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Tennis - The Forehand Drive
The tennis forehand drive is the opening offensive move in tennis.
There are certain rules of footwork that apply to all shots including the
forehand drive. To reach a ball that is a short distance away, advance the foot
that is away from the shot and swing your body into position to hit. If a ball
is too close to the body pull back the foot closest to the shot and drop the
weight back on it, this should put you in position for the stroke. When hurried
and it is not possible to change the foot position just put your the weight on
the foot closest to the ball.
The receiver should always wait for the service while facing the net. Once the
forehand drive has started on the way to court the receiver should immeadiately
get into a position to receive it with the body at right angles to the net.
The forehand drive is made up of one continuous swing of the racquet that can
actually be divided into three parts:
1. The portion of the swing behind the body, which determines the speed of the
stroke.
2. That portion immediately in front of the body which determines the direction
and in conjunction with weight shift from one foot to the other the pace of the
shot.
3. The portion beyond the body comparable to the golfer's "follow through,"
determines spin, top or slice, put to the ball.
The hitting plane for all ground strokes should be between the knees and
shoulders with the most favorable plane being on a line with the waist.
Never step away from the ball in driving cross court...always throw your weight
in the shot.
The forehand drive from the left court is identically the same for the straight
shot down your opponent's forehand. For the cross drive to his backhand, you
must conceive of a diagonal line from your backhand corner to his, and thus make
your stroke with the footwork as if this imaginary line were the side-line. In
other words, line up your body along your shot and make your regular drive. Do
not try to "spoon" the ball over with a delayed wrist motion, as it tends to
slide the ball off your racquet.
All drives should be made with a stiff, locked wrist. There is no wrist movement
in a true drive. Top spin is imparted by the arm, not the wrist.
The backhand follows closely the principles of the forehand drive except that
the weight shifts a moment sooner. The ball should be met in front of the right
leg instead of the belt buckle. The tendency in backhand shots is to slice them
out of the side-line and this will pull the ball cross court causing an error.
The racquet head must be slightly in advance of the hand to aid in bringing the
ball in the court. Do not try for too much top spin on your backhand.
You should never favour one aspect of your game in defence of a weakness.
Develop both your backhand and forehand drive and do not avoid your backhand
particularly in return of service. Doing so will certainly open your court to
the opponent.
Do not develop one favorite shot and play nothing but that. If you have a fair
cross-court drive do not use it in practice, instead try to develop an equally
fine straight shot.
The forehand drive should have as much depth as possible. The average drive
should hit behind the service-line and within 3 feet of the baseline. A
cross-court drive should be shorter than a straight drive so as to increase the
possible angle. Do not always play one length drives beacuse you will become too
prdictable. Try to vary your distance according to your opponents skills. You
should drive deep against a baseliner but short against a net player.
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