Roger Federer Forehand, Backhand and Serve in HD
January 9, 2012 by: Ian WestermannToday we’re going to do a Roger Federer tripple play! I just got done posting a bunch of new pro video to the Essential Tennis YouTube channel (http://www.youtube.com/essentialtennis) and wanted to share a few strokes from Roger along with my thoughts. Make sure to check out all three!
Federer Video #1: Forehand and Backhand Rally
This is Roger getting a hit in before his match against Del Potro in the evening. He looks loose and relaxed enough while he’s actually competing but during practice it’s just ridiculous. Please keep in mind that he isn’t working on anything during these rallies, they’re simply meant to groove his timing a bit and help him break a light sweat. You should be trying to copy this during your first 5-10 minutes of hitting either before a competitive match or a practice session. Raise your intensity level a bit at a time until you reach full speed while still maintaining a smooth and relaxed swing!
Federer Video #2: Backhands in Slow Motion
Roger’s backhand is commonly looked at as a weakness of his but it’s still a beautiful stroke. You’ll see him hit both topspin and slice backhands in this video and one main thing strikes me about both techniques right away: length of swing. On each and every topspin shot you’ll see the butt cap of his racket (the bottom of the handle) at least pointing down towards the court, often times it even points out towards his hitting partner on the other side of the court. This is from loosely “releasing” the racket head and allow it to rotate, something a LOT of rec players don’t do on their one handed backhands.
On the slice you’ll see him draw the racket all the way across his body until the tip of the racket points towards his hitting partner with a straight and extended arm. Most rec players have a motion that falls well short of that and so they have to try and jerkily accelerate the racket through their short swing to get any racket head speed at all.
Try your best to avoid these two common technique pitfalls on your backhand next time you hit!
Federer Video #3: Serve Warm Up in Slow Motion
Ok, first off, do NOT practice your serves with 5 tennis balls in your opposite hand. Definitely not something that I recommend, haha.
Once again you can see that relaxed and fluid technique is the name of the game! What I’d like you to really take note of, however, is Roger’s rhythm as he swings. This is something that slow motion video helps us see. Watch how the take back of the racket all the way up to the trophy pose is one smooth, slow speed, and then once the racket starts to drop everything begins to accelerate up towards contact. Slow then quick, slow then quick, without any stopping or hesitating. Many rec players have what’s known as a “hitch” in their service motion, a jerky stopping and then starting of their racket. Or, they have a quick-slow-quick rhythm which is terrible for timing and consistency. Roger makes everything as smooth as possible, something that you should try your best to copy at home!
So which is your favorite stroke? Does anything specific jump out at you right away about any of these three videos? Let me know in the comments below. Thanks for watching!
Thanks for the lessons, Ian. Excellent job. I was wondering if Federer could use a little bit more upper body rotation or body weight transfer on his backhands. Or perhaps he does and it is just me who can’t see the dynamics in the video. Thanks again.
Hello Ian, thank you for all of the instructional videos; also, many thanks to Jim McLennan and FYB’s Will and Adam. This is great material and each clip is a revelation in itself as it helps me a lot with all parts of my game. I think the only thing I did not try to copy was the 1-2-3 exercise with the soccer socks
All of Roger’s strokes look good to me; especially, the serve which I try to use as a guide to develop my own serve; I am a park player. His motion is effortless and he keeps the toss just right so that he doesn’t have to stop the swing and wait for the ball. Even during warm up without any major knee bent his balls seem to be at 6 feet off the ground at the base line in any direction he wants to place the ball. Man, I dream of kicker like that so that I could kick everybody’s ass in the park! Happy New Year. -Stefan
Ian, thanks for the breakdown on these strokes. I liked the one about the backhand because, like Fed, I have a one-hander and, unlike Fed, mine stinks.
What struck me on the backhand video was your pointing out how on the topspin Fed winds up with the butt of the racquet either pointing at the ground or at his opponent. I think one of my issues is that I don’t complete the stroke so I don’t release the racquet so it flows through contact and your highlighting that aspect of Fed’s backhand rang a bell in my head, so thanks!
I also liked with the slice where you mentioned how he draws the racquet across the body and finishes with a straight arm pointing roughly at his target. As a guy who tends to turn a slice backhand into a Ginsu-style chop, that really gives me something to consider. I believe in one of your previous videos where you demonstrated your slice you focused on the same thing and it has helped me quite a bit.
Thanks Ian! Hope you had a great holiday!
Awesome I love all the videos. I love how that even with five balls his toss was always perfect and that he tossed into the swing. Generally the fluidness of his strokes and how that creates so much power it seems effortless.
Nicely done, Ian. I’m appreciative of how much dedication it takes to put this all together.
I’m now thinking all the time about my forehand follow through, trying to lengthen the stroke, finishing high and behind. I never even thought about the backhand. The slo-mo of Roger hitting his helps me very much. Now I’ve got to get out and try it.
Thanks again.
m
You’re welcome, Michael. Let me know how it goes!
That even with five balls in his tossing hand, he was still making perfect ball tosses!
Not fair, is it?
The length of his stroke and the effortlessness in his movement is what captures my attention. I especially like to watch his backhand and his follow through.
After working on the six parts of the serve, I found that what I was lacking most was dropping the racquet from the trophy pose before I began to move up to hit the ball. I expected when I added this that my power would increase; but it really did not. The two things that happened were that I naturally pronated more and that in turn added topspin to my serve which resulted in its dropping into the box more consistently without having to resort to a dink second serve to make sure it went into the box on a regular basis. This surprised me. The other thing that happened was that my coach, who always tells me what I am doing wrong but rarely complements me, said my serve was fine, I should not change it. It was good. So the six part lesson really helped me.
I appreciate your comments about the top spin back hand and the length of the follow-through and rotation of the racquet head. I never thought about the rotation before, so I’ll be trying that tomorrow.
There are two other things I notice in these terrific videos:
1) Roger split steps on every ball. It’s good to see him do that even in practice. It is so well grooved that he is really ready for every ball.
2) His head is so quiet. No looking up to see where the ball goes until well after it’s off the racquet. I am always in trouble when I look to see how good my shot is before I’ve finished it! It’s good to see a model of what I need to work on.
Thanks for posting these. Great stuff!
Gary
Let me know how it goes today, Gary!
This was very helpful. It forced me to relax the grip, which had been tight but which I didn’t notice before. Once I got used to it, I had better topspin and more depth. I think that is because of the extension that the rotation creates. It felt really good and I started to gain more confidence in the stroke. Just a little detail, but with noticable results. I will continue to work on this — thanks!
Gary
Sorry, that should be ‘lossey gossey’
Heard the Bryan Brother’s describe him as ‘Loosey Gossey’ in their video. Think what they were trying to say was that it was good for singles perhaps not so good for doubles..
Simon,
Interesting thoughts by them, I can see where they’re coming from. The tempo of high level doubles is SO much faster than singles, takes a bit higher intensity personality I think.
when tnnies fans were beginning to believe that Federer might have fathered the WiiBot, Roger faltered. In the men’s upset of the year, Guillermo CaÑas of Argentina defeated
Hi Ian, Interesting how relaxed Federer is in warmup in contrast to his contemporaries. Even when he comes on court he is initially just as relaxed and I note that he tries to maintain this during a match. As we all know he really watches the ball as it lands on the string and I have tried to incorporate this in my game but you really have to be very relaxed but at the same time focused on watching the ball. Genius at work!
That’s true, even compared to most other professional players he’s extremely loose. Amazing how he’s able to maintain that!
Slow mos very helpful ! Thanks ~
I agree, you’re welcome!
Heh !Why not clone Federer hismelf ? Since he is by far the best, he needs to play against the best !
The fluidity and length of RF’s technique is a given, and while a perfect model for those of us possessed of less stellar skills, they mean little if one doesn’t get the racquet back quickly upon reading the ball coming from the opponent. Failing to do so very often results (for me) in a rushed, fore-shortened swing that is rarely effective. Being quick to get the racquet back helps me emulate a higher level swing much more effectively. My dos centavos!
Max,
I completely agree: rushed = tight and tense! Early identification and preparation is something that the pros all do automatically but it can definitely be a tough challenge for the rest of us. Thanks for watching!