All tennis stances for attacking shots on forehand and backhand

Gaby one-handed backhand, tennis footwork, tennis forehand, two-handed backhand

Check out our tennis lesson to learn tennis stances for attacking shots.

In today's tennis lesson we are going to show you tennis stances and correct footwork in order to successfully attack the ball and take control of the point. Javi is demonstrating the stances on both forehand and backhand sides. He is explaining how to put your feet correctly and technically execute the shot for each stance.

If you are an intermediate player who is looking to learn how to hit more attacking shots in a tennis match, this video will greatly help you structure the available footwork options for that. After watching this video you will be better prepared to hit aggressive shots that put pressure on your opponent.

What is an attacking tennis stance?

In tennis, everything starts from the feet and players with great footwork will have a cutting edge over their opponents. There are many areas of tennis footwork including speed, agility, coordination, changes of direction, acceleration, deceleration and last but not least, the tennis stances.

A stance in tennis is the way you place your feet and load your body weight before you hit the ball. As a general guideline there are four different stances which are neutral, closed, semi-open and open. Within those four options we can list basic beginners stances and more advanced modified stances such as attacking or defensive stances.

An attacking tennis stance is the one that allows you to generate more power to hit a strong, aggressive shot. It is a stance where a player can effectively store and release the energy through a sequence of upward and forward body movements and rotations thus creating linear and angular momenta which consequently transfer power into the shot.

An attacking tennis stance helps a player create more powerful shots.

Attacking tennis stances for the forehand

There are two main tennis stances that should be used to attack the ball on the forehand side: the semi-open stance with a jump forward and the neutral stance with a jump forward. The first, semi-open stance, is usually used to hit balls in the back of the court, close to the baseline or at 3/4 of the court. The second, neutral stance, is more for the mid-court play for shorted balls and when a player is approaching the net.

Check out our tennis lesson to learn tennis stances for attacking shots.

SEMI-OPEN stance with JUMP forward

In terms of feet position this stance is somewhere between the open and the neutral stance. Your feet should be positioned at about 45 degrees to the baseline. When you coil and turn your upper body to the right while keeping your feet at that angle, you start storing elastic energy in your muscles. This energy is released when you uncoil the body forward. It is passed on to the racket as power when making contact with the ball.

  • put your right leg outside towards the ball, load and stabilize on it
  • keep the right foot a bit behind the left
  • when impacting the ball rotate your hips and feet
  • land on the left leg
  • lift the right leg backwards for balance

Forehand stance 1.1

Semi-open stance with a jump forward

from behind the baseline

Forehand stance 1.2

Semi-open stance with a jump forward

from the baseline

Forehand stance 1.3

Semi-open stance with a jump forward

from 3/4 of the court

NEUTRAL stance with JUMP forward

In this stance you should stay sideways to the net, therefore your feet should be positioned at about 90 degrees to the baseline. Prepare a short backswing as you are closer to the net. At the same time as you swing at the ball, jump forward and land on the front leg, lifting the right leg backwards to help you stay balanced. The objective is to transfer the bodyweight forward and have more power. In this way you step into the court taking advantage of the short bounce of the ball and go up to the net to hit volleys. Consequently, this shot is also called an approach shot.

  • place your feet, hips and shoulders sideways
  • prepare short backswing
  • when impacting the ball transfer bodyweight forward
  • load on the front foot, jump forward and land on the same foot
  • lift the right leg backwards for balance

Forehand stance 2.1

Neutral stance with a jump forward

approach shot

Forehand stance 2.2

Neutral stance with a jump forward

from the mid-court

Attacking tennis stances for the backhand

On the backhand side, we also have two main tennis stances that players use to attack the ball: the closed stance and the neutral stance with a jump forward. The first, closed stance, is usually used to hit balls in the back of the court, close to the baseline or at 3/4 of the court. The second, neutral stance, is more for the mid-court play for shorted balls and when a player is approaching the net.

CLOSED stance with LEG LIFT

The closed stance is the most common stance used for backhand. In this stance you should place your body laterally where both feet point to the left side of the court. When you turn the upper body to the left in preparation for the shot, you close from the court, so in order to look at the coming ball you must turn your head to the right and put your chin over your right shoulder. Prepare the racket upright and high in order to hit the ball at shoulder or chest height. When striking the ball raise the left leg backwards so that you raise the body and attack from above.

  • turn your upper body to the left
  • load on the right leg
  • when impacting the ball lift the left leg backwards for stability
  • after the strike step out to the side with your back leg
  • pivot and return to the middle

Two-handed backhand stance

Closed stance with a leg lift

behind the baseline

One-handed backhand stance

Closed stance with a leg lift

from the baseline

NEUTRAL stance with JUMP forward

In this stance you should stay sideways to the net, therefore your feet should be positioned at about 90 degrees to the baseline. Prepare a short backswing as you are closer to the net. At the same time as you swing at the ball, jump forward and land on the front leg, lifting the right leg backwards to help you stay balanced. The objective is to transfer the bodyweight forward and have more power. In this way you step into the court taking advantage of the short bounce of the ball and go up to the net to hit volleys. Consequently, this shot is also called an approach shot.

  • place your feet, hips and shoulders sideways
  • prepare short backswing
  • when impacting the ball transfer bodyweight forward
  • load on the front foot, jump forward and land on the same foot
  • lift the left leg backwards for balance

One-handed backhand stance

Neutral stance with a jump forward

from the mid-court

Key takeaways

Check out our tennis lesson to learn tennis stances for attacking shots.

The main learning points from this tennis lesson for beginners are:

  1. It is possible to attack the ball from any place on court as long as you are in a comfortable position to hit it.
  2. There are 2 attacking stances for the forehand and 2 for the backhand that depend on the depth of the ball from your opponent.
  3. When you hit an attacking forehand from the baseline you should use semi-open stance and impact the ball at your shoulder or chest level, so higher than when you play a normal ball.
  4. For an attacking backhand from the baseline you should use closed stance, lean forward, hit and lift the back foot.
  5. In case of attacking shots from the mid-court you should use neutral stance, prepare a short backswing, and jump forward when you hit the ball.