How To Hit The Perfect Flat Tennis Forehand In 3 Simple Steps.

Hey everyone Simon here from Top Tennis Training and in this video I want to help you to hit the perfect flat forehand in three simple steps. Now these three steps will work regardless of your grip. You could be using the eastern forehand, the semi-western or the full western grip. However if you are someone who's using that full western it becomes much harder for you to flatten out that shot but the steps will still have an impact on your game. However if you're using the semi-western or the eastern it'll be much easier for you to flatten out these shots and you'll really see the difference when you use these three steps. So step number one is all about finding the right ball to actually flatten out. Too often club players will attack balls that are down below their waist level and they'll try to flatten out those balls. Now if you think about the court the first obstacle that we have to clear is a net and in order for us to flatten out a ball we need the ball to be above net level so that we can really be aggressive with that shot. Yes I can flatten out a forehand below the net level but I'll have to then lift that ball to clear the net so even though I'm hitting it flat I might not hit a lot of spin on that shot it won't have the same effect. If I'm hitting a ball that's above the net level I can be more aggressive and I can hit down in the court much more than the ball that's below the net level. So the first step is looking for the correct ball to attack and this means a ball that's higher than the net level. Now there are different types of balls that will be higher than the net level. Sometimes your opponent will hit a topspin almost like a moon ball it will bounce and kick up off the court. That becomes a hard ball to actually flatten out because the ball is traveling with a lot of spin and it's traveling with some pace so it's going to go through your contact zone quite quickly. However a ball that floats a ball that sits up is the ideal ball to flatten out and you'll get these type of balls mainly when your opponent is in trouble and they open the string bed so they're almost slicing that ball and just getting the ball back in court. That will sit up after the bounce and that's the type of ball that you want to be looking to attack and really flatten out. So the balls that are around shoulder level that are sitting up giving you time to attack giving you the option of hitting in different parts of that contact zone that's the perfect ball to actually flatten out. Step two is all about using the correct swing path so when we want to produce more topspin our racket is really traveling from that low to high position we're having that upward swing path so as we make contact we might be under the ball level before the contact point we're making contact somewhere around here and then we're brushing up aggressively to produce that heavy topspin. So the swing path is very much a vertical swing path yes the racket will travel forward a little bit but it's mainly a vertical swing. Now in order for us to flatten out that shot we want to have the opposite we want to have the swing more outwards towards the target. So topspin my swing might be like this so I'm going this way and with a flatter shot I want my racket to be traveling this way. The best way for you to imagine this is to imagine something like a french baguette so you have a french baguette it's quite long you have no strings in your racket now and in order for your racket to go all the way through that french baguette you have to extend out and then you can actually lift the racket up without touching the bread. It could also be a stick so a long stick and you're extending outwards this way before you actually come back into your body. So that linear swing path is what's going to help you to really flatten out that shot. So we're looking for the ball that's higher than the net level when we make contact and we're looking to go towards a target with the strings. Imagine the ball staying on the strings for as long as possible. This will really help you to feel that extension. Now it doesn't matter if you use the bent elbow or the extended elbow with both swings what you want to feel is that you're staying on the ball for longer and you're hitting through that ball before you then lift up off the shot. Now if you do have that extended arm it's much easier for you to flatten out that shot because that's your normal swing you're actually staying on the ball for much longer and then pulling off whereas if you have the bend it's a little harder and it will take some time for you to master the more linear swing path as opposed to the more vertical one. And step three is all about how we can use our body to produce that more linear swing path. So in order for us to flatten out the shot we need to stay on the ball much longer and actually go through that contact zone and the best way to do this would be with either a neutral stance or a semi-open stance. The open stance is great for producing topspin so if i want to hit a heavy aggressive topspin shot i'll use this outside leg my right leg to load and then i'll be driving off the ground with that open stance because my intention is to brush the ball as aggressively as possible it makes sense for me to use that open stance to then drive up off the ground whereas with the flat shot when i really want to be aggressive i want to get my body weight going into that ball and the easiest way for me to do this is to step forward with my left leg so i'm going into a neutral stance so this is where the left leg will be in front of the right leg if you're a right-handed player your left leg won't cross the body like so because this will block that rotation but it's in line with the right leg so in this position now i can really go forward using that body weight on the back leg to the front leg so i'm going from the back leg position my body weight is now around 60 to 70 percent on my right leg when i'm loading up and as i make contact i'll make contact down in front of me and i'll extend and i'll have that weight shift so the back leg to the front leg so i'm transferring my body weight through the contact zone and then eventually my shoulder will follow and then my hip will follow and my right foot will follow so it's going to look like this in real time i'm going here and here and i'm staying on the ball and as you can see from the side if i'm doing the open stance my contact zone's here it'll be like this but if i'm using that neutral stance to step forward now my swing path is much more linear and i'm going towards my target with the body weight which will make the shot more powerful and more aggressive the same is true for that semi-open stance if i don't have time to set up with that neutral stance or if you're using a western grip it's very hard for you to step in with that neutral stance you could also use the semi-open stance and this is where the left foot is in front of the right foot but not in line so neutral stance is here semi-open is here and then open stance is where they're roughly in the same line parallel to the baseline so i'm in that position here i'm making contact with the semi-open stance and really the focus is getting this rack ahead then my right shoulder to come through the ball followed by my hips followed by my right foot so eventually your right foot will drag behind after you make contact you're making contact this foot will then come forward and that will help you to really stay on the ball as long as possible so a quick recap step one is finding the correct ball to attack which means a ball that sits above the net level when you can actually make contact some balls will sit up but because of footwork because of where you are on the court you won't actually be able to make contact when it's higher than the net so even if the ball sits up for a brief period of time but you're not in the right position that's not the right shot to attack you're looking for that ball that's sitting up when you actually make contact step two is all about that outward swing path staying on the ball for as long as possible imagining you're going forward with your racket towards the target step number three is all about the stance and using the body to then stay on the ball so that will be either the neutral stance or the semi-open now if you've enjoyed the video give it a thumbs up subscribe to the channel and make sure you turn on that notification bell so you get our latest videos as soon as we release them if you have any videos you'd like to see from us in the near future leave a comment down below and we'll hopefully make as many as we can off those suggestions signing off Simon from TTT all the best and see you soon