Tennis instruction, the forehand footwork:

Like in every other shot you may play in tennis the forehand starts from the frontal position with both feet comfortably apart and aligned parallel to each other, with the toes facing the net.

With the racket pretty well centred you should be bouncing evenly on your toes to activate your reaction time (with flat feet on the ground you will have to move all of your body weight, which could feel like moving a ton, while if you are bouncing your feet you move about 1/10 of you body weight.)..

Just before your opponent makes ball contact you should make a slightly higher bounce in the saddle-up position (without the horse underneath of you) and time your contact with the ground with your opponents ball contact. Assuming that he or she hits the ball to your forehand before you land your right* foot should already be stepping out in the ball direction. .

In tennis if you play the right way whether you are playing forehands or backhands, the running can be cut to a minimum. .

In this case if you are on the centre of the court all you may need is one more forward step towards the ball and strike it with your forehand (if you hit open stance it is the same, you will just be on your right* foot at contact). Generally you should count on a two to three step sequence to hit a forehand if your opponent places the ball in the corner.

There is more to it but in a simplified version all you need to remember is the following:

- When going to stroke the ball - run or go to the ball the same way you would in a normal run or jog.
- When recovering - use parallel steps (side steps) bouncing on your toes until saddle-up.

How much you recover towards the centre of the court depends on where you hit the ball to:
- If you hit the ball up-the line you have to make a full (side step) recovery to the centre of the court.
- If you hit the forehand cross court from a corner of the court to the other corner in a diagonal, your recovery can be minimized to one or two steps to that half of the court (no need to recover fully to the centre of the court).
- If you were driven to one corner into the doubles alley and you hit the forehand cross court (which you should, unless you are hitting a passing shot up the line) - The first recovery step should be a cross step or a carioca followed by one or two side steps to bring you back into the 1/4 of the singles court.
-If you were driven to one corner into the doubles alley and you hit the forehand up the line (which you should not, unless you are hitting a passing shot up the line) - The first recovery step should be a cross step or a carioca followed by one or as many side steps necessary to bring you fully back into the the centre of the singles court. (this should be starting spinning your wheels upstairs, so that is why the pros on TV play almost ninety percent of their shots cross court! Yep, they are fit, but they do not want to run unnecessarely.)

These exercises can be done, without a partner or playing tennis, on any flat surface, outside, inside in a gym on a basketball court anywhere, if you are serious about improving your footwork, use your imagination and do this on your own. I call this ghost training, it is done way from any formal training you do with a coach or friends and no one will ever know or understand, why are you improving so quickly? Now, get out there and do it!...or just move a few things in your room and practice the saddle-up bouncing and the first step-out, now.

* I am assuming you are right handed if you are not reverse the sequence using your left foot first.

To note well:
- Split step.
- Right foot out first towards ball.
- First recovery step is a carioca.

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