care.
Brent,
The forehand sitter video does not show up on my mac. Can I DL it somewhere?
Thanks for giving us permission to take this shot seriously rather than thinking it’s a no brainer. How much of the problem with this shot is that it is completely different from the shots that players at my level often hit? It cries out for more pace than our usual approach which we hit off a short ball but not the high sitter, we don’t have as much room to work with to bring the ball down if we hit with our usual topspin ground stroke, and we often approach it from straight behind rather than the side because we are running up to it. You often emphasize spacing to the ball, and I think this may be where I mess it up most often. Add a little shoulder tension to bad footwork, and I chum that shot every time.
David – Dallas
And there you have it folks…
You’ve described this situation perfectly David.
I can tell you all day long what to do with this shot, but if you aren’t spaced correctly when you arrive to the ball, forget it…
Brent
Try going straight to the YouTube feed over at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aq0fU8nnSOs
Brent
Practice this shot. Get a practice partner and have him/her feed you this shot for 10 minutes.
Don’t look at your result too early. Just get the right spacing, get an on balance contact point, and relax through this shot as you keep your eyes trained on the point of contact after you’ve felt it leave the racket.
Most of us panic a bit on this shot. Take your time. You’ll be fine if you have to play a volley or an over head for the next shot.
Brent – 40% Discount On All Of Brent’s Lessons
Brent
I gotta see this on video Frank to be able to know how to reply…
If you can, send me a short video clip, nothing fancy and not longer than 10 seconds, to brent@webtennis.net.
Brent
Great job with this post! This is extremely valuable information. I bookmarked your blog and will definitely come back for more help.