Is a forehand tennis drive a closed skill?

Answer 1

In its normal sports setting, it is an open skill, because the circumstances around which you need to hit it change regularly. The skill is also carried out in response to a moving and changing stimulus and situation. The ball needs to be played according to the delivery of one's opponent, and it must then be struck according to the whereabouts and movement of one's opponent - so that the way in which the forehand must be executed can vary quite considerably. Strategy plays a major part.

On the other hand, an example of a closed skill might be throwing the discus. One goes through virtually the exact same patterns and is faced with the same major circumstances upon each throw. The action is not one responding to a changing environment as such. The major extraneous factors that the performer has to deal with are nature of the ground's surface and perhaps wind factors.

Now, of course, having said that, a tennis forehand could become a closed skill, if one is merely practicing it by oneself, as one might do for (say) tennis serves. The tennis serve, in practice, is more naturally, a closed skill in and of itself.

So, if one merely bounces a ball within confortable reach and then plays a forehand shot in practice, this would represent a closed skill.