Okay, so I was watching some tennis the other day, some older matches, and saw Corinna Dentoni play. Don’t ask me why, just fell down a rabbit hole online. Anyway, something about her forehand caught my eye. It looked really smooth, very efficient, you know?
My own forehand is, well, let’s just say it gets the ball over the net sometimes. More brute force than technique. So seeing hers got me thinking, maybe I could try and copy a little bit of that?
First Steps: Watching and Thinking
So, the first thing I did was just watch more clips. Found a few highlights focusing on her rallies. I wasn’t looking for coaching tips or anything official, just watching her actual movements. How she set up, the swing, the finish. Tried to break it down in my head.
What I thought I saw:
- She seemed to take the racket back quite early, but not in a huge loop.
- The contact point looked nicely out in front.
- Her body seemed to turn through the shot quite a lot. Less arm, more core maybe?
Looked simple enough on screen, right? Famous last words.
Hitting the Wall (Literally, Sometimes)
Next step, obviously, was to try it out. Went to the local park court with a basket of old balls. First attempts felt super weird. Just trying to replicate the motion without even hitting the ball felt unnatural.
Then I started hitting. Man, it was a mess. Timing completely off. I focused on getting the racket back early, but then I’d rush the swing. Tried to focus on rotating my body more, and I’d shank the ball sideways. Hit the back fence, hit the net. It was frustrating.
I spent maybe two or three sessions just focused on this. Didn’t even try to play points, just fed myself balls or used a wall. Trying to get that feeling of turning into the shot and meeting it out front.
So, What Happened?
Well, I didn’t suddenly develop a pro-level forehand. Let’s be real. My game is still very much amateur hour.
But, the process of trying to copy Dentoni’s style did make me think more about my own technique, which I hadn’t really done before. Focusing on turning my body seems to have helped a little bit, maybe adds a bit more consistency when I remember to do it. My arm doesn’t feel quite as tired after hitting for a while.
It’s still very much a work in progress. Some days I try to incorporate it, other days I just revert back to my old swing because it’s comfortable. It was just an experiment, really. Something to focus on during practice. Who knows, maybe next week I’ll see someone else play and decide to try copying their backhand instead. It’s all just part of the fun, messing around and seeing what happens.
