How Andrey Rublev Hits SUPER Hard Forehands (Advanced BWEH! Tennis Technique)

it's like driving a car and try to throw the passenger out (in front) as far as possible

What grip does he use?

May I offer a bit of a challenge to this. If the torso and shoulders are rotating and pulling the arm along, I just don't see how slowing down the shoulders or stopping them is going to speed up the arm. What physics principles are involved in this? Can you cite any biomechanics article that explains this phenomenon? There is a lot of literature on biomechanics in tennis, so there must be some articles using this concept or the term "reactive break." I am not able to find any. I notice shot putters don't seem to use any slowing down or stopping of motion in their sport. You would think they would have discovered a similar principle for the heavy duty motions they make. If you can correct me, I'm all ears.

Discussing shoulder rotation without HIP rotation that drives the unit rotation (including shoulder rotation) is often misleading. Here, deceletation of Rublev's shoulder rotation is clearly a result of maxing out of hip rotation in a closed stance. I've wasted a lot of my own time concetrating on shoulder rotation instead of using my hips right.

rublev dosen't does the atp forehand is more a technique that does Nalbandian Del Potro's call the modern forehand!! Are you agree with me??

You picked one forehand where he almost stopped half way for analyzing it. Pretty much every other forehand he kept turning much more in your video.

Intentionally grunt? What dumb advice. Grunting is an effect, not a cause. If you play in a way where grunting happens naturally, by all means do it. As your intensity ramps up and your grunt follows, great. Then do it (i.e., let it happen). The grunt is the result of your increased effort that allowed you to make a shot go 5 mph faster. Grunting is absolutely not the cause of an increased 5mph. Silly coach.

Интересно, спасибо за обьяснение!

I guess theres something wrong with what your explaining...you will not accelerate the racket head just by stopping/slowing down the upper body rotation...the real acceleration happened BEFORE while the upper body was still rotating quickly....I guess Rublevs stop with the upper body will give him more/enough control...just like the "free" arm that goes in the opposite direction when you hit the ball with a single handed backhand...

How come Google has never heard of the reactive brake?

If you watch him without explanation you will think that his swing has a lot of arm isolation

Hey coach, is it a good idea to employ a similar "reactive break" on the two-handed backhand, or do you recommend rotating the body all the way through?

Pretty sure that's called conservation of angular momentum. He's rotating his whole torso with his arm, then the torso stops. So that gives the racket and arm a lot of speed because of conservation of angular momentum. The body is massive. As it rotates around that axis of the spine, it has a lot of momentum. So when that stops all that momentum has to be conserved so it's transferred to the arm. Since the arm is much less massive, it goes very fast.

Is it also maybe the kinetic chain in action?

🙌

It’s kinda like a baseball pitch or a trebuchet, once the main body stops, the arm swings around so much faster.

Less rotation is because he's hitting up the middle. If he was to hit more cross court the rotation would be more complete and his shoulders would turn more. It's specific to where he wants to hit.

This is such a good video. Thank you for the explanations! So glad I ended up here randomly

Hi just wondering what forehand grip does rublev use?

Your analysis and insights for forehand is awful

I'm not an expert at all, but I think if you want to analyze how much the shoulder rotates, wouldn't it be better if it's being analyzed from above since the body rotates on a vertical axis? Perhaps you can record yourself from above while recreating the movement so viewers can get a more complete picture of it, imho.

(1) He hits flatter than any amateur player should (and flatter than pretty much any other top pro.) DON'T DO THIS.

(2) He uses a massively heavy racket even by pro standards to get that power. No amateur should be using a club that heavy.

(3) If you look for other videos of Rublev's practice sessions (which haven't been cherry-picked), you'll see a range of shoulder turn on the follow-through--and when he steps in it's pretty pronounced.

Nothing to see here. You're better off watching almost anybody else in the top 50.

Tsk tsk tsk. Rubles, is hitting the balls like this because he has a very loose arm. You do have the rotating correct, but it comes from a leg drive, keeping the arm loose. Another key is, he keeps the racquet head in front of the hand so that when he drives with his legs with lead to his rotation, the arm is so relaxed that the racquet snaps back to create lag. By him continuing to release the kinetic energy, by the time the gets to the front of the body (aka past the hips, right after the contact) the loose arms releases itself through the ball(hand acceleration) 😔

Very good point! Absolutely true.

1. Nice video
2. Dangerous video as rec folks are already obsessed with pace and power yet spraying balls all over the place, you’re not helping with this!
3. I reckon Roger is a great example as well for your point. Agree?

this soooo good!

Hi good it look like all that early separation from the upper the arm is going through just holding on.

This observed slowing down of the shoulder (and trunk rotation) as the racquet comes through the strike zone is an effect of a properly executed kinetic chain. It is common to all “ball and stick” sports that use trunk rotation to generate racquet/club/bat speed. In golf, this is described as the feeling of “hitting against a firm left side”.

This type of motion comes naturally and easily to those who are athletic and anyone who started young (due to their need to leverage body weight to make up for relative lack of arm strength). The challenge is how to teach it deliberately, for an action which flows naturally from correct motion sequence.

The concept of a “reactive break” is one of many different techniques used to teach this type of movement sequencing. It’s the challenge of being a coach, and you do this very well. 👍

I agree with baya yaba about how his body stops mostly due to his legs, rather than just to his left arm as Ryan implies.

A helpful analogy to how the forehand works is to imagine that from the shoulder joint the arm was just a supple leather appendage with a weighted object (racket) attached to the end. Swing that appendage by rotating the shoulders. The way you would swing a whip, with the end moving faster than anywhere else along its length. To crack the whip the energy source that propelled it must stop at the right moment to allow the kinetic flow to move toward the tip. Good players, from pros on down, use the force of shoulder rotation way more than most rec players do. And their "whips" crack at a much higher velocity as a consequence.

Our problem is that we have strong muscles in the arms, from the shoulder down, that can swing the racket forcefully by contracting, and which require zero shoulder rotation to do so. We see this in countless rec player strokes. Many swing the racket principally using the wrist joint. Most use mostly bicep contraction, with shoulders stationary. You can easily hit the ball hard enough to send it well past the other baseline by using just your bicep contraction. This ability is a false prophet for tennis, however, as evidenced by how all good-to-great players swing the racket.

The trick, then, is to overcome the strong instinct to muscle the forehand with the arm muscles alone, and allow those muscles rather to work in sequence with the force started by shoulder rotation; to complement the energy flow from the shoulders. It takes a great deal of focused effort to make it work correctly, but the payoff is huge. If you think of your arm muscles taking over the job of making sure the racket finds the ball at the proper contact point, and leaving the force of the swing to the energy started by the shoulder rotation, this is the beginning of making a more efficient and powerful stroke.

❤️

I was developing my reactive brake quite subconsciously but was told that I was doing wrong especially with my non-dominant arm. Thanks for clearing up that query in your video.

Thank you Ryan! Great advice!,

Thanks Ryan Great Video . My issue is how to 'set myself' particularly on easy balls. I think my problem is being too tense/fidgety when i have a lot of time before hitting the ball. So how to be still, relaxed, in the right position. I would appreciate your views on this. Thanks

thanks for everything last year!!

i notice he doesnt point the strings down prior to contact? am I missing somethging? whats his grip?? Seems more of a flat hitter
Happy New Year from nyc!!

Finest forehand of all the -ev’s

Great analysis. So true, lots of players lose energy clumsily rotating shoulders all the other way around jumping around like grasshoppers. Perfect example of efficiency in a top player's forehand

No problem with the concept of stopping your torso but not sure about how you are trying to teach it. It's a variation on the classic throwing action where the hips/torso go first then stop and the momentum is transfered into the arm. Hence easiest to teach as a throwing action - keep the shoulder low and relaxed (or it will block the transfer of momemum) and throw the racket like you are skiming a stone then try to whip the racket over (windscreen wiper) and make it whoosh.

Fantastic lesson!!! Happy New Year

Very good analysis! The only disappointment is that Ryan didn’t BWeH haha

that's right, Ryan, I would like to add that while hitting the ball, Rublev stands low and hard on his feet (does not jump), perhaps this enhances hitting.👍🎾🇷🇺

Thanks Ryan, for your very good contents.

How much power are you losing using a semi-western vs eastern grip?

I use an eastern forehand. I used these mechanics on a forehand against a friend in 1992. I was near the center service mark and my opponent was on his approach to the net. He got to the center of the deuce service line. This ball was struck so hard that it barely cleared the net by 1-2 inches and almost looked like it could go long. The ball struck my friend in the groin. The match was over. This ball looked like it was only going to land in by about 6 inches and dent the back fence.

Is there a reactive break on the backhand?

I think nobody "got" that he uses a western grip ! LOL