Why Junior Players Should Stick to Closed Stance
Allistair McCaw
The post by Allistair McCaw
My philosophy on why closed stance MUST be taught in juniors:
Let me start with this:
Before anyone accuses me of not being a ‘certified tennis coach’, well I am, for 13 years now. Not that it makes me ‘better’, but Anyhow, I will focus on my passion – movement & performance:
I teach footwork patterns that promote:
- Getting to the ball early.
- Early = better preparation and time to step in.
- Stepping in = better weight transfer and energy transfer.
- Weight transfer = more power behind the ball and less impact on the shoulder, rotator and hip than staying open. Less injury risk.
- Stepping in or closed stance teaches players to be ‘proactive’ in footwork and not reactive (staying open) and ‘lazy’.
Enough proof?
Most coaches like to argue the point that most of the best tennis players in the world stay open stance and I agree totally, however junior players are NOT the best players in the world, and are not yet fully physically and bio mechanically developed like the best tennis players in the world.
Ever wondered why there’s more shoulder and hip injuries in junior players than ever before? – playing open stance, forcing shoulder and upper torso to do ‘the work’, instead of ‘total body’.
It gets back to my point of some coaches watching professional players and trying to copy or imitate their techniques and training programs. Simply put, It is not realistic and conducive to a junior tennis player who is still growing and developing physically.
Coaches need to learn the pathways of the development of an ATHLETE, not a player.
You might know your X’s and O’s in coaching, but do you know how an Athlete develops???
I apologize if it might sound attacking, but I say it how it is.
I have seen the consequences in many junior tennis players, believe me – many that could have reached higher, but were injured too early.
In the words of a good friend and great coach, Kevin Braun: “The open stance chooses you, you don’t choose it.” In other words, every ball you can step into..you step into – period.
Remember my article “Don’t Train Like a Tennis Professional?” Well, don’t, rather develop the ethical way and then you can train like the tennis professionals.
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I agree 100%. Thanks you. and yes for most juniors this makes perfect sense. Later they can start to open up for more power etc. It’s a progression… do remember. Additionally, find your own style through your own unique abilities is another point of wisdom. There is only one Nadal…come on..’a lasso’ follow through for kids? (I have seen em!) The ‘true you’ will be the real winner in the end.
My son started off with a natural stance, then it went more closed and used to step over one to many step , in an effort to get him more semi open, he is now to open! And hits out the ball in this stance , now with more attentive coach it is slowly being put right, I wish it had been left alone in the first place, as it’s waisted so much time!
Agree! Players need to learn to hit with both stances. The closed stance can be very especially when moving forward.
I like the point about coaches needing to learn the developmental pathway. Its tempting to look at top professional players and see certain things they are doing now. The question is what were they doing when they were 10, 12 or 14 years old? What was their pathway? One of the key factors in developing a world-class player is that of powerful and consistent fundamental coaching from the beginning. We need more coaches committed to taking the time to study this aspect of player development. As a mental coach I appreciate working with players who have a committed developmental coach because they need the mental and the physical training to be spot on in order to reach their full potential.
Different stances are used for different situations. Closed stances may be used on the run when running past the shot. Open stances may be used for wide balls when moving side to side on the baseline. Stepping in with semi-open or square stances may be used when the player can line up behind the bounce. I teach all stances and I want juniors to use the appropriate stance for the situation during matches. Most of the injuries in junior tennis come from flaws in fundamentals causing lack of balance and not using the body in a natural way (the kinetic chain) on strokes or overuse injuries caused by overtraining or overcompetition without proper rest.
Well stated
Well stated Joey Johnson! Coaches who understand and are committed to the developmental process are not easy to find! It’s so important for coaches to take the time to know where the player is along the developmental continuum — one size doesn’t fit all! If a player doesn’t have a knowledgeable developmental coach, they will either become physically injured or mentally discouraged! Encouraging and celebrating incremental process — (e.g., your footwork improved during that match)over “wins” is so key to keeping a child in the sport and helping them to reach their potential!
Many good points in your observation; but I do not know when we changed the “square or side stance” to a closed stance. Years ago we considered a closed stance as meaning all your weight was on the front foot. I do not think that is what you mean by close stance.
hard to disagree with the article posting, truth is tennis is a developmental game, it takes time and the right things have to happen at the right time or injuries will occur. Too many young kids who have faulty strokes and movements end us injured when they should not.
Federer great strokes, no injuries. Nadal, unconventional strokes, plenty of injuries. Point well made
the closed position is preferable for the balls that come close to the body with short or bounce when you have to run forward, open to the rest.
lesions in the juniors is because they are required more than ever physically in growth stages, are two different things
I totally agree that ALL stances must be taught; but players must also be taught when and where it’s most advantageous to use them. The open stance is itself being used as a one size fits all method of footwork and is hurting many players.
The idea that open stance causes injuries is false. It is actually the most natural way to play, both for the forehand and the two-handed backhand.
Stepping into the ball with the left foot (as promoted by this article on the forehand for a right hander) puts torque on the left knee and ankle, and causes injuries to those, including lower back pain. Especially for young kids the old way is not only injurious but also makes tennis difficult. Young kids want to play natural, efficiently, and with less stress on their body.
Thank you, Oscar for your sage advice. After playing on the international tour and teaching players and coaches at every age and level of the game for 45 years, your trustworthy observations are invaluable, and coaches will benefit greatly from paying attention to your advice. I have followed your example in teaching open stance in both FH and 2HBH and get great results with injury-free players. However, I see closed stance FH causing injury as well as poor performance in comparison, and players themselves report that they play more efficiently and feel more natural using the open stance once they are given the alternative. I end up spending an inordinate amount of lesson time helping players “unlearn” the closed stance FH and players are always amazed at the superior results as well as disappointed or even angry that they wasted so much time being taught and playing with that less effective technique. This is not my opinion, it is the experience of many, many players whom I have coached, played with, or spoken to. Please, coaches, give your students the opportunity to try and decide for themselves what works best for them and what is safest for their physical wellbeing.
The open stance forehand is a good tool that all players need. semi that is . Open are the cause of many hip problems, it’s that no one wants to say so. Once a player grows then I feel it’s fine. Before that a young player needs to develop first. Putting to much weight on one side of the body and then explode is bound to end up bad. Learn to hit closed first, as you get stronger the open forehand can be learned. It’s hard to be a champion if your having a hip operation at fifteen.
According to the USTA, “Unfortunately, most tennis injuries are multifaceted so there are few easy answers to injury questions. There are no studies that statistically link open stance tennis strokes with higher rates of certain injuries at the hip joint.”
Kennis, it is actually the other way around. Excesive torque on the ankle, knee, hip and lower back is associated with the closed stance forehand. In the Modern Tennis Methodology open stance forehand there is no issue of putting too much weight on one side of the body since the player will shift evenly from one foot to the other through the stroke. It is, in fact, a balanced and natural way to move. Just look at photos of children hitting closed stance to see the unnatural positioning and stress on the joints, then compare them to players hitting open without such contortions. Better yet, try it out yourself and you will FEEL the difference.
Oh all this contention.. opinion … it’s enough to make any tennis Mom just quit and enjoy ‘recreational tennis’ with her child as a family! so confusing and so much contention with how to ‘build a tennis play
er’ USTA hindering players and all the money needed to get your child to succeed…. argggg. sorry but this is how I feel right now. I am usually supportive and positive… how r these posts supportive?
Candace, your disappointment is felt by myriad tennis parents in the USA. But it does disappoint me to read your post because I KNOW that it does not HAVE to be this way. Before you decide to “leave the game” please give yourself and your child another chance to discover the simplicity of optimal tennis instruction and the enjoyment that it offers. I would be happy to converse with you about how this can be achieved. You can reach me via my website at mtmca.com. This is not a solicitation for lessons or to purchase any product, it is an invitation to help you regain your love for tennis at whatever level you choose to pursue.
I am ok that my comment will be deleted. Not helpful I understand, we are an inch away fro leaving the game anyway… tennis is for the rich, foolish and extremely obsessed anyway.
An injury epidemic from an unexpected source.
The century-old tennis coaching buzzwords are: turn sideways, get the racquet back early, step into the ball. Those commands, combined with the “modern” windshield wiper motion, twist the body in unnatural ways. That mix of linear and rotational movements is predominant in the two-handed backhand, and has quite a following on the forehand side as well. It is causing profound repercussions for the body’s alignment and health (as evidenced by increasing injuries in both ATP and WTA pros).
The forward foot anchors the leg and the rotational torque travels up to the hip, stressing the sacroiliac, which gets out of place. The most common indicator: a leg shorter than the other.
Most pro tennis players are coached with and exhibit this technique in practice, while in matches they play more naturally, using more an open stance. Unfortunately, continued repetition of the step-into-the-ball technique not only by playing professionals but also by the general public has created an epidemic that affects young and old.
Further, the sacroiliac out of place affects joints such as the hips, spine, knees, and also nerves that lead into male and female organs. Cases of impotency in males are not unusual as a result, and lack of sufficient expansion of the pelvic area during childbirth are not uncommon either.
Misalignment of the sacral joint causes a cascade of compensations and potential problems throughout the body.
From Dr. Carl Barniak (Evansville, Indiana):
“The fatigue of repetition (of an unnatural twist) is likely to subluxate (slip slightly out of joint) the sacroiliac joint causing a series of normal but painful bio-mechanical compensations,”
“In the dysfunctional anatomical model that I have described, the ilium on the right side of the patient would have rotated posterior. To correct this, a chiropractor would have to drive that portion of the ilium in an anterior and superior angle.”
Oscar’s story: I had my sacroiliac corrected (after 50 years of problems) and my legs are now even length as a result. Scoliosis is also gone. And more!
Oscar’s advice to coaches: make up your mind! You are coaching hybrid tennis, bio-mechanically unnatural, causing injury with the mix. Either coach linear sideways like old times or go totally modern rotational with the open stance.
The closed stance is ideal for the one-handed backhand. You step onto your front foot to “find” the ball then lift your arm while shifting onto the back foot, squeezing your shoulder blades. This permits you to rotate the body and turn back to cover the court efficiently. But the 2-handed backhand should always be taught primarily open stance, like a left-handed forehand, from day one!
The recent opinion regarding junior tennis player use of the open stance proclaimed that this component of modern tennis is inferior because it may increase injuries. As a physical therapist with more than 30 years of experience, who has treated more than 20,000 individual patients, who has been involved in sports medicine since 1978, who has been both a maximum performance researcher an research subject, I found these comments intriguing and without merit.
I began tennis three years ago at the tender age of 63. My background is in the martial arts in which I have participated from 1977 and continue to engage in currently. There are many parallels between the martial arts and tennis as there are kinesiological relationships with many sports. Rotational energy from the ground up is the backbone of many movements. This rotational energy is generated from the rotation of the lower extremities through the hips and and to the arms. For example, when punching, a right cross (similar to a forehand) is a straight punch when compared to a hook which is circular. Despite these differences in arm traversement the rotational force for the right cross initiates from the rear foot and hip pivoting (anatomically this referred to as internal rotation of the hips). A left hook pivots off the front foot also from external to internal rotation. As with a boxer or martial artist the forehand employs these same biomechanics. In boxing a closed stance is referred to as being ‘Square’ or for older fans ‘In the bucket’ because of less mobility and the lack of rotational force that this closed stance creates.
Despite the understanding of biomechanics and kinesiology inherent to the physical therapists’ profession, it would be prudent to research the medical literature to substantiate or rebuke the claims that the open stance was the cause of injury in junior tennis. A search of the medical literature revealed no scientifically sound or peer reviewed papers that support the claim that the open stance leaves junior players or anyone prone to injury. However, interesting findings in the medical literature included:
1. A paper published in the medical journal Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport (March 2003Volume 6, Issue 1, Pages 88–101) revealed that there was no difference in the injury patterns between the open and closed (square) stances.
2. Another paper published in the International Journal of Sports Medicine evaluated the claims that an open stance causes greater trunk activation than a closed stance, a position that the blog author also professes. The researchers used EMG measurements to establish the degree of contraction of the torso musculature during an open and closed stance. The objective testing concluded, “The nonsignificant differences in muscle activation between stances did not support the belief of tennis experts that open stance forehands require greater trunk activation than square stance forehands.’ ( Trunk Muscle Activation in Open Stance and Square Stance Tennis Forehands, Department of PE and ES, California State University-Chico, Chico, CA, USA 2 Department of Exercise and Sport Science, University of San Francisco, San Francisco, CA. USA Knudson D, Blackwell J. Trunk Muscle Activation in Open Stance and Square Stance Tennis Forehands. Int J Sports Med 2000; 21: 321)
3. Several papers revealed that one of the primary reasons for increased rate of injury is muscle imbalance. Several published papers address this imbalance and its relationship to these injuries (references a-h below)
a. Ellenbecker T. Shoulder internal and external rotation strength and range of motion of highly skilled junior tennis players. Isokinetics Exerc Sci 1992265–72.
b. Ellenbecker T. A total arm strength isokinetic profile of highly skilled tennis players. Isokinetics Exerc Sci 199119–21.
c. Pensivy S. In the game. Tennis shoulder: many tennis athletes have a shoulder syndrome that creates muscle strength imbalance. Adv Dir Rehabil 20021129–30.
d. Ellenbecker T S, Roetert E P. Effects of a 4‐month season on glenohumeral joint rotational strength and range of motion in female collegiate tennis players. J Strength Cond Res 20021692–96. [PubMed]
e. Ellenbecker T, Roetert E P. Age specific isokinetic glenohumeral internal and external rotation strength in elite junior tennis players. nnis players has found that such specialization increases the risk of injury.
f. Ellenbecker T, Roetert E P. Age specific isokinetic glenohumeral internal and external rotation strength in elite junior tennis players. J Sci Med Sport 2003663–70.
g. Ellenbecker T S, Roetert E P. Testing isokinetic muscular fatigue of shoulder internal and external rotation in elite junior tennis players. J Orthop Sports Phys Ther 199929275–281.
h. Ellenbecker T S, Roetert E P. Isokinetic profile of elbow flexion and extension strength in elite junior tennis players. J Orthop Sports Phys Ther 20033379–84.
4. Another important study performed by Dr. Neeru Jayanthi an assistant professor in the departments of Family Medicine and Orthopaedic Surgery and Rehabilitation at Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine was presented at the International Society for Tennis Medicine and Science World Congress in Valencia, Spain. The study examined 3,366 matches in United States Tennis Association junior competition and discovered that players who only played tennis (no other sports) were more likely to withdraw from tournaments for medical reasons, typically injuries. Players in the study began playing tennis at an average age of 6, began competing at age 9 and began to specialize at age 10. Players practiced a median of 16 to 20 hours per week, and 93 percent said they competed at least ten months per year.
It is important to note that Jayanthi has studied tennis injuries as a player, coach, physician and researcher. Jayanthi is also the chairman of the education committee of the International Society for Tennis and Medicine Science. He has been an avid player since childhood, and now plays at the highest-ranked amateur level. (9) https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091109090423.htm
5. Another study revealed that the better players have increased risks of Injury associated with greater risk taking and increased volume of play, Scand J Med Sci Sports. 2017 Nov;27(11):1347-1355. doi: 10.1111/sms.12729. Epub 2016 Jul 19.
Years of experience observing the behavior of coaches has culminated in the conclusion that the vast majority of these well intentioned individuals have little to no understanding of science, medicine, anatomy and human performance. While there remains debate among those of us that specialize in these areas there are few that doubt what is most relevant to most sport coaches is not what can be proven but what they believe. Coaches are better suited for tactics and strategy and should avoid topics that involve the medical sciences.