You won't hear much about this particular shot, but once you aware of it you will see evidence of its execution any time you watch good players hitting a forehand. Essentially, this shot is a topspin forehand groundstroke that instead of driving through the ball at contact actually comes backward in the follow-through part of the swing path. The racquet often finishes over the head, sometimes even on the same side as the hitting shoulder.

Pete Sampras used a reverse forehand on his running forehand down-the-line and occasionally on a few other shots. Lindsay Davenport has used it increasingly over the years. You'll see Maria Sharapova hit this shot fairly often. Rafael Nadal uses it on almost every forehand he hits. Why on earth would someone want to hit a shot like this?

One explanation I've read is that the shot is often used when players are late preparing for the ball, or if the ball skids or gets somewhat behind them. While some reverse forehands might occur because the player is late, this doesn't explain why players like Nadal or Sharapova hit this shot with such frequency. Afterall, both of these players execute early unit turns with the racquet in the "show the logo" position; and both of them are fairly quick around the court. They aren't hitting this shot because they are late.

I think the reason we see so many occurrences of the reverse forehand is related to the increased prevalence of Moderate and Extreme Semi-Western grips. The shot is seen less frequently among top players such as Federer, Blake, or Agassi, all of whom have more conservative grips.

Nadal and Sharapova use the reverse forehand often because their moderate to extreme Semi-Western grips force them to hit all balls farther out in front of them in order to have their racquets vertical at contact. On high balls, they cannot get enough leverage on the shot to give it good topspin, but if they take the ball a split-second later and then hit up on it with a reverse forehand, they can get both leverage and heavy topspin on the ball. They are not so concerned with pace on these high balls, as getting their shot over the net and deep. Players with more conservative grips can hit through these high balls without resorting to a reverse forehand.

Yet it is not only on high balls that you see the reverse forehand. The follow-through using Moderate Semi-Western grips generally tends to be up high and across the front of the body in a windshield wiper-like action. This imparts a fair amount of topspin and good pace on the shot. By altering this swing path so that the racquet comes off the ball sooner and comes back over the head, the amount of topspin is maintained or increased while the pace is somewhat diminished. This makes the shot an excellent one for hitting cross-court angles and sharply dipping balls, where pace is not the objective.

The reverse forehand can also be used to generate more topspin that a regular forehand. Nadal often uses a reverse forehand when hitting his heavy forehand topspin to Federer's backhand. The ball bounces up high and gives Federer lots of trouble.

Ok, so those with extreme grips can and do use the reverse forehand frequently and with good results, does this mean that players with more conservative grips can't use the reverse forehand? No, but it does mean that the reverse forehand is only going to be useful on certain shots.

The reverse forehand can save you when you are not completely set up for a shot. For example, on a running down the line forehand, your three concerns are that the ball crosses the net, that it stays in the court (doesn't go long). and that it doesn't fade outside the singles sideline. The reverse forehand accomplishes these three objectives perfectly. First, the extra topspin helps the ball clear the net and then bring it down. This might be difficult to do if a regular topspin forehand were hit because you can't get enough topspin on the ball and there is a tendency in trying to compensate for this you add extra power which results only in sending the ball long. The sharper topspin generated by the reverse forehand pulls the ball into the court. You usually risk hitting short rather than long.

As for the ball fading outside the side line, the reverse forehand adds an element of lower-right-to-upper-left spin to the ball, causing it to curve rather dramatically from your right to left. Often Sampras would hit his reverse forehand and the ball would be outside the sideline for much of its trajectory, finally bending in to the court just as it was about to bounce.

Hit cross-court as a passing shot, the reverse forehand can be deadly. The same action described above now generates a ball that barely clears the net but then dips sharply and to the left, making it a very difficult shot for an opponent at the net to handle.

If you have a Moderate or Extreme Semi-Western grip, you are probably using some variation of the reverse forehand already. If you have more conservative grips, give it a try and see how it fits into your game. Certainly you can use it to good effect on a running forehand down the line like Sampras did, but you might also try it in the deuce court as a passing shot or a return off a second serve. Anyway, give it a shot, you might like the results.