Get in front of a mirror and copy Frame 1 exactly. First get your left hand directly positioned by your left hip (as indicated by the red circle). Second, get your wrist flexed back around 35 degrees to the forearm and get your wrist to flex down so that the racket is pointed at a 45 degree angle to the ground (as indicated by the red arrow pointed 45 degrees to the ground). Third, make sure your hands are at, or below, the level of the ball. The red arrow pointing out to the ball shows how the hands are positioned slightly lower than the flight path of the ball.

The most important part here is that the left arm is straight and the butt of the racket is pointed straight towards the net while the strings of the racket face directly face the side. This position directly mimicks the forehand. Click here to see how this position is exactly the same in the forehand.

There is absolutely no "swing" involved in the two hander. What you need to do is to keep the hand and racket back while you lift your hitting arm and rotate into the ball. I drew a black line along Nalbandian's side so that you can see how his straight hitting arm has lifted, bringing the arm in front of the side of his body. Notice how the racket hasn't moved at all. It has stayed back, while the arm is going to lift and the shoulders are going to rotate into the ball. This requires restraint and holding back. Most people start to "swing", which results in their elbow bending and the wrist coming forward. They think this will give them speed in the racket head. DON'T DO THIS. Keep the hand and racket back as you lift the locked hitting arm and rotate your shoulders into the ball. This lifting motion is very similar to bowling a bowling ball. By lifting a straight arm, as in bowling, it will bring the racket up and forward.

Frame three shows exactly WHY you want to keep the hand and racket back as you lift to contact and rotate your shoulders into the ball. If you keep your hand and racket back and lift to contact as you rotate, you will get perfect alignment between the powerful shoulder muscle and your hand and the sweet spot of the racket. I drew two dots, one on Nalbandian's shoulder and one on the sweetspot of his racket, to show how the shoulder fully supports the sweetspot of the racket on contact. Most people swing at the ball and get an independently swinging racket head to make contact with the ball. The pros instead get perfect alignment between shoulder muscle and sweetspot. This provides maximum mass behind contact so that the ball is compressing into the sweetspot of the racket, with the hand, and the powerful shoulder muscle fully behind the ball on contact.

Notice where contact occurs. It is slightly in front of Nalbandian's front foot. You don't want to contact the ball any farther in front, or you won't have any distance to push and lift the lever through contact. You should almost feel like you are "accepting" the ball into the body (Doug King's term) so that you can push/lift it away. Imagine you wanted to punch somebody. You wouldn't want to hit them at full extension. Then you wouldn't be able to drive forward through contact with your body.

Frame 4 shows how the hand, racket, and shoulder all move through contact together. The racket and hand stay back as the shoulder "lifts the lever". You must learn to resist the urge to swing the tip of the racket through contact. You have to hold the hand and racket back so that the shoulder can power the shot. If you swing the racket through contact, you lose the shouler as the driver of the shot. You should actually feel your left shoulder "hitting" the ball every single time. If you don't, it means you have swung at the ball and your racket and head have gotten ahead of the shoulder.

Look how the racket and forearm form an "L" shape. They form an "L" on contact and an "L" right after contact. This "L" is like a small hinge that allows the shoulder and sweetspot of the racket to be connected.

Frame 5 shows the final "L". What I call the "Big L". The racket head is pointed straight up to the sky while the arm is straight and parallel to the ground. The racket and arm together form an "L". The reason for this position has to do with the shoulder. By using the shoulder to push and lift through contact while keeping the racket head back, you will end in this position.

I think you can see in this frame how the racket and arm and shoulder are all still together as a unit. There has been great extension forward and up, but the entire hitting structure has remained in tact. The secret to pro power is to have the racket and body work together. Most people "swing" and quickly separate the racket from the body. This is like putting a car in neutral. It separates and disconnects the powerful engine (the shoulder) from the wheels (the racket).

This clip, I think, sums up the difference between average players and high level players. Average players swing fast in the ball, which causes their racket and arm to come flying around their body. This "racket head speed" is very unstable and quickly separates the racket from the body. It prevents any kind of mass (the shoulder) from being behind the ball on contact and it doesn't allow the shoulder and hand to extend through contact.

In contrast, look at how Nalbandian's hand and shoulder push and lift through contact. Keep your eyes focused on the racket and on Nalbandian's shoulder. You can clearly see how the shoulder and the racket are working together in synch, even well after contact.

After pushing through contact from the shoulder for a few inches, the entire hitting structure will lift UP.

If a male player has a powerful two hander, I will ALWAYS see this finish. The arm is completely straight and is completely parallel to the ground while the racket points straight up to the sky. This indicates great extension through the ball and great lift upward. I drew a circle on Nalbandian's shoulder to show how this powerful muscle is the engine that supports and drives the entire hitting structure.

This frame also shows how Nalbandian's hips have stayed back as his hitting lever has extended and lifted up. You can really see this in the animation above. The hips do not rotate through contact. They stay back as the shoulder pushes and lifts the hitting structure. In fact, unlike the forehand, the hips never fully face the net. They stay back as the hitting arm and shoulder power through contact.