I wonder if the slow balls actually favour highly coiled forehands (like Kachanov's) by increasing the time the player has to set up and making it easier to time them (arguably, if you have to hit harder to compensate for softness it is easier to mishit/shank a ball, but whippy strokes still provide a sizable chunk of easy power when given time and space). Someone who has been sailing so far in the women's side is Daria Kasatkina, who has a very "nextgen-y" forehand by WTA standards.
I also wonder if some players are willing to adapt their racquet set-up (by dropping string tension or whatever) to compensate for the conditions or whether that's too risky when you've been training with a given set-up for months.
most players adjust tension depending on weather, balls, opponent etc. They usually have multiple racquets at different tensions in their bag for each match and sometimes even request a restring during a match at a different tension.
Hi Hugh what do you think about switching between the nextgen and modern forehand depending on the point. Would switching to the nextgen forehand on an attackable ball bring results?
These categories are loose terms. Sometimes on the run most players play with their racquet pointing more to the side, for example. I'm just more in favour of forehands getting more upright and wrists getting more extended in general.
I wonder if the slow balls actually favour highly coiled forehands (like Kachanov's) by increasing the time the player has to set up and making it easier to time them (arguably, if you have to hit harder to compensate for softness it is easier to mishit/shank a ball, but whippy strokes still provide a sizable chunk of easy power when given time and space). Someone who has been sailing so far in the women's side is Daria Kasatkina, who has a very "nextgen-y" forehand by WTA standards.
I also wonder if some players are willing to adapt their racquet set-up (by dropping string tension or whatever) to compensate for the conditions or whether that's too risky when you've been training with a given set-up for months.
most players adjust tension depending on weather, balls, opponent etc. They usually have multiple racquets at different tensions in their bag for each match and sometimes even request a restring during a match at a different tension.
Hi Hugh what do you think about switching between the nextgen and modern forehand depending on the point. Would switching to the nextgen forehand on an attackable ball bring results?
These categories are loose terms. Sometimes on the run most players play with their racquet pointing more to the side, for example. I'm just more in favour of forehands getting more upright and wrists getting more extended in general.