How to Improve Your Forehand in Tennis: Lessons from the World’s Best Junior Coaches

The tennis forehand is the cornerstone of the modern game — your primary weapon for dictating rallies, creating spin, and finishing points. But building a world-class forehand isn’t about one magic tip. It’s about layering fundamentals — grip, stance, contact, and variety — and learning how to adapt under pressure.

At CoachLife, we’ve gathered the junior coaches of some of the greatest players in tennis history — including Iga Świątek, Taylor Fritz, Carlos Alcaraz, Steve Johnson, and Maria Sharapova. Each of these coaches has taught and refined the forehand at the highest level, and their insights form a step-by-step blueprint for improving your own game.

The Foundation: Grip, Contact, and Topspin

🎾 Joel Myers, one of the world’s top technical coaches, stresses simplicity and stability in the forehand:

• Use a semi-western or eastern grip for spin and versatility.
• Keep the contact point out in front, around 40 degrees off the body.
• Focus on a neutral wrist and stable contact, then relax into a controlled follow-through.
• He also teaches the importance of the off-hand: it stabilizes the racket on the takeback and then tucks into the body at contact, braking your rotation so the hitting arm can accelerate.

👉 Learn Joel Myers’ complete forehand system inside CoachLife’s Forehand Category

The Unit Turn and Shoulder Control

Steve Johnson’s forehand, shaped under USC coaching legend Peter Smith, highlights how the unit turn controls everything:

• Shoulders and left arm dictate the backswing.
• The right foot turns to open the hips.
• The goal is to coil up the right side of the body for power.

For Johnson, repeating balls in his “sweet spot” — with controlled, shoulder-led turns — built one of the most reliable forehands on the ATP Tour.

Stance Selection: Balance and Adaptability

French coach Patrick Tauma (Naomi Osaka’s junior coach) emphasizes that your stance changes with the ball:

• Neutral stance for low/mid balls when precision matters.
• Semi-open stance for higher balls with time to prepare.
• Open stance when stretched wide — critical for quick recovery.

The universal key: stay low. Tauma compares it to wrestling or basketball — athletic posture creates balance, coordination, and power.

Generating Power: The Snap and Ground Forces

Guy Fritz (junior coach to Taylor Fritz & Coco Vandeweghe) taught the “snap of the hips” as the engine of the forehand. His drills trained Taylor to:

• Turn the shoulders first (the racket follows naturally).
• “Draw the letter C” with the racket.
• Snap the hips through, visualizing hitting through three balls in a straight line.

Fritz also introduced disguise — mixing inside-out and inside-in forehands with the same preparation, forcing opponents to guess.

Adriano Fuorivia (Denis Shapovalov’s former coach) builds on this with ground-force emphasis: sit into the outside leg, use the elbow “like you’re punching through,” and rotate fully into recovery. This connection of feet, hips, and elbow creates both power and smooth recovery.

The Buggy Whip and Reverse Forehand

Not all forehands are hit from a perfect stance. When stretched wide or late, champions rely on the reverse forehand (a.k.a. buggy whip).

Legendary coach Robert Lansdorp (who worked with Pete Sampras and Maria Sharapova) taught this shot as a way to handle low, fast, or wide balls:

• Short backswing, open stance.
• Brush steeply up on the ball.
• Finish high on the same side of the body, sometimes over the head.

Rafael Nadal popularized this extreme version, but Lansdorp insists it’s also a smart tactical tool for defense and lobs.

Justin Sherring (Jack Draper’s junior coach) and Michal Kaznowski (Iga Świątek’s junior coach) both reinforced its role as a defensive weapon that still creates offense. Iga herself trained daily with buggy-whip variations to handle heavy tour pace, turning defense into attack.

Case Study: Iga Świątek’s Forehand Development

Kaznowski’s process with Świątek shows how to structure drills into habits:

• Use short swings with a relaxed wrist to prevent overswing.
• Pair leg drive with racket drop — “down, then up” — to generate explosive topspin.
• Repeat in sets of 9 balls to ingrain muscle memory.

By age 12, Iga’s forehand combined short preparation, heavy spin, and linear power — exactly the traits that now define her Grand Slam game.

👉 Watch Michal Kaznowski’s full series on Iga Świątek’s junior training inside CoachLife.

Why Variety Completes the Forehand

A complete forehand isn’t just about hitting crosscourt rally balls. It’s about having multiple options:

• Flattening out a heavy ball above the shoulders.
• Mixing in a drop shot from the same preparation.
• Using the reverse forehand when pulled wide.
• Controlling stance for different ball heights.

This variety gives players tactical freedom — the ability to dictate, defend, or surprise depending on the situation. It’s how champions like Alcaraz and Świątek evolved forehands that win matches on any surface.

Final Takeaway

Improving your forehand is less about one perfect technique and more about layering fundamentals from multiple perspectives: grip, stance, rotation, disguise, and defensive tools like the buggy whip.

The good news? You can train all of these systematically. Whether it’s Joel Myers’ clean mechanics, Guy Fritz’s power snap, or Michal Kaznowski’s daily drills with Iga, the common thread is structure, repetition, and adaptability.

👉 Explore the Forehand Category on CoachLife — with insights from the junior coaches of Taylor Fritz, Iga Świątek, Maria Sharapova, Pete Sampras, Jack Draper, Denis Shapovalov, and Naomi Osaka. Start your free trial today and see how the world’s best forehands were built.

Frequently Asked Questions About Improving Your Forehand

Q1: What grip is best for improving my forehand?
Most modern players use either a semi-western or eastern grip. A semi-western offers more topspin and safety, while an eastern grip gives more versatility and easier transitions to flatter drives.

Q2: How can I add more power to my forehand without losing control?
Power comes from sequencing: legs, hips, shoulders, and then the arm. Focus on a strong unit turn, hip rotation (the “snap” Guy Fritz taught Taylor), and hitting in front of your body. Avoid muscling the ball with just your arm.

Q3: What’s the difference between a regular forehand and a buggy whip (reverse forehand)?
The buggy whip forehand, popularized by Rafael Nadal, finishes high on the same side of the body. It’s especially useful for defending wide balls or generating extra spin when late. Coaches like Justin Sherring and Robert Lansdorp teach it as a core defensive tool.

Q4: How do stances affect the forehand?

• Neutral stance → low or mid-height balls, great for down-the-line control.
• Semi-open stance → high balls, good for loading power into the hips.
• Open stance → essential when stretched wide, for faster recovery.
  Patrick Tauma stresses training all three to build versatility.

Q5: How long does it take to see improvement in my forehand?
With structured, daily drills (10–15 minutes a day on specific tasks), players often see noticeable improvements in 2–3 months. Consistency and focused repetition are key.

Q6: Where can I see full forehand drills from the world’s top junior coaches?
You can explore the complete Forehand Category on CoachLife, featuring junior coaches who developed stars like Carlos Alcaraz, Iga Swiatek, Taylor Fritz, Jack Draper, Denis Shapovalov, Naomi Osaka, and many more.