Unlock More FOREHAND POWER With This FINGER Technique

Most tennis players think that forehand power comes from a relaxed wrist, but one of the biggest secrets to a more powerful and controlled forehand is hidden in your fingers. So today, I'm going to take you through a progressive ball machine workout with my new best friend, Tenex, the AI tennis robot, where I'm going to teach you how to use your thumb, your index finger, and your middle finger to unlock more power, control, and racket hit speed. Let's get into it. So you might be wondering, what's the deal with the fingers? Well, if you didn't know, finger muscles have many small motor units, little tiny groups of muscle fibers that are controlled independently by your brain. That's the key, independently. What this gives you is the ability to have very precise and very rapid adjustments. So you know that I'm very big in putting images in your head. So I want you to imagine you putting a mitten around your hand, and I want you to imagine that you're grabbing a screwdriver and you're trying to rotate a screw. Now, you could probably do it because you have the use of your wrist, but you're going to feel how now your fingers have been inhibited from helping you. So you might be able to get it done, but it's not going to be as easy. So on the opposite end, I want you to put the image in your head of a very gifted violin player. Now, what you're going to realize is how quickly they move their fingers. I want you to concentrate on how they get that perfect combination between speed and pressure on that bow. And this is important because the same thing applies in tennis. We have to find the perfect combination between speed and pressure through the point. All right, so let's go through the three fingers, starting with your thumb. Your thumb is essential in holding the racket as it's turning, and especially at the end. So the power of that thumb is control. So what I want you to concentrate on is on the inside part of your thumb because your racket is going to rest there, okay? At the end of your stroke, it is super essential that the thumb pushes up so that it can help the finger, the index finger, rotate around. Now, the index finger, what it does is it starts the rotation, okay? So the part that I want you to feel is the inside, the bottom of your index finger right when it gets to the joint because that is the part that is going to touch the grip, regardless of whichever grip you have. That is the part that is going to start pushing the racket across. Now, the middle finger is a support mechanism for that index finger. So between the two of them, this part on the index finger and basically the middle finger pushing the index finger around between the two of them, they're going to be in charge of getting that racket to go across to the left rapidly. Now, anytime that you have power, in order for that power to be efficient and successful, you have to have control. So remember, the bottom two fingers are the ones that are going to help you control the racket and this part of your hand is also super essential because it works in tandem with the bottom two fingers. So those two fingers and the bottom of your palm is what's going to hold on to the racket along with the inside of your thumb. So what I want you to do is I want you to place the ball machine very close to the net and I want you to use a drill called feed ball. What that's going to do is going to give you very easy balls, short balls, where basically what I want you to do is just concentrate on these three fingers. We're going to hold the racket with just those three fingers to realize what I just mentioned to you. So this is not about power, this is about starting to bring awareness to the three fingers. So the more comfortable you start feeling with that motion, the more you're going to start loosening up your wrists and between your fingers and your wrist and the rest of your arm, you're going to get the perfect combination to produce a very powerful and a very fast forehand. So grab the racket only with those three fingers and we're going to try and turn that racket rather very very softly and start feeling, start feeling all those parts of the fingers and let's see what they're doing. Now what you're going to realize is that you have to loosen up the grip to be able to let that racket rotate. Relax the shoulders, relax the elbow. This is not about hitting hard, this is about seeing the power of your fingers and let's try to get that ball to go in different directions. Okay, always keeping in mind that we are doing a windshield wiper. So this is the part that rotates around the bottom of the racket. Let's see how we can loosen up your back, your hips, your feet and let's just work on a very smooth rotation. Now the next drill that I want you to do is I want you to still keep the ball machine where you had it right next to the net on the other side and this time you're still going to let it bounce but this time I want you to grab the racket with your entire hand and we're going to try to work on visualizing those three fingers helping you and now we're going to add the rest of the body. Okay, so very loose. One thing that I want you to do at the end is I want you to add a little bit more speed to the end of the stroke because remember what I mentioned before we have to find a perfect combination between speed and pressure. So at the very end that's when the speed is going to come from the perfect combination of those three fingers and give yourself different targets. Let's go inside out and let's go cross court. Little by little be really honest with yourself. Are your shoulders feeling tight? Are your hips feeling tight? Are you reaching for that ball? Are you trying to muscle the ball? Are you trying to punch it? Remember this is about the fingers. Let's see how fast we can get those fingers to rotate. When you finish at the end I want you to let the motion basically run out of speed. I don't want you to try to control the finish. This is when you're going to let the rest of the body go through the ball. Okay, this is when it's super important to separate upper body from lower body. So your upper body is going to continue to support your hand while your lower body is going to take you forward towards your target and it's going to help you land and get ready for the next shot. And let's combine it with timing. I want you to say bounce when the ball bounces and hit when you hit it. Really be aware of how much tension you feel in your body. Are you tensing up your back? Are you tensing up your shoulders? You shouldn't. The only thing that should be contracted is your abdominal muscles. Bounce, hit, bounce. Now it's super important that you envision how the racket is going to finish. So in other videos you've heard me talk about the tip of the racket finishing behind the shoulder and the butt of the racket pointing to your target. So let's see if you can add this towards the end. So let go, keep those fingers rotating and let's see what happens. Okay, so now to put it all together I want you to place the ball machine on the baseline and give it some power. So try and have lower balls or really high balls, nothing average so that it makes it harder on you. And just hit one single shot, make it bounce somewhere close to the middle of the baseline so that you can just concentrate on the technique. Remember this is a technical ball machine workout. Your intention is not to get a workout with this. Your intention is to try to bring awareness to your hand. So start slow and then start building up some speed. Relax your hips, relax your hands, relax your back. And let's see if we can generate some speed with those shots. And every time before you hit a ball, a target in mind. Now if you notice I am using my left foot as an anchor at the end. So my left foot is going to connect with my hands so that I can feel that between the left foot and my hand we're closing in this stroke and I get accuracy that way. Vary the targets. Don't start hitting to just one spot and have that target in your head before you hit that ball. Use this opportunity to work on your timing. Say bounce when the ball bounces and hit when you hit it. So now that you've learned to feel and to use the power of your fingers, you're ready to take that skill into real match situations by learning how to create long and short angles that are going to pull your opponent off the court and then they're going to create opportunities for you to end the point. So click on this next video because I'm going to show you exactly how to use these angles strategically to open up the court, control rallies, and finish points like a smarter player.