Differentiating the forehand and backhand strokes

Differentiating the forehand and backhand strokes

Check out tips and drills to improve your forehand and backhand techniques

The forehand and backhand have different grips. To facilitate learning a grip, we recommend making a mark on the handle (the marks are already present on Artengo Easy rackets): with a red marker you draw a line for the forehand grip and with a blue marker you draw a line for the backhand grip.

Warm-up

1- Players walk on the court with the forehand grip and bounce the balloon with this grip on the racket. 

2- Players do the same thing in a backhand grip.

3- The players do the same thing by alternating the forehand and backhand, thinking carefully about the grip changes.

4- Repeat these drills with a red ball (for more speed).

Drill 1

The coach sends 10 balls (5 forehand and 5 backhand) and the player has to hit 5 forehand and 5 backhand with the right grip while hitting crosswise.

First change: the player must alternate between 1 forehand and 1 backhand. They are allowed to look at the mark on the handle of the racket to know the right grip.
Second change: same drill. The player can no longer look at the marks, they must determine the grip by the feel of the handle.

Drill 2

In partnership with the coach: 

A rally takes place between the coach and the player. The child must hit the ball once on the forehand and once on the backhand, bearing in mind that the player must be allowed time between hits.

Please note: a foam ball is used to do this drill. 
The drill can be made more difficult by speeding up the game.

Drill 3

In partnership with the player:

Here, the difficulty is increased by adding the uncertainty of the ball coming from the opponent.
The players use an underhand stroke.

Objective: always have the right grip. A foam ball is used for this partnership.

The match

The players play a super tie break match without serving in 10 points.
Underhand stroke with a foam ball to slow down the game and allow players to succeed in rallies.

Now you have tips and techniques in hand to perfect your forehand and backhand in play.

Differentiating the forehand and backhand strokes

Romain Cohen Solal

State-certified trainer

What is my passion? Tennis! But beyond that, I have a passion for training children to see them develop throughout their sporting careers! Artengo and I share with you some progressive training sessions to play to the fullest with children.