Hit Your Forehand Like Roger Federer

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The first thing Roger does as the ball comes to him is he does a little “split step” in
order to be better prepared for where the ball will end up. The split step helps you
change direction more efficiently especially on harder hit balls.

As Roger begins his backswing, let’s look at how he holds his racquet. His left hand
barely holds the throat on take back and his right hand holds down to the bottom of the
grip, fleshy part over the end. His pointer finger is up high spread from the middle finger,
giving him more control of the racquet.
As Roger continues to take his racquet back he begins to turn both is hips and
shoulders. This “unit turn” allows him to start to store energy in order to have more
effortless power in his forehand.

Now Roger lets go of the throat of the Racquet with his non-dominant (left) hand and
starts to separate both arms. His hips and shoulders are now perpendicular to the
baseline (facing to the right side of the court).

Roger now has more widely separated both arms and hands. As he drops the
racquet down to begin his forward swing notice how his racquet face is points down
towards the ground. The non-dominant hand is also pointed down towards the
ground.

Now Roger begins his forward swing and his hips and shoulders begin to rotate
back to parallel with the baseline. As he rotates his racquet begins to turn up. The
non-dominant hand is beginning to clear away but is still well stretched out from his
body, palm still facing to the court.

While Roger continues to swing forward, his racquet lags behind with his wrist bent
back. This is the secret to pro players speed and control of the ball. Lag creates
racquet head speed and allows the player to add incredible spin and control.

Now Roger strikes the ball. It’s important to illustrate how and where he
makes contact. The head face is straight up and down and contact is out in
front as well as away from his body.

After Roger makes contact, he immediately closes the racquet face down. This is
another secret to power with control. This happens in a nano-second and should
not happen before the ball is struck. Learning this technique can take some time
but is important in tying everything together.

Roger finally finishes his swing all the way around and across his body. He finally
catches the racquet with his non-dominant hand. His eyes are still watching the
ball from where it was struck. This is unique to Roger Federer. It’s hard to find
many pros who keep their eyes on the ball as long as Roger does.