Ever since Jim Courier rode his to the No. 1 ranking, the inside-out forehand has become a staple shot in pro tennis. Although few players today take the tactic to the extreme that Courier did, many still like to dictate action from the backhand side of the court with their forehands. It’s certainly a strategy worth employing, but not all players should design their game plans around it. Here a few questions to ask yourself to see if you should be relying on your runaround forehand:
Am I slow or out of shape? Professional tennis players tend to be fast and fit. The few who aren’t generally don’t feature an inside-out forehand. It takes more work to run around your backhand, and you’ve got to be quick to get yourself back into position after hitting the shot. If you’re not quick, you’re going to leave a lot of room open down the line on your forehand side. If you struggle with your footwork or find yourself tiring easily during your matches, you probably want to decrease the times you run around your backhand. Save it for when you get a weak, floating ball that you can potentially hit for a winner or put your opponent on the defensive.
How good is my backhand? A popular response to the question of how to fix a weak backhand is to simply hit more forehands–that’s certainly good advice for some players. But if you’ve got a solid backhand, you shouldn’t feel you need to run around it to be more aggressive with your forehand. That’s how errors pile up. In fact, since many players don’t try to kill their backhands, they tend to be more consistent off that wing. Unless your backhand is a mistake waiting to happen, you’re probably better off not trying to avoid it.
Is my forehand worthy? There’s no reason to run around your backhand if you’re not doing any damage with your forehand. That’s just creating a lot of extra work with no reward. If your forehand is a weapon that can consistently hurt your opponents, and it’s markedly better than your backhand, then it’s wise to feature it. If not, there’s no point in showing it off.