Classic vs Modern Forehand // Tennis Journaling

Greetings, travelers!

Yesterday, I returned to tennis practice after taking a vacation in July, which interrupted part of my routine. I wanted to write about this experience, especially during this Olympic period, because I really love this sport. Journaling about it here seems like an interesting task that I would enjoy. Recording my experiences in words can help me remember concepts and enhance my learning and training throughout the semester.

The session was really nice, although I was a bit rusty since I hadn't played for four weeks. Tennis is a challenging sport, so it wasn't easy to get back into it. However, I enjoyed seeing my team and training coach again and playing was a lot of fun.

Be aware that I am not a professional tennis player or coach, nor I aim to be, so take these words with a grain of salt. Having said that, I wanted to discuss about the differences between the biomechanics of the classic forehand movement compared to the modern one, since this was the topic of our training practice.

Maybe it's a good idea to first explain what it is: not only in tennis but in other sports that use rackets, the Forehand is a shot where the palm of the hand holding the racket is pointing forward. In simpler terms, it is the stroke made in the side of your dominant hand, since it is the hand holding the racket. In contrast, the backhand is the stroketype where you hit with the back of your hand pointing forward, or basically when you hit the ball from your non-dominant side.

When I first learned to do a Forehand, more than 15 years ago, the technique taught was the (now called) Classic Forehand: in it, you should be preparing really early to do a big circular shape on your side before hitting the tennis ball and, after the stroke, continue the movement to the front and up, and finishing it really at the back, over your opposite shoulder. The person should do the movement step-by-step, and treat the parts of the arm bellow the shoulders joint as one single and stiff part.

Nowadays, a lot of research has been done on the biomechanics of movements, specially in sports. Because of that, and the Tennis game getting faster, the Forehand technique has changed: rather then having to think about all of the steps one by one, the Modern Forehand shines on the practicality and adaptability. Instead of preparing the stroke a lot early and finishing it well on your back, the new idea is to try to make the movement as natural as possible, and using all the joints in the human arm. Preparing and finishing more comfortably to help the player to adapt and to have more consistency.

Yesterday was my first time trying, and it helped me to play more freely and I had a really good time! Let's hope it improves my game and, who knows, maybe this info serves as a catalyst for you to improve your as well!

Cheers, vai Corinthians

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