The Technical Journey of Nadal's Forehand Backswing
Rafael Nadal’s forehand is a legendary shot. The amount of height and topspin Nadal produces on the shot, particularly on clay, is unprecedented.
Nadal delivers massive blows with the forehand cross-court, inside-out, inside-in and down the line.
The area of Nadal’s forehand that has changed and evolved the most over time is the backswing. In this article, we are going to examine the journey Nadal’s forehand backswing has made over his career and why these changes have occurred. We’ll also discuss the impact the changes have had on his game.
Backswing Mechanics
Let’s start by taking a moment to discuss backswing mechanics.
From the ready position, players are able to handle faster, deeper, and higher shots if they execute their swings as efficiently as possible, with as few moving parts as possible. It is key that a player be able to repeat the same motion over and over. The same motion needs to be replicated at every stage of the match, particularly under immense pressure during big points.
The backswing involves players moving through what is referred to as the unit turn. The unit turn is a self-explanatory technical term. What it means is that a player should turn their racket and body as a singular unit, rather than in dissociated parts. For instance, if a player starts in a ready position and then turns their racket before their body, their racket will traverse to the back plane of their body.
Nadal’s Initial Backswing on Tour
When Nadal first came on tour, his forehand backswing was simpler than it is now. The unit turn he executed took less time and had less steps.
From the ready position, Nadal moved the racket through the air using body rotation, utilizing zero extracurricular movements from the hand, wrist and elbow.
This put Nadal’s racket in an on edge position. This on edge position, where the strings are parallel to the side of the court, allowed Nadal’s racket to cleanly free-fall with gravity and to smoothly enter a closed position after the drop.
Nadal’s hitting elbow is away from his body and lifted behind his shoulder.
Nadal’s Current Backswing
Today, Nadal’s backswing and unit turn look drastically different. On the unit turn, Nadal’s elbow is not as far back and the racket face opens up.
On slower surfaces and against less lethal opponents, this extra move during the swing holds little consequence.
But against higher level opponents, particularly Djokovic and Federer, and on faster surfaces, this technical hitch in the swing prevents Nadal from executing his ideal swing as swiftly and repeatably as possible. Closing the racket face, integral for hitting topspin, is now tougher as the racket is in the complete opposite direction that it eventually needs to end up in.
In Nadal’s most trying years in 2014 and 2015, a massive issue for him was lack of depth on the forehand. This was due, in part, to the backswing.
In the photo above, you can see Nadal’s racket is opened past 45 degrees. This photo is from 2010. Since 2010, Nadal has varied in the degree that he opens his racket face, but it has remained a constant in his game.
In recent years, Nadal has consistently adopted highly defensive return positioning. On his forehand side, this return positioning provides Nadal with increased time on his forehand side to take bigger cuts at the ball.
Shortening the swing on the forehand side is tougher for Nadal due to the extra movement in his backswing.
What Changed?
The tipping point season for Nadal’s forehand came in 2009. In 2009, Nadal’s forehand began to diverge from the forehand that he first entered the tour with.
Nadal’s racket is still on edge, but his hitting elbow is not only close to his body, but it is also in line with his shoulder.
In 2010, as the picture earlier in the article demonstrated, Nadal attempted to rectify this by repositioning the hitting elbow off his body. This solved the issue of his elbow being too close to his body, which constricted fluidity and racket head speed. The consequence of this was that his racket face then opened a significant amount due to the pushing and lifting of his hitting elbow off his body.
In order for Nadal to get the hitting elbow off his body and maintain a neutral racket face, his hitting elbow would need to be repositioned not only away from his body laterally, but back behind him as well.
If you look at this image of Pete Sampras, you’ll see that Sampras, like Nadal, has his hitting elbow is away from his body. But, unlike Nadal, his hitting elbow is back behind his shoulder during the unit turn.
The positioning of Sampras’ hitting elbow up behind his shoulder facilitated a racket face that was closed approximately 45 degrees, whereas Nadal’s racket face is in the complete opposite positioned, opened at 45 degrees.
Nobody can argue against Nadal having one of the greatest forehands ever. But one could certainly make the argument that his slam tally may be even higher if he had stuck with his initial unit turn that he entered the tour with.
Any questions related to Nadal’s forehand backswing: contact big3tennis@gmail.com
Photo Video/Credit
Sampras Forehand:
Nadal Forehand 2010:
Nadal Forehand 2009:
Nadal Initial Forehand on Tour: