What makes Carlos Alcaraz's forehand so special? According to the 2022 US Open, he’s hitting faster, heavier, and more consistently than everyone on tour. So let’s break down the science behind what makes Alcaraz’s forehand so special. What techniques set it apart from other forehands on tour? And what should you copy to take your forehand to the next level?
✅ TAKE THE FOREHAND GRIPS QUIZ ✅
racquetflex.com/quiz-forehand...
💻 COURSES AND RESOURCES
Weak to Winning Forehands ➡ racquetflex.com/forehand
RacquetFlex Serve System ➡ racquetflex.com/serve
Home Court Advantage ➡ racquetflex.com/hca
🔗 SLOW MOTION VIDEO CREDITS
/ @lovetennisofficial
/ @slowmotennis
• This Is Why Carlos Alc...
• The Real Deal! Carlos ...
• Nadal Crazy Training 2...
• Carlos Alcaraz Forehan...
• Kei Nishikori Forehand...
• Carlos Alcaraz: Serve,...
• 2008 Vintage Fernando ...
• Andrey Rublev Forehand...
⏱ TIMESTAMPS
0:00 ATP Players On Alcaraz's Rise
0:23 The Grip & Hitting Arm
1:30 The Off-Hand & Unit Turn
2:39 #1 Drill to Learn the Alcaraz Backswing
4:02 The Takeback & Racquet Drop
5:52 Acceleration - The Signature Move
7:06 Contact & Extension
8:36 Peak Head Stability
🐦 LET'S CONNECT!
Email Me ► connect@racquetflex.com
Website ► racquetflex.com
Instagram ► / racquetflex
You're not only incredibly likeable, but your laugh is absolutely adorable! I would kill to have you as a coach.
Roger's explosive forehand had better disguise and was a sneakier weapon. Carlos will have a better forehand as he learns how to fully use it without going for so much constantly.
Yeah but the fact Alcaraz has an amazing dropshot means he can disguise it too.
Disguise is more than just drop shots
Federer would die at his peak vs alcaraz at his peak.
@@joseppi4cinqua LOL yeah right. Peak Fed is the best player I've ever seen, and I say this as a Serbian!
@@initialize21 ya you’re right, he was very strong in his day. I think he could turn Alcaraz into a baby boy in the heat of battle in a grand slam. Alcaraz has kid power and testosterone replacement therapy to help him out at the moment. That’s why he has big fat nipples.
maaan im proud of Gonzalez :') 🇨🇱
Excellent! Keep doing more on his phenomenal game and strokes and basically EVERYTHING that he’s doing to bring back passion into the game after the Big 3 🎾🏆
You got it! Thanks for the suggestions.
@@RacquetFlex is straight arm really the best or is a natural bent also ok😊
Just watched your kick serve video and this one. Brilliant breakdown and analysis in both....
Thanks for your analysis and detail. Other not so good players scoff at over analysis, yet tiny changes and breakthroughs can make you so happy and change your game.
Bro 🔥🔥🔥 you are an amazing tennis player for a 4’11” dude!
Awesome video guys!👍
Another great video. Thanks guys! To anyone who has yet to try their courses, I highly recommend - I have them all!
Well done on the video!
Wow,fantastic vidéos , keep up the good Work.
Excellent!!
I would love to see a break down on Alacaraz deadly drop shot! Amazing video, keep up the great work!
Thanks for the suggestion, inazaid! We'll keep it in mind. - Dayday
ditto
@@RacquetFlex I would love to see that!
Tennis really is a game for the lifetime, thank you so much to help me improve my tennis.
very friendly and competent explanation, excellent work, keep it up, Greetings from Germany
Great video buddy! you have a new fan
This content is fire, i didn't realize all the nuances that go into tennis technique, great job! Also, love your references of Gonzales
new?
thank you very much man
Great tips
Great video! I woud love to see a video about Alcaraz great drop shot
Great video. Alcaraz kick-serve next please 😊
1 video a month. Always waiting for them! Really want to see you guys compete. You could prob do a pay preview on KZhead vs other KZheadrs.
amazing breakdown! heading out now to ruin my perfectly good forehand in pursuit of more power and spin! 🤪
love your laugh you do everytime you say something
Would love to see a breakdown of his forehand drop shots.
What do you guys think about an comparison between all strokes (FH, BH, Serve, Drop shot) from Holger and Carlos?
Could you do a video about the best kick serves on tour?
Great video❤❤ love tou vuys content
Thanks, Benjamin!
great vid guys! Would be interesting to get your input on how their racquet specs impact their forehand technique. Rafa for instance uses a pretty head-heavy balance of approx 335mm and a very high swing weight. Whereas Alcaraz uses a much lighter racquet. Not sure about the balance on his racquet.
Please break down the modern two handed backhand like Alcaraz or Holger Rune.
fernando gonzález was incredible. inconsistent but incredible. sad injuries shortened his career
Also, what's interesting to see is that when Rafa was 16 years old his arm was more bent than it would be when he was older.
Hope you guys see this cmt. Please make a video about Carlos’s dropshots and Lob. There’s barely any good videos abt those 2 most useful techniques.
So do I need a super head size like your Bubba 137 square inch to hit these forehands.forehands.!
is classical vs nex gen forehand video still being made?
I see more similarities of his technique and tactics to Federer than Nadal. Great breakdown of his forehand ❤
Thanks, Bourne! I agree - Alcaraz's entire game is more similar to Fed. We're thinking about making a video comparing Alcaraz vs Federer. Stay tuned!
@@RacquetFlex Well I used the Alcaraz swing with the tip pointing at the incoming ball and the result is more cleaner contact with the ball with tighter spin and an noticeable jump in power. You can hit the ball really flat with this swing especially low balls or with heavy topspin. But its also good for hitting low short angled crosscourts because of the tighter spin allows you to hit the ball with power. After testing his swing out and seeing what it doing to the club players, I think I want to stay with his swing. You can also feel the racquet throwing out in front of you more to whip through the ball. It also feels like there's more space now for the racquet to swing in. I think the load would be felt more during the finish on the body as the racquet goes behind the back to get the full rotation. So this I think is a swing that uses the core muscles. It is that Gonzales Forehand. And that swing is known to hit big monster flat low drives as I have used the swing on the inside out forehand. I found you can use the lasso effect for return of serve if you have time or use it for hitting approach slice drives to flatten the approach shot out more. I dunno if it will work at the pro level though but it works for me at the club level. When the racquet is dropping down more on edge, it feels like the ball is pronating off the edge of the racquet when you hit all through it because the contact feels alot more crisp and cleaner with the strings and I play on astroturf, and am getting clean contact often with the ball with that Alcatraz swing. It doesn't always feel like its hitting the direct center of the racquet but hitting along the edge of it. And for some reason his swing now makes the ball feel more crisp and cleaner off the strings.. Whereas with my old forehand I was hitting the center of it but the feel of the ball was soft and dull on the strings and not always feeling crisp or clean off the racquet.
You speak of the need to have a head stability at contact. As much as I try, I end up lifting my head too much. In addition to practice, what mentality is needed to have a head stability at contract more often?
Thank you for this rad video! And sorry for the major tennis nerdiness that’s about to follow: Could give your thoughts on any grip nuances you’ve noticed about Alcaraz? Seems a fairly middle of the road semi grip to me, but what about the little details like index finger position, how strong his middle finger is engaged, how high or low on the butt he grips, etc? Just very curious, because some of the things (I think) I’ve noticed from still images (though it could be misleading going on stills) are: - he plays a fairly small racquet grip size for his hand (note his thumb and index finger are almost, if not entirely, touching with the point of the index finger at the _middle joint_ of his thumb)… I’ve always had more separation than that, which makes me wonder if I’ve always sized up too much on grips). - It also looks like he keeps his index finger much closer to his other digits than some other players and keeping it more compact… which I assume helps give him more wrist flexibility and wrist acceleration? - Either his ring finger is longer than his middle finger (is that a thing?) or he keeps his middle finger very loose compared to his ring finger which is fully flexed, since in almost all photos I’ve seen his ring finger extends significantly farther around the grip than his middle finger. Does that imply, do you think, that his ring finger is the more actively engaged and the dominant finger over his middle finger? Like… I get the impression that if-just for science”-he was asked to hit a forehand using his thumb and only one other finger on the racket, that he’d be using thumb and ring finger, not-as I naturally would-thumb and middle finger (my ring finger is much weaker than my middle finger). I also remember reading a long time ago that the ring finger over middle finger priority and a disengaged index finger (“a passenger”) was a trait of the “Spanish forehand”… is that true? - Lastly I’m baffled by his thumb position… his thumb joint sits, not above, but almost on top of his middle finger squeezing the middle finger into the grip and it’s flexed so his thumb tip is almost pointing diagonally down (putting it at a 90 degree angle to his index finger)… like… is this normal? Suggest to me a) that he has a very flexible thumb, but also again b) that his grip size must be pretty small compared to his hand size in order for him to do that, no? I’d love to hear your thoughts on the above-one tennis nerd to another!
Alcaraz Grip size is 4, so not really small. I think nadal in comparison uses grip size 2. It‘s all about preference.
@@sebastianfunk2177 4?!!? For a guy that’s 6’1”? That’s TINY. What’s your source on that btw? Since you think Nadal uses a 2, and there is no such thing, I don’t totally trust this response :).
@@wearetemporary Nadal uses a 2 gripsize check out many KZhead channels that have shown his original racquet that he used in their videos. And a grip 4 size is pretty big in today's standard. Back in the day they used larger grip sizes but today it has gone smaller.
@@boomkiller1727 oh lol we are using different terminology entirely. I’ve never heard anyone in my 30 years of playing tennis refer to a grip size in terms of 1,2,3 and 4. Only ever as 4 1/8”, 4 1/4”, 4 3/8”, and 4 1/2” haha. When you said “2” I thought you meant inches and I was like “lol WHAT!?”. Now I understand. And yeah #2 is perfectly normal. It’s what I use too.
nxt vid , One handed backhand put away , running into the net
Well, found my coach 🤷🏻♂️
Would love to see Kyrgios forehand too
Cool video. I really wonder though, if a bent arm forehand is what happens naturally to you, is it possible to actually learn to hit with a straight arm instead? I've always thought straight or bent happens automatically and is dictated by your genetic predispositions. I know you guys are friendly with Intuitive Tennis and those are his views on the subject so it'd be interesting to hear your opinions on it!
Compare Alcaraz and Sinner FH an BH
Грамотно🤔👍,и говорит складно😊
Im 70 years old, decent strokes, 3.5 level club player. I grew up in the era where Agassi would take so many balls at the baseline on the rise. I play on nice courts but they still do not have 100 yards behind the baseline to wait on high balls, especially on my slightly weaker one handed backhand. Yet it seems like waiting is the strategy for today. Is it because of the better rackets and more powerful modern strokes of the opponent... the nature of the game today than previous years? Thoughts? Thanks!
Is alcarazs extreme wrist flexion after hitting the ball the reason why he now has arthritis in his hand?
O fato dele estar machucando o braço fala um pouco da quantidade de tensão que isso exige.
Great video I want to be a tennis player from jackson
Kick serve
Salve!
I'm trying to hit forehand with straight arm but after 5 years of bent arm is so difficult.
Why change? Do you think that what's gonna make you play better? Focus on footwork.. that's usually what is preventing 4.0/4.5 to reach a higher level.
Hey Fabio771, everyone's anatomy plays a role in whether they end up hitting with the straight or bent arm. I personally have started to use a slight bend in my elbow after experimenting. It makes the racquet just a little easier to swing without much trade off in spin and power. That said, even with the bent vs straight arm, there are degrees to how bent you are. A lot of club players are too tight in the arm and make contact too close to their body, which leads to a "way too bent arm" forehand. 😜 The key fundamentals you want to focus on are keeping your arm relaxed and extending your arm through contact fully. Let us know if you want a full break down of the bent vs straight arm forehand in a future video! Cheers, Dayday
@@ssenssel Because I have a bit too loopy forehand whithout being a really heavy ball, when I hit it with straight arm I feel it much better. A good fooftwork is a bit forced on my forehand but I do it if I'm focused, on backhand I feel all more natural.
@@F4BIO771 I see. But you can still hit a heavy ball with a bent arm. I think when using a straight arm the contact point combined with ball recognition is key, therefore the importance of footwork. There is a reason why the vast majority of players hit with a bent arm. If you FH is loopy maybe your racquet path is too vertical. Focus on hitting more through the ball. I hope those tips help.
@@RacquetFlex I hit forehand a bit too near to the body sometimes, but in general my forehand is a regularity shot, not penetrating and a bit too loopy. When I focus well I hit decent forehands with a good straight arm, but at the moment I need a monster concentration to do it
So many great forehand hitters use a bent elbow as well (Djokovic, Kyrgios, Swiatek) it's hard to imagine it's anything other than personal preference and/or natural body physiology. Also, this statement, "According to the 2022 US Open, [Alacaraz is] hitting faster, heavier, and more consistently than everyone on tour" -- Djokovic wasn't there.
Djokovic wasn’t there cause of his own decisions, and consistent data on his strokes has been available for years.
@@JameSongMaker He wasn't there because he was not allwoed to enter the US. In any event, the point is, you cannot conclude Alcaraz hits "faster, heavier, and more consistently than everyone on tour" based on 2022 US Open analysis. You can say that he was tops at the US Open 2022.
Maybe, but we already know that Djokovic won't beat Alcaraz in this department.
Mate, Djoko isn't gonna be Alcaraz in the department of ball speeds.
Osaka forehand at peak was huge. What is her difference from swiatek one? I m new. So dont know much but I know she was hitting bullets and heavy shots to end of opponent court
日本語の字幕がほしいーーー！
Here's a thought..You (we) will never hit forehands like Alcaraz... Just kidding. Great video!!
On more thing, sliding on hard courts.
Have to find your own style
How is sinner forehand different thanks
How to hit powerful forehands? Answer: give the ball a really good wack!
How the hell is he the new Rafa… Win 14 French opens and then we’ll talk
like how can u specify 70 degree away from his torso this and that? isn't Alcaraz measured that due to the ball going that level? what if the ball too low or slightly higher? basically how can u even teach this when ure not even him? tennis community kinda dummy, this doesnt took too much of common sense to think of it yea
Carlos is gonna have a short career with all that torqing and twisting. I predict he's done by 27. But it's gonna be pretty. He hits out on more vulnerable balls than Federer did, playing a huge pressure game.
Hi Witlip! Yeah, some elements of his forehand technique definitely put more load on the body. It'll be interesting to see how his game evolves over time.
I agree. Just look at his landing at 5:50. If he is not careful or the court is not in pristine condition, accident can happen. But man, he’s certainly entertaining to watch especially in live.
They said the same about Rafa 🤷♂️. and look how that worked out
people said ther same thing about Nadal. Zoe don,t know that
You can’t 😂😅
Nope, not the best yet...
How? Get roided up like him, thats how.
stop teaching, u do not understand what you are talking about
What nonsense…..we have our own style…just follow fundamentals…rest is as per our genetic makeup
the best player in the world? BS! He is the Moderna ambassador