What Forehand Grip is This?

[M J]

I thought I knew what forehand grip I was using, but lately I have been hearing things that are confusing me. Please help me settle this once and for all. What grip is this?

http://lh3.google.com/image/MattyEliJohnson/RhsXKbNm5FI/AAAAAAAAAA0/dU1RGEuTJYA/s800/Grip%20005.jpg

http://lh4.google.com/image/MattyEliJohnson/RhsW5rNm5DI/AAAAAAAAAAk/cuaW-d8Hz1M/s800/Grip%20002.jpg

http://lh5.google.com/image/MattyEliJohnson/RhsXS7Nm5GI/AAAAAAAAAA8/j1WHxvmhVbY/s800/Grip%20004.jpg

http://lh4.google.com/image/MattyEliJohnson/RhsXarNm5HI/AAAAAAAAABE/QGut9oAMHEo/s800/Grip%20003.jpg

[supersmash]

Semi-western.

[Frenchie]

Western or Extreme SW.

[Hot Sauce]

Semi-Western.

[lordmanji]

western or extreme western. if it were semi, the knuckle of index finger would be directly on top of that corner bevel. instead, its mostly on the bevel parallel to the side of the racket.

[AJK1]

It's Western

[jasoncho92]

Its not full western but its definitely not semi western

[lethalfang]

That looks like the grip I use, and I always thought it was semi-western.

[lethalfang]

My grip, what do you think it is?
http://ltfang.bol.ucla.edu/grip.jpg

[AJK1]

Extreme SW, and by the way, what is that thing on your strings?

[lethalfang]

Extreme SW, and by the way, what is that thing on your strings?

You mean the dampener? It's prince silencer.
http://www.tennis-warehouse.com/descpageACPRINCE-SDAMP.html

[M J]

My grip, what do you think it is?

That is close to mine, but your hand is turned more parallel to the handle. Mine is more perpendicular. This would not have any effect on how you define the grip, but it seems like an important difference. Your index knuckle might also be turned very slightly more in the eastern direction. Maybe only by 15 degrees or so. (I am not saying I think it is eastern, I just do not want to influence the poll by saying what grip I think I am using. Especially since I obviously don't know.)

The angle at which your hand is holding the racquet seems really important, and I don’t get how you can define a grip as more or less extreme without taking it into consideration. If you define grip by reference to the index knuckle, it looks to me like my grip would be defined as slightly more extreme than this one. However, since the hand is more parallel to the racquet in this grip, the palm ends up at a more extreme position. I would guess this grip would actually play more extreme than mine, even though it would be defined as less extreme. I might be totally wrong on this. Does this sound right to anyone else? This might all seem pretty nitpicky, but I really see a huge difference in the way my forehand feels and the trajectory of the ball for very small grip changes.

[lethalfang]

That is close to mine, but your hand is turned more parallel to the handle. Mine is more perpendicular. This would not have any effect on how you define the grip, but it seems like an important difference. Your index knuckle might also be turned very slightly more in the eastern direction. Maybe only by 15 degrees or so. (I am not saying I think it is eastern, I just do not want to influence the poll by saying what grip I think I am using. Especially since I obviously don't know.)

The angle at which your hand is holding the racquet seems really important, and I don’t get how you can define a grip as more or less extreme without taking it into consideration. If you define grip by reference to the index knuckle, it looks to me like my grip would be defined as slightly more extreme than this one. However, since the hand is more parallel to the racquet in this grip, the palm ends up at a more extreme position. I would guess this grip would actually play more extreme than mine, even though it would be defined as less extreme. I might be totally wrong on this. Does this sound right to anyone else? This might all seem pretty nitpicky, but I really see a huge difference in the way my forehand feels and the trajectory of the ball for very small grip changes.

Good points. I've never thought of grips being parallel or perpendicular to the handle. Now that you've mentioned it, I just realized of my own grip change for serves. For my service grips (continental), I hold it more parallel for flat serve, and more perpendicular for kick serves. Do people do that?

[Solat]

dont fool yourself into anything bar western on this one

[lethalfang]

dont fool yourself into anything bar western on this one

Up 'til two days ago I was sure I knew how to define grips: by the "V" of the thumb and index finger.
On the Continental grip, the "V" would be on the first edge of the handle. And as it follows, Eastern grip would on the 2nd edge of the handle, and Semi-Western would be on the 3rd edge of the handle. Since my "V" of the thumb/index finger is more or less exactly on the 3rd edge of the handle, I thought I had a standard semi-Western grip.
That brought me some confusions as well. I thought the Eastern backhand and the Western forehand grips are the same grip, and that if someone uses Western forehand grip and Eastern backhand grip, he/she wouldn't need to switch grip, and he/she would be hitting on the same face of the racquet for both strokes.
Geez, the grip things are complicated!

[krprunitennis2]

Oh crud, thought that the first pic had the racket facing down. It's semi.

[Big Fed]

This is half western which is in bettwen semi and full western. Half weestern is when ur index knukle is in bettwen bevel 5 and 6. Nadal uses this grip. If u dont belive me ask john yadell.

[onkystomper]

looking at rhr poll results it is obvious a lot of peole on theae boards have no idea` what they are talking about!!

[KingOfTennis]

man it would be soo much easier if they had a pic of him holding the racket as if he was preparing for a shot.

[Baghdatis72]

Between western and semi-western I would say.

[amcgula]

It's western for me

[andymac1]

Extreme Western

[animagriever]

I'd say between Semi Western and Full. Extreme Semi Western?