Open Stance Footwork Variation
Sometimes when you are pulled wide on the tennis court you have to hit a closed-stance forehand because you have to run through the ball. Here, we are going to look at a variation of the open stance forehand footwork that will allow you to hit an open stance on the run. I shadow this motion in the video above.
As I move out to the ball, my momentum is carrying me off the court, and it is carrying me sideways as I go to swing and make contact with the tennis ball. I position myself in an open stance, and load up all my weight on my outside foot. I then swing to the ball and make contact while at the same time hopping (or jumping) off with my outside foot. As I follow through, I come down and land again on my outside foot. From that position, I can again push off my outside foot and recover back to the center of the tennis court. The great thing about this footwork as opposed to hitting with a closed stance is that this doesn’t constrict your upper body rotation on your groundstroke.
If you hit with a closed stance, it is very difficult to rotate your body around fully, but with this footwork rotating fully is much easier to do because you are hitting with an open stance. Let’s now look at an actual hitting clip to see how this footwork helps me hit and rotate effectively (1:25 in the video above). I move out to a wide ball on my forehand side, and as I prepare to hit I position myself in an open stance and load up all my weight on my outside foot, swing to contact, and as make contact I hop up off my outside foot and then land again on my outside foot. You can see how this footwork enables me to rotate my upper body fully on my forehand.
At 2:10 in the video, I go to hit a closed stance forehand. You can see that as I hit and follow through, I can’t rotate my upper body any further around than facing the net. Because of this, I have to alter my swing path and follow through so the racket can decelerate properly. My swing is much more low-to-high than with an open stance, and I follow through up and around my head rather than across my body. This is called a “reverse forehand.” Rafael Nadal uses this reverse forehand very frequently on the pro tour.
{ 7 comments }
I disagree with what you are teaching here. At times I agree you will have to take this recovery hop step after a shot but only when it is absolutey necessary. The goal should be to get to the ball soon enough to get your drive leg behind the ball so you can load and explode from right to left (righties) and through the court. You say this allows your body to fully rotate but in all reality it does not. By loading on your left leg and landing on your left leg you have had zero weight transfer and defeating the purpose of the open stance.
Hi Chris. The pros use this particular footwork pattern all the time. If you watch Federer vs. Nadal tomorrow in the Madrid finals, you’ll see both those guys take this hop / jump when they are hitting wide forehands.
Thanks this is reall useful one. I suggest you to put some videos about fitness workouts for tennnis players. thanks again.
the important thing is, you need to get low when you hit with the open stance, it gives you more power to your shot
most awesome tip. glad to be drinking all this up (though there is too much to scull!). i’ll be trying this out in the near future.
thx again to the team for all they’ve done for us. very grateful over here.
Hi, i agree with this. But is it weird if some players(me) get more power with a closed stance forehand? Im a lefty, and im trying to hit my forehand like my backhand. Lots of pace and deep in the court. If anyone could help me out to figure out how to get more power on my forehand it would be greatly appreciated. -You can e-mail me at tamara_powers@hotmail.com
alot of players dont know how to generate the power from their legs with an open stance while closed stance already starts shifting the weight forward. more power can be harnessed though through open and neutral stances because of the longer motion that can be created through the fuller shoulder turn, watch fed or roddick unwind starting with their feet first some hip turn then full shoulder turn with a WW follow through. watch fed end up turning 180, but also you will see most often that when they generate their top power they are moving forward through the ball. no shoulder turn can compare to weight through the ball, but both watch out
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