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VOLUME 1: THE FOREHAND
Part 13: Nadal Forehand (R)evolution 3
Much television-speak about the Nadal forehand concerns the way he loops the racket head around his head at the end of his follow through, and it's been suggested that this is indicative of Rafa not hitting sufficiently through contact.
But the notion that he doesn't power the racket head 'through' is a misunderstanding of the elements that make Nadal's forehand the multi-surface force that it is.
When listening to technique-talking television tennis commentators on British television, what you are treated to is rarely an accurate and very specific analysis of Nadal's individual forehand and topspin game. What you'll more likely hear is the limited language of someone who has spent a life on a tennis court:
Conjuring interesting words is not their skill.
Communicating is not the job for which they were born or trained.
Challenging the viewer to 'get up and play' is not a requirement of the TV studio.
Consequently, ex tennis players tend to package tennis technique in language and terms with which they are familiar, and myriad individual nuances of stroke play get lost in translation. And because UK television is over-populated with ex English tennis players, the language used to both explore and communicate the technical side of the game of tennis is limited at best (and woeful at worst) and people worth listening to, like Mark Petchey, are scarce.
Therefore much of what you hear about Nadal's forehand will be vague at best. So, to do justice to the breadth and depth of Nadal's court style and substance, the best advice I can give aspiring tennis players is to turn off the commentary and be done with clichés and lazy word mongering, and watch him wield his wand in suitable silence.
The Head Lasso
There have been a number of players who kinda lasso the racket head around their own head at the end of their regular forehand (you'll see many players do it when pulling up on a late contact), and the most notable exponent of the head lasso, in his regular forehand style, is Sergi Bruguera.
I have many images of Sergi in his prime, and at some point I'll add sequence photos of the Bruguera forehand. But in the meantime you'll have to take my word for it that, although he and Rafa (often) end up with rackets looped around their heads in the head lasso, their forehands are very different.
Bruguera's forehand did lack a sufficiently forward contact, which barred him from hitting more powerfully through the ball.
But it was his decision to let the ball come closer upon him, so he could direct his efforts almost exclusively up the back of the ball. However, this is not a technical flaw, but a conscious choice with a clear (clay court) purpose.
If the questions raised about Nadal (about a lack of throughness) had been asked instead at Sergi's forehand, they would have come from accurate observation.
Those with knowledge of Rafa’s junior playing days would know if his forehand once had a ‘late’ contact similar to Bruguera’s, and whether it has evolved into a more aggressive forehand with a magnetic contact.
But the Nadal of the present does not base his forehand on a late contact.
Nor is he just a pumped-up topspin merchant.
We've already seen Rafa pound through a forward contact on the backhand side and the two previous forehand animations showed no signs of a head lasso, so I've included two more animations that help us make full sense of the Nadal forehand.
The Two Joint Forehand
If you are hitting a one handed forehand, you have three joints to hit from (we'll leave the wrist aside for now, because it is the least influential of the three).
Your main joint is your shoulder, and for most players this is predominantly where the forehand is hit from: the shoulder joint allows you to swing your arm and, as a result, the racket. As well as the shoulder you also have your elbow joint, which allows you to move your lower arm independently of the rest of your arm (on a forehand).
Shoulder Shoot’n
In times past, forehands were hit almost exclusively from the shoulder, with a straight hitting arm, and the Connors forehand is a close relative of this style of play.
Elbow Shoot’n
Contrastingly, as we've seen, Anke Huber wouldn't do too badly if she made her shoulder redundant and hit her forehand entirely from the elbow.
So...
It is possible to hit a forehand entirely from the shoulder.
It is also possible to hit a forehand entirely from the elbow.
Neither is ideal.
But each is possible.
These days, all top class players hit from both the shoulder and the elbow, and each and every quality forehand will be a slightly different combination of the two. This is the two joint forehand. And it is quite possible that Rafa Nadal puts more into (and squeezes more out of) the two joint forehand than any other player in the game.
When coupled with a grip that gives you something under the racket handle, the two joint forehand allows players to successfully achieve heavy topspin and power at the same time.
the elbow drives through from the shoulder and...
the hand and lower arm power up from the elbow. This is the dual action we've seen previously and we shall see again on the backhand.
And this is what Rafa achieves in the first 10 frame animation, which I've also added as a smaller, free running animation at the top left of the main image.
Before running all 20 buttons and the two separate animations, I first want to clarify something.
Roll buttons 5 & 6, and also 16 & 17.
Would you say this is the elbow of a player who has not driven the racket head powerfully through?
Has the elbow been left behind like Anke's?
Is Rafa hitting predominantly from the elbow like Anke?
'No. To all of them. Rafa's hitting from the shoulder and his elbow is powering through.'
So he isn't contacting the ball 'late' in either shot?
'Nope.'
And he's still looping the racket head around his head like a lasso, isn't he?
'Yes he is. But what's your point?'
My point would be a simple one for an amateur detective. By eliminating a late contact and a withdrawn elbow from the scene, we can deduce that a late contact and a 'late', held-back elbow are not (unlike Bruguera) the causes of Rafa's head lasso follow through.
'So what is the cause of it?'
I've already given the answer to this in the previous text. But to further clarify the answer we shall dig a little deeper into Nadal’s box of tricks.
The Two Joint Throw
Evolution is a wonderful thing and it is always at work in tennis strokes, as talent absorbs what I call the known elements of technique, and, by the joint forces of God-given ability and good guidance, reinterprets them and gives birth to something which appears refreshing and new.
Remember Roddick's underarm throw?
Well, what we have in both these animations are two versions of the underarm throw, rolled into the one forehand.
'Huh?'
To grasp this concept more fully, you should go back and read the chapter on Roddick's forehand, particularly the section on the Underarm Throw.
Having done so, I want you to imagine that from the original World Racket Throwing Association, two rival splinter groups have formed and what results is two (unofficial) World Racket Throwing Championships.
Both of the new groups insist upon a limited version of the underarm throw.
The first splinter group reintroduce an underarm throw with a straight arm, which is thrown entirely from the shoulder.
The second splinter group introduce a different, though similarly restricting, set of competition rules: in their tournaments, the underarm throw of the racket must be accomplished from the elbow down: there must be no movement above the elbow.
The original governing body, the WRTA (or WTF to those not in the know!), still runs the original world championships and it is still the tournament that everyone wants to win. And the current world champion is a former winner of both splinter group tournies.
Being skilled at an underarm throw of the racket from both the elbow and the shoulder, he integrated the two throwing styles into the one underarm throw, and developed the perfect mix of up and through from the combined techniques.
And the name of the new, unified underarm racket-throwing champion? Ah, you guessed it!
To further clarify the two joint throw, and the combination of the two above splinter styles, run both animations and watch the master in motion.
Well? Do you get the picture?
Nadal is maximising his racket head speed by maximising the throw of the racket head, from both his shoulder and his elbow.
In both of these animations, Rafa's head lasso is not due to a late(r) contact, but the residue from the force generated by (underarm) throwing the racket head from the elbow.
If I can take poetic licence to the max, Rafa is kind of hitting a stroke within a stroke, and the head lasso is the follow through from his underarm throw from the elbow.
I mean, if the hand and lower arm are hitting a stroke within a stroke (from the elbow), why shouldn't this stroke within a stroke have its own independent loop?
OK. This last bit's an exaggeration, because it is the marriage of elements that gives Rafa's forehand its full weight. But the suggestion that half of Rafa's arm qualifies for its own follow through is intended to impress upon you the importance (to Rafa) of hitting from the elbow, and how much influence it has on his full stroke. This is one tennis forehand with two primary influence...and of course many additional ones.
The two joint throw is here and it has been perfected in the Nadal forehand...well, until the next perfect bundle of tennis DNA comes along, to perfect it even further!
