If you are a tennis player, you have surely spent time watching your favorite tennis player and trying to emulate some form of their game in to your own game. The Rafa Nadal topspin forehand is a shot of beauty and pure animalistic power. I thought I would take a look at my own forehand on video and for some reason I thought it might be a good idea to compare my forehand with the 20 time grand slam champion Rafa Nadal. The video details the beginning of what I believe will be a long but yet fulfilling journey to truly try to emulate the great Rafa Nadal topspin forehand. I only say trying because Rafa Nadal is a once in a generation player and no one on this planet can hit a forehand like him.

There were some interesting takeaways from the video that I found. My take back of the racquet took way too long making me hit the ball late. I was striking the ball at or even with my body, meaning I was restricting my own power and top spin by not getting the full momentum of my racquet swing. I also found I was not bending my knees during the racquet take back sequence meaning there was no use of my legs to coil and uncoil during the shot. This is also a major flaw in developing any type of repetitive power and a solid topspin forehand. Lastly my follow through was around my body, except Nadal’s follow through is more pronounced straight up above his head with a helicopter motion as his follow through. The last finding was my left arm was not distanced as far from my body as Nadal’s, meaning he is picking up even more power and speed with the “whip action” of the forehand.

More articles and videos will follow as my journey continues.