The Perfect Beginner Forehand: Swing for the fences!
Frustrated Players Fix Your Forehand
The Adult Beginner Forehand: Only what you need to know to get started playing
There’s 3 core strokes every beginner learning how to play tennis needs to learn with confidence. The tennis forehand, backhand and the serve. It's the forehand tennis stroke that’s really fun, gets adults hooked on the game and a shot you’ll hit more than 70% of the time on court. In my experience teaching tennis to adults on tennis holidays in Mallorca, Spain I feel players frustration around consistency and power with these 3 main tennis strokes. These 3 tennis strokes use 2 different grips. A forehand eastern or semi-western grip and a continental grip for the backhand AND serve. The frustration from players is right there. Not having more than 1 tennis grip. Without learning with a good degree of competency the continental grip, tennis will be tricky at best to advance your level. Because so much of the game requires using the continental grip. For now let’s stick to the topic at hand - the forehand and eastern grip.
With all the overwhelming and completely off-point tennis videos & articles online teaching the BEGINNER forehand, I’ll teach you what makes a true beginner forehand easy to digest. You’ll learn; where to make contact with a ball, THE tip to balance yourself on contact to hit consistent forehands and how you should finish your forehand. Beginner adults getting started don’t need power, topspin or fancy grips (semi western grip). You need to be able to get the ball over the net and inside the lines at least 6 times rallying a tennis ball.
A beginner tennis forehand is a groundstroke hit from the baseline. A ball bounces off the ground and is returned over the net and inside the opposing court lines. The forehand in tennis is hit more than 70% of your time on court. To rally a ball in tennis you must be proficient in the forehand tennis stroke.
🛫Pro tip:
Adult tennis camps by playing level & travel destination for Summer 2023 check here.
Junior tennis camps year round for 2023 check here.
I don’t blame beginner players for being confused by the luring posts on the forehand. So much of it is overkill. The only thing YOU need to think about now is having a good time, making contact with a ball, getting it over and inside the court.
Right now for this post, this drill is about getting you to fluidly swing through a ball using your body’s natural power. Developing a long fluid swing not only looks great but feels better.
Tennis language is ridiculously boring, I know. Let’s do away with it entirely in this post. It’s boring and inevitably loses players focus.
Hitting your first forehand will be one of the best feelings you can have on court. It's the stroke they want you to develop as a weapon. It's the tennis stroke I want you to learn & enjoy for the surreal sensation you’ll have when you 1st hit the ball in the center of the strings. And I promise, it will hook you!
The Tennis Forehand: In a nutshell
You’ve likely heard the ball being hit from your opponent. Use your eyes to see the incoming ball early. Move towards it & start taking the racket back early with attention to the wrist position. It should be vertical to the court. Your opposite non-hitting hand extends out in front of your sideways body position. That non-dominant hand will get you balanced and be your point of contact. As the incoming ball approaches your non-hitting hand out in front - you’ll know it’s time to start your swing. As your racket strings connect with the ball, throw your racket strings away from you and around to the opposite side of your body.
{For a deeper dive into the forehand for beginners go here for a 5 star forehand and quick fixes when you need them.}
Find the forehand contact point
When you are waiting for the incoming ball your body is parallel to the net. So you are facing the net in your ready position. Your hips are literally lined up with the tennis net. When you notice that a ball is coming to your forehand side you will turn your shoulders and hips sideways to the net. So you begin facing the net with hips parallel and then turn yourself perpendicular to the net ready to hit the ball.
Annoying I’m sure, but I have to pick a side to turn towards in this article. So let’s keep this post for the bulk of tennis players out there who are right handed players.
It becomes a personal preference how quickly you take the racket back. I do it as I turn my body to the right side. My racket goes back and I like to keep the elbow bent and rather close to the side of my body. You don’t want to extend that hitting arm too much because you could hurt yourself. To be clear, your hitting arm is the arm / hand you hold your racket in.
As your racket goes back in the one hand. Your other arm - hand should also go out. As though it were tracking the incoming ball. In essence it is.
Check out his left non-hitting hand
The Forehand: How to balance yourself on contact
Now let’s talk about that non-dominant hand. If it didn’t get extended outwards to get you balanced, what would you do with it? You’d likely let it hang down. And that wouldn’t encourage getting you balanced.
Do me a favor! Watch Fabrizio again strike (hit) his forehands in the video above. Watch only his non-hitting hand now. See how it balances out his hitting hand? It’s a massive help to get you balanced and low before contact with the ball.
When junior tennis players learn to hit a forehand, they automatically learn to use this non-dominant hand! They never think about it. They just do it. It’s not something that makes them feel weird. Yet, ironically it does feel strange for adults.
When I tweak this balancing act on tennis holidays I see adults push back and don’t want to do it. When I ask why? They inevitably say, “they feel weird”. But it’s likely because you didn’t learn it from the start. Watch professional tennis players, they do it on every forehand shot. Watch the best juniors at your local club - they’re doing it too.
I understand you’re goal is not to play professional tennis. Or even competitive tennis. But balance on-court let’s you have fun, get a full body workout and play your best.
Let’s get comfortable with one of the most common balancing tools in tennis. The best part? Where your non-dominant hand sits out in front of your body is where you’ll make contact to hit your best forehand.
It is the thing I tweak the most in adult intermediate players visiting Mallorca on adult tennis camps. It is makes a massive difference! They absolutely love it. It feels easier for them and it encourages hitting with the body and not just an arm.
A ball hit out in front of you is where you contact your forehand tennis shot. You can see it perfectly as I am connecting with a forehand in the photo below.
“Your Best Balanced Forehand is a Ball Hit Out in Front”
Beginner Forehand: Go ahead, swing for that fence!
From a mindset perspective I don´t want you to think of power right now. But I do want your body loose as a goose. Swing for the fences on the other side of the court. This will loosen the shoulders, arms, wrist and hands. And get you hitting through a ball.
In the beginner tennis course I told you about, Jofre Porta and I start you off holding the racket in an eastern grip. It’s a flat grip but if we put you into a semi-western grip right away you likely wouldn’t learn how to hit through a ball well. As well as, dump an enormous amount of balls into the bottom of the net. You’d be majorly frustrated & give up quickly without the right encouragement. When you go deeper in the game, you’ll move into the semi-western grip when you’re ready to add topspin to your ball.
The eastern forehand grip is perfect for beginners and really encourages feeling a tennis ball. It will also help you hit DEEP balls. And as a beginner, that’s all you need at 1st to fall in love with the game.
You have free reign to feel the ball and launch the racket out - off, away from your body AND finish around the other side of your body. Your forehand tennis stroke will be fluid, long and likely a good looking forehand stroke.
Most importantly it will put the tennis ball deep into your opponent's side of the court. That's what you want. You want deep balls!
We can always figure out how to put the ball inside the court with time. But right now, relax and swing for the fences. Have fun. Can you hit the fence? If not, keep trying.
Most beginners come out on court tentative, fearful and tight. I can understand that. Tennis is big game. You don't know how this is going to go just yet. That’s why you should only worry about enjoying it.
Finish your forehand well
#JofrePorta
Not a correct forehand finish
As you connect with the ball you’ll throw your racket off and away from your body. Towards those fences you like so much. You´ll finish the forehand across and around the other side of your body.
Don´t get too hooked or freaked out about the finish. You only want your wrist to rotate nicely so you don't get hurt. And DON'T exaggerate the finish so that your tennis racket wraps around your neck like a scarf. Seen with Jofre Porta above.
As the stroke finishes, you´ll recover back into your ready position, ready to hit the next ball. Try not to overwhelm the learning process in the beginning. As always, less is more.
If you’re looking for 3 excellent beginner rackets (that aren’t beginner rackets) try here: racket for beginner adults.
And for the other huge tennis stroke you’ll need to play a game in tennis here’s the beginner serve.
Or if you’re ready to learn the backhand - that’s right here.
With love from Mallorca~