Service: The slightly different tip for a better forehand

What should the mean tennis player rely on, if not on his forehand? If there is a problem in this respect, we have a few tips for you.

“Thomas, you have to hit the ball earlier on the forehand. The club surface must be under the ball.” As a trainer, you always refine the technical subtleties. For many players, the forehand is the paradise stroke and at the same time the great strength in their own game. If nothing works in the current match, then the forehand works. Those who have been abandoned by all good and evil spirits can rely on their forehand in precisely these situations. The technical processes are so firmly installed in the subconscious that the forehand can be played almost thoughtlessly from every imaginable angle.

But what happens if this self-conception suddenly goes astray? When it seems bewitched, and the forehand goes those two annoying inches beside or behind the line? At first you look at your strokes in disbelief, remain helpless for a short moment, with your hands leaning against your hips, standing in the semi-field and asking the tennis god for advice. But you don’t get an answer. Unfortunately, it is not always a question of technology when the forehand switches to “stand-by” mode.

A short hesitation in the entire movement sequence is sufficient to place the forehand two centimetres beside the line. A second of uncertainty, of doubt, can make the lightest forehand in the match the most complicated of the day. Sometimes the search for the technical error is like the search for the energy bar in the messy tennis bag. The cause of the error is not always the late point of impact or the long drop of the ball.

The actual cause is buried even deeper: in one’s own self-confidence in the respective game situation. If you want to play a placed forehand with low self-confidence, you will turn your back to your opponent in most situations. Remember: always judge your forehand according to the current state of your self-confidence.

During a match you have to be smart and act clever. Clever is who can assess himself correctly and make the best decisions on the basis of this assessment. You are insecure, nervous and hardly dare to reach out when the ball flies towards you? Most players then try to make the point as fast as possible and take a higher risk – especially with the forehand.

Then there is a cycle of minor mistakes, anger, more minor mistakes and ultimately pure frustration. The forehand was not adapted to the measure of self-confidence. Playing risky forehands with little self-confidence rarely works. But what works better? Restoring confidence. And you can only do this by playing more strokes and building on that more safety. If you’re insecure, and your confidence is on your way to the basement, play the forehand higher, at a slower pace and with more spin. Use the space offered by cross-beats to get your confidence back out of the basement.

You don’t have much confidence in yourself:

– Play more cross

– Speed down

– More Spin

– Avoid playing close to the lines.

If you play with more confidence again:

– Wait for the right moments to play longline

– Increase speed again

– Play closer to the lines again

Learn to assess your confidence and you will play tennis more safely and successfully. Especially with the forehand.