The ultimate tennis forehand mastery guide

Move around here, make a circle with your legs. You go here around and then you go down the line. Perfect. Philippe, what kind of player are you? Aggressive. I try to be aggressive. I make too many mistakes sometimes. Like often where I take stupid choices. Making too many drop shots. Sometimes in the matches I lose focus. And then I give players worse than myself. Like a lot of free points. What is your best shot? Backhand. Are you trying to play with your forehand and move the ball around and run around your backhand or not? Yeah. And also sometimes I play cross. Backhand cross and then I can go around with my forehand. When he gets a little bit short. I'm better than my opponent in the backhand. So what happens when you are playing forehand cross in a match? I think either I go too early for a crazy shot. Like I go for a crazy winner. And then I make mistakes most of the time. And what should you do? Just stay in the cross. And then wait for him to play short and then I can... Your dominant eye is the right one? Yeah. First what would you like to improve? He wants to improve everything. There is not anything special in your game that you want to do? Not like specific. We can work on how to use the court. So you are always on your ideal situation playing backhand cross. That's one thing. We can do just a little thing on your forehand that's going to help you. This is the court and you are on a forehand cross battle. And it's better than you. Yeah. What are you doing? I have to play forehand line. So we can go on the backhand cross. Yeah. Let's do some of this. Yeah. Okay. So you go forehand cross? Yeah. Then it changes? I go backhand cross. Then you go backhand cross. Yeah. Oh yeah. First of all what you do very well on both sides is the bodyweight transfer. You really transfer super well on both sides which is great. Not many players can do that easily. So with the forehand what hurts you a little bit sometimes is that you engage the shoulder very early. You go here instead of letting the hand pass first. Yeah. Okay. So I just want you to feel that. So when you play your forehand. Yeah. No stay here. Stay here. Stay with me. Yeah. Perfect. Open stance because you're always open stance which is good. The initiation of everything is here. That's where it starts. Yeah. So you have to feel this and then you let it go. Yeah. Sometimes you look for the power doing this. I don't know if you feel that. Yeah. But this is not the power. The power comes from the hand. Yeah. Okay. So just do a few. Don't try to hit hard. Just throw your racket head. Okay. Let's go. Okay. Open stance. Yeah. Don't try to hit hard. Okay. Loose here. Okay. Feel it's loose. Yeah. And throw your racket head. Yes. Perfect. One more. Perfect. The feeling is the same one as if you wanted to throw your racket. Yeah. Not hitting a ball but just throw. I want to throw my racket. I throw it like this. Yeah. I'm throwing my racket. Now I can throw my racket from up to down. Yeah. But it's exactly the same. Yeah. So do a few hitting the wall. Actually, you can even feed yourself. Feed yourself. Go. Hit the wall. Yeah. Did you try to hit hard? No. Okay. Perfect. Continue. Same. Okay. Perfect. One more. Good. One more. Very good. Now you do the same but from down to up. So it's going to spin the ball but you do it exactly the same. Okay. Again. There is tension. There is also tension in your body when you hit the forehand. I want you to be relaxed here. Here, solid. Look. So here. Okay. This. Solid here. Okay. Open stance. Again. Yeah. That's how you play your forehand, right? Yeah. Good. And relax the upper body and go. Yes. Much better. That's good. Again. Yeah. Again. Okay. Good. Stay low. Good. Again. Stay low. Great. Stay low. Very good. Yes. Again. Same. Yeah. Again. Very good. Stay open stance. Open stance. Yeah. Or semi-open stance. Semi-open. Yeah. Very good. Again. Very good. Great. Again. Come here. Play cross. On the line. Very good. You're ready. Let's do it. Forehand cross. And when you go down the line, same. Here. Up. Down the line. Up. Okay. You hear the sound? Yes. Okay. Same. Zero effort. Very good. That's a great shot. Yes. Good job. Hand. Yes. Very good. Okay. Relax. Very good. Backhand very solid. How do you feel the forehand? More effortless. Effortless? Yes. And the result? More spin. Very good. Yeah. So you threw your racket very well now. Much better. It starts with the hand and it doesn't start with the shoulders. Yeah. Okay. What you are doing, you're a little bit bending your elbow at the end of the motion. What I would like you to do is to have the racket really follow its course. Let it follow its course. So what you're going to do when the ball, what's going to happen if the racket follows its course, you're going to end up with, look in front, with your shoulder just under your chin. Yeah. So make sure at the end of the motion, your shoulder is here. Yeah. If you bend your arm, your shoulder is going to stay here. Okay? And you're going to lose a lot of power. Okay. Let's do just one or two like this. Same. Initiate. Open stance. Initiate the motion with your hand and let the racket follow its course until your shoulder is under your chin. Ready? This one was perfect. So you have two options. When the ball is short, if you play short, you can go down the line aggressive. Yeah. If the ball is deep, you play high down the line. Okay? Again. Hand first. Good job. Parfait. Great. Hand first. Always. Yes. Look at the depth. Very good. Hand first. Great. Parfait. Great job. You see the depth of your forehand? Yeah. They're all here. I see. Because you let the racket go. Yeah. If you close it like this, too early with the elbow, the ball is landing short. Yes. Great. Stay on your legs. Yes. Great shot. Parfait, ça. When you are here, in that position, and you're hitting a forehand, where do you play? Where do you play? From that position, if you hit a forehand? I play inside it? I don't know. I ask you. Where do you play? I don't know. Imagine. You're hitting a forehand. You play this one. You move here. You have time. The ball comes slow, so you have time to go around. Where do you hit? Either like an angle inside out or inside in. Deep. Yeah. Okay. In which situation do you play this one and in which situation do you play this one? I play this one when he's on the way back. You're wrong-footing him. Yeah. Okay. I'm going to give you a simple rule. Yeah. Very simple. This one, you play only to finish the point. Yeah. If you know, you're going to finish the point there. Or if he's standing here for too long. Yeah. And you want to move him. Yeah. Otherwise, this is the most dangerous one because you are here. You play there. The court is fully open. You're in trouble. And this one has to be a winner. Okay. That's why it's important to play deep. If you play short, you're done. Yeah. So the best one is this one. Yeah. Okay. So we're going to do a few of those. What is important, as you said, is to find the angle. Because if you find a good angle, a bit short. Yeah. It's going to be. You push him out of the court. And then this one is open. And you can finish. If you play deep center. I mean, too central deep. It's not a bad shot. But you're not hurting him at all. Okay. So there is a big target and a small one. If you hit the big target, it's going to say yes. And then you have the right to go down the line on the next one. Early. Yes. Very good. Okay. What is important when you hit the target and you push him out of the court. If you wait here, you give him time to come back. Yeah. So you have to restart. But if you move forward, you take the ball early. He doesn't have time to come back. And even if your shot is not great, it's still going to be a winner. Yeah. Okay. So important to move up to the next one. Take it early. Okay. And as you saw, you're down the line was short. Yeah. So you're in trouble. Okay. So early and deep. That's it. Yeah. Even if you play like this, early and deep, it's going to be a winner. Ooh. That was super good. Yeah. No. You're forced with the upper body. Yeah. Hand first. Great. Very close to the... Again. Very good. Yeah. Very good. Very important is balance. Sometimes you hit the forehand like this. That's how you lose the control. Balance and hand. When you do those two things, it's always good. Great. Good shot. Very deep. No. With your hand. Hand. Yes. Perfect. Great job. I'm adding one little thing. When you hit the target and he says yes, you can also play behind him because he's running there. That's why he catches it. Otherwise, it would be a winner. Okay. We don't tell him. Good shot. Perfect. I told him he was allowed to do it. Otherwise, you run there. And it's more real. Good job. Hand first. Go. We start again. Okay. A lot of balls are not very deep from him. And you do this. Yeah. No reason. Okay. If the ball falls here and heavy, move back fast. Otherwise, no reason to move back. Yeah. Don't give him too much space. Come in. Yes. Yeah. Okay. Again. Good job. Perfect. The ball comes this way. Move around here. Make a circle with your legs so when you're here, you have always the right distance. If you go too straight like this, the ball might catch you a bit here. Yeah. Which is really uncomfortable. You're doing a great job. Continue. Good job. Woo. Great. Perfect. Amazing. So, I have new zones. So, we're going to go back to what you were doing before. So, forehand cross. When you play forehand cross, you can have the same goal as on the other side. To find a short angle to pull him out of the court. If he plays short on the next one, you can go down the line. Okay? Now, if he refuses to play short, then you're going to switch to the backhand cross. You're going to play high here. This is your zone. This is where the ball should land so you have a target. And then you can attack. Ideally, turn around and hit a forehand on this one and then we go back to the previous exercise. Okay? Everything's clear or it's too complicated? Okay, perfect. Let's do it. And when you have a short ball and you attack, follow the net. Like you did on the last one. Of the last exercise. It was perfect. Great. Go. Same on this one. You see? You played a great shot. The ball is short. Go fast to the ball. And then he doesn't have time to cover the line. Okay? Great shot. Yes. Perfect. 10 out of 10 on this one. You did everything great. Great short cross. Very good down the line. And then excellent inside-in. Inside-out and inside-in. Great. I love your forehand like that. Amazing. Great. Yes. Perfect. I think it was good and you made the right choices. Yes. When it came back to your forehand, you said, no, no, no, no. I want to go to the backhand. So you played again deep. Yes. Down the line. Excellent. Oh, la, la, la, la. And first. Great job. Yes. Okay. First of all, when you go down the line, you don't need to play flat. If you take the ball early, you can go like this. Okay? This one, you're not going to miss. Okay? If you play this high over the net, you can miss. Yes. Because it's dangerous. It's more risky. Okay? First thing. Second thing, when you decide to go down the line, you go meet the ball and you follow at the net. Because on the last one, what happened was your body weight went this way and the racket this way. That's why you missed. Okay? If you follow at the net, boom, your body weight will go in the right direction. Okay. Let's do it. Hand. Perfect. Amazing. Great job. Hand. Great job. Excellent shot. Super. That's perfect. Perfect. This high over the net. Great. He made a few times the same mistake, so I tell him, so I explain the ball is coming like this way because you're there, so the ball is coming across. So this is the line of the ball. Okay? If you go straight to the ball to play down the line, you're going to be close. If you want to play across, it's okay. If you want to play down the line, you're too close. So when you want to play down the line, same as turning around the backhand. This is what you have to do. Up. You go here around, and then you go down the line. Okay? I give you one. Perfect. Thank you. Very good, very good. Up. Perfect. One more? I go. Ready? Perfect. Bravo. Here, here, here. Here. Continue. Oh yeah. Perfect. Super. Good drink? Great job again. You did great. We keep the same exercise with the same focus. Yes. Hand. Yes. Hand. Yes. Very good shot, but be careful. You were a bit close. You felt? You didn't really go around. Semi-open. Yes. Much better. Again. Yes. Perfect. Good. Remember, on a short ball, you go down the line, you follow the net. On a deep ball, no, but on a short ball, yes. Come on. Great shot. So good, so good. Great. Good ball. Good ball, good ball, but be careful again. You went straight at it. Just keep in mind that when you want to play cross, you would move in the direction of the ball. If you want to play down the line, you have to do first one extra step on the side and then you can. Okay? Always first side. Okay? Bravo. Great shot. Go, go, go. Perfect. Good job. Bravo. Game, set, and match. Good job. Thank you. You play excellent. Really, really good. Thank you. Keep this. I think, really, when he accelerates with the hand, big difference. Really big difference. And for your development, it's very important. Otherwise, you're going to force more and more here. Hand first, amazing. So, and the plans are very simple for you. You know? Keep those plans with the goal to keep the opponent out on the sides, to open up the court, take the ball early on the next one, follow at the net, which you did very well. Yeah. And when you don't, if the guy is better than you today on the forehand cross, which I doubt because now you have better acceleration. And you want to change? No problem. Play high and direct the ball to your backhand. Yeah. Bravo. Thank you.