The Weird Visual Cue That Made My Forehand Faster

On today's lesson, I'm going to give you a visual cue so you can hit faster forehands while maintaining consistency. So let's get started. Now normally if you follow my page, you know I'm all about tennis vegetables. Let's hit high over the net. Let's hit medium speed. Let's play through the middle. Let's play percentage tennis. That's your vegetables. I'm giving you dessert today because I know you all want to hit the ball fast. So a couple of things. When I try to hit the ball fast, I'm not thinking about using my whole body, my trunk rotation, my legs. I'm thinking about a relaxed arm and a fast hand. So you'll see a lot of the demos I do later. I'm not really using my legs right now. Just almost broke my Apple Watch, but I'm swinging fast here. Now I'm not advocating when you play a match to not use your legs. I'm just saying that's not the normal one source of power. You can be relaxed with this arm, release that hand, and you can absolutely rip the ball. Now a little backstory on me. I started playing tennis when I was 10 years old. I played baseball before. I had a two-hand forehand, which was actually a lefty backhand because my right hand was on top. I took the racket back straight down, which you'll see today. I still have a little bit of an ugly take backwards straight. I wasn't taught much technique and yet I was able to hit the ball well enough to become an all-American, to play in the US Open when I was 17 years old, to win nine national junior doubles titles. So obviously it can work. Now, one of the visuals that I have when I want to rip a forehand is I'm trying to hit the net tape on the way up. So there's a couple of great things with that visual for me, and it's not super technical and it's something that could hold up in a match. Number one, the idea that I have to hit the net tape on the way up. So that means I need to be swinging some version of low to high. Now we know I'm driving the ball more, but it's not going to be a drive down this way. The second thing is if I'm trying to actually hit that net tape, I've got to make contact in my strike zone, which for me with my grip is about where my waist is. So if I'm making contact chest or head height, I'm already above the net. There's no way I can hit that net tape unless I swing down. So that visual forces me to get in position, right? The last thing, and you'll see when we do some of these demos, when I miss them deep, if you guys try to swing low to high and you rip a ball, you're probably going to start missing a lot deep and that's because of your racket face. So if that ball is going deep, you're just going to be a touch open. Now, when I have the visual of that net tape, it helps me want to close my strings. This is what it feels like when I show you videos from the side, that's not what my racket's going to look. But that is how I feel when I'm trying to hit the ball into that net tape. I feel like my strings are down. I'm accelerating up. I know that by swinging up, it's almost impossible to miss the net. So I have the confidence to close those strings so I can give it a good rip. All right. So let me walk you through some of these. I'm trying to hit the net tape on the way up. So I'm trying to get that ball at my waist, low to high. That was pretty close right there. Now, again, if I swing low to high, there we go. That's worth a like and a subscribe. If I'm trying to hit the net tape and I'm swinging up, it's going to be really difficult for me to hit the ball in the net. Right. So as long as I'm going low to high, that's out of play. Now that was about a foot over the net at my speed. Almost impossible. Okay. So what you'll see mistake wise is you'll see some people swinging straight down on the ball. That's why we go in the net. Look at the difference with my fall through there. Or they're going to try this and they're going to hit a ball super deep because the racket is open. So what's always worked for me visually is keeping my strings closed and swinging low to high. And the way I keep my strings closed is I visualize that net tape. I am actually trying to hit the net tape on the way up. By the way, actually out of breath. It's kind of tough hitting balls this fast in a row, but I'm going to try to swing low to high. You can see that follow through right there. It's an absolute rip. Same right there. So again, very simple at my waist, like where to get, I wouldn't even try it on that one. Ready? Boom. So again, that's your feel. This is your fun shot. You can see it's fun to hit. I'm missing them on a ball machine. It's your choice if you want to use this in a match or not, or you can come up and hit a saucy little drop shot like that. All right, so let's just get a couple from the side here. You can see I'm trying to get the ball on my waist. That was a beautiful rip. I'll let you know if I hit one horribly. Now the feeling as a net tape for sure is that I'm doing this, but if you watch, there's no chance, right? That ball actually would go straight down. So I'm trying to swing low to high. All these have been better. I wish you could see these from behind. This is the second round beforehand. So I'm actually getting better each time, but I'm trying to feel those strings pointing slightly down. And I'm trying to hit that net tape. Look at the balance right there. That one was about two inches over the net right there was about a foot. And that's just subtle variations in my racket face or the ball. You can also see my take back, right? We talked about that earlier. How's my take back? It's not beautiful, right? Does it matter? I can still hit awesome shots. So you see all the coiling. I couldn't do that to save my life. I've never been able to do this move right here and have a forehand make sense. It doesn't matter. I aim for the net tape. I swing low to high, got it right there and I can absolutely rip the ball or play with height if I actually want to play smart tennis and win a match. All right. So two quick disclaimers. Number one, this is just a feeling and a visual that works for me. I know I've seen pros. I've seen coaches teach it and I don't disagree with it. Some people hit the ball from up here and almost drive down. That depends on your grip. There are lots of different ways to do things. This just worked for me in my career and I had tremendous success. So this visual of aiming low, but swinging low to high was awesome. The second disclaimer is yes, it is fun to hit fast and there are moments where you should, maybe a weak second serve. Maybe we're in doubles. Maybe you get a short ball sitter. I love it. Hit it faster. But generally speaking, we still need the vegetables that I talk about on the channel all the time, which is hitting high, hitting more through the middle, being consistent, right? So there's a time and a place. The faster you hit, the more you're going to miss, but you also can force errors. So you're going to have to balance that out for yourself. Now, the last thing to keep in mind is you've just watched a video that's a little bit on technique, but it was more about the feelings I have when I'm hitting it faster. If you go out and try this on your own ball machine or with a coach, probably not going to look the same. Number one, because I've already hit a million balls doing this in my life. But number two, when you watch a YouTube video on technique, it's not going to work right away. Honestly, it probably might not work ever. Otherwise, everyone who's watching YouTube videos would not be three O's. We all be four fives at minimum because we figured it out. So implementation is the key. If you want my help implementing some of these things and seeing how it works for your game and what you're struggling with, I have an online program. It's $79, not for a video for the entire month. I coach you nonstop for the month. Send me as many videos as you want. I give you feedback and drills back. We go back and forth. My goal is to get you better at a very, very affordable price. So again, hopefully these things made sense, but you're going to need my help or a coach at home, or just yourself watching these videos and trying to get that feedback loop. But if you give it enough reps, you can be hitting the ball faster and more consistent.