Really love the content Karue! please keep this type of content up. I think learning from a former Pro such as yourself makes things more intuitive than watching a bunch of these other tennis channels on youtube. I think you and Intuitive Tennis teach the best. Tennis is all about teaching your brain as well as learning yourself on what patterns are comfortable to you on groundstrokes/serves/volleys etc...this is what makes everyone's tennis game different and unique
This has been in my tennis playlist for a while now. Every now and then when my strokes are failing me, especially with me having a tendency hitting too flat playing mostly on artificial grass here in the uk, I always come here and rewatch. Seeing Karue's and the student's demo always put me back on track. Push down with the legs. Acceleration starts from the racket drop phase of the swing. Exactly the advice I need!
This is treasure!!!!!! Man I've been struggling with my forehand for years, now I can see clearly what is missing, and it makes perfect sense to me now. Thanks a lot brother.
Yes a very helpful lesson, I am in the middle of adjusting to a semi western grip from an eastern forehand, any further tips on this greatly appreciated, these drills should surely help! All I need now is a basket, a lot more balls and a helper to feed some balls.
Karue - the Nike Swoosh is a great concept for the handpath through space. However, as a pattern for our imagination visualizing the handpath, being aware of it, and trying to 'direct it', the Nike Swoosh can lead us (and others) towards suboptimal biomechanics. Specifically, our inclination is to imagine the Nike Swoosh lying in a vertical plane, when in reality, for optimal biomechanics, it is better to imagine a 'tilted' Nike Swoosh, lying in a plane at say 70 degrees (where 90 degrees is vertical). My suggestion is to ask Wesley how he 'shares' your imagination of the Nike Swoosh. My observation is that he is trying to direct his handpath through the ball rather than sequencing 'the dance move' that creates the handpath we can imagine as a Nike Swoosh lying in a tilted plane. After the unit turn, our arms are extended to create rotational inertia. We initiate rotation towards the ball (the strike zone) with legs (ground force) and/or core (counter rotation against rotational inertia of lower body - imagine Monfils in a leaping forehand with legs spread). We then accelerate this rotation by bringing the mass of the racquet arm and racquet head (and mass of non hitting arm) closer to the axis of rotation, like a figure skater executing a spin. We then release the racquet arm away from the axis of rotation, transferring the rotational momentum into the racquet hand and racquet head. The 'dance move' takes advantage of a whipping motion of the racquet arm and racquet, which is often taught and can be perceived as 'lagging the racquet'. I hope you can imagine how difficult it might be for someone to imagine the racquet hand tracing out a Nike Swoosh in a vertical plane, while simultaneously bringing their racquet hand closer to their body then releasing it away from their body. Now imagine the Nike Swoosh lying in a tilted plane - which I think is a better visualization of the desired biomechanics. By necessity, coaches and athletes must always struggle with external and internal reference frames. The Nike Swoosh is clearly something we imagine in an external reference frame. But then, the tennis ball, net and court arguably exist in an external reference frame. Our racquet hand and racquet also exist in that external reference frame - call it reality if you wish - but might be easier to imagine in an internal reference frame relative to our core rotation. In a tennis forehand, a key joint to be aware of is the shoulder. We need to use the rotator cuff muscles to keep the head of the humerous centered in the glenoid socket, to allow free rotation, while simultaneously using larger muscles (primarily lats, pecs, delts and some traps plus others) to allow free movement of the shoulder blade, all relative to an axis of rotation (which changes) while also creating a whipping motion. My observation is that Wesley is trying to 'push' his hand path to create a vertical Nike Swoosh, rather than 'pull' then 'release' his hand path to create a tilted Nike Swoosh. Too much pecs and frontal delts, too much strain on subscapularis, all pulling the head of the humerous forward and up against the acronium, impinging the other rotator cuff muscles. Ouch - and you can even see Wesley rubbing his tender shoulder! Wesley needs to imagine that he can release his hand and racquet out away from his body into (and through) the strike zone. Imagining a tilted Nike Swoosh might help.
Thank you Karue for the videos and drills. Drill #3 is my favorite one to do with students who hit flat (usually girls in my case). They know the concept of hitting low to high, but it was hard for them to do it because they have been hitting flat (horizontally rather than low to high swring path). Having them to hit over the basket was very helpful! Thanks Karue for all the things that you have done!
One of the best. Any chance you could get some video viewed from above? I would like to see the racket path in the x-y plane. Low-to-high is of course critical, but it would be cool to see the circular path from above!
Great topic, love to see the addition of the specific hand-fed drills. Combined with the past 2 vids, these make for a good series. Would be great to see content on footwork to get to different forehand situations (E.g., Approach, Inside Out, etc.) Keep it up Karue!
Such a good video. Love the Nike Swoosh analogy. I am teaching my partner to play tennis for the first time and will deff be using these drills constantly!
I tried the drill of dropping a ball and hitting it, yesterday at my club. It worked way better than I imagined. Early days but for the first time I felt I had power and spin combined and a healthy clearance of the net, mostly.
Lovely. Do you have any drills for amateurs who stop the rotation bending the elbow through the torso instead of extendint it following the ball? p.s. where do you teach tennis?
This is some really good quality education for free. I'm grateful to coaches like Karue and other tennis channel admins (2minutetennis, toptennistraining) who've spent years in training to get to this level, and now providing these lessons for free. Thank you!!
Excellent training steps. One question please, is the contact angle of the racket I see slightly close (70 degrees maybe)? Always I tought it should be perpendicular to floor.
Superb video Karue !.....Do you always keep to the same grip ( semi-western ?)....and do you think about your finish , sometimes you catch the racket ? Al
omg. hahaha. i've been learning tennis for more than a year, and i always imagine a nike swing motion for my forehand and it works very consistent for me. didnt expect to see you naming it nike swoosh too.
On the forehand, after you release the left hand from the racquet, can you give a cue for what to think/feel as the racquet goes back and down to complete the Nike swoosh? It seems like you recommend elbow away from the body, keeping right wrist slightly extended, and racquet close to the line of the ball. My racquet tends to stay too open with strings facing to the side fence, you seem to drop the racquet palm down from the back position to complete the bottom of the swoosh.
I’m trying to stop strong-arming my forehands and late-hitting - bad habits. I’ll practice the nike swoosh and try in my ladies league matches- like today’s match would’ve been very helpful.
Great video as usual Karue. I would be interested in a video about what coaches talk about with players at the pro level. I can imagine what coaches talk about with players at elite college levels, just unsure what coach’s add to someone’s game who is already at the top of the rankings. Apart from just scouting the next opponent that is.
Closing the racket face at the drop is largely due to tennis being played with more western grips nowadays. No pros are deliberately thinking about closing the face at drop. It just kinda happens
Question, where are you supposed to hold the racket during a ready stance? I heard some say your left hand holds the throat. But some others say left hand is closer to right hand on the grip so it’s easier to hit a two handed backhand. Is one way better than the other?
You do whatever works for you. Most people keep the non dominant hand on the throat and a forehand grip. Personally I have both hands on the grip, left hand with backhand grip, right hand forehand so I can switch to either really fast. Personal preference here as long as it is the same every time
It’s really true that we over-complexify the technical aspect of groundstrokes...probably the fault of those super slow motion videos out there. But if a top 400 player tells you it’s just swinging low to high, it must be true! How do you manage to still make it an aggressive ball? Because if I play like this my ball tends to be heavier but it moves forwards less
If you mean it drops shorter when you use more top spin, that’s what top spin does! That just means you need more BWEH! Same form, but use more body weight & power through the shot. Keep tweaking at it until it reaches the baseline and it should be a monster shot
Although I can hit any ball with the fh, I prefer to hit flatter shots. There was one guy I played against who had massive spin on his shots and hit a ball with very heavy spin, arch, and depth. Like you said, it was slower bc of it and I had 2 options: wobble backwards like crazy to hit it or catch it on the rise. I was lazy so I stepped into it with a regular fh stroke, with some body weight and I deflected all of that energy and injected some pace into it as well and sent back a cannon that he couldn’t reach.
Karue, on the drill with the basket obstacle in front, does that ball need to land in on the other side or you're just more concerned about clearing the basket height? Seemed couple of Wes' hits sailed long, maybe that's not important to focus on for this drill?
Awesome as usual, Karue! Could you also suggest some drill(s) to keep the request face closed on the forehand? For players who were taught "straight back, straight thru" we often have trouble with this issue?
I play a chap who serves with deamon slice and topspin (magnus effect). If I manage to get to return the serve I noticed that the ball also spins off my racket face, so I basically have to aim about 2 yards to the right to get the ball to return straight. Is this normal?
I can’t do that drill where you have your racket back and you accelerate just as the ball is rising. Tips to improve? It feels like my ball doesn’t get enough spin so it keeps going well long. I do use an eastern grip
Two suggestions (plus a couple of hints). Learn to play two-beat tennis (as in a two-beat dance move), when the ball is on both sides of the court, and sequence with your breathing. Assuming you have executed good foot positioning and an early unit turn (while inhaling ie breathing in), hit the ball with a two beat exhalation (ie breathing out) while audibly saying "uh-huh" or more like "UH-HUHHH", like a martial arts fighter throwing a punch. The first beat - the "uh" - initiates the core rotation. The second beat - the "huh" - is the ball strike. The key is to initiate the core rotation earlier (even before the ball bounces) to allow you time to strike the ball. Playing two-beat tennis gives you two decision points for every hit. You can arbitrarily make the first decision point earlier in time, which gives you more time to hit the ball. The alternative is playing single beat tennis, where you must imagine a single decision point to execute each hit. Good luck with that. You can also use a two-beat exhalation (breathing out) while your opponent hits, saying "Ah-ha" in timing with your split step, in a deliberately inquisitive and respectful way, to help create an open mindset so that you can instinctively react to the ball releasing off their racquet, but also be aware of their stroke mechanics that provides clues to where they will hit the ball (anticipation). There isn't enough time for concious thought in tennis. You must learn to be on the dance floor. If you feel shy about making an audible sound, watch some videos of Maria Sakkari or Dominic Thiem (or almost any pro).
This is possibly the best explanation of a forehand I have seen!
Really love the content Karue! please keep this type of content up. I think learning from a former Pro such as yourself makes things more intuitive than watching a bunch of these other tennis channels on youtube. I think you and Intuitive Tennis teach the best. Tennis is all about teaching your brain as well as learning yourself on what patterns are comfortable to you on groundstrokes/serves/volleys etc...this is what makes everyone's tennis game different and unique
Thanks for your feedback!
1 😢w😢😢
I struggle with it, my coach finally told me to hit topspin lobs, then it started to click in my brain. Trying out your drills now, thanks!
You got this!
Hitting off the bounce was really helpful, that forced me to get the racket head down
Im glad I found your channel. I have a decent forehand but could never quite get it to this level. Now I know what im missing. Thank you.
This has been in my tennis playlist for a while now. Every now and then when my strokes are failing me, especially with me having a tendency hitting too flat playing mostly on artificial grass here in the uk, I always come here and rewatch. Seeing Karue's and the student's demo always put me back on track. Push down with the legs. Acceleration starts from the racket drop phase of the swing. Exactly the advice I need!
This is treasure!!!!!! Man I've been struggling with my forehand for years, now I can see clearly what is missing, and it makes perfect sense to me now. Thanks a lot brother.
You're not only an amazing player but an excellent at explaining and teaching
@Epic quicker CR & BS Hello👋 Where there is good tennis content, I will always be
Yes a very helpful lesson, I am in the middle of adjusting to a semi western grip from an eastern forehand, any further tips on this greatly appreciated, these drills should surely help! All I need now is a basket, a lot more balls and a helper to feed some balls.
Yes! Lots of repetition
What triggered you to change grip. I use a eastern meself
Karue - the Nike Swoosh is a great concept for the handpath through space. However, as a pattern for our imagination visualizing the handpath, being aware of it, and trying to 'direct it', the Nike Swoosh can lead us (and others) towards suboptimal biomechanics. Specifically, our inclination is to imagine the Nike Swoosh lying in a vertical plane, when in reality, for optimal biomechanics, it is better to imagine a 'tilted' Nike Swoosh, lying in a plane at say 70 degrees (where 90 degrees is vertical). My suggestion is to ask Wesley how he 'shares' your imagination of the Nike Swoosh. My observation is that he is trying to direct his handpath through the ball rather than sequencing 'the dance move' that creates the handpath we can imagine as a Nike Swoosh lying in a tilted plane.
After the unit turn, our arms are extended to create rotational inertia. We initiate rotation towards the ball (the strike zone) with legs (ground force) and/or core (counter rotation against rotational inertia of lower body - imagine Monfils in a leaping forehand with legs spread). We then accelerate this rotation by bringing the mass of the racquet arm and racquet head (and mass of non hitting arm) closer to the axis of rotation, like a figure skater executing a spin. We then release the racquet arm away from the axis of rotation, transferring the rotational momentum into the racquet hand and racquet head. The 'dance move' takes advantage of a whipping motion of the racquet arm and racquet, which is often taught and can be perceived as 'lagging the racquet'. I hope you can imagine how difficult it might be for someone to imagine the racquet hand tracing out a Nike Swoosh in a vertical plane, while simultaneously bringing their racquet hand closer to their body then releasing it away from their body. Now imagine the Nike Swoosh lying in a tilted plane - which I think is a better visualization of the desired biomechanics.
By necessity, coaches and athletes must always struggle with external and internal reference frames. The Nike Swoosh is clearly something we imagine in an external reference frame. But then, the tennis ball, net and court arguably exist in an external reference frame. Our racquet hand and racquet also exist in that external reference frame - call it reality if you wish - but might be easier to imagine in an internal reference frame relative to our core rotation. In a tennis forehand, a key joint to be aware of is the shoulder. We need to use the rotator cuff muscles to keep the head of the humerous centered in the glenoid socket, to allow free rotation, while simultaneously using larger muscles (primarily lats, pecs, delts and some traps plus others) to allow free movement of the shoulder blade, all relative to an axis of rotation (which changes) while also creating a whipping motion. My observation is that Wesley is trying to 'push' his hand path to create a vertical Nike Swoosh, rather than 'pull' then 'release' his hand path to create a tilted Nike Swoosh. Too much pecs and frontal delts, too much strain on subscapularis, all pulling the head of the humerous forward and up against the acronium, impinging the other rotator cuff muscles. Ouch - and you can even see Wesley rubbing his tender shoulder! Wesley needs to imagine that he can release his hand and racquet out away from his body into (and through) the strike zone. Imagining a tilted Nike Swoosh might help.
Thank you Karue for the videos and drills. Drill #3 is my favorite one to do with students who hit flat (usually girls in my case). They know the concept of hitting low to high, but it was hard for them to do it because they have been hitting flat (horizontally rather than low to high swring path). Having them to hit over the basket was very helpful! Thanks Karue for all the things that you have done!
One of the best. Any chance you could get some video viewed from above? I would like to see the racket path in the x-y plane. Low-to-high is of course critical, but it would be cool to see the circular path from above!
Great instruction, Karue! Your academy is lucky to have you.
Thank you!
12:01 that first forehand looked perfect! Lots of arc on it
You can see that the student is happy with his improvements :) Great stuff!
Great topic, love to see the addition of the specific hand-fed drills. Combined with the past 2 vids, these make for a good series. Would be great to see content on footwork to get to different forehand situations (E.g., Approach, Inside Out, etc.) Keep it up Karue!
Great suggestion!
Awesome explanation!!!
One of the best I have watched so far👌👍
Karue, thanks from Spain for yours lessons. Good jop. Realmente enseñas muy bien.
Such a good video. Love the Nike Swoosh analogy. I am teaching my partner to play tennis for the first time and will deff be using these drills constantly!
I tried the drill of dropping a ball and hitting it, yesterday at my club. It worked way better than I imagined. Early days but for the first time I felt I had power and spin combined and a healthy clearance of the net, mostly.
Lovely. Do you have any drills for amateurs who stop the rotation bending the elbow through the torso instead of extendint it following the ball? p.s. where do you teach tennis?
This is some really good quality education for free. I'm grateful to coaches like Karue and other tennis channel admins (2minutetennis, toptennistraining) who've spent years in training to get to this level, and now providing these lessons for free.
Thank you!!
Excellent training steps. One question please, is the contact angle of the racket I see slightly close (70 degrees maybe)? Always I tought it should be perpendicular to floor.
Superb video Karue !.....Do you always keep to the same grip ( semi-western ?)....and do you think about your finish , sometimes you catch the racket ? Al
This is so wise. Great lesson.
your student is throwin bombs 🔥🔥🔥
Awesome and very clear instructions. Thanks
omg. hahaha. i've been learning tennis for more than a year, and i always imagine a nike swing motion for my forehand and it works very consistent for me. didnt expect to see you naming it nike swoosh too.
thanks karue exit contact was what i was missing. When do we apply hip shoulder separation in the stroke?
Excellent. Will try these drills.
Extremely helpful thanks Karue! Awesome videoooo👍👍👍👍
the best tennis channel on youtube by far!
thank you! Appreciate the kind words
Agassi's 12 " tip 🙂.
Nice channel, I just saw your video playing against a 4.5 and applied your tips on my match from this weekend.
Thanks
Amazing content Karue truly. Keep it up we all love it!
Does racket grip matter for this method? Great video!
Excellent video. One doubt,the sound of contact of a ball doesn't sound like brushing, it sounds more like hitting through the ball. Kindly clarify.
Kudos to Wesley nice work!
Very helpful. Thank you!
On the forehand, after you release the left hand from the racquet, can you give a cue for what to think/feel as the racquet goes back and down to complete the Nike swoosh?
It seems like you recommend elbow away from the body, keeping right wrist slightly extended, and racquet close to the line of the ball.
My racquet tends to stay too open with strings facing to the side fence, you seem to drop the racquet palm down from the back position to complete the bottom of the swoosh.
You have lessons here in LA California?
What tension do you have in your Raquet? It has a really smooth sound
thanks, great lesson
I’m trying to stop strong-arming my forehands and late-hitting - bad habits. I’ll practice the nike swoosh and try in my ladies league matches- like today’s match would’ve been very helpful.
Hy! Left or right hand wrist drop the racket? (Backhand) thx!
Awesome content!
Need this now! Switching from 16x19 to 18x20 made me difficult to generate top spin.
Great video as usual Karue.
I would be interested in a video about what coaches talk about with players at the pro level. I can imagine what coaches talk about with players at elite college levels, just unsure what coach’s add to someone’s game who is already at the top of the rankings. Apart from just scouting the next opponent that is.
It is all micro adjustments. Trying to add new layers to their game, maybe incorporate a new weapon or skill. But yes things are a lot less technical
Please show the same backhand drill with a one handed backhand. Thanks
what grip does Karue use? semi western?
Another great video Karue! Hey any chance you’ll be at RCI teaching with your academy one of these days?
Thank you! I am strictly in Carson from now on
What’s your thoughts on closing the racket face at racket drop step? Thanks 🙏
Closing the racket face at the drop is largely due to tennis being played with more western grips nowadays. No pros are deliberately thinking about closing the face at drop. It just kinda happens
good stuff
drill 3 is genius :)
Oh yes indeedy this is right on the money.
Question, where are you supposed to hold the racket during a ready stance? I heard some say your left hand holds the throat. But some others say left hand is closer to right hand on the grip so it’s easier to hit a two handed backhand. Is one way better than the other?
You do whatever works for you. Most people keep the non dominant hand on the throat and a forehand grip. Personally I have both hands on the grip, left hand with backhand grip, right hand forehand so I can switch to either really fast. Personal preference here as long as it is the same every time
best!
It’s really true that we over-complexify the technical aspect of groundstrokes...probably the fault of those super slow motion videos out there. But if a top 400 player tells you it’s just swinging low to high, it must be true! How do you manage to still make it an aggressive ball? Because if I play like this my ball tends to be heavier but it moves forwards less
If you mean it drops shorter when you use more top spin, that’s what top spin does! That just means you need more BWEH! Same form, but use more body weight & power through the shot. Keep tweaking at it until it reaches the baseline and it should be a monster shot
Although I can hit any ball with the fh, I prefer to hit flatter shots. There was one guy I played against who had massive spin on his shots and hit a ball with very heavy spin, arch, and depth. Like you said, it was slower bc of it and I had 2 options: wobble backwards like crazy to hit it or catch it on the rise. I was lazy so I stepped into it with a regular fh stroke, with some body weight and I deflected all of that energy and injected some pace into it as well and sent back a cannon that he couldn’t reach.
Very good, I think Nike line, is easy for me, move the racquet. Pino
awesome!
Do you recommend keeping your wrist extended after the racquet release all the way through the nike swoosh motion?
Yes, working on a video about that
@@KaruesellHQ Awesome!
Karue, on the drill with the basket obstacle in front, does that ball need to land in on the other side or you're just more concerned about clearing the basket height? Seemed couple of Wes' hits sailed long, maybe that's not important to focus on for this drill?
Has to land in. All of his shots were landing inside, you just couldn’t tell because of the camera angle
@@KaruesellHQ thank you!
Awesome as usual, Karue! Could you also suggest some drill(s) to keep the request face closed on the forehand? For players who were taught "straight back, straight thru" we often have trouble with this issue?
Nice
I play a chap who serves with deamon slice and topspin (magnus effect). If I manage to get to return the serve I noticed that the ball also spins off my racket face, so I basically have to aim about 2 yards to the right to get the ball to return straight. Is this normal?
Hey bro, that means we don't need to wait for the ball drop to hit, right?
3:45
I can’t do that drill where you have your racket back and you accelerate just as the ball is rising. Tips to improve? It feels like my ball doesn’t get enough spin so it keeps going well long. I do use an eastern grip
9:25
How do you get under a low ball 1-2 ft from the ground? My shots here tend to sail long with little to no shape
Bend your knees
Po doidao... faz um vídeo em português aí... eu sei q tu és BR
It seems that the form on your new website is not working and keeps bringing back to the top of the page on submission
Thanks for the update! Which form are you referring to?
Could you also make a lesson how to avoid linear hitting tendencies when under time pressure against stronger opponents? 🥺
Two suggestions (plus a couple of hints). Learn to play two-beat tennis (as in a two-beat dance move), when the ball is on both sides of the court, and sequence with your breathing. Assuming you have executed good foot positioning and an early unit turn (while inhaling ie breathing in), hit the ball with a two beat exhalation (ie breathing out) while audibly saying "uh-huh" or more like "UH-HUHHH", like a martial arts fighter throwing a punch. The first beat - the "uh" - initiates the core rotation. The second beat - the "huh" - is the ball strike. The key is to initiate the core rotation earlier (even before the ball bounces) to allow you time to strike the ball. Playing two-beat tennis gives you two decision points for every hit. You can arbitrarily make the first decision point earlier in time, which gives you more time to hit the ball. The alternative is playing single beat tennis, where you must imagine a single decision point to execute each hit. Good luck with that.
You can also use a two-beat exhalation (breathing out) while your opponent hits, saying "Ah-ha" in timing with your split step, in a deliberately inquisitive and respectful way, to help create an open mindset so that you can instinctively react to the ball releasing off their racquet, but also be aware of their stroke mechanics that provides clues to where they will hit the ball (anticipation). There isn't enough time for concious thought in tennis. You must learn to be on the dance floor.
If you feel shy about making an audible sound, watch some videos of Maria Sakkari or Dominic Thiem (or almost any pro).
Watch "Maria Sakkari Mic'd Up Practice with Coach Tom Hill | 2020 Brisbane International" on TH-cam
th-cam.com/video/cwp2Hrut2Iw/w-d-xo.html
How high do you usually try clearing the net? It seems very low
depends on the shot
@@KaruesellHQ Can you please elaborate? I’ve been told to aim 3 metres high, but I struggle. I hit a lot flatter.
Have you been spying on me when I teach?! I've been using nike swoosh with all my students. This tells me I'm doing something right : )
👍👍🖐️🙏
pretty backhand.. i am so jealous
Why don't you invite Marcos and ask him to tell us about his match with Rafa
Why is it almost ALWAYS when drills like this are done - ITS RUSHED?!!! The goal is clean contact and correct technique not speed and sloppiness
I hope you got a kickback from Nike…..(mentions Nike again, and winks)