How to Perform Kinetic Chain on the Forehand 

The old Ernest Gulbis forehand is interesting because even though his left arm was pointing forward and up “Albatross Style”, he still synced his forehand like everyone else. The left arm dropped and tucked in as his racquet head was dropping. So this technique was nothing but a cosmetic change (a bad and unnecessary one). The fundamental technical elements were still present. The torso rotation was synced properly and the contact was made with the dominant shoulder in front. And this is the reason why he was able to make the French Open semis and reach number 10 (2014) in the world despite the unusual positioning of the non-dominant arm in the preparation stage of his forehand.

Nikola, you have dramatically improved my forehand. Thank you. The principles you teach are bang on. You are articulate, perceptive, and interesting. Your videos are terrific.

You really are amazing at what you do! Your videos have DRAMATICALLY improved my tennis. Seriously, I appreciate it. If you sold stuff or had a way to donate, I would do it in a heartbeat. The least I could do

This video is instructional gold!

Excellent points, Nick! I especially appreciated your description the direction of the kinetic chain--from top down--rather than the common but incorrect "from the legs up".

Thanks a lot. This is for sure the best forehand video I've seen so far. Hit the pain-point I was not aware of: Having the hitting shoulder in front, to avoid blocking the arm go around the neck. This was blocking me, making the stroke finish way too early, with a non-natural wrist wrick, leading into a weak, barely-controlled ball.

wonderful video，power chain and contact point are the most most crucial things in the forehand，i think。

One of the best videos for the modern forehand, and I have seen many already.....

Too good Nick! This is an awesome step by step explanation of a forehand execution! ❤️

The best kinetic chain and unit turn explanation. Thank you.

This really is one of the best videos I've seen for any particular aspect of the game.

find your coaching extremely valuable / great explanations and relating it to current players. thank you

Great video!

Vos arguments et explications sont cohérents Thank U guy awesome video

Great discussion of the non-dominant arm in the forehand kinetic chain.

Nik, great instructions! This really is a paradigm shift, but a good one. Your observations are spot on!

This forehand video is extremely helpful!

Excellent video!! a lot of help to my forehand!! thanks!!

You are the best instructor!

Great Nik 👍👍

Just amazing videos. I am experimenting with this currently!

fantastic explanation! Very well explained..

My forehand feels so much better when i manage to make contact with the dominant shoulder in front. Great video Nick, i like it.

Great stuff. All makes sense. Tennis is like dancing, one must feel it😉

This video is really helpful. If I feel off on forehand, I make sure I get the hitting shoulder in front and it usually helps settle it.

Excellent tutorial. Thanks for the detailed information.

Very helpful video. Thanks.

great video! thanks

How succinct. Thank you so much.

Wow man your videos are super interesting. I just started playing tennis and figuring out how to put all the technical stuff together is very difficult. But I'll keep watching and listening for your tips. Cheers!

Have to watch this many a times its so helpful, love from India 🤍what a structured learning from you, great teacher!

You are the only coach on here that speaks about keeping your eyes on the tennis ball. I gave you a shout out on my channel. You have helped me a lot with my game. Great job on this video my friend.

GREAT JOB...as usual...

Video très intéressante, techniquement et pédagogiquement. Merci.

You are a terrific instructor - wow!!! Keep up the great work

Wonderful explanation of the kinetic chain being top-down where legs contribute in the later stage of the forehand stroke.

Very good explanation Nick! I myself struggle with the body rotation. Until now I thought the sequence was the other way round: from the leg, to the hip to the shoulder. I hope, knowing now the sequence is inverse can help me to improve my natural swing. I really like your remark starting at minute 7:53 : "Yes, a forehand or a serve or a backhand that is struck perfectly feels like we are not doing anything with the arm, because the entire body is synched perfectly with the stroke". This verbalizes exactly what I experience a few times per training. And exactly this is the addictive feeling. It feels so good! If I can do it 5 to 10 times in a training, I want to learn to do it most of the time. Thank you for sharing your experience and knowledge.

Great, Thanks

Great class...

Thanks this informative tutorials

Thank you!

(Seriously) - Excellent!

Still a very good video! Thx Nik! Greetings from Austria :)

Another great video. I think both the concept of "power from the ground up" and "keeping the wrist loose" is a faulty didactic approach that comes from the same source: correcting the disconnect that often happens in the unit turn. By disconnect I mean the way many players lose the muscular connection or "tension" that holds the whole body as a "tension-release unit", akin to twisting a rubber pole like the Tyler twist (used for TE elbow). The twist "stores" energy that is released when you let go. And just as the Tyler twist, the twisting starts and is released at the top. Same goes for the wrist; by wanting to correct a grip that is way too tight, the idea of looseness is easy to understand. The problem is again, a wrist that is too loose, equals little or no control over the racket, and little to no effective energy transfer (just as with the Tyler Twist).

Great lesson...I Always open my chest too early and Lost a lot of Power and dont "feel" a Good contact point... Thank you 👍

Thanks sir.

Thanks coach

Thx !

This was good..!! Thank you!!

10. Thanks a lot.

I’m a very big fan of you and all your videos nik and this one is really game changing for me. I’m trying to level up to a 4.5 and this is the element I’m still trying to wrap my head around. I find myself not fully rotating on my forehand and I couldn’t quite figure out what I was missing. This video is so helpful. I’m going to be watching this and working on this over and over until I get it down. Thanks for this and all your videos.

Thank u

Quite incredible to see how sophisticated the kinetic chain is in the forehand as well as all the other moves in the Tennis game. So many muscles involved, manipulating gravity in different ways. Truly amazing Video by Coach Nik, and really "Intuitive Tennis" indeed. Binge watching these awesome videos and appreciating the attention to details. Cheers!

good stuff

muy bien explicada la tecnica del drive.quisiera pedir una explicacion detallada del saque con slice.muchas gracias

Hi, great video, THANKS! You say that you open up when the racquet drops (11:03). Question: How do you open up? By moving the non-dominant (left) hand to the left or moving the right shoulder forward?

Well Nic, KCH from Top To Bottom: your explanation truly makes whole sense I agree. But Nic what about other apparently good coaches (indeed there aren´t many that good, but the ones I watch seem pretty good) that say the opposite from you, that is KCH: Bottom To Top in this order: legs, hips start or fire rotation , suppination of the forearm, elbow release out in front with the forearm pronated and subsequent pronated finish with the forearm kind of looking at your eyes - as if looking at your wrist watch. These other coaches explanations showing super pros slowmos footage are CONVINCING and MAKES SENSE TOO!!!. You all are going to drive us tennis people crazy. And I concede that it shows that you perform your forehand exactly like what I described above only that you say from TOP TO BOTTOM. Might it be like in math, that there are different ways to get to the same result? At this rate, us the tennis mortals will have to wait for the ultimate answer from the very mouth of Roger, novak and Rafa. Will any ex atp interviewer out there ever ask them some really interesting technical aspects for the planet tennis? So meanwhile Nic, it´s time for you to add an extra proof of the Top To Bottom KCH by showing or super convince us with RF,ND & RN slowmo videos preferably during matches that THE WAY IS TOP TO BOTTOM. I´d love this debate. Thank you of course, you´re a great coach!!! Deserve all my regards. PD: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-CwNXpIlBDXU.html I love seeing Novak´s videos though I admire Roger, trying to model him it´s nonsense, he´s out of this world. instead Nole´s forehand is more "human" but so efficient ,powerful and with tons of topspin too. With it does whatever he wants to. In this vid I can´t be more agree with the Top To Bottom KCH. But I´m not an specialist :) I observe that the feeling of his fh strike starts with his racquet to his side and his non dominant arm like you say, then the rest. He´s using his hips but as you say, only going all along with the body. Not in a thrusty, violent, noticeable way. Another of you points is seen here: He´s waiting for the ball being turned, then as he starts his forward motion while his non dominant arm is slowly going out he begins to open up. Good!!! Many of us can´t keep this "waiting" position long enough. We are beaten by anxiety and open up out of sync. HOWEVER, in this front view, THIS is KEY for me: Have you NOTICED how well shipshape, ordered and neat is ALWAYS his UPPER ARM. It´s like "slept" or "dead" like a dead weight, doing nothing, kind of always resting, passive, only doing the job of lifting his FOREARM. From then on, "ALL" the forward motion, the speed, everything seems to be done by only his FOREARM, his elbow and forearm go forward well out in front. I´m 100% sure that his FEELING IS in his FOREARM. HE´s NOT "USING" ALL OF his ARM. That´s how travels the acceleration from the big muscles from his back, shoulder and biceps to the small ones: forearm and finally wrist.

Amazing teaching thank you. Which grip should I use?

Good stuff thanks Nick - makes sense. Just noticed you kinda have a hitch in your raquet drop phase, right? Not that it matters..but interesting to note. Forgot to mention: this helped me work out and fix the subtle shoulder rotation (non dominant hand) under rotation issue that was messing up my FH timing a bit. Thanks!

HI Nick: How do you practice that crucial timing of racket drop and non dominant arm pulling back ?

Another great video, your analysises are always excellent! - I have 2 questions though: 1) I feel a lot of the power and especially topspin on the forehand comes from the legs, and all coaches tell me to use knee bend, doesn't most power come from the legs driving up/forward? 2) How about the Kinetic chain on the serve? (I have the feeling the serve is a lot like the atp forehand, meaning if I sync it correctly the racket will be "dropped" by the leg drive, but on the serve I clearly feel its legs, hips, torso, shoulders in that order leading into the drop, and then some "elastic effect" driving the racket up. Isn't that correct? (Especially on shadow swings though, when the ball is in play its more difficult not to arm the ball a little bit...) I watched Lisa Dodsons videos, stating that the chain reaction on the serve starts with the back leg pushing AND/OR THE TOSSING ARM PULLING, what do you think of all this? Best, Joakim

Thanks for the video. The top-to-bottom concept is indeed very eye-opening, and could help fix my problem, which is hitting too late. However, when I try the techniques you introduced in this video, I found there’s a disconnect between my upper and lower body. I can’t feel my power from hips or legs, resulting in a lack of control in my strokes. Can you talk more about how to sync upper and lower body? For example, when I pull my non dominate arm, show I intentionally turn my legs/hips as well? If so, what’s the right sequence?

Hey Nick, great analysis and explanation as usual. Would you keep the shoulders plane parallel to the ground? The pros seem to have both a pitch and yaw on their torso, (you seem to play with a straighter torso) so the rotation should be almost perpendicular to the spine angle, but it is not very clear. You mentioned in another video the dom shoulder at impact is lower than the non-dominant one. To do this the rotation needs to be made perpendicular to the spine angle, no? Thanks

Great content as always, one question: at the end of the takeback or start of the forward pull are you twisting your wrist to the right (ulnar deviation)? When doing this my forehand seems to be more consistent.

Thanks for the well explained video! My coach says that the hitting arm should be almost fully extended when the ball is hit. In your video, your arm is quite bent. Is the bent arm better?

I am going to have to agree with Bruno here.

What forehand do you usually use coach?

Hi there Nicky, I've been following you for a while and am a huge fan. I have a question which I'm hoping you can clarify for me. There a different opinions out there on whether, from the point of the take back and into the forward motion, we are rotating the body on a horizontal plane (like a c shape) in order to get to the contact point and then from contact up on the ball across the body and over our opposite shoulder (for direction & spin)? I' have the same back swing and timing as you have previously demonstrated, however, prior to contact point I m coming from low to high (getting under the ball like bowling motion) and then up and across... is this worth changing? Can this be more efficient if using the horizontal plane. Are there pro's and con's of both?

I'm thinking, another way to say this is to ensure you are rotating your hips/torso into the shot, aka using your body as well, not just your arm. Also for the shoulder rotation to happen, you have to really swing the racket. The followthrough is the result of the swing momentum. That's why beginners don't really have a follow through, because they're just pushing the ball, not really swinging. Also, I agree that the legs are not really part of the kinetic chain, they are just a bonus. You extend your legs into the shot for more power, and this doesn't start at the beginning of the swing. It's around the time you start to accelerate the racket, close to contact.

Hi Nikola, you talk about dropping the racquet before upswing to hit the ball, but I see something else happening: the arm drops, and the racquet drop is only the consequence, right?

On where the kinetic chain starts - It is often (as you noted) said to be starting from the ground up. I think you rightly say that it is not starting there. However, it feels like it may be starting there in parallel in that it is acting as a stop against the upper body rotation. If you were on a lazy susan disc, your lower body would rotate the opposite way from your upper body. So, the legs have to start firing in order to give your upper body the base it needs to rotate. After the upper body has fired and starts to complete its rotation, the legs finish their path and follow it around. I like your explanation better than the start from the ground explanation, because the legs are reacting to the upper body, not starting something.

Are you use "drop on table" ?

Would be great if you could show us video analysis of the pros doing this please Nikola. There are plenty out there trying to show us that it’s the opposite way round.

You said that the chain starts top to bottom. How would you use leg drive to still do the chain correctly? Is there a way to push off the ground to initiate the chain because all the pros seem to push off the ground to initiate the chain amd dont just use their legs at the end.

Hi Nic :) first of all thank you for these great tips. I somehow still do not get it. My coach told me the same btw that the kinetic chain is top-down instead of bottom-up. Exactly the opposite I was taught, but it seems to work better. But when looking at slow-mo footage for example of Ferrer or Djokovic I can hardly tell whether the shoulder is initiated first or the legs start to unload. Could you maybe provide an example of this concept by looking at a pro forehand? Hvala ti puno

you were so young here!

Where do I send my check Nick 😂 Can you please do a video on forehand elbow spacing

Would you say that the "responsibility" of taking the racket to the contact point is more of the rotation of the body (say 80%??) than moving the arm forward (around 20%)??

My racquet doesn't seem to drop enough when I make the backwards loop... why would that be..?

Is the dominant shoulder in front in the two handed backhand as well?

If you were to hold your arms stretched out wide forming a T and you started swinging your arms by rotating your torso and letting your arms flail around loosely, your left arm would naturally get out of the way on its on when you go left and vice-versa. Simply continue doing this arm swinging while slowly tilting your right shoulder down so that your torso has a slight tilt. Keep doing this and you'll see the left arm gets out of the way on it's own. Now pick up a racquet and continue the exercise. eventually get to a point where you drop feed a ball and swing the racquet using the same exercise while making contact with the ball out in front. Hold the racquet as loosely as you can get away with. It is important to be relaxed and not hold the racquet too tightly. The ball will fly off of the racquet with minimal arm swing and the racquet will lag behind on its own because . Dial in the racquet face angle so that the ball lands in the court. It's important not to lift the head too early - if the ball goes out or in the net, adjust the angle, but maintain the fluidity and smoothness of the stroke.

It’s important to lead with hip and the buttcap will naturally point forwards. Don’t understand when coaches tell people to point the buttcap when it occurs naturally if you rotate the hips initially. It’s a natural action it shouldn’t be forced.Important to get that lag!

Hey Nik, I' ve noticed that you like to hit quite flat. I have a question about it. Is it still adviceble to drop the racquet a little bit under the level of the ball when hitting from the baseline, or can one hit completely flat and still have margin also at waiste height? I have a western grip and to really make the ball travel fast I noticed that I really have to hit as much flat as I can really. wondering to know what you think

Yes, opening non-dominant shoulder too soon, or simultaneously rotating both shoulders counterclockwise like Discus Throwers , is a common problem, but how do you suggest to fix it? Just stopping non-dominant should rotation would make it unnatural and lead to less fluid shot. It is probably required to stop both shoulders so the arm with Racquete is being thrown by dominant shoulder&torso in a wiping move. Then naturally non- dominant should would rotate after the contact. However it is hard to see such stop in this demo.

Nick, you said you don’t use your legs on the kinetic chain. Are you saying you should not push up with your legs as you make contact with the ball? to me this seems like it does improve your top spin. Are you saying you can hit just fine with no leg drive upward? do you have any more videos to talk about this? thanks so much - your instruction is great

Is the dominant shoulder still in front at contact in a closed stance?

Is that possible that the bent elbow in the stroke causes inner elbow pain? I have the exact movement that it is shown in the video, but in the past few days I've been suffering from this annoying pain in the inner elbow. In today pratice I tried to change the stroke to a more straight right arm, but I lost tons of top spin and consequently the control of where the ball lands. So, considering a suposition and that I have the exact stroke that it is shown in this video, what could be the cause of this pain I have? Thank you for the great video btw!

I'm confused about this. It makes more sense to me that you are initiating a forward rotation movement with the dominant arm shoulder, rather than initiating with the non-dominant arm/shoulder getting out of the way. I've heard from many instructors to "swing from the shoulder" and that implies initiating rotation with the dominant arm shoulder to me. Incorrect?

Just wanted to ask is there an inverse movement in that is the racquet still going back while the hips are turning forward. Also players such as Monfils, which seems more noticeable, take the racquet outside the incoming ball flight and then on the forward swing are hitting out forward at a 45 degree angle which would be like a figure eight type motion. Agassi had a similar type motion but it is more difficult to pick up in Federer's swing.

How do you avoid over rotation/spinning too much on the forehand?

I was taught forehand in the late '70 with the closed stance. Maybe this is why many recreational players have this shoulder position problem? Being sideways you can't have your dominant shoulder be in front of you while hitting. I think many trainers today still teach the "closed stance", thus preventing the dominant shoulder being in front. Am I right?

did you switch to the new pure aero?

So you have a backhand version?

Hi, thanks for your videos. One thing I noticed from slow playing your videos (seen at 3:08 as well) is your bent arm (a "square U" shape 2:05) with the right elbow leading the swing forward. TBH for me, your swing and contact looks to be painful if someone hits you hard balls or if you are trying to hit the ball hard the arm looks "segmented". I like the tip about the dominant shoulder leading and top-down kinetic chain message.

To me, Jack Sock, IMO one of the best forehands, looks like a more linear stroke, not very loopy.

The time when you first press the like button then watch the video lol

How is Boris Becker s forehand different to the modern forehand?

I would like to get a video stroke analysis. I do not like to give my creditcard number. Any chance to use PayPal?

3:54

9:56