Learn 4 basic tennis stances for forehand and backhand

Hi guys, it's Javier again, fitintennis.com. In this video we’ll explain a few basic stances. Let’s explain the first four that you should learn.

The first three are the same for both the forehand and the backhand. The fourth is really only for clay courts, and is typically used on that surface, which is the slide. We don’t use it on hard courts. As we’re on a clay court today, we’ll teach it as well.

The first one for the forehand is called the neutral stance, which is for balls that are coming towards us at the baseline. We turn sideways, strike the ball, and turn the foot.

The second one is for balls that are a bit more complex. Not much, just ones that are at more of an angle. This is the semi-open stance, where you just need to open up a bit with the right leg. So the right leg is more open and a bit behind the left one. This detail is important because a lot of people just stand facing the front, and hit like this and normally this isn’t a great idea, less so for balls that I can get to in good time. So the semi-open stance would be the right leg a little behind, strike the ball and turn the body.

The third one is for slightly shorter balls. Not too short, just ones we can advance towards. As I advance towards the ball, I hit, rotate my body and hips and step forwards with the right leg.

And the last one as I said is only for the clay court, which is the slide. It’s always done with the right leg, and for balls that come at an angle and a bit more complex than before, so with a wide-angled ball, I slide, strike the ball and turn. It’s important to always turn. That way I produce more energy to hit the ball with, which is always helpful.

For the backhand - at the moment the stances for both one and two-handed styles are the same. For balls that come towards me at the baseline, I turn sideways, hit, and turn the back foot. With two hands it’s the same - hit and turn back.

Now, when the ball is a bit more at an angle, we use the closed stance for both backhand styles. Simply strike, step towards the ball, and the only detail is that when you hit the ball, take another step with the left leg to the left. Why? To balance the momentum. With two hands it’s the same - closed stance, strike, and take an extra step with the left leg.

And now the third one. For when the ball is a little short. So I would step towards it, strike, turn, and step forward with the left foot, which is the one that was at the back. And with two hands it’s the same. On the side, strike it, turn and move the left leg forward.

And now for the slide. Same with one hand as with two: slide, hit, and take a step with the left leg. Same for two hands: slide, hit, and take a step. These are the basics that you’d need to learn to be able to hit regular balls.

After having shown you the four stances myself, both for the forehand and backhand, Silvia is going to help us demonstrate how I would teach these stances to my students. The first one that we will practice is the neutral stance. Let’s stand sideways. It’s an easy ball, it lands in the middle. I stand sideways, hit and stay as is. Only rotating forward with the back leg. Prepare and finish by rotating the body.

Now she understands the first stance. It's important that she feels comfortable, so we can move on to the next stance. Which one is that? The semi-open stance. We load on the right leg, a little behind the left one, we just hit and turn. I’m going for a ball that’s a bit at an angle, land on the right leg, hit and turn. Silvia is doing this exercise very well, mastering the stance, and improving every time, so we’ll move on to the third one. This one is for balls that allow me to come forward a little bit. I go towards it, sideways, hit, turn and take a step forward. Remember to rotate first.

After the third stance, we go on to the last one - the slide. We just slide with the right leg when the ball has more of an angle or is more complicated. I’ll feed her the ball at more of an angle. I’m running, sliding, hitting and turning a little. Recover in the middle - go, slide, and turn.

We’ve done the four for the forehand, so now we’ll move on to the backhand. They are exactly the same. We’ll start with the first one, which is the neutral stance. We’ll do it one-handed, because Silvia plays like that. So I’ll feed her the ball to the baseline, she turns sideways, hits, and simply hold this position. It’s similar to a golf swing, her back leg has to raise the heel a little. I face sideways, and turn. And I hold the pose.

Let’s move on to the second stance. When do we use it? For balls that are at a bit more of an angle. The only thing that needs to be done is to load on the right leg. Hit and take a step with the left leg. The ball comes this way, I move, hit and take a step out with the left leg. Without sliding. Now we can move on to the third one. When do we use it? For balls that are a little short. It comes towards us centrally, and I can advance towards it. Turn, hit, twist the hip, and then take a step with the leg. Sideways, turn, and take a step.

Now that the third stance is complete, we only have one left, which is the slide. The ball is wider, I run, slide, hit and take a step with the momentum. Recover in the middle, return, slide, hit... and land with the outside leg for support.

So here we have the four basic stances to play balls that are not too complicated. We didn’t go into a lot of detail, we have to simplify them in the beginning when we explain them. In the next videos we’ll be more specific, explain a little more about these stances to perfect them and additionally we’ll explain some more stances that are for more advanced levels for balls that are a little more complicated.

Hope to see you all shortly, and thanks again. Until next time!