ATP Players with Extreme Western/Hawaiian Grip

[Extreme_WesternVA]

As my username would indicate, I play with a very extreme western grip on my forehand side. I'm getting ready to play college tennis in the spring and part of my preparation involves watching a lot of tape on guys who play a similar style game as me (extreme western grip, heavy topspin, grind it out from way behind the baseline). I'm looking to add some more names to my list and would be grateful if somebody who has been watching more pro tennis than me over the years can help me add a few names so I can watch tape on some new players. Here is what I have so far, and feel free to correct me if any of the players below are not using as extreme a grip as I thought.

Alberto Berasatagui
Robin Soderling
Peter Luczak
Thomaz Bellucci
Jim Courier (have read that he plays with a regular western but it looked pretty extreme on TV the other day)

Who else? Thanks in advance

 

[Tshooter]

Pleased to meet you. Hope you guess my name. OK, you don't have to guess. It's Mr. Sock to you.

 

[Deleted member 716271]

Most of the players listed except Berasategui hit with full Western, but not Hawaiian. The distinction is once you go more extreme than a full western, there reaches a point where the face of the racquet that hits the ball is the same on forehand and backhand, that's how I'd define Hawaiian. It's very ugly looking imo.

The prototype grip for baseline play in modern tennis is probably an extreme semi-western. Both Djoko and Nadal have this, although Djoko is close to full Western, but still not quite.

 

[Red Rick]

Most of the players listed except Berasategui hit with full Western, but not Hawaiian. The distinction is once you go more extreme than a full western, there reaches a point where the face of the racquet that hits the ball is the same on forehand and backhand, that's how I'd define Hawaiian. It's very ugly looking imo.

The prototype grip for baseline play in modern tennis is probably an extreme semi-western. Both Djoko and Nadal have this, although Djoko is close to full Western, but still not quite.

Do you mean on a double hander or single hander?

 

[Extreme_WesternVA]

Most of the players listed except Berasategui hit with full Western, but not Hawaiian. The distinction is once you go more extreme than a full western, there reaches a point where the face of the racquet that hits the ball is the same on forehand and backhand, that's how I'd define Hawaiian. It's very ugly looking imo.

The prototype grip for baseline play in modern tennis is probably an extreme semi-western. Both Djoko and Nadal have this, although Djoko is close to full Western, but still not quite.

Ok, so if most of the players listed hit full Western then who are some other guys I can check out that are past Western? I am definitely right on the borderline of Hawaaiian and Extreme Western. I 100 percent agree that the best grip for a baseliner is not going to be that extreme, but for the sake of finding some more footage to watch who are some other guys to check out? Doesn't matter what era

 

[fullwesternforehand]

Gulbis and Florian Mayer come to mind when talking about extreme grips, with myself included

 

[SinjinCooper]

You won't find too many modern guys, and of course none ranked very highly, who hit with grips that extreme. (Sock is already a bit of a dinosaur with his full western -- he's certainly not past that any more.) Those grips are relics of an age when there was still additional spin to be gained by going that far. Taking a hard enough swing to generate that much spin with full gut in your racquet meant you had to go extreme, or you couldn't keep the ball in the court. Modern, deader poly strings now allow much bigger cuts at the ball with less extreme grips, so the biggest and spinniest hitters are virtually all various shades of semiwestern now. Extreme grips in the modern day are just a way of robbing yourself of power and depth with no compensating factors whatsoever.

Work on moving your grip more semiwestern, not on looking for unicorns.

 

[tennis_pro]

Whats a Hawaiian grip? Is it the way you hold a coconut that you drink from while youre on vacation?

 

[macattack]

Whats a Hawaiian grip? Is it the way you hold a coconut that you drink from while youre on vacation?

If I'm not mistaken, this is a Hawaiian grip.

 

[Extreme_WesternVA]

You won't find too many modern guys, and of course none ranked very highly, who hit with grips that extreme. (Sock is already a bit of a dinosaur with his full western -- he's certainly not past that any more.) Those grips are relics of an age when there was still additional spin to be gained by going that far. Taking a hard enough swing to generate that much spin with full gut in your racquet meant you had to go extreme, or you couldn't keep the ball in the court. Modern, deader poly strings now allow much bigger cuts at the ball with less extreme grips, so the biggest and spinniest hitters are virtually all various shades of semiwestern now. Extreme grips in the modern day are just a way of robbing yourself of power and depth with no compensating factors whatsoever.

Work on moving your grip more semiwestern, not on looking for unicorns.

Good information, but the extreme grip has gotten me this far and the unicorn hunt will continue. As I already stated, I'm not on here making a case for the Hawaiian Grip as the greatest thing to ever happen to tennis. Just am looking for ways to build on what I already have.

 

[Shaolin]

If I'm not mistaken, this is a Hawaiian grip.

Yep…pretty much a continental grip but hitting with the other side of the racquet

 

[VamosBamos987]

If I'm not mistaken, this is a Hawaiian grip.

That looks facking stupid

 

[Extreme_WesternVA]

Haha man as ugly as it may be, it exists and it got Berasategui to a French Open final and a career high ranking of number 7 in the world...

I can't be the only one on this forum who came up in the USTA junior Tournament scene...half of y'all probably played a dude that had this grip and caught the hands. I know I did. If I could relearn the game from scratch I would absolutely go with a semi western, but you play how you play. I really do agree that it's unorthodox and I won't be teaching it anytime soon, but I figured somebody would be able to add to my list instead of just ****ting on the grip.

 

[droliver]

Aside from Berasetgui, the ones I think of for extreme grip FH are Jim Courier and Kent Carlson.

As noted, poly strings have kind of negated the spin advantage of the extreme FH grios

 

[LaZeR]

If I'm not mistaken, this is a Hawaiian grip.

That looks facking stupid

Haha man as ugly as it may be, it exists and it got Berasategui to a French Open final and a career high ranking of number 7 in the world... I really do agree that it's unorthodox and I won't be teaching it anytime soon, ...

IMO it's frickin awesome, ONLY if you have great control with Extreme Western (of which I do not), but she should keep her eye on the ball wayyy longer!!

 

[Clay lover]

I think Berasategui was the only one who hit with a Hawaiian.

For good models using the Western I wouldn't look beyond Djokovic (in fact a very extreme semi), Nishikori, Robredo and Kohlshreiber. All technically solid motions which are relatively easy to emulate and capable of flat hitting.

Western grips that are a disaster to emulate: Andreev's, Sock's, Kyrgio's...

As for comments on your grip, I'd say stick with what you are most comfortable with and grants you the most consistency. Different people have different arm configurations--not everyone is the same.

 

[Roiru]

Igor Andreev pretty extreme fh.

 

[beltsman]

Gone are the days of max spin. Flatter hitting is making a comeback.

 

[Roiru]

Flatter like Medvedev. So much faster nowadays. Good thing is serve volley style coming back more. Best matchup different styles defensive<>offensive imo.

 

[ron schaap]

Gone are the days of max spin. Flatter hitting is making a comeback.

this argument is only made by players who themselves are lacking the skills to hit topspin. lol lol
If you ever sat courtside watching topplayers practicing than you could notice easily how much spin they use, much more than by watching tv shows.
The problem with amateurs hitting spin is that they dont get enough dept in their groundstrokes. only Borg could get away with that.
The problem with flat hitters is ofcourse not getting enough margin over the net. Only Medvedev can get away with little margin for error. But when his game is off it shows in too many balls netting and him not being able to fix it. Therefor i dont think he can stay as consistent in the top like Djoker does who plays with lot more margin and still can out manouver an opponent.

 

[Jonesy]

The lord Gulbis. Kachanov also.

 

[beltsman]

this argument is only made by players who themselves are lacking the skills to hit topspin. lol lol
If you ever sat courtside watching topplayers practicing than you could notice easily how much spin they use, much more than by watching tv shows.
The problem with amateurs hitting spin is that they dont get enough dept in their groundstrokes. only Borg could get away with that.
The problem with flat hitters is ofcourse not getting enough margin over the net. Only Medvedev can get away with little margin for error. But when his game is off it shows in too many balls netting and him not being able to fix it. Therefor i dont think he can stay as consistent in the top like Djoker does who plays with lot more margin and still can out manouver an opponent.

When people say "flat" for pros they don't literally mean flat. Just "flat" for a pro.