Which FH grip should I be practicing?

[EuroMagnum]

I'm 17 years old, I come to net a lot, and i'm a self-rated weak 3.5. For the past year i've been using an Eastern FH and I really haven't seen much improvement. I recently tried out Semi-Western and full Western, adn I have to say I like the idea of switching. However, my coach says I shouldn't be doing that, I should use Eastern and just brush up as I hit.

My main problem when I used Eastern was that a great deal of my shots went flying into the great beyond, and rotating my grip has fixed that. When I hit with Western, the ball usually goes in (unless I lose faith in the grip and open up the racquet face at the last second), but it seems no matter how hard I hit, I can't hit a deep shot. The topspin usually brings it down around the service line or before. Also, I can't see flat shots being easy with Western...

So, is my coach right in that I should stick with Eastern, or am I right thinking that I won't progress much further with Eastern and should migrate slowly towards Western?



EDIT: I don't want to make another thread about this, since it's a forehand question -- I always jump when I hit my forehands (not straight up and down, but my body lifts up and forward and into the ball when I swing). I think this has to do with the fact that my preparation goes as follows: get into a sideways lunging position, coil up, and when I release I rotate my whole body while hitting. This seems to me like the only way I can get power behind my shots. However, when I see harder hitters than me playing (pros included), they seem to be able to hit hard while keeping their feet planted on the ground.
On the same note, I don't ever step into the shot with the correct foot -- for the FH I do what I said above (my body turns sideways while coiling up) and for the BH I just bring my right foot in a little bit and turn my body towards the ball. It's the same deal with volleys -- BH I step in with my right foot (like i'm supposed to) and the FH I just extend my right foot a little... my left foot never really does anything, it just kinda hangs out down there..
I understand this is really hard to understand without pictures or video, but I can never get the camcorder down to the courts with me.

 

[tennis_hand]

I think you should stick to the eastern if you come to the net a lot. You can slightly twist towards the SW, but make your index knuckle still on the eastern grip bevel but near the line. This is the so-called extreme eastern.

Besides this, you lay back your wrist as much as you can. Hit with a straight arm and hit in front of your body. The classic eastern does not lay back the wrist much and hit beside the body rather than in front. What I am describing to you is what I use and I have no problem of hitting penetrating balls with moderate spin. And the ball does not fly out easily as the classic eastern. But be sure there is no wrist movement at all in such a good forehand. ( isn't Fed hitting his forehand this way? )

 

[bobo4eva]

id use the extreme eastern if i were you

 

[stap]

absolutely not. You are obviously in highscholl at that age and your coach is not very good. Ignore him and use the western or semi. No one uses the 100 year old eastern anymore. It is to hard to hit and is not as consistant. You will never excel with your current grip, but hey it is your game you do as you choose. i have taught for over 20 years and played semi pro at one point and I have never ever taught the outdated and ridiculous eastern grip . there is no point to. trust me you will see better results faster with the change.

Chris

 

[Punisha]

western ftw lollerskates

 

[dave333]

I'd say go with a semi-western. Its the new eastern grip when it comes to versitility (i spelled that wrong, dam)

 

[Amone]

The grip you're using can hold you back... if you're hitting like you would with another grip. As long as your technique and grip are roughly similar (even dissimilar, in some cases-- I'll get to that later) you're not necessarily going to be held back by any grip that's been used through history.

A good example of a grip many people consider 'weak,' and therefor 'unusable,' is the Continental Forehand. It's the same as any other Continental, but it's very uncommon for a rally forehand. I've used it on and off for about 3 months, though I'm quite used to hitting Extreme-SW that I rarely hit it right, and as an extention rarely do well with it. But again, I'm saving my anecdotes to the end. Here, I'd like to point out, as an example, one of the top five (or ten, depending on your tastes-- if you really can't agree, then at least he's top two net rushers.) GOATs, John McEnroe.

John hits (to this day) with a continental forehand, though I believe there are rumors of his continental starting to muddle around an Australian (continental-eastern hybrid). He is famed for his net play, and for his amazingly accurate (and as an extension, deadly) lefty serve. What people don't like to admit is that when he stays back, he's still a great player. I saw him playing WTT earlier this year on one of the 'bonus' HD-package channels I get. He was playing Ramon Delgado, a big-hitting 30 year old.

He eventually lost in a 'super tie-break,' after playing three sets in a row, as well as a standard 12-point tiebreak (first to 7). But the amazing thing was that he could rally with this guy, even though I would say he wasn't necessarily doing the damage he did at net. This is a 17 year difference in age, and a serve-volleyer against a baseliner, and the s&v player with the 'weak' grip is holding his own. He's either just a herculean prodigy, or his grip isn't holding him back so much as people like to think.

---

The stories I have from my personal play-- I fancy myself a decent to strong 3.5, on a good serving day-- are good for illustrating two points.

1. That you need to consider grip in your playstyle and footwork. When I use a continental, for instance, I like to use very classical footwork and swingpaths, and I like to serve-and-volley. This is handy, because I like to serve-and-volley regardless. When I hit with a continental, it generally takes me a day or two to really adjust my timing, as well, because I'm so used to brushing for heavy spin with my XSW (Extreme SW) that I tend to brush a lot more than I want with the continental as well. Recently, most of the attempts I have made at using a continental have been plagued by my rotationally-based, open stance topspinning forehand, and so I've been largely prevented from using it.

2. That your grip, regardless of what grip it is, has strengths and weaknesses. For me, with the XSW grip, I get a lot of spin, and I can really loop the ball at my opponent as hard as I like-- to me, it's a lot like the modern Chinese table tennis players, who speed-glue and power-loop; Ma Lin, for instance, if memory serves. However, I get overzealous and don't loop to match my drive, and I can't keep anything in.

On the other hand, my continental gets very little spin, unless I want to slice it-- I probably wouldn't, though, in that sense-- and I have to adapt my aim to the method of placement I have to use-- placement by drive, instead of by spin-- I can hit shots that are really rather unexpected from a spinnier grip, as well as hit the 'shooting' drives that, instead of looping back up for my opponent, tend to move quickly and stay reasonably low. That's really quite good for the net-rusher in me, who wants to increase my opponents UE's on passes, and decrease their winners from being in their comfort zone.

---

Excuse me, I forgot to summarize my point: My point is, find out what you need or want, and get it. Really, coaches shouldn't force a grip of any kind on you.

 

[Janne]

absolutely not. You are obviously in highscholl at that age and your coach is not very good. Ignore him and use the western or semi. No one uses the 100 year old eastern anymore. It is to hard to hit and is not as consistant. You will never excel with your current grip, but hey it is your game you do as you choose. i have taught for over 20 years and played semi pro at one point and I have never ever taught the outdated and ridiculous eastern grip . there is no point to. trust me you will see better results faster with the change.

Chris

Worst post ever. I think you should go with the eastern/extreme-eastern since you say you like to venture to the net. Just make a conscious effort not to open up the face of the racquet when hitting the eastern forehand. I have the same problem and I´m going to try my best not to open the racquet when hitting on Sunday when I have my weekly clinic.

 

[SilverBullet]

If using a semi-western is helping you be more consistant then you should stick with that. You may rush the net a lot, but changing grips shouldn't be a big problem. And for depth you just have to get a feel for the semi-western(in other words practice using it)

 

[35ft6]

I improved almost instantly when I switched from eastern to semi-western grip. Of course, that's just me. But if you hit long a lot, and don't get enough spin, those are problems almost inherent to the Eastern grip. Even Sampras was known to spray balls into the fences. With a semi-western, your hand is positioned in such a way to more naturally generate spin.

You can hit flat with a SW, and you can hit with lots of spin. It's way more versatile. I'd switch.

 

[ipodtennispro]

Semi western

The western is not a good idea. However, I have been in between the eastern and semi-western and wished I had learned the semi western 25 years ago. It's hard to break a habit I had for so long.

Are you windshield wipering through the ball or whipping the forearem and wrist through the shot? Try using your core and rotate the upper body at the same time of the swing. Don't give up on the semi western yet.

Here is an example:

http://iws.punahou.edu/user/lcouillard/2007/03/spread_the_fingers.html

 

[MrCLEAN]

I would say do whatever feels most comfortable to you, so long as it doesn't hold your game back. I've never understood the mentality of applying a backcourt style w/ a net game. I don't see any corelation between what forhand grip you use, and how much you come to net. I myself end up at the net, or at least on approach between 1/3 to 1/2 of the points I play. I use a SW grip when I hit forehands from the baseline generally, but for approach shots, the height and speed of the ball dictates what grip/shot I use, not what I would prefer to hit. If you feel comfy hitting SW grip FH's, then go for it! It has no bearing on how you volley.

Example, you're rallying w/ someone, and they give you a sitter at the T. If you had a choice between a SW or Western grip FH that you could hit down on, or an eastern FH that you had to take lower, and hit lower over the net, which would you choose? In the end, it really doesn't matter, because once you approach and get to net, you should be volleying continental anyway.

I can hit them all, and I prefer a SW forehand, but I don't force it if it's not there (ie. a low ball). I'd say rally w/ what you're most comfortable/effective with, approach w/ the best option given the ball you're approaching on, and volley as you do now. As to why the coach doesn't want you to change, honestly he seems about 20-30 years behind the times. SW has been the rule for a long time now.

It would be interesting to take an age poll on all the folks advocating eastern vs western grips.

 

[Andres]

No one uses the 100 year old eastern anymore

Except the best player in the world, Roger Federer, 90% of the time.

 

[ipodtennispro]

easterna forehand

Except the best player in the world, Roger Federer, 90% of the time.

Can you back up that statistic? 90% of the time.

 

[Andres]

90% of his forehands are with an Eastern, or a mild Eastern, not quite SW.

 

[ipodtennispro]

Eastern forehand

I am thoroughly convinced that there is so much confusion identifying all the grips, follow-throughs, backswings, stances, etc. We now have mild eastern, hybrid eastern forehands. What new terminology will they come up with? I guess we can blame this on Roger Federer. What, is he up to 25 different forehands now? I am sure by next year, with all the high speed video analysis being done on his forehand he will have well over 50. Should we put more bevels on the racket to help people identify the grip?

 

[Andres]

If any, then, Fed is using an Eastern. Certainly not a SW, and absolutely not a W

 

[mucat]

http://news.yahoo.com/photo/070312/photos_sp/2007_03_11t232256_450x420_us_tennis_men_pacific

http://images.tsn.ca/images/stories/20050928/federer_43475.jpg

http://content.clearchannel.com/Photos/sports_photos/Tennis/Federer/federer_returns_NickLaham3.jpg

 

[zapvor]

how old is your coach?

 

[MrCLEAN]

http://news.yahoo.com/photo/070312/photos_sp/2007_03_11t232256_450x420_us_tennis_men_pacific

http://images.tsn.ca/images/stories/20050928/federer_43475.jpg

http://content.clearchannel.com/Photos/sports_photos/Tennis/Federer/federer_returns_NickLaham3.jpg

Looks pretty semi-west to me

 

[Squall Leonheart]

The grip you're using can hold you back... if you're hitting like you would with another grip. As long as your technique and grip are roughly similar (even dissimilar, in some cases-- I'll get to that later) you're not necessarily going to be held back by any grip that's been used through history.

A good example of a grip many people consider 'weak,' and therefor 'unusable,' is the Continental Forehand. It's the same as any other Continental, but it's very uncommon for a rally forehand. I've used it on and off for about 3 months, though I'm quite used to hitting Extreme-SW that I rarely hit it right, and as an extention rarely do well with it. But again, I'm saving my anecdotes to the end. Here, I'd like to point out, as an example, one of the top five (or ten, depending on your tastes-- if you really can't agree, then at least he's top two net rushers.) GOATs, John McEnroe.

John hits (to this day) with a continental forehand, though I believe there are rumors of his continental starting to muddle around an Australian (continental-eastern hybrid). He is famed for his net play, and for his amazingly accurate (and as an extension, deadly) lefty serve. What people don't like to admit is that when he stays back, he's still a great player. I saw him playing WTT earlier this year on one of the 'bonus' HD-package channels I get. He was playing Ramon Delgado, a big-hitting 30 year old.

He eventually lost in a 'super tie-break,' after playing three sets in a row, as well as a standard 12-point tiebreak (first to 7). But the amazing thing was that he could rally with this guy, even though I would say he wasn't necessarily doing the damage he did at net. This is a 17 year difference in age, and a serve-volleyer against a baseliner, and the s&v player with the 'weak' grip is holding his own. He's either just a herculean prodigy, or his grip isn't holding him back so much as people like to think.

---

The stories I have from my personal play-- I fancy myself a decent to strong 3.5, on a good serving day-- are good for illustrating two points.

1. That you need to consider grip in your playstyle and footwork. When I use a continental, for instance, I like to use very classical footwork and swingpaths, and I like to serve-and-volley. This is handy, because I like to serve-and-volley regardless. When I hit with a continental, it generally takes me a day or two to really adjust my timing, as well, because I'm so used to brushing for heavy spin with my XSW (Extreme SW) that I tend to brush a lot more than I want with the continental as well. Recently, most of the attempts I have made at using a continental have been plagued by my rotationally-based, open stance topspinning forehand, and so I've been largely prevented from using it.

2. That your grip, regardless of what grip it is, has strengths and weaknesses. For me, with the XSW grip, I get a lot of spin, and I can really loop the ball at my opponent as hard as I like-- to me, it's a lot like the modern Chinese table tennis players, who speed-glue and power-loop; Ma Lin, for instance, if memory serves. However, I get overzealous and don't loop to match my drive, and I can't keep anything in.

On the other hand, my continental gets very little spin, unless I want to slice it-- I probably wouldn't, though, in that sense-- and I have to adapt my aim to the method of placement I have to use-- placement by drive, instead of by spin-- I can hit shots that are really rather unexpected from a spinnier grip, as well as hit the 'shooting' drives that, instead of looping back up for my opponent, tend to move quickly and stay reasonably low. That's really quite good for the net-rusher in me, who wants to increase my opponents UE's on passes, and decrease their winners from being in their comfort zone.

---

Excuse me, I forgot to summarize my point: My point is, find out what you need or want, and get it. Really, coaches shouldn't force a grip of any kind on you.

First of all, great post. the only thing I want to add is that In McEnroe's book, he claims to use a Continental-Eastern Forehand hybrid for all of his shots. Not 100% sure on this, but this is what is printed in his book.

 

[shojun25]

i'd say to stick with eastern. its more versatile and you can easily change it to continental when volleying.

 

[a guy]

absolutely not. You are obviously in highscholl at that age and your coach is not very good. Ignore him and use the western or semi. No one uses the 100 year old eastern anymore. It is to hard to hit and is not as consistant. You will never excel with your current grip, but hey it is your game you do as you choose. i have taught for over 20 years and played semi pro at one point and I have never ever taught the outdated and ridiculous eastern grip . there is no point to. trust me you will see better results faster with the change.

Chris

Hard to hit with an eastern grip? You must be 1.0...

 

[MrCLEAN]

and you can easily change it to continental when volleying.

Stop it!!!!

A grip change is a grip change! You do it after you hit your approach shot and you're moving into net, regardless of what grip you were in.