Developing Andy Roddick’s Forehand - Teaching Weapons

Key Points

• Developing weapons is about quantity and the amount of time you spend developing those shots
• Set up drills where players are a “product of their environment” and they figure out what works within the parameters of that drill
• Stan set up hours and hours of daily drills so Andy Roddick could develop his huge forehand
• “Spanish drill” - stand at the net and have the player hit 5 forehands back to you before hitting into the open court
• Standing at the net and volleying to the player at the baseline helps them improve their recognition and footwork with less time to react
• Reacting and hitting balls out of the air in a live ball situation improves racket head speed, rotation and body positioning
• Drop feeding can help with racket head speed when players are young
• Stan would drop feed balls below the height of the net with Andy 4 feet away, forcing him to use the wrist and forearm to bring the ball in
• Slicing every shot to the player from 1 corner forces them to use their hands and focus more on rotation to bring the ball in