Added: 2 years ago
From: tommyenglish1
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  • nadal uses bent arm federer uses straight arm

  • @theeachuisge nadal uses bent arm? false!!

  • does not matter much...what's more important is that there should be no flexion or tension in the arm... the power and whip comes from upper body rotation and timing the stroke rather than 'muscling' it via the forearm. Federer is a good example of technique...Sampras used to be even better to watch and try and emulate. Also watch Gilles Simone on hiw he plays with no tension in his arm...

  • Bent arm allows for efficient ball striking for extreme grips (Kohlschreiber, Bellucci), you will almost never see a straight arm FH with a western grip. Also the bent arm FH allows for more of the modern FH whip for extreme grips, because the swing is naturally more compact. Straight arm forehands are more suitable for pros who have exceptional timing and natural talent ball striking ability. At the end of day it doesn't really matter though, just whatever is comfortable.

  • straight arm forehands are more effective, more efficient, and more powerful if done correctly. However, the fact is it's hard for kids to do and therefore hard to develop, so it's rare. I'm able to use it very well (I have NO idea how bent arm forehands work) partly because I didn't start tennis until age 14. I modeled my forehand after Roger Federer and Fernando Verdasco.

  • @dxuhuang I can totally aggree with this. I believe the main reason for the existence of the bent arm forehand, and double handed backhand is the children. Because they start playing so early (4-6years), they cant be taught much more than that. I also modeled my shots and game after watching Federer. This however is a completely different gamestyle compared to the bent-arm forehanders which requires a heavier racquet if you use say..the single handed backhand.

  • In theory, the straight arm should give you more racket speed which gives you more power and spin potential.

  • Personally I feel a bent arm chokes the shot a little - slowing it down. But anyway, Emira's shots are beautiful, well done!

  • honestly, it's whatever works best for the player and what they get comfortable with when they first start out playing. For myself, I use both...straight for baseline and bent for closer shots. I can 100s mph with both so as far as speed is concerned it doesn't matter.

  • I think you shout use a bent arm in a really until there come's an easy ball and than you try to produce a winner with a forehand using a straight arm to get more speed(and if you ball is good enough run to the net so if you're opponent gets the ball back you can smash it off or use a good volley to end the rally). that's what I do most off the time, and it works really well ^^ I won five tournament's this year and next week I hope to win number six ^^

  • bent arm = easyer to windshield wipe and get more spin

    straight arm is better then T-ing off on sitters

  • @TeppTennis Nadal gets more spin than anyone ever with the straight arm forehand!?

  • @tommyenglish1 bent arm for ordinary player = more amplification for top spin + a better control

  • @tommyenglish1 yea you're right, i think bent arm is only good for control (at lower levels)

  • @tommyenglish1 Thats cause his western grip + follow through allow for it.

  • this is one fact that i also concern about when i take the court. Well, from what i see and learn, it's depend mostly from the style you choose to play. If you choose flexible then the straight (sometime bent) would free you from making a direction for shots and if you use reserve forehand (a lot), you will feel the benefit of it. Otherwise, if you choose a bent forehand, you will have a better feeling, and the ball would fly with a higher speed, but it will limit you from getting balls.

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  • What a talented little girl! Wow!!!

  • its ur desicion however u feel more confortable and however u get a faster and better forehand

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  • novak doesn't do too bad with his double bent forehand:D

  • @dominikkeul but it's ugly...

  • This little girl hits better than all the girls on my schools tennis team. ^^

  • In my opinion the best result you get is to use the bent arm as most you can in really, but some times when the ball come very fast(for example on a serve return) the straight arm get you better results.You can see the some results of my little girl,,,,she is 9 years old.....on youtube,search,,,derrijl....(f­orehand nov)

  • @derrijl That is a different view. I don't remember seeing anyone doing that combo. normally its always bent or players like Nadal who have a straight arm will often bend it slightly on returns. Your daughter is a nice player. Please visit my website tpa tennis. net you might find things to help or interest you on there. cheers

  • Straight arm has more power potential for the simple reason that the racket is farther from the body, creating a bigger arc. Bent is easier to control and more comfortable, esp for a weaker player. Fed & Nad have two of the biggest forehands ever, no coincidence that both are straight arm. Note they straighten the arm on the forward swing. Better to try increasing spacing a little when setting up, rather than forcing the arm straight. It's still possible to hit a huge fh bent arm, ala Agassi.

  • Doesn't make a difference - purely a matter of what most feels natural and effective for you. Fed plays with a straight arm, Djokovic with a bent arm. Both world top 5 players. Bent arm or straight arm isn't a decision that is going to hold you back, clearly.

  • The first forehand is far superior (which I guess is bent-arm). The racquet head acceleration is much better, and the point of contact is out in front of her. I would also suggest that she step into her stroke a little more when she has the chance - if she's moving side to side, this stroke is okay, but for maximum power and direction, it would be better for her to step into the stroke if she has the time.

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  • straight arm is upon impact. it can be a lil bend then straigthen up on impact

  • I would recommend the bent arm forehand because you will be more consistent with more topspin on the ball and the straight arm forehand usually leads to poor footwork in most kids that i have seen.

  • I think bent arm is more natural, I see her first shots more fluid. One question, isn´t straight arm more dangerous for elbow? Thanks.

    By the way I wish I could have Emiras forehand (bent o straight).

  • neither? use whichever one is most comfortable for you

  • hey i have a question on both forhand and backhand. the thing that is holding me back from those shots becoming a weapon is mainly my legs. i dont use them enough. my coaches want me to bend and get lower, but when i do, i feel like i cant really control my shots and i miss hit. i dont need to get low on every ball right? also, whenever i use my legs more, like to load, or move faster, i tend to get really jumpy and cant focus/see the ball, why?

    thanks

  • @1992marshmallow

    no, you dont need to have your legs bent at contact, but you should start with your legs bent to generate power upwards

    if the ball is high, jump or hit with straight legs, if its low, bend your knees

  • Different situations call for different forehands, why not have both forearms in the arsenal. I do however prefer straight arm because it seems to really drive the ball deep compared to the double bend forehands I see so common today.

  • I don't want to be a nerd but the straight arm is the classical way the old school players did.

    the bent arm is more modern and I think biomechanically superior. you have a 2 stage catapult. first the arm is externally rotating and the elbow coming forward with the hand laying back and then at the second stage the forearm is whipped through fast by internal rotation of the humerus. this is more like a whip comparable to a baseball throw.

  • mini williams:D

  • with good timing, the straight arm forehand can be a serious weapon. The bent arm FH is possibly more forgiving, but with Emira's perfect timing ye can choose either one. This reply is almost the exact same to my one about jumping 1hbhs :-)

  • part 2:

    the whipping around the elbow gives you some extra.

    However the difference is not so big. the FH is not about getting maximum acceleration of the hand (which helps of course) but the racket. the strength of rog and raffa is not the straight arm but on the next lever of the chain: they acc. the racket around the hand very well with wrist use and pronation

  • part one:

    With the straight arm the lever is slightly longer(but neglectable if the arm is not tooo much bent in the BA forehand), but in the bent arm forehand the elbow accelerates and then the forearm around the elbow like a spring or whip. this gives you an extra piece in the kinematic chain which is sequential from feet to racket. that why a baseball throw(flexible arm) is superior to a cricket throw(straght arm). you get some extra whip from the elbow joint.

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  • the straight arm is the classical way the old school players did.

    the bent arm is more modern and I think biomechanically superior. you have a 2 stage catapult. first the arm is externally rotating and the elbow coming forward with the hand laying back and then at the second stage the forearm is whipped through fast by internal rotation of the humerus. this is more like a whip comparable to a baseball throw.

    But of course federer does great with the oldschool technique...

  • @dominikkeul the best forehands probably ever are Federers and Nadals but you dont think theirs are superior? and I would say the get the most "whip" also. whats your answer to that? thanks for the comment

  • @dominikkeul I think Gonzalez has an old school forehand but not Federer and Nadal.

    

  • @dominikkeul Ever heard of string theory? according to this, the most power generated will be from the longest distance (arm). Therefore, holding all other factors constant, players with longer arms should be able to hit harder than players with shorter arms. by the same principle, have a straight arm will generate more power than a bent arm.

  • @TlMpossible

    string theory? are you kidding? the string theory is a quantum mechanics theory that has nothing to do with long or short arms.

    You are right that a longer arm means a longer acceleration path = more acceleration.

    but on the other hand a longer lever means more inertia= less acceleration

    those two forces equal out so in the end it doesn't really matter.

    yeah federer and nadal hit the ball a ton but bent arm guys like novak, tsonga and others hit it pretty hard too.

  • @dominikkeul you clearly no nothing about basic physics, moment and therefore power much greater with a straight arm on contact

  • @lfeddern

    yeah the forehands of novak, tsonga, gonzalez and agassi really suck...

    yes federer and nadal are probably the best players ever. but still very few players use straight arm. I think 90% of the top100 use double bend. so it can't be too bad.

  • @dominikkeul we are tlking about which is better not which is more common. I am not saying that no one uses it, just it is favourable to make contact with a straight arm as the radius of the rotation around the center of rotation(torso) larger and ther4 straight arm on contact ensures maximum angular momentum hence energy hence power. not sayin bent 4hands suck just not as gd as could be, as there is no reason that actually makes sense in terms of the laws of physics for a bent arm.

  • The straight arm forehand is better if the player has the timing and ability to fully maximise racket head speed through the lagging of the elbow and then the wrist prior to contact.

  • The bent arm forehand is better for most people, though straight arm just feels more natural to some. She isn't getting the most out of the straight arm forehand. She should stick to the double bend.

  • straight

  • Sorry about my comments.

  • @TUENTRENADOR  no problem. Subscribe and follow emira if your into tennis. It should be interesting. Thanks for watching.

  • @tommyenglish1

    I know you may get enough of my comments, but still; shouldn't you encourage her to avoid interrupting her swing? I mean by this that she lets go her racket too soon and when she swings forward, she have no longer any margin left to continue her take back since has already accomplished it.

    Each pro, Nadal, Federer, Djocovic... once they commit to continue the take back with their arm and let it go free from their non-hitting hand, they never stop.

  • @tommyenglish1

    It would be interesting though to see the impact of beding or not your arm on a given swing; do you have a theory, an idea, about how it affects the swing?

  • @TUENTRENADOR no problem. Subscribe and follow emira if your into tennis. It should be interesting. Thanks for watching.

  • @tommyenglish1

    On the straight arm she does something awful Berdych also does: she waits or just slow it down with the take back already done... When you do this, it disrupts your tempo and on nerves or tensed situation, where she'll hold a bit her arm, the head speed won't be the same and she risks to shank those balls.

    The reason why we do not see many straight arm is that players start when they are 4-5 y.o.. It's easier to control and hold the weight of the racket when the arm is bent.

  • @GueorguiJoukov what you mean she wasn't doing it perfect straight away? how strange!

  • @tommyenglish1

    No, I mean that she had complted or almost completed the take back, then stopped and started again to go forward. There are two phases on your takeback:

    1- You rotate your shoulders which will necessarily bring your racket back;

    2-you allow your arm to take it fully back and then go forward.

    You can wait in position 1, but once you release your arm the racket must never stop and it can only slow down AFTER impact. This is called a continuous swing path.

  • @GueorguiJoukov Thanks for the comments but what I'm saying is she had been doing this for about 5 minutes so there ate always going to be things she needs to do better and also you sometimes have to break down the swing and make her do things you might not fully like and call it stage 1.

  • @tommyenglish1

    Berdych also does it and you can see in his game that this timing diruption makes a huge difference since having a discontinuous swing forces you to play with a very little margin for error. Also, it's easier to push a moving object; if her rackets move faster prior the main acceleration, she will have an easier time putting more speed.

  • @GueorguiJoukov people learn a lot of things at that age and then tournaments and wanting fast results mean a lot of things don't get fixed

  • @tommyenglish1

    Never sacrifice technical improvement for results... Many of my friends asked me to slow it down, to try and keep the ball in play with easier shots; I never listened and kept trying to fix my technic. Now, those attacking balls land in the court and they are still at laying down theirs. Even then, I am not satisfied because it's not perfect yet.

  • @GueorguiJoukov I 100% agree.

  • @tommyenglish1

    Sorry, I have not seen my previous posts, what an idiot! Anyway, a greater extensions gives you a better levrage, but it's harder to adjust and harder to swing. It will depend on how your player is able to develop the maximum power...

    I will not learn anything saying we cannot create energy and if you give yourself a long lever you are not strong enough to accelerate fully, it won't make a difference. Give and take, see what works better for the player.

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  • I suggest you read "COACHES GUIDE TO TEACHING SPORT SKILLS" Chriatina and Corcos...

  • @TUENTRENADOR its seems kinda interesting but the point of this video was to just see what peoples opinions were, not that i was confused. I know what i want to do with emira and she understands too.

  • im 15 and my coach keeps telling me to hit my forehand with my arm bent but it is extremely awkward for me so does it really matter if i keep it straight also i hit for a week with my arm bent and my bicep got wicked sore but when i hit with a straight arm i never have this problem. also what are the advantages and disadvantages of straight arm and bent arm backhands are they the same as forehands?

  • i would tell ur coach that it is natural to you and some of the best forehands in the world use the straight arm forehand, federer verdasco nadal. if you want to have a few online lessons from me where i make u videos back, we can sort something out.

  • @SexyLeprechaun28 Consider a different coach. Some people naturally hit straight arm, some hit naturally bent. If you hit better straight arm, don't let them change it. It's all about taking somebody's natural talent and maximizing it, but the problem with most modern tennis coaches is that they all want everyone to have the same, bent arm forehand. Look at the women's tour- little to no variation on the forehand form.

  • The best way would be for the student to tell you what feels better. Certain things cannot be drilled into a young tennis player. I think there are great players that play with a double bend and some that play with a straight arm. Fernando Gonzalez plays with a double bend and he has one of the biggest forehands. What separates him from federer and nadal is not the fact of how he hits his forehand. There are many other variables.

    What do you think?

  • @YarpBarp09 Go with what's natural. Too many people teach the double bend instead of what is natural. I think that the straight arm forehand is a little tricky but will pay bigger dividends in the end. As for Gonzalez, he does have the best forehand on tour- his shoulder rotation is ridiculous.

  • @MrKerosene17 And I keep hearing that I have the exact forehand as Gonzalez. That's no joke. They aren't my words. It's just what they all say.

  • @nkuhle I saw the video on your forehand. In my opinion (and I am Forehando's number one fan), it looked nothing like it. Gonzo finishes on the other side of his body and he usually gets more acceleration and power on it. He also has the mother of all backswings and uses an open stance. I'm sorry. But your forehand reminds me more of the old seventies forehands.

  • Her bent arm will leave her more room for error and adjustment, but man that straight arm looked so nice. If she could master that jeez sheed be powerful

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  • the bent arm forehand looks more natural, and the arm isnt too far off straight anyway

  • The straight arm demands absolutely precise footwork. Nadal and Federer have the two best forehands in the world--it's no coincidence that they also have the best footwork in the world. But when Roger's footwork is off, his forehand also goes a bit off. This is particularly noticeable when he's moving to his right to put away a forehand down the line...and misses. The bent arm allows a degree of adjustment to compensate for footwork.

  • Have Emira hit both types of forehands while moving to the ball--see which type of forehand holds up in those situations.

  • @eujinh The Double bend is a little bit safer- less shanks, more room for adjustment. But the straight arm gives more topspin and power with less racket head speed. Look at Gonzalez vs. Verdasco- both have very different forehands, but both are absolutely deadly. It is a matter of which is more natural. You can maximize any forehand with enough work and polishing.

  • I prefer her straight arm fh but i also pf doing it myself.

    Straight arm means natural joints alignment. It means also you can hardly arm the ball.

    Better also for managing high balls and play them flat.

    The downs are the hitting can be inconsistant, it tends to bring amplitude to your forehand wich can be bad on fast surfaces.

    Henin, verdasco, federer, nadal have straight arm fh. not the worst ones ;-)

  • but boy why is she stopping her racket so soon after contact? The arm should finish its course freely, shouldn't it?

  • well if you dont snap it through quick enough you lose power, so we worked on snapping it through, but it does look different, i will see, but i dont think its a problem but i want her to bring her right shoulder round so i think it will evolve then but im too worried about the take back to care. but i agree with you about the straight arm, check out my latest video, thanks

  • explain this snap thing. When does the snap start. and what are the mechanics. Thanks. Little video please slow mo it just as the snap starts thanks.

  • her shot with bent arm is more natural and better

  • yes, for her, she seemed more natural with the bent arm.

    but the straight arm pull is nice if you have good trunk rotation power like bigger players.

    Straight arm pull is easier on the muscles too.

  • The straight arm looks more mechanical and does not allow her to prepare naturally. The bent arm appears more natural and allows her to prepare smoother. This smoother take back makes execution of the shot with greater success....

  • @mstro184 thats the problem i hav with my damn straight arm. I have too weird of a take-back. But people like Verdasco and Nadal have mastered it. Thoughts?

  • Not sure you're asking if one technique is empirically better or worse, or which of this girl's forehands is better, but she seems to have her arm straight for nearly the entire setup phase which is not advisable...

  • sorry deleted that other comment by accident. but i just want to let you know that Emira and obviously myself are aware of the arm not being straight too early. roddicks is very straight and it has the opposite effect on contact. i put the dates on the video to show it was only 2 days later but we will get there. keep watching and commenting, thanks

  • can't you get tennis elbow easier with bent elbow?

  • @Ros3Onlin3 I Just to have a TE when i learn myself the straight arm FH but it's not bad for the elbow, cause this technique uses more the chest rotation power and you don't need to "stress" the arm to hit the ball. But it need a very good footwork...

  • her shot looks better when she hits it with a bent arm. seems like she is less rigid and is accelerating more. Looks too stiff on the straight arm. Most professionals hit with bent arms and alot of them have good forehands.

  • i agree with u, her bent arm looks natural, while her straight looks abit awkward, her straight arms contact point looks too far back, try getting her to hit abit infront

  • The straight arm one in my opinion hits a flatter shot but its not consistent like the bent arm one.

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