Mentioned in Video: How to Make Good Contact on Forehand 👉 kzfaq.info/get/bejne/gsh2eNChy7-xmHU.html Lendl, Wilander, Becker, McEnroe podcast 👉 kzfaq.info/get/bejne/fJ5nasaez7DKlYE.html 👉 kzfaq.info/get/bejne/pNufdM6fuJidoHU.html

I respect Mr Aracic, his knowledge and dedication is amazing

Your videos are so helpful and interesting, I wish I could have seen them 40 years ago when I started playing tennis against my friends on the courts in the local park.

always excellent videos !!!

Thanks a lot for all amazing work you do. very useful channel . keep going 👍🏼🔥

Great wisdom on forehand technique, there's so much more to it then meets the eye, thank you !!

Very well explained! As a starter, I have been searching online the best way to prepare forehand swing. This is very informative knowing that there is no right or wrong way at recreation level.

Always good advices and good knowledge. Thanks for sharing

"...happens in milliseconds." DRINK!!! (Excellent video as ever, Nik.)

Excellent content! Did not know about the next gen forehand. Might give it a try next time.

Excellent as usual.

Very cool channel, learning a lot from your videos

I agree with this Nick. Great video. I made a video on how to get more spin on the Forehand, and we agree so much on many things. Great advice 👍

Excellent video, but OMG, where do I start? Way back in the day? Jim Courier? I saw him win his first professional title in Viña del Mar, Chile, at the end of the 80s. Boy did that make me feel old. About pointing the racquet foreward during the backswing? Ivan Lendl did that even farther back in the day, but of course with a very compact follow through. And he did point the face of the racquet downward during his backswing. And he did do kind of a whipping lag motion at the start of his foreward swing. In an instructional video Lendl considered this a defect or "glitch" in his swing. Little did he know that almost 40 years later.... And there's one thing that calls my attention about the "next-gen" forehand. It's what I'd call a "double windshield wiper". There's one in the backswing and one in the foreward swing. In one you're suppinating and in the other, pronating. Interesting. And you're right, the less movement, the less amount of things that can go wrong, the more consistency. Example is my favorite compact forehand from "way back in the day", Chrissie Evert. She never missed. Boy do I feel old! Again, excellent videos. I love these comparisons of styles through the ages. It would be interesting to analyze how equipment has taylored the way tennis technique has evolved (a next-gen forehand with a Wilson Jack Kramer autograph and your arm fell off). The Jack Kramers came in light (12.5 - 13 ounces), medium (13 to 14.5 ounces), and heavy (>14.5 ounces). Imagine a double windshield wiper with those specs. Imagine a single windshield wiper. Trauma ward, here I come. Today, featherweight racquets and poliester-kryptonite strings. Again, love your videos, the simplicity and "direct to the point" aspect of your instruction. Always makes me want to hit the courts for a practice session.

Excellent explanations. Being a sort of 4.0 player (in Germany our system is different and I've improved from 23.1 to 15.9 this season), the importance of the position of my shoulder has never been something anybody has told me. I'm thrilled to check my motion with self recording. Another thing I've just heard is the breathing. I do the worst that is holding my breath when hitting the ball.

Fantastic analysis, and agree most people need to address the shoulder in front issue first.

You mention Jim Courier as an early example of the NG forehand. I remember Marc Rosset having a similar forehand motion but even more pronounced.

Great video as always. My problem with the NGFH was the effect it had on my elbow. Just didn't feel like the biomechanics were right for longevity of the joint. Hope you and the family are doing OK Nik. All the blessings and thanks for the upload.

Very interesting and helpful.

I rarely give accolades, but this video is very very good. Bravo!

Welcome back Nick!

NextGen forehand is overcomplicated for me - I find it also puts more stress on the wrist since the racket has to be wiggled around a 180 degrees very fast, rather than having gravity help dropping the racket into position with a vertical racket take back. I was looking for cons & pros of both take backs, and you delivered as usual - Thanks a bunch.

I'm going to focus more on that dominant shoulder. Thanks for a very informative video.

I'm thinking that the classic style (continental slice backhand, near-continental flat forehand) might be better for an older person taking up tennis, 1. Can cover low balls with much less exhausting squatting. 2. A bit more reach to the side (less running needed). 3. Ability to hit with closed shoulders when necessary makes it easier to return wide balls on-the-run. (You just have to reach the ball and hit; you don't have to do as much to set up when you get there.) 4. Easier to learn and disguise drop shots (these shots are more effective in older age leagues). 5. Volleying feels more natural (older players will likely play more doubles). The disadvantages of the classic method are less applicable to the older player 1. Less ability to hit a very heavy ball through massive trunk and shoulder rotation. (The older player might not have the strength to do this anyway.) 2. Though easy to reach high ones, there is little strength on them, which is a weakness against opponents who try to bounce the ball over your strike zone via massive topspin (in the older age leagues opponents are less likely to play such an exhausting style). 3. More difficult to hit inside-out when running way, way around the backhand. (Does _anyone_ think running way around the backhand is a good way for a senior citizen to play?)

On-the-money observation about Courier’s “Next Gen” forehand. He grew up playing baseball and his forehand had more of a throwing motion rather than a swinging motion. Just watch any MLB infielder grab the baseball with his mitt and fire a side arm throw. Put a racquet in the mix and you are probably correct that there is a trade off with power/spin vs. control.

Thank you, very usefull !

Interesting between them. Great analysis. Eastern grip works for me. I time the ball better without a loop

I saw that interview!! In fact there is two parts , I did enjoyed so much listening those four tennis legends as well as I do listening to your videos Nick ❤️ thanks 👍🏻

Hi Nick....excelente !!! saludos de Perú 👌

Just discovered this channel and really enjoy the instruction, definitively one of the best…

Nice video Coach Aracic 👍

Excellent 😉👍🏻🎾

What’s great about watching your videos is that I now have 5 applications to learn an instrument :-)

Next Gen is, in some ways a return to a Lendl/Courier forehand where the hand raises higher and the racket lags behind the hand some. In the Next Gen, the lag is more pronounced so that the racket actually points toward the net - that is doable now because of larger-headed racket, but as you said, it is still less consistent. I do remember guys who wanted to whack the ball hitting with full "Next Gen" strokes in high school in the 1970s but, of course, they couldn't be consistent at all. The pure straight back backswing is a somewhat different animal than the Lendl/Courier forehands. The picture-perfect Chris Evert forehand with her basically standing facing the side fence and both arms just placed evenly a ways out from her hips was likely the most accurate and consistent forehand in history. It was exactly as it was taught back then. Jimmy Connors' forehand was also just a straight back takeback. [I can't see how you could possibly have an exaggerated loop swing playing with at T-2000 and be consistent.] Both of them used Eastern Grips. They were amazingly consistent with their flat shots. Rod Laver had more of a loop at the back, looping the racket lower so the could go low-to-high with much more topspin than Evert of Connors and used a Continental Grip . Most of the Europeans "the Continent" as well as the Australians used Continental grips. Eastern U.S. players used Eastern grips (I.e. Big Bill Tilden), while Western grips were used more often in the Western U.S. (California) because of the high-bouncing cement courts (i.e. Little Bill Johnston). Eventually, the Eastern Grip became more prevalent over much of the U.S. I coined the term "Hawaiian Grip" many years ago for those extreme western grips where players actually have their hand under the grip (Continental Grip turned upside down). It would be in the correct order geographically, but not historically accurate (unless that's the way they teach it in Hawaii - which I don't think so).. If you want to critique some Continental Grip forehands there are some on my you tube channel (under my user name). It's the way my dad (a tennis coach) taught me in the 1960s.

Hi Nick. Can you make a video on how to properly warm up before and cool down after playing tennis? I’ve been having issues with my elbow and wrist lately and I believe it’s mostly due to the fact of not warming up properly. Not much practical advice on this subject available out there. Thanks! Btw, love your channel and the content. Great work!

This is so helpful for me! I started playing in the early 70s, but only recently started playing again. The continental grip was all I’ve known, so the Western feels like elbow surgery waiting to happen!🤣

Great video Nick! 😀😀

This is absolutely true about the consistency of the next gen players. It's clear now that all the records that the Big 3 have set now will not get beaten for decades, if ever. And it's not just about talent or particular technical elements of their game - the next gen players simply don't have the same dedication and hunger for winning everything and everywhere as the Big 3, as well as the willingness to make huge sacrifices to achieve all that. Young players nowadays have more of a career attitude towards tennis, they want a balanced life with all the pleasures it brings, they don't want to focus on only tennis and as I mentioned before, to sacrifice everything for that. So at this point, it's impossible to even imagine the next gen player winning 20 GS titles

Great video, again. (First one after your awesome homage to your dad. Respect.) And summed up the importance (or lack of) the takeback brilliantly. Can you make a video on how to time the takeback - I saw your earlier videos to time just before or at the time the balls bounces - but that doesn't work always, esp. on slower more loopy balls. Is that just practice or are there some hints that can help with that?

Before Jim Courier there was Ivan Lendl. He had that famous "bolo" forehand which had a lot of characteristics of the next gen forehand. It was like a whip, and Lendl generated a lot of power with it. Tommy Paul has a next gen forehand.

Love the beautiful green court.

Hi Nik, could you do a feature on serve and volley in singles, things like first volley, movement, tactics

Thankssssss

Sampras' forehand is also the best of his generation. It is a combination for modern and next generation.

Good channel.

Excellent presentation! Having had no lessons myself (self taught), the evolution of my forehand followed this exact path. I coached myself taking the racquet back vertically, horizontally and perpendicular (racquet face pointing back). But I still wasn’t satisfied with the forehand. I felt too mechanical and choppy in the execution, always late, and was exerting too much physical energy. I needed a forehand that took into account how my body moves naturally and adapts to its movements …. and not the other way around. And I think I found it.

I prefer the modern forehand too.. it's simple and more energy efficient yet clean too.

I also confirm for me! However, I find that each shot has its good characteristics and you have to try to make them right to understand when it is appropriate to adjust your shot according to the situation.

The kinetic chain like was so quick ….like an ace :-)

Even at the time this video was released, federer, nadal and also djokovic have been using the next gen forehand style imo

The modern forehand has the squeeze, but the NextGen one has the juice.

Super analytical description & advice. Coaches will have guide the beginners & future tennis tournaments will indicate what's best. Thiem is already injured '& we'll hv to watch how long Medvedev & Sinner will last. By their long stay RF, RN & NJ have proved that the modern forehand is the best at present.

I agree that it appears to be less controllable and think the NGF does generate more racket head speed, an obsession. It seems many are applying serve principles to the forehand now, except instead of an overhead ‘throw’ it’s more like a sidearm throw where the hips drive a more extreme supination of the forearm.

I’m surprised Ivan Lendl didn’t make your list of top forehands. I consider him the inventor of the Power Baseline game. His forehand was a weapon, and he used what you call a Next Gen take back. Next Gen forty years ago.

This video is very good, but if you had spliced in a few shots of the top players using these types of strokes i.e. showing the evolution, then the video would've been absolute gold. Perhaps an idea to make a second video, doing exactly that.

Hey Nikola, hope you're well. How would you categorize Djokovic's forehand and its general evolution? Has it always been the same? I recall he has a longer backswing and flatter stroke that became loopy through 2009/10 before he made it more compact and optimal in 2011.

Within the past week, I watched a recent forehand video in which the instructor showed HIS next-gen forehand as this: on the take-back after the initial shoulder rotation the racquet is pointing HORIZONTALLY TO THE SIDE AND RACQUET FACE DOWN before starting the forward whip action. I recall he referred considerably to Sinner's stroke and made considerable emphasis on the facing-down using a "drooping wrist" grip. This seems to be yet another variant of the next-gen stroke. The whipping action appears to be reduced from what you demonstrated and thusly more efficient and consistent. Any comment?

Nik, whenever you speak forehand you should mention Jimmy Arias!

Can we say that Ivan Lendl had also a next gen forehand? His gesture was quite similar to Jim Courrier.

Can you tell us the advantages of traditional eastern forehand. Is it not simpler? Does it not provide more protection from slightly mistimed shot? Does the racket face not face in the correct direction for the flight of the ball longer? Is timing not a major problem with the recreational player? Is it not a more dependable shot for service return? Is it easier on the wrist and shoulder?

So.. is the next gen style going to be more prone to injuries?

Nick can you please tell where you heard that interview, I'd love to find a channel with quality discussion like that!

Is the Max after the NG? Built in MCAS?

Love the video, but my soul dies a little bit every time someone lists greatest forehands in history without mentioning Borg, Agassi, Lendl and Pete

Please analyze Jimmy Connors technique. He looked like a beginner, but played like a god.

So what is the advantage of next gen forehand? revelation? Power? (p.s. thank you sir for another practical video. This channel is the best!)

The next gen forehand swept path is longer than that of a modern forehand. And with all the twisting required for a nextgen forehand that Nick described, it actually takes time away from recreational players who try to hit their forehands. A modern forehand is more compact. There are many ways to improve a forehand and if u looked at some of the best forehands over time, Agassi, Federer, they took the ball early to take time off their opponents, and a compact modern forehand actually allows for that to happen.

Roddick had a next gen take back on the forehand

For a 3.5-4.5 player does it matter which stroke you use or is it more important to be comfortable with your stroke? I can’t hit a next gen forehand. I’m 53. I can handle a modern stroke but my body doesn’t move a certain way anymore, nor does my brain 😂

Hi nick i hava a question bothering me. Does jump forehand (the one nick kyrgios hits hardest on tour?) Is stronger than regular forehand? Even there is no kinetic chain in mid air?

Hey Nick, I have a question that I haven’t seen any KZfaq video answer. What if you take the racket back like rublev or tsitsipas. Their racket head points foreward but the strings are facing forward as well instead of to the side of the fence. Is this better or worse than pointing the strings to the side fence? What are the pros and cons? It always confuses me.

Classic forehand is the way to go, flat penetrating shots, little spin, ball stays low and skids, modern players will have to hit up and you can be at the net for a volley if you put the ball low and into the corners! Also, less can go wrong, modern players hated playing Connors!!

Hi Nick, i need some "clarifications" from you. If I am understanding your explanation, you are saying that with classic forehand, the ball is hit "further back", while with modern forehand, the ball is hit a bit more in front and with nextgen, the ball is hit most in front. Is that correct? That brings me to another issue i have been struggling. Let us assume I hit with a modern forehand for three types of groundstrokes, namely high-looping topspin, chest-high ball drive with some topspin, and shoulder-high ball with some side spin. My "observation" or "analysis" is that not all of them are hit at the same amount of "frontness". I feel that high-looping topspin is hit a bit further back than the "normal" more in front distance and shoulder-high drive with some sidespin is hit more in front than the "normal" more in front distance, with the chest high ball drive somewhere in between. Am I making sense? Perhaps, if there is some truth to what i am saying, maybe you could shoot a special video on this. thanks. :)

I remember Jim!

Where does someone like Aaron krickstein fall under? Modern ? He was quite known for his forehand. Anyone remember him?

For me next-gen forehand is Frances Tiafoe

👍

Racquet technology decides the grip/swing. The technology hasn't advanced drastically from the 90s. Jim courier already had the 'next gen' in in the 90s. It became unpopular because it was believed to be bad for the joints and produces less consistent stroke. With next gen you finished in a non optimal body position and you will try to overcompensate during reset and introduce little micro stress to your body parts that will show up over your career.

The first player I saw hitting those next gen forehands was Alberto Berasategui. That was kind off an oddity back then. Nowadays I see lot more players hitting those ugly forehands. Even Sinner hits it like that.

Hi Nick. I am a very big fan of your channel, and you deliver great content! If you compare Novak´s forehand from 2005 to now, then it seems, thats he switched more and more to a NEXT GEN forehand, because the tip of his racket is much more sideways and compact in the beginning of his forehand stroke as in earlier days (US Open 2005 against Monfils, i remember, it was 100% a modern forehand). What do you think, Nick?

Couldn't stand him, but Agassi had a great forehand too. Courier was ahead of his time I think. My fav back in the day was Chang.

But having eastern grip , Federer has generated topspin also

your style looks like Medvedev

Hi Nick, I have player Oberliga during my younger years. Now I have started again with Tennis and my Coach is telling me that I have to produce much spin on ,y backhand to be successful-what do you think? Cheers from Frankfurt Germany

I recall Carlos Moya hitting his forehand in a nxt gen style. Maybe that’s why Rafa has tried it.

Daniil Medvedev uses classic fh?

On that classic forehand, also the non dominant hand is pointing towards the ball.

😟The dominant shoulder behind the non-dominant shoulder at contact, bad. That was the norm if you used a conventional closed stance FH with an Eastern FH grip in the 70's, 80's. 😢 My FH was inconsistent. I didn't have control. If I wanted to make sure it went in I had to hit it slower. If I went for power with a bigger swing it would go long. If I got a short weak ball to I never had a natural way to run up and put it away. I'd mostly sliced an approach and took the net.😩

On a non-pro-level, you drive generally better with the modern forehand, because of the consistency, it produces on a natural way less mistakes (you produce top-spin, ball gets shorter in field). But in my eyes, that is also the reason, why not Djokovic or Federer nor Nadal have the "best" forhands, in what they were/are best, is producing less mistakes, but they don´t force with their forehands direct points. From this as caracteristicum, Del Potro´s, Rublev´s or Fognini´s forehands are much "better". All this 3 last mentioned players generate speed with "classic straight forehands, compared with the next-gen-forehand, the racket-head-speed is less, but because of the angle of the racket-head, speed is higher. The next-gen tries to admit higher mistake-quote (what you have automatically with classic-spinless-forehands) with an over-acceleration of the racket-head, that is, why it looks a little bit "whippy" for old-school-tennis-players. But every of these technics has his advantages and disadvantages, it is up to the players abilities, to figure out, what is best for himself, instead of copying his idols ;-)

you did this already??!!

There cannot be any technical difference to the essential parts of the movement of all strokes. The biomechanics doesn't change, thus the technics cannot change. Only the non essentials of the movement can change. Tennis is mostly a psychological game and this part needs to be improved.

Sinner is more of a modern than a next-gen forehand.

But krgrios and Berretinni have one of the bests forehand in history

throwing shade on jim courier 😩

It's interesting but racquet swingweights of the top pros have reduced from modern to Next gen with some exceptions. It makes sense for whippy strokes but I personally didn't like it as it put a lot of stress on my arm and wrist. I personally think the modern is the best of both worlds. What I find odd is some next gen players like kyrgios, kachanov and tiafoe for example have loopy forehands but flat compact backhands though Nick can flatten his forehead easily when he wants to. Tsitsipas is definitely more modern on both wings. Great video. Many thanks.

I've switched to a more NEXT GEN take back.

What about Medvedev?

There is absolutely no advantage of next gen swing over the modern one. The only difference is you're twisting your elbow (unnecessary rotation of the elbow which doesn't create any more loading energy in comparison with the position of the elbow when it comes to the modern swing). So it makes the next gen swing pointless.. Maybe the starting position of the racquet during the next gen swing helps these new players to get more focus on the incoming ball because with the tip od the racquet you might imagine better the contact point of the stroke, otherwise I don't see any difference between these two types of swings

You don’t have grandpa forehand?

I wonder if we can just stop talking about the classic forehand. At this point the next Gen is modern, modern is classic, and classic is ancient.