Forehand Drive

Forehand Drive

Forehand drive is stronger than backhand drive due to the fact that the body is not in the way of the shot. Moreover forehand drive is the basic attacking stroke that can be developed into more advanced topspin strokes.  Forehand drive produces a bit of topspin because the racquet is in slightly closed position and the follow through is played in upwards direction. Good forehand drive produce travel of the ball low over the net and it is used to force errors from an opponent or set you up for a winning shot. For that reason it is good to strike the ball early with speed.

 To simplify I have divided the stroke into for phases (please notice that the phases goes into a cycle as shown on the picture below):

Please be aware that the descriptions are for the right-handed players. For the left-handed players consider opposite parts of the body.

1.       Ready position: Bat above of the height of the net; feet should be shoulder width apart and in relation to your last target your right foot slightly back; close to the table; leaning slightly forward; weight on the front part of the foot

2.       Backswing: Rotate body to the right at the waist; arm back at the elbow and downwards; closed bat angle; weight moves on to the right leg

3.       Forward swing and contact: path of the bat is forward and upwards with slightly closed angle; waist rotate to the left keeping a space between arm and the body (to help with this imagine that there is an orange between arm and the body); weight is transferred from the right leg to the left; contact with the ball at the top of the bounce and in front of the body.

4.       Follow through: to the point where bat is pointing in the direction of intended point of play; then return to a neutral ready position using semi-circle move.