Will Hamilton: The third step of the forehand is the forward swing to contact. Haven't gotten my tennis racquet all the way behind me and my other arm extended out across my body, from this position I'm ready to swing forward to my contact point. But before we talk about exactly how that is done, I want to mention a very important point. Look at my feet right now, they are in the same position they were in when I pivoted and turned my shoulders and from this body position here, I could swing forward and hit the tennis ball. But I could also step into the court with my inside foot like I'm doing here just before I hit. And whether or not you take that step just depends on the situation. Every pro on tour is going to hit both ways over the course of a match and I wanted to make that point because you are going to see some pros later on in this section not taking that step, so I didn't want you all to be confused. That step is not a fundamental of the forehand but in my opinion it's easier to learn the shot, it's easier to put your forehand together if you take this step into the court right before you hit.
Let's get back to how exactly you get to your contact point. From this position here, I have to do three things to get to contact. First I have to push off my outside leg, my left leg, in this case since I'm a lefty and when I do that I get my heel up and that's going to help with the second step which is to rotate my upper body back towards the net. Now when I do that, I'm going to drop the tennis racquet down and then swing forward to my contact point and if we play that again the path my racquet travels along looks very similar to as if I was tracing a C out with the tennis racquet. If I do these three things at the same time, I will get to my contact point which is a little bit out and front of my body and about waist high. From the front, we can see what that looks like again I push off my outside left leg, my heel comes up, my upper body rotates back towards the net and the racquet drops down and then swings forward to my contact point again about waist high and a little bit out and front of my body and if I would make contact with the tennis ball my strings would be flat on the back of the ball.
Haven't gotten his tennis racquet all the way back and his other arm extended out across his body, now Frank is going to do those three things I just talked about to get to his contact point. He pushes off his back foot, his outside foot which is his right foot since he is a rightly, he rotates his upper body back towards the net and again getting his heel up is going to help him rotate back around and then if we rewind it, his racquet drops down, Adam will put that C in there, the racquet drops down and swings forward to his contact point, which ends up being out and front of his body and about waist high. From the front view, we can see what it looks like from this angle, again he pushes off the back foot, outside foot, rotates the upper body back towards the net and the racquet comes down and swings forward and he hits the tennis ball a little bit out and front his body and around waist high.
Let's go back to Marat Safin, and look at a couple of pictures of him swinging forward to his contact point. In this first shot, here his tennis racquet is all the way back, other arms extended out across his body. But now in his next shot, he is in the process of swinging forward, this is of course from the side and if we moving on his feet he is pushing off his outside foot, he is rotating his upper body back towards the net and we pull back a little bit, the racquet has come down and he is now swinging forward towards the tennis ball which is right about here. In this final shot, this is again from the front, Safin has had contact and he is fully pushed off his outside leg, he is actually in the air, his upper body is fully rotated back towards the net and he swung forward and now he has had contact little bit out and front his body.
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