Instructer's Guide - Teaching the forehand loop

TEACHING THE FOREHAND LOOP

The loop is a shot with excessive topspin. The spin is produced by grazing the ball in an upward direction. A good loop is difficult for a beginner to return without going off the end or at least popping up. It is easier to loop against backspin than against topspin. It is primarily a set-up shot, but it can also be used as a putaway shot. It is best done on the forehand side, but many players have developed good backhand loops as well. The description below is for the forehand loop against backspin; in the notes afterward the differences for looping against topspin are noted. (Description is for a right-hander, although sequence is of left-hander.)

Backswing

With your right foot slightly back, bend your knees, rotate your hips, waist and shoulders backward, and bring your racket and arm down and back by dropping your right shoulder. Straighten your arm so elbow is nearly straight, with your wrist cocked down slightly.

Forward Swing

Start the forward swing by pushing off your back leg and rotating your hips and waist forward. Rotate your shoulders, pulling with your left.

Contact

Just before contact, snap your forearm and wrist into the ball smoothly but vigorously. (Beginners shouldn’t use wrist at first.) Contact the ball as it drops for maximum spin and control, at the top of the bounce for faster, more aggressive loops. Contact is made in front and to the right of your body, immediately after the shoulder and hip rotation. Contact is a lifting, grazing motion against the back of the ball.

Follow-Through

Arm should continue up and forward, finishing with the racket somewhere around the forehead or higher. Transfer your weight to your left foot.

Notes

Against topspin or a ball without backspin, the stroke is the same except you don’t lift the ball. Backswing is more backwards, not down. Forward swing is mostly forward, and contact is more on top of the ball instead of the back of the ball.

Forehand Loop

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Last Update : 06 Kasım, 2002

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