JHH Forehand Analysis

    Justine's forehand is one of the most underrated shots in the game.
Because of the remarkable attention paid to her backhand it tends to pass
notice that her forehand is actually a more dangerous shot. In fact Justine
herself describes it as the better of the two because she tends to finish
the points off that wing.
     The stroke itself is a modern classic - a beautiful multi-segment
open-stance forehand hit with a semi-western grip and a large amount of
topspin.
     The multi-segment shot has an interesting story behind it. For various
reasons including higher-bouncing surfaces and improvements in racquet
technology the modern game has become largely a matter of achieving greater
topspin. Unfortunately the old-style forehand in which the body moved pretty
much as a unit wasn't particularly well-suited to this task; something new
had to evolve and biomechanical studies and a lot of on-court
experimentation came to the rescue.
     Biomechanics is based around a simple observation: the human body is
not a machine. The various bones, muscles, ligaments, etc have only limited
strength and range of movement; so biomechanics attempts to organize all
these idiosyncracies and use them in an optimum way.
     In the case of the topspin forehand, what you're looking for is
lightning-quick racquet-head acceleration in an upward direction (this is
what imparts the topspin) boosted by a good deal of strength, stability and
control. Strength is necessary because topspin is inefficient - you need a
lot of input to get a modest output - and stability is essential because the
faster you're moving the racquet the the harder it is to control. How do you
move your racquet quickly and  powerfully and still maintain control?
     The problem is that none of the possible hinge-points generating the
movement (waist, shoulder, elbow, or wrist) has the entire caboodle. The
torso and shoulder have strength but not speed; the elbow and wrist have
speed but not enough strength. The answer is to combine them all in a chain
where the brute strength and stability of the upper body is transmitted
through to the elbows and wrist, enabling their capabilities of generating
vertical racquet-head speed to be captured and enhanced. So the upperbody
and shoulder rotates horizontally and forward while the upperarm and wrist
moves vertically. To maintain racquet-head acceleration in a controlled way
(the range of upward movement in the elbow being limited) the upperarm also
moves smoothly across in "windscreen-wiper" fashion to finish across the
body.
     Justine accomplishes all this with great flair and facility although
her forehand in the past often suffered from some bad habits. At times (like
Wimbledon 2002) her preparation was late with the backswing only beginning
when the ball was already on her side of the net but she appears to have
overcome this failing and now has a lot more time to make her shot. She also
had a tendency to twist her racquet-face on the backswing instead of keeping
it "closed" throughout but once again has improved in this area.
     The reason she prefers the forehand as a point-finisher is that it's
stronger at and above shoulder-height than her backhand which has a tendency
to struggle against high-bouncing balls (this explains her difficulties with
Patty Schnyder). Justine's ability to pulverize balls from midcourt is now
right up there with the Williams's, Clijsters, and Davenport. Her former
tendency to go too close to the lines has been moderated and she's safe but
still devastating on this shot.
     She can hit the ball in any direction with near-equal facility but her
down the line and off-forehands are particularly fine (and reminiscent of
Boris Becker at his most imperious). The crosscourt is also an excellent
shot because she gets great angle and penetration with her topspin but here
she has a minor technical weakness because her back leg sometimes gets
anchored to the court and she slightly loses balance because it's holding
her back rather than turning naturally with the upper-body. When she does
this her follow-through often becomes skewed with the racquet-hand twisting
under rather than coming over.
     Justine has also become much stronger when taken wide on the forehand.
A year ago she often hit short when on the stretch - enabling her opponent
to start dominating the point - but her increased courtspeed and
arm-strength now help her to maintain superb depth and penetration from
outwide. This was especially evident in the USO Final where Clijsters rarely
got a short ball to attack.
     Another improvement is an increased willingness to block the ball back
on return of serve when that's a better option than trying to drive the
ball. In the 2001 Wimbledon Final she constantly tried to topspin Venus's
wide swinging first serves and consistently made errors. Far better in this
situation to bunt the ball back without any pace and give herself a chance
to get into the point. The thing is Justine never lets her game stagnate -
there is always more to learn and put into practice in her matches.
     Justine constantly works at the forehand and this work has obviously
paid off in making it a more reliable and punishing shot. There may be
however a potential neglect of the backhand in consequence which (as
strengths often are) is sometimes left to look after itself. As Pancho
Gonzales once said, keep practicing your strengths because they are what's
got you to the top. Next time we'll consider whether (and how) Justine's
backhand can still be improved.