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I'm Randy Reynolds

I’m a tennis professional who makes a living teaching tennis. I consider myself the luckiest person on earth. I appreciate you visiting the site, and hope you enjoy!

How to Hit a Open Stance Forehand

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Tennis Open Stance Forehand

In the prior tennis forehand post I discussed the two main types of forehands, the open stance forehand and the neutral stance forehand. I highly recommend reading the prior post to get caught up on which forehand stance is best in particular court situations. As well as the different perspective coaches have on both stances and why they think one stance is better than the other.

Open Stance Forehand Tennis Grip

When it comes to forehand tennis grips there are 3 main grips to choose from.  The eastern grip which is generally considered the easiest grip for learning the forehand, the semi-western grip, and the western grip.

On tour, most of the pro players use a semi-western grip. This is due to players needing to generate more spin on the ball as the power and pace of the game has risen. One way to find the semi western tennis grip is to lay the racquet on a table or the ground and place your palm face down onto the grip of the racquet.

For the complete guide on finding the different grips click on the link.

Open Stance Forehand: Preparation

The key to each stroke in tennis is preparation and the open stance forehand is no different. One key component of preparation is footwork. When you are at the baseline waiting to see which direction your opponent is going to hit the ball you want to focus your eyes on judging when his racquet will make contact with the ball. You want to time your split step, a little hop, to get your body ready to react toward the direction the ball is traveling. This split step is seen in others sports such as soccer when the goalie hops slightly to get ready to react to the opponents shot.

After you split step and recognize the ball is going to your forehand you want to begin rotating your shoulders and hips as you are reacting toward the ball, this will allow for your racquet to naturally begin to be taken back as well. Now that you have reacted to the ball and you are running you want to focus on ensuring you have enough distance between you and the ball and the ball is going to rise or drop to your comfort zone, generally around waist high, before you set your feet. This is important because later on you will want to lean into the shot with your body weight going forward.

Open Stance Forehand: Set Up

Now that you have established the proper distance between you and the ball and you have the ball around your comfort zone you want to set your feet properly for the open stance forehand. Place your right foot (if your right handed and vice versa if left handed) between 45 degree angle to parallel in relation to the baseline (your foot will naturally land closer toward parallel as you get stretched further off the court or take larger steps, such as when hitting a running forehand) and load your body weight onto your right foot. At this point your shoulders should be turned with your hips loaded. Your opponent will be able to see part your left shoulder and part of your left hip.

Pro Tip

One tip for loading your weight onto your right foot is to bend your right knee slightly as if you were going to begin to sit down.

Open Stance Forehand: Swing

Tennis open stance forehandAs your shoulders and hips rotate to load, your racquet will begin to be taken back as well. When taking your racquet back your hitting elbow rises slightly up and away from the body. You can choose to have your racquet held like a glass on the backswing loop, with your racquet above your wrist when taking your racquet back or with your palm facing down in order to keep your racquet face closed. Your non hitting hand will be extended out around chest to shoulder high, allowing your left shoulder to close, or load.

Once you take your racquet back you are going to drop the racquet head and ensure your racquet face is pointed down by having your hitting hand palm facing down. At this point your hand should be loose and accelerating toward the ball with the butt of the racquet facing the net. The racquet head is now approaching the ball from below, swinging low to high, preparing to swing up through the ball to generate topspin. As your racquet accelerates toward the ball your non hitting hand will move along with your shoulders and hips as they open up to unload into the ball.

Pro Tip

Think of the loading of your shoulders and hips on the forehand to be similar to loading up to toss a medicine ball. To toss a medicine ball you would hold the ball with your arms extended, back straight, and toss the ball with your shoulders and hips.

The Goal of the Preparation, the Set Up, and the Swing

The goal of the preparation phase and the swing is to ensure your body weight transfers into the ball and that you make solid contact with the ball. The contact point for the open stance forehand is out in front of your right hip if you are right handed. The ball should feel light and travel toward your target when done correctly.

Open Stance Forehand: Follow Through

At contact you want to ensure your hand is loose, this will allow for increased racquet head speed and for your racquet to naturally follow through, or finish the stroke, with your hitting hand finishing over your left shoulder or around shoulder level.

Share Your Thoughts

I hope you enjoyed the article and took away some key points to bring to the practice court. If you found value in this guide follow the link provided for a complete list of guides on tennis technique.

Please share with us what types of shots have you found are hit more effectively with the open stance forehand groundstroke when you play?

See you on the court!

3 Simple Ways to Improve Your Tennis Practice

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Improve Your Tennis Practice

Improving your game takes a lot of work, so it’s best to make your tennis practice highly effective. Michael Jordan states it well when he talks about the importance of practicing effectively to get desired results.

“You can practice shooting eight hours a day, but if your technique is wrong, then all you become is very good at shooting the wrong way. Get the fundamentals down and the level of everything you do will rise.”

If you haven’t  read my prior post, 5 Ways to Improve your Tennis Game, check it out. It explains how to measure the effectiveness of your tennis practice.

Get Out of Your Comfort Zone

When you go to your tennis practice make sure it is effective. Structuring your tennis practice with purpose and hitting with someone that pushes you is ideal. One of my former bosses always said that if something doesn’t feel scratchy than you are not learning.

For example, you could practice hitting groundstrokes down the middle of the court to work on your forehand and backhand. However, ask yourself if that is the most effective activity?

Remember, the more effective the tennis practice the greater the result will be. You could structure a forehand drill to start in the middle of the court and work on hitting each forehand crosscourt, making sure to move out to the ball and recovering back effectively.

Bring Your Best

Bringing your best to the court makes for an engaged and focused tennis practice. It is a lot of work to move out to the ball quickly, set up and stroke the forehand, and recover back effectively. The activity of hitting down the middle isn’t bad, however if it doesn’t push you then you are not growing.

When you step out on the court I doubt you say that you want to maintain your game, especially if you are seeking out material and tools to improve your game. With that in mind, I urge you to ask yourself how effective are the activities in your practices? Are they giving you the results you desire? If the answer is no you may find it hard to get motivation to play tennis.

Celebrate the Small Wins

In order to be happy with your tennis game you need to progress. There are different ways to get motivated but I believe only one truly lasts and is essential to every tennis players development. We have all been with a team that rallied together to get pumped up or watched a video that motivated us to go out and do something. That kind of activity provides short term motivation and action.

For long lasting motivation it’s best to improve your tennis practice and training so you make progress. Once you see the results you will want more and that builds the passion and desire to continue. Think about it, you can’t motivate someone to lose weight. However, once they start doing the activities to lose the weight, they see the results and get the motivation to continue on.

“Repetition with passion is the mother of skill.” -Tony Robbins

What will you do to improve your tennis practice?

5 Steps to Improve My Tennis Game Example

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Playing Tennis with a Purpose

First, make sure to read the previous post, 5 Steps to Improve Your Tennis Game. This post is an example of how you can develop a game plan for playing better tennis and is meant to be used as a guide. Enjoy!

My tennis technique is fundamentally sound, however, my strategy, fitness and mental game are susceptible to breaking down. I don’t play enough matches to be match tough. When I play tennis players at my level or below I find myself preparing for each ball and hitting each shot relatively comfortably. However, at times I miss what many would see as a routine volley or put away ball. I believe this is due to a lack of match play.

When I play better tennis players than myself, tennis becomes very difficult. During point play, I find myself out of position when my opponent is on offensive due to not reading or reacting to the ball soon enough. I find better tennis players hit fewer short balls which makes playing my preferred style of play more difficult; attacking tennis. As a result, I tend to approach the net on balls that are deeper in the court or playing out longer points from the baseline.

Over the past several years I have not put in the tennis training required to progress past the 5.0 level. There are reasons why but they are just excuses. My fitness is not that of a competitive tennis tournament player and I get tired which leads to other aspects of my game breaking down.

Stepping up my Tennis Development

Since January 1st of 2015, I have stepped up my commitment to myself as a tennis player. I have gotten back together with tennis friends that are highly motivated to improve their tennis games and fitness. I play four days a week for two plus hours a day where I get pushed out of my comfort zone on the court and I teach tennis about ten hours on the weekend. I also get in the gym every Monday and Friday at seven am before my 9 to 5 with my good friend Chris.

Vision for My Tennis Game

I envision myself as an all court attacking player that plays at the open tournament level. I will dictate play with my serve and attack each short ball I receive, followed by taking the net and finishing the point. I will mix in a serve and volley from time to time when the opponent chips back the return. On the return games, I will hit through my returns with confidence and neutralize my opponent’s serve. I will transition up to net whenever I get presented with a short ball to approach on.

Throughout my life I have identified myself as being as tennis player and a coach. Some of my interests have changed but my passion for tennis and leadership has been continuous. When I think of my life I feel there would be nothing more satisfying than sharing the sport and benefits of tennis with others. I see myself continuing to learn and grow as a tennis player and coach to the point where tennis becomes my only source of income to support myself and my family.

Develop a Mission or Roadmap for My Tennis Game

On The Court

  • Play 2+ hours of tennis a day, four days a week.
  • Ensure all practices are structured and challenging.
  • Practice the serve and return every time I step out onto the court.
  • Play a minimum of one match per week.

Gym Workouts

  • Workout in the gym a minimum of two times a week for an hour.
  • Structure the workouts to incorporate strength training and flexibility.
  • Workout with a partner and push each other.

Diet and Rest

  • Eat a large breakfast.
  • Take in protein before and after each workout.
  • Avoid caffeine and candy with high amounts of sugar.
  • Maintain a well-rounded diet and take in the amount of calories necessary for the amount of training being done.
  • Get eight hours of sleep each night.

Coach and Leader

  • Research topics that will add value to tennis player’s development and myself as a coach.
  • Stay focused on one research topic at a time.
  • Share the information I learn and my experiences on the blog for everyone to see.
  • Meet with mentors and share thoughts with other coaches or leaders in the tennis community to learn new things.

Setting the Standard for My Tennis Game

My standard for where I must get myself as a tennis player is playing competitively at the open level. I must play attacking tennis and swing out confidently on all of my strokes. When the opportunity arises to put away my opponent I must make the shot 90+ percent of the time.

My fitness and flexibility must get to the level where it doesn’t break down and affect my tennis performance. Specifically, I must be able to play two three set matches per day, two days in a row without my fitness negatively impacting my performance on the court. When on the full stretch I need to still be able to find strength in the full stretch position.

As a coach I must share as much valuable content as possible with the world to help others improve their development as tennis players. I must be a leader in the tennis community and make tennis the primary source for providing for myself and my family.

What is to Come?

My game plan to improve as a tennis player is not perfect and I am sure it can be improved upon. In the future I will be keeping track and measuring the effectiveness of the activities and drills I do, which I will share here on the Tennis Nation blog. If there were items you would change or add let me know by adding a comment below.

What is your plan for becoming a better tennis player?

5 Steps to Improve Your Tennis Game

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Improve your tennis game… It’s easy to say but experience players know improving at tennis is not easy and doesn’t happen over night. What you need is the right information on various topics such as technique, strategy, training and psychology that you can then take and implement into your game. Knowing something intellectually is much different than developing skill. Skill is only created by putting in hours and hours of practice over an extended period of time.

Below I will go over 5 steps to improve your tennis game. Each section will provide action steps for you to take, followed by an example of how these steps are applied to my own game.

I actually did these steps and wrote them down back in March, 2015 while I still worked a 9 to 5 job in the financial industry. It is pretty cool to see how things unravel.

Step 1: Improve Your Tennis Game

Know Your Reality

The first step to improve your tennis game is to know where you are as a player today. Begin by analyzing your game for what it is, but not worse than it is. It is important to be honest with yourself so you know the reality of where you are today. Knowing your reality will allow you to have a starting point and celebrate when you make progress. However, make sure not to see your game worse than what it is, which can lead to making an excuse not to put in the work because its too hard.

Sharing my Reality

My tennis technique is fundamentally sound, however, my strategy, fitness and mental game are susceptible to breaking down. I don’t play enough matches to be match tough. When I play tennis players at my level or below I find myself preparing for each ball and hitting each shot relatively comfortably. However, at times I miss what many would see as a routine volley or put away ball. I believe this is due to a lack of match play.

When I play better tennis players than myself, players at the 5.5 level, tennis becomes very difficult. During point play, I find myself out of position when my opponent is on offensive due to not reading or reacting to the ball soon enough. I find better tennis players hit fewer short balls and balls that feel heavy, have more topspin, which makes playing my preferred style of play more difficult; attacking tennis. As a result, I tend to approach the net on balls that are deeper in the court or playing out longer points from the baseline.

Over the past several years I have not put in the tennis training required to improve my tennis game past the 5.0 level. There are reasons why but they are just excuses. My fitness is not that of a competitive tournament player and I get tired which leads to other aspects of my game breaking down.

Step 2: Improve Your Tennis Game

Have a Vision

The second step to improve your tennis game is to have a vision of how you see your tennis in the future and determine how your vision adds value to your life. Your vision should consist of the style of play you enjoy and aspects of your game that you believe in and wouldn’t change. For example, you may envision yourself serving big serves, coming into net on mid court balls, and putting away the point up at net. Or placing your serves and working your opponent around the court from the baseline until he makes an error or runs out of gas.

A vision forms a long term goal that commands focus and provides some value or meaning to your life. Your vision for your future game is better than where your game is today. Whatever your vision maybe it is important to have, in tennis and in life.

Sharing my Vision

As a Tennis Player and Coach

I envision myself as an all court attacking player that plays at the open tournament level. I will dictate play with my serve and attack each short ball I receive, followed by taking the net and finishing the point. I will mix in a serve and volley from time to time when the opponent chips back the return. On the return games, I will hit through my returns with confidence and neutralize my opponent’s serve. I will transition up to net whenever I get presented with a short ball to approach on.

Throughout my life I have identified myself as being as tennis player and a coach. Some of my interests have changed but my passion for tennis and leadership has been continuous. When I think of my life I feel there would be nothing more satisfying than sharing the sport and benefits of tennis with others. I see myself continuing to learn and grow as a tennis player and coach to the point where tennis becomes my only source of income to support myself and my family.

Step 3: Improve Your Tennis Game

Develop a Mission or Roadmap

The third step to improve your tennis game is to create a mission, or a roadmap, that consists of strategies to reach your vision. The strategies that you pick, unlike your vision, may change based on their effectiveness and the results that they yield. To simplify your mission, think of it as having a well organized game plan that provides a purpose related to your development as a tennis player.

Sharing my Mission

As a Tennis Player and Coach

Since January 1st of 2015, I have stepped up my commitment to improve as a tennis player and coach. I have gotten back together with tennis friends that are highly motivated to improve their tennis games and fitness. I play four days a week for two plus hours a day where I get pushed out of my comfort zone on the court and I teach tennis about ten hours on the weekend. I also get to the gym every Monday and Friday at seven am before my 9 to 5 with my mentor Chris Degraff.

On Court

  • Play 2+ hours of tennis a day, four days a week.
  • Ensure all practices are structured and challenging.
  • Practice the serve and return every time I step out onto the court.
  • Play a minimum of one match per week.

Gym Workouts

  • Workout in the gym a minimum of two times a week for an hour.
  • Structure the workouts to incorporate strength training and flexibility.
  • Workout with a partner and push each other.

Diet and Rest

  • Eat a large breakfast.
  • Take in protein before and after each workout.
  • Avoid caffeine and candy with high amounts of sugar.
  • Maintain a well-rounded diet and take in the amount of calories necessary for the amount of training being done.
  • Get eight hours of sleep each night.

Coach and Leader

  • Research topics that will add value to tennis player’s development and myself as a coach.
  • Stay focused on one research topic at a time.
  • Share the information I learn and my experiences on the blog for others.
  • Meet with mentors and share thoughts with other coaches or leaders in the tennis community to learn new things.

Step 4: Improve Your Tennis Game

Set the Standard

The fourth step to improving your tennis game is to make your vision the standard and to make it happen. When you set the vision you have for your game as the standard and that you must get there, more likely than not you will. The standard is not a want or a hope it is a force that pulls you and commands your focus to make it happen. In order to make your vision become your reality you need to progress.

Sharing my Standard

As a Tennis Player and Coach

My standard for where I must get myself as a tennis player is playing competitively at the open level. I must play attacking tennis and swing out confidently on all of my strokes. When the opportunity arises to put away my opponent I must make the shot 90+ percent of the time.

My fitness and flexibility must get to the level where it doesn’t break down and affect my tennis performance. Specifically, I must be able to play two three set matches per day, two days in a row without my fitness negatively impacting my performance on the court. When on the full stretch I need to still be able to find strength.

As a coach I must share quality content that is to the point and honest to help others improve their tennis development. I must be a leader in the tennis community and make tennis the primary source of income for providing for myself and my family.

Step 5: Improve Your Tennis Game

Measure the Effectiveness

The final step to playing better tennis and improving your tennis game is to assess the effectiveness of your tennis activities by using the effectiveness equation.

Activity x Effectiveness)^WHY = Results

I picked up the effectiveness equation in sales however it can be applied to tennis as well. The activity can vary from working on different strokes, drills, workouts, etc. There are many activities that you could choose from to work on your game however some may be better than others depending on what you are trying to achieve.

The effectiveness is your strategy, knowledge, technique, and skill.  How you go about performing the activity, from the footwork, stroke mechanics, among other factors affects the quality of the activity. As you learn and improve your tennis game, so will the effectiveness.

The WHY in the equation stands for understanding the why, or purpose, behind both the activity and the effectiveness. It is important to understand why you do certain things in tennis so that you can make the connection between doing the activity effectively and how it aligns with your vision and purpose for becoming a better tennis player. Not to mention understanding the why will help you teach yourself tennis and help you improve your tennis game faster.

The results are the skills and knowledge that you receive. The results may come in the form of improved technique on strokes, consistency, power, fitness, footwork, self confidence, etc. Now, I stated before that your vision should add value to your life. You may think what you are looking for is a particular skill or quality but what you are really looking for is progress.

If you weren’t looking to progress you wouldn’t have visited the site or made it to this point in the article. When people feel like they are progressing it brings happiness to their lives. This is pointed out by Tony Robbins continuously and I agree with him.

Lastly, most of us will never play tennis at the professional level, so as a coach it is important that the progress that is made is transferable to other aspects of my student’s lives.

In the Future

One of the purposes I am sharing all of this with you, besides to help you progress as a tennis player, is so that I progress in my development as a tennis player and tennis coach as well.

My hope is that these steps and examples gives you a taste of what its like and you decide to take action.

Please share your plan for becoming a better tennis player by leaving a comment below.

Cheers,

Randy