I’m excited to share our 1st blog in a series of 12 blogs over the next year aimed at supporting junior tennis players to raise the level of their game. Let’s start with my suggestions on drills and tips to help players develop their forehand shot.
Court Positioning And Targets
In image 1 below, the “X” is where I would like the player to start, which is a central position on the court behind the baseline. I recommend a coach or partner to feed the ball such that the player moves 2–3 steps to their right to make contact with the ball to hit their forehand (for lefties, it would be the opposite direction). Now, there are 3 zones to which I recommend players develop accurate forehand shots with lots of repetition.
Drills And Target Zones
The first drill includes hitting shots to Zone 1 or the deep cross-court area denoted by the green circle with the number 1 which is past the service line. Also, note the trajectory of the shot where I recommend for the ball to bounce and get as close to the apex of where the singles side line touches the baseline. This is a sharp cross-court shot that the player must be able to execute to get their opponent off the center of the court.
Zone 2 is the deep down the line shot. Notice the green circle denotes the landing point for the ball and the trajectory is a straight line. Improving the down-the-line will enable the player to finish points faster as the distance between the contact point (red circle on near side) and zone 2 is shorter versus the former and zone 1.
Zone 3 is a short cross-court shot which is a great shot to use to pull your opponent way off the court or as a passing shot when your opponent comes in to the net.
Also, one additional tip to create deeper focus in these drills is to set a measurable target for yourself such as “5 in a row” to a specific zone. Once you achieve this target, raise the bar and challenge others in your group. You can even play games such as first to 11 points where a player earns a point every time they hit a shot in their target zone.
Check out my video on Developing The Forehand on our YouTube channel where I demonstrate the above drills and share technical tips to improve the shot.
Best,
Harsh
About Tenicity and Enerzal’s Partnership:
Tenicity and Enerzal have joined in a partnership to deliver high quality instructional content to support tennis players.