As someone commented, there are still a WHOLE LOAD of things that are unanalysed in this vid (eg full arm extension at contact). But maybe rightly so because he deviates from conventional technique.
look at nadal's body type. he is very muscular, unlike just about every other player. that is why his stroke doesn't cause heavy tension on his body. if it did, he wouldn't perfer rally matches.
my point is. if your musculature is like nadal's you have nothing to worry about. if your skinny/wirey like most tennis players and try to use nadal's strokes, say bye bye to your wrist.
Nadal muscles his shots often because he is not good technically, so actually Nadal needs muscles more than any tennis player. Why does Federer has a bigger/harder forehand? Because he has way better technique
lol...everything you said just now comes straight out of the mouth of someone who doesn't play tennis, under the presumption that "bigger forehand" is the better technique. There isn't one super technique in tennis, if nadal was to play his forehand flat with an eastern grip like federer, it too would be flat and big and hard, but nadal chose to play his forehand by pure topsin using reverse forehands, a technique no other can do consistently. play the game before you comment by just watching.
Actually I play a lot of tennis, at a pretty nice level as well. And if you would know a little bit more about it, you would've known that this is not the best technique to hit a topspin forehand. So, its technically inefficient and that could cause problems, and it has in Nadal's case
@gabe228 What are you on about? Sam Stosur, Caroline Wozniacki, all of the other Spanish players, the Chileans, and even Ryan Harrison all use western grips, the very same western grip Nadal uses. They all hit very similar forehands, with Nadal's being the exception with the amount of height and spin it generates. The only real difference between Nadal and his countrymen is that he's the superior athlete. He isn't the only one who can use it consistently.
@Maniac742 further illustrates what a newb you are, you took the term "western grip" as what i identified as key difference when you should have said "reverse forehand". No player uses the reverse forehand as main forehand swing pattern like Nadal.
@mysteriekiller That isn't totally true. Nadal does muscle a lot of balls, but he can hit hard and flat as well. It's one of the reasons he's managed to transition from a clay court only player to an all court player. Nadal can hit through the ball for a winner as well as any player. His rally ball just has more height and more spin.
That puts terrible stress on your body. Would not advise anyone to throw his arm like that.
Good player, but this stroke is far from perfection, technically speaking.
If we speak about results, well, it's hard to argue it's nto a good stroke. Actually the only stroke able to neutralize Federer's slice backhands and to dominate his top spin backhand.
Yes, he's lefty, it does help, especially on the slice, but you still have to pull off the stroke and good for him he does.
technique and power vs speed and agility.well in the olympics,nadal just overpowered fernando gonzalez in backhand and especially in the forehand.just see the last point of that final
We are lucky to have players like Fed and Nadal in the same time, I guess its normal though, others had Laver and Rosewall, Borg and Mcenroe, Sampras and Agassi. djokovic seems like that Lendl dark horse.
...away enough from his body. This means that normally the angle between his upperside body and hitting arm is way open (the armpit opening is almost always OPEN , excuse the repetition). This is a key factor in big, powerful forehands, from Federer to Agassi.
And finally is the wrist that is ALWAYS coming from WAY DOWN BELOW with full upward acceleration with a confortable western grip that again let´s give Nadal the credit to demonstrate that the destined to be a Nº1 not necessarily had to ..
... I´m saying nothing about the other aspects of his game like mental attitude and great unique physical condition.
One key point in Rafa´s drive is his early mirror-like preparation which keeps on tracking the ball in front until the very last moment. This important trait allows his body to be naturally ready and in position to uncoil the 2nd part of his drive: the over-the-head-and-in front whiplash of wrist topspin. To obtain the latter with so much power and weight his arm is...
Despite I´m a RF admirer, definitely Nadal has revolutionized or reinvented the forehand topspin stroke with great results in angles and rebound height.
And one thing that is superb in tennis development is that incredible consistency to put every ball in with so much power.
He exchanges an aprox. of 25% less of a Federer´s ballspeed in order to achieve a paramount tennis goal: not to fail but obviously he has the skill that enables him placing HIS shots not close to the opponent.
yeah it was a fun gme to watch, had Gonzalez won any of the 2 set points in the 2nd set I think he could have won. But Rafa was by far the better player in the first set and I hope he never lets Federer be #1 again, his game is a lot funner to watch.
this leg thing is not always true, it seems it depends on the shot they are hitting
Malinator94 10 months ago
DUDE IS AN ANIMAL!
DustOnTheRoad 1 year ago
the average person has nooooooo idea how much of a physical sport tennis is. they think its just like having a social hit down at the country club
AceGuitarR7 1 year ago 11
wuau neverrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr se his legs like this
ffallenaangel 1 year ago
I think Nadal has Moor (Moro) blood.
GrandPatzer 1 year ago
As someone commented, there are still a WHOLE LOAD of things that are unanalysed in this vid (eg full arm extension at contact). But maybe rightly so because he deviates from conventional technique.
daemonturk 2 years ago
look at nadal's body type. he is very muscular, unlike just about every other player. that is why his stroke doesn't cause heavy tension on his body. if it did, he wouldn't perfer rally matches.
my point is. if your musculature is like nadal's you have nothing to worry about. if your skinny/wirey like most tennis players and try to use nadal's strokes, say bye bye to your wrist.
GreatestCreation909 2 years ago
Nadal muscles his shots often because he is not good technically, so actually Nadal needs muscles more than any tennis player. Why does Federer has a bigger/harder forehand? Because he has way better technique
mysteriekiller 2 years ago
lol...everything you said just now comes straight out of the mouth of someone who doesn't play tennis, under the presumption that "bigger forehand" is the better technique. There isn't one super technique in tennis, if nadal was to play his forehand flat with an eastern grip like federer, it too would be flat and big and hard, but nadal chose to play his forehand by pure topsin using reverse forehands, a technique no other can do consistently. play the game before you comment by just watching.
gabe228 2 years ago 3
Actually I play a lot of tennis, at a pretty nice level as well. And if you would know a little bit more about it, you would've known that this is not the best technique to hit a topspin forehand. So, its technically inefficient and that could cause problems, and it has in Nadal's case
mysteriekiller 2 years ago
@mysteriekiller its a one off technique. believe me when i say nadal is technically very sound.
indyk91 1 year ago
@gabe228 What are you on about? Sam Stosur, Caroline Wozniacki, all of the other Spanish players, the Chileans, and even Ryan Harrison all use western grips, the very same western grip Nadal uses. They all hit very similar forehands, with Nadal's being the exception with the amount of height and spin it generates. The only real difference between Nadal and his countrymen is that he's the superior athlete. He isn't the only one who can use it consistently.
Maniac742 5 months ago
@Maniac742 further illustrates what a newb you are, you took the term "western grip" as what i identified as key difference when you should have said "reverse forehand". No player uses the reverse forehand as main forehand swing pattern like Nadal.
gabe228 5 months ago
@mysteriekiller You're an incompetent idiot if you think that.
DeanGoulding 1 year ago
@mysteriekiller That isn't totally true. Nadal does muscle a lot of balls, but he can hit hard and flat as well. It's one of the reasons he's managed to transition from a clay court only player to an all court player. Nadal can hit through the ball for a winner as well as any player. His rally ball just has more height and more spin.
Maniac742 5 months ago
most players are anything but skinny, but yes, nadal is superior in muscularity.
gabe228 2 years ago
That puts terrible stress on your body. Would not advise anyone to throw his arm like that.
Good player, but this stroke is far from perfection, technically speaking.
If we speak about results, well, it's hard to argue it's nto a good stroke. Actually the only stroke able to neutralize Federer's slice backhands and to dominate his top spin backhand.
Yes, he's lefty, it does help, especially on the slice, but you still have to pull off the stroke and good for him he does.
GueorguiJoukov 2 years ago 2
There's still many things to learn from this stroke although it's not a body friendly shot.
GueorguiJoukov 2 years ago 3
this is a horrible forehand hahahaha
but horribly effective as well
must be a bitch to learn to control it
chrism216 2 years ago
Vamos Rafa, amazing forehand!
rorolovesrafa 2 years ago
it must be very difficult to get power when putting that much spin on the ball, but he still manages to whack it 100+ mph.
a testament to his physical strength and prowess.
armuk 2 years ago 4
..gah nadal's strength overall is insane -_-
ultracloudx 2 years ago
damn i think when that ball hit the ground on the other courtside it was feltfree^^
fabsenizer1987 2 years ago 6
holy crap what a forehand
fezzyness 3 years ago 5
Yeah, nice to watch, but Roger still has the most effective of all.
NiggeliNG 2 years ago
That is a sick forehand.
penssmell997 3 years ago 3
technique and power vs speed and agility.well in the olympics,nadal just overpowered fernando gonzalez in backhand and especially in the forehand.just see the last point of that final
164jlg 3 years ago 2
But considering who Gonzalez is compared to nadal or Federer he is way too easy
Kingportable 2 years ago
where did you get the music?
it sounds like the AMS theme,
weasley77 3 years ago
yea it is..
awesome. im tryin to find the ams 05 and 06 themes.
nikehike 3 years ago
now rafas forehand is much better than gonzos
welsjager007 3 years ago
We are lucky to have players like Fed and Nadal in the same time, I guess its normal though, others had Laver and Rosewall, Borg and Mcenroe, Sampras and Agassi. djokovic seems like that Lendl dark horse.
IricForset 3 years ago 12
... have a semi or eastern grip type like those of Federer, Agassi, Sampras and many more Nº1s.
ruggierojerolli 3 years ago
...away enough from his body. This means that normally the angle between his upperside body and hitting arm is way open (the armpit opening is almost always OPEN , excuse the repetition). This is a key factor in big, powerful forehands, from Federer to Agassi.
And finally is the wrist that is ALWAYS coming from WAY DOWN BELOW with full upward acceleration with a confortable western grip that again let´s give Nadal the credit to demonstrate that the destined to be a Nº1 not necessarily had to ..
ruggierojerolli 3 years ago
... I´m saying nothing about the other aspects of his game like mental attitude and great unique physical condition.
One key point in Rafa´s drive is his early mirror-like preparation which keeps on tracking the ball in front until the very last moment. This important trait allows his body to be naturally ready and in position to uncoil the 2nd part of his drive: the over-the-head-and-in front whiplash of wrist topspin. To obtain the latter with so much power and weight his arm is...
ruggierojerolli 3 years ago 2
Despite I´m a RF admirer, definitely Nadal has revolutionized or reinvented the forehand topspin stroke with great results in angles and rebound height.
And one thing that is superb in tennis development is that incredible consistency to put every ball in with so much power.
He exchanges an aprox. of 25% less of a Federer´s ballspeed in order to achieve a paramount tennis goal: not to fail but obviously he has the skill that enables him placing HIS shots not close to the opponent.
Of course..
ruggierojerolli 3 years ago
Yes you could be talking about Nadal's "running forehand" not one in the game possesses such a weapon!!
YoSoyZuri 3 years ago 3
i love his forehand
welsjager007 3 years ago 3
You are right to love his forehand because it is the best there is (incl. technicaly speaking)!
YoSoyZuri 3 years ago 2
In technical terms, even Nadal knows that FERNANDO GONZALEZ has the best forehand in tennis. He even admitted it yesterday on Spanish tv.
The olympic final will be fun to watch.
GONZALEZ vs NADAL
Chile vs Spain
Technique and power vs Speed and Agility
mmike01 3 years ago 5
nadel won :]
AsianGangsster 3 years ago 4
yeah it was a fun gme to watch, had Gonzalez won any of the 2 set points in the 2nd set I think he could have won. But Rafa was by far the better player in the first set and I hope he never lets Federer be #1 again, his game is a lot funner to watch.
mmike01 3 years ago
FULLWESTERN GRIP
greedi534 3 years ago
does someone knows wich grip nadal uses
hardcorejari 3 years ago
full western grip
Maverick1892 3 years ago
i love to call it a helicopter ride...
rafanatic08 3 years ago
I like this analisys of technique; it teaches us about tennis! Good to hear experts for a change! lol
YoSoyZuri 3 years ago
Nadal's forehand is considered to be the biggest weapon in men's tennis!!
YoSoyZuri 3 years ago
whoever told u dat probably doesnt know wat a forehand is
alsusume 3 years ago
Read tennis articles by tennis experts and then tell them they don't know; don't tell me!
YoSoyZuri 3 years ago
dead right!!
gmccauley08 3 years ago