Forehand - Evolution of Forehand

Evolution of Forehand

The classical forehand where a player hit through the ball and finished his follow through above his shoulder was the dominant forehand usage for most of tennis history. Players as recent as Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi used the classical forehand. With recent tennis racquet technology improvements generating power has increasingly become more easier and hence having more control has become an emphasis for current professional tennis players. This has resulted in the pro players now using a windshield wiper forehand where the follow through ends up with the racquet ending across the body rather than over the shoulder. This enables more top spin to be imparted to the ball thus controlling the extra power generated while still keeping the ball in court. Most pro players now use the windshield wiper forehand, with Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic among other pro tennis players all employing the windshield wiper forehand.