The Most Difficult Stroke to Learn

Which stroke do you think is the hardest for people to learn? A lot of club players will say their backhand is their weakest stroke and that it is the hardest for them to learn. Then their are club players and juniors who say the serve is the most difficult stroke to master. Rarely do you ever hear the forehand is the hardest stroke to learn. One reason is that it is using your dominant hand and there is a level of comfort.

The truth is the forehand is the hardest stroke for a person to learn. The serve is next. I have heard it said the forehand is the hardest for adults to learn and the serve is the hardest for children to learn. That means, biomechanically, the backhand is the easiest stroke to learn. Most beginning children will have a better backhand than their forehand. One reason many people complain about their backhand is they do not practice it enough.

Why is the forehand so hard for people to learn? The reason is that you must learn how to control your wrist and forearm. If you watch most children who start to hit a forehand they will often try to hit down on the ball by bending the wrist or they will try to hit it too hard by winding up and opening the racket face.  Instead, the student should be taught to lift the ball from low to high by starting with the racket at the thigh. To teach the student to control the wrist have the student start with the racket face closed or having the right palm to the ground and keeping that position all through the swing. Believe it or not, the racket face will turn flat all by itself. 

I believe that if you learn to master control of your wrist you will see a more solid hit on your forehand.