Forehand Lag and Snap - Tennis Forehand Lesson.

Should you snap your wrist through the contact point? Hey everyone Simon here from Top10Training and in this video we're going to cover the topic of what your wrist should be doing during the contact zone and prior to contact on your forehand. Now we've had this question pop up time and time again should I snap my wrist through the contact zone? For me when I think about someone snapping their wrist I imagine someone going from this position here to this position so they're going from the extended back position to then flexing the wrist so they're going in that position. For me that's what wrist snap is. If I think about wrist snap on the serve they'll talk about snapping the wrist so you're doing this on the serve which is something that you don't really want to be doing and the best servers in the world won't be doing that motion. What they're doing is actually using the forearm to pronate and supinate. Now on the forehand it's different because we'll have the wrist in that backwards position like so but prior to contact we have that racket lag of the racket lagging behind the wrist so the racket head is lagging behind the grip of the racket and just before contact we'll have the racket move into that slot where we can actually make contact with the ball. Now when we're making contact a lot of it will depend on your grip. If you're someone who uses a western forehand grip if I lay my wrist back all the way like so and you can see how my strings are if I make contact like this the ball would hit the ground before it even hits the service line on my own side of the court. If I'm using the semi-western I won't be able to have my wrist laid back all the way either when I make contact so it depends on the grip. Now if I use the eastern forehand grip or even more extreme almost a continental grip my wrist can be laid back all the way when I actually make contact. So I'm in that position here when I make contact. Now from this position what happens is if we study the best players in the world they're not snapping the wrist through the contact zone so what they're not doing is making contact and doing this because they'll lose control and that's a great way for you to have an injury in the wrist or in the forearm. Imagine the stress you're producing on your body by doing this on purpose during the contact point. Now yes there will be times where you see a pro maybe slapping the ball something that Kyrgios does quite often on the full run. He'll run up to the ball and he'll just slap his wrist so even though that the wrist is snapping through he's not thinking about I want to snap that wrist it's happening because his wrist is loose and he's relaxed with the forearm. Now most pros when they make contact the wrist is bent and as they brush up the ball the wrist will then go from this bent position here to then a neutral position with the windshield wiper motion. So if I start off in that position as I make contact now the wrist is coming back to a neutral position but I'm not snapping the wrist I'm not doing this with my forearm and I'm definitely not placing that stress by doing that with the racket head. So I want to feel that my wrist is relaxed when I'm making contact I want to feel that I'm loose with my muscles and this is happening because of the biomechanics of my swing. If I'm brushing the ball in order for me to brush the ball would be impossible if I didn't allow this wrist to come back to a neutral position. If I keep my wrist laid back that would mean that there's tension in my forearm and I'm forcing my racket to stay in that position brushing the ball would be almost impossible because my racket head would stay on the right side of my body. I'd be in that position and doing this is impossible whereas by doing this to this now this becomes easy and it allows me to brush the ball but I'm doing it in a relaxed way so my wrist is snapping to some degree but it's not snapping as in this way it's coming upwards like so. It's a very different motion to actually snapping the wrist if I snap my wrist in my eyes a snap would be like this my ball is going to be completely wild I'm going to have no control and I'll lose all feel of what I'm doing on that shot but by having the wrist go from this laid back position to a neutral position then the finish this allows me to actually feel what I'm doing brush the ball and control that shot. Now is there ever a time where you actually snap the wrist through the contact point as in this now some players like Monfils he'll have a very loose wrist and he'll start off by making contact with his wrist laid back but then he'll finish with his wrist in that kind of flopped position however he hasn't done this for the contact point if you think the swing path if I'm going from here I'm making contact in that position and I'm snapping my wrist look at how my racket travels through the ball so it's going from this position a good contact point to then doing this so my racket is traveling in a very bad and awkward swing path so what we want to feel is that upward swing path if we want to generate that topspin or even that linear swing path if we want to flatten out the shot but what's happening is the racket head stays in a very controlled way it's not doing this I'm not doing this with my racket head I'm keeping my racket towards my intended target which will allow me to have a longer contact zone and really feel what I'm doing on that shot so there you have it guys you shouldn't be snapping your wrist through the contact point this is a great way for you to get injured and destroy the feeling of your forehand what you do want to do however is have the wrist laid back prior to contact and you want to feel that the wrist is coming into a neutral position on the follow through but it's not happening by you snapping the wrist it's happening by being loose but also feeling what your racket head should be doing 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 signing off Simon from T2T all the best and see you soon