I often take my students to various academies for match play, and I always observe whats been taught on some of the other practice courts. I see the usual groundstroke drills and techniques been rehearsed and fine-tuned, I see some good live ball drills and intense feeding drills, serve and return work, and some baseline footwork patterns been addressed. I hardly ever see transitioning footwork been taught, let alone been taught correctly. In this article, we will take a look at the forehand approach shot in vivid detail. I will take you through the footwork getting up to the forehand, the footwork patterns used to execute the shot, and the footwork that should be used after the approach prior to the split-step and volley. The drills in this article are addressed to right-handed players. Left-handed players should do the same but obviously on the other side of the court.
Let’s divide the deuce side of the court in half. If the player receives a ball which lands short on the inside half of the deuce court, the players inside foot will move first toward the ball after they split step. The player will move up to the ball as quickly as possible, and will use adjustment steps before composing their feet in a square stance and using a hop-step move through the ball. This is very much a footwork pattern perfected by Garbine Muguruza, Justine Henin, Victoria Azarenka, Wozniacki, Halep and Maria Sharapova and majority of pros use this pattern to explode efficiently through short balls, as it enables them to move toward the net quickly. The only time I may be ok with a player not using this footwork pattern on inside balls is if they have an extreme grip. We know that the typical theory here is that the more extreme the grip, the more open the stance becomes. I would still not encourage full open stance for inside balls, because it is so important to get as much body weight going into the ball toward the intended target as possible, and open stance doesn’t allow this as much as partly open, semi-open, or neutral stances do.
When the player receives a short ball on the outside half of the deuce court, the players outside foot will move first toward the ball, and the player will execute the shot with more of an open stance explosive move, so that they can transition through the shot and get into net as quickly and efficiently as possible. The reason we also need to use partly open or fully open stance here is that there’s still plenty of court we need to move forward and cover once the short ball has been executed. Open stance allows us to do this more efficiently.
Common mistakes I see from players are that they often get up to these short balls and their feet stop completely. I also hear coaches telling players to stop and set their feet rather than take adjustment steps, get the feet composed and then explode through the shot. Players who stop their feet lose all their energy and therefore their approach shots lose their penetration through the court. I also hear coaches use the word stop, and obviously, this is incorrect.
Footwork after the approach
As a junior, I often heard the importance of taking small steps into the net after the approach shot and prior to the split step. The more I have studied the pros, the more I have realized that this is wrong and that small steps should be used when closing in for a high volley, or other situations that require some efficient adjustment steps.
For both the footwork patterns mentioned above for both inside and outside balls, I prefer big steps and then a split step. So the guideline footwork I teach for the inside balls and after the hop step, is to land on the front foot and then the outside foot must take a large step followed by another large step forward with the inside foot. After this, the split step must take place. I often see players stop immediately after split stepping but the split step is a continuation. Of course, this footwork pattern is just a guideline and like anything else in tennis, adjusting to the situation is key. For the outside balls, the inside foot needs to move forward at an angle first after the approach shot and then the outside foot will take a big step forward. The key is to really push off the outside leg so that the step forward with the inside foot is big and efficient.
Which part of the court do we cover?
Pretty much all players who receive adequate coaching will know to approach down the line and then move into the net, get to about halfway between the net and service line, split step, and cover the down the line about a racquet length away from the “T”. Those that receive high-level coaching will know to not only cover the line but will be able to anticipate the crosscourt pass attempt by the opposition.
With a lot of the pro players I coach, I use the above but I also encourage players to be able to approach short crosscourt, and maybe even deep crosscourt if the opposition always expects a down the line pass attempt, or if there is a large chunk of court open to hit the approach deep crosscourt into. I also don’t mind a short low ball being approached short crosscourt because it’s often easiest to hit low balls across the low part of the net. I would not always recommend this, but the more options we have, the better.
Progression drills are the best drills to use. Simply walk through the inside and outside approach shot footwork patterns I have mentioned, and once you feel comfortable, then progress to a drill where a coach feeds you a short ball. Practice both the inside and outside approach shots on the forehand side. After practicing approach shots, then add the footwork pattern prior to the split step and then the split step. Finally, do the entire drill finishing with a volley after the split step. Once a player feels comfortable with the approach shots and footwork patterns, then the player can progress from the feeding drills into a live ball/point situation where the coach or practice partner feeds either a ball on the inside or outside half of the deuce court and the approach is hit down the line. The point is then played out full court.