Power on forehand topspin during matches
Mental Preparation
Fabian Moreno Asked 4 years ago
how do I maintain the quality of my forehand during matches?
I find myself often tense during the match and my power/spin decreases on the match when I do attacking forehands? however, when I am hitting on training the power/spin of my forehand is very high.
Any tips or rituals that can be practiced before and during the match to avoid this happening?
What are the main things to remember/focus on during the match if I find myself again dropping the quality of my forehand attacks?
Alois Rosario Answered 4 years ago
Hi Fabian,
Tension comes from the fear of missing and worrying about the result of the game. This leads to the reduce power because all your muscles aren't working together to generate the stroke and power.
When you start to feel like that during the match, stop and try to use some techniques to get your emotional level down. You can do things like taking a deep breath and then focusing on the relaxation in your arm. WE have some ideas in our Sports Psychology section that will help.
Then focus on how that stroke is feeling and try to get feelings of how you hit it during training.
Also, during training try to make sure that you are putting yourself under some perceived pressure as well. Challenge yourself when you are training and see if you can still play your forehand effectively.
Thoughts on this question
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Fabian Moreno Posted 4 years ago
thanks alois
i'll think about those key feelings for a good quality forehand and also try to put myself under more pressure when training, probably not doing that,
I know is mainly due to extra tension on the arm/body what drops the quality of my forehand during the match, and then i start to compensate and change the stroke slightly in order to keep the ball on the table during the match and not doing perhaps a full confident stroke going forward.
a feeling i think i know is to sort of use my wrist a bit more that sort of relaxes my arm a bit somehow and also getting low on my footwork increases my percentages, the other thing is to not try to hit too hard but with more spin and probably the other one is to tarin more on the forward acceleration of my forehand combined with my waist, do you have any drills to increase that acceleration on your arm/waist?
i think i am still finding that level of right tension during the game and i think in my opinion i think i go a bit over so need to tone it down,
Alois Rosario from PingSkills Posted 4 years ago
Thanks Fabian. I think you can increase acceleration through some shadow swings but mainly on the table it is about letting go of trying to hit the table and just think about how fast the bat is moving. It is difficult to do this while hitting the ball because we naturally go back to thinking on the table is good and off the table is bad. So perhaps face away from the table and hit the ball into the wall or netting and see if you can get the arm to relax and the bat to accelerate. Once you have done this then face the table again and again hit the ball but still without thinking about where the ball is going, just how fast the bat is moving.
It is a gradual process that will take time.