Overemphasis on Topspin?

[glass]

Jimmy didn't need it

[GuyClinch]

Well..

I think we should distinguish between extreme topspin grips and guys who hit with topspin. I think if you got a chance to hit with most of the pros (or just satetllite players) you would think they all hit a pretty heavy ball - that is it has good pace and good to great topspin on their regular rally ball. As pros they can mix up the amount of spin/pace ratio.

Now I have seen a few of guys who use an extreme Western grip but lack enough strength to make it work for them. That's what Lansdorp is talking about with juniors, IMHO. These guys hit a slower ball that lacks pace but has good spin. Some guys DO have enough power to make it work at the pro level though like the Spai***** and Courier.

Anyway this "problem" IMHO is like the so called "problem" with people who exercise too much. It gets alot more publiciity then it deserves. I think if you play more mediocre players you run into plenty of guys who could benefit from alot more topsin then you do guys who suffer from it. I don't think its overemphasized - just ask Oscar Wegner.

I do think juniors who want to excel on hard courts would be better served not using extreme grips though. That's an entirely different issue though.

Pete

[marcl65]

I think if you play more mediocre players you run into plenty of guys who could benefit from alot more topsin then you do guys who suffer from it. I don't think its overemphasized - just ask Oscar Wegner.

I guess what got me is that a lot of the people I play with tell me to change my grip from Eastern to SW-W to get more/better topspin. Yes, I can hit topspin using the Eastern but I’ll be the first to admit that it’s easier with the SW and I get more spin with the SW.

But I like the Eastern grip for its versatility – as I understand it, SW-W are “specialty” grips and aren’t well suited to generating a flat or slice return or retrieving low balls - and I’ve got enough going through my head during play where I don’t want to add, “Okay, now switch to the Eastern/SW/Western/Hawaiian grip” a split second before I have to hit the ball. Sure, when I’m practicing with a ball machine, it’s easy. I just stand there with the SW grip and swing away. But when I’m in the middle of a game and where I’m reaching for a low ball, then running up for a volley…well, for me, it becomes a little more complicated. Plus, IIRC, the swing dynamics when using the different grips are a bit different – you have to meet the ball earlier or later depending on what grip you use. Again, that’s why I like the Eastern – versatile.

So my question wasn’t really if topspin is really needed, but rather, do we really need a single-minded focus on it to the point where we change our grip or way of hitting to get the most topspin - to the detriment of other types of shots (i.e. slice, flat, etc).

[35ft6]

I switched from an Eastern back to a semi-western (actually, in my teens I had a western) and my forehand is way better now. The biggest benefit, by far!, is that when I'm feeling tense, I can swing harder with top spin instead of choking up. My eastern forehand was deadly when I was "on." Not feeling pressure, perfect timing, happy to be alive, my eastern forehand was great. The other 95% of the time it was okay but against good players it could break down. In tight situations I wasn't completely confident with it. Now, I admit that part of that was psychological, but I don't necessarily make a big distinction between mind and body in tennis. In practice I could hit flat forehands all day but that doesn't really mean anything. Instead of a sports psychologist I just switched to a semi-western and I had the best year of my college career.

[sureshs]

Originally Posted by forehander

Seresh, I knew exactly what you meant by "the wrong side of the racket". Some radical grips get so "Western" that it almost looks like they could turn the racket over and hit more easily with the other side without changing their grip! I've noticed this especially with the girls. I do a little action photography and sometimes have to look twice at my pictures to determine which side of the racket is actually going to hit the ball.

You have expressed perfectly in words what I could not.

I have also seen junior girls use it the most.

And while I don't take professional pictures, I have often looked at forehand stills of Roddick or Nadal, and wondered which side of the racquet was hitting the ball - in the early days, I thought they had missed the ball and it was behind them!

I was once demonstrating to a non-tennis friend what grips are. When I showed him the Western, he said "Ouch"!

I find myself using a slight semi western for topspin.

[GuyClinch]

I switched from an Eastern back to a semi-western (actually, in my teens I had a western) and my forehand is way better now. The biggest benefit, by far!, is that when I'm feeling tense, I can swing harder with top spin instead of choking up

Yeah. I can't seem to make this switch 100%. I know it's holding me back some and I hate it. I just seem to 'gravitate" back towards the eastern grip. I guess old habits die hard.

[rocket]

Originally Posted by sureshs

I have also seen junior girls use it the most.

I guess since with the western grip, the elbow stays closer to the body, that makes it easier for girls to find power that way. Just look at the way women carry heavy shopping bags: elbows in, forearms out & horizontal, the bags dangling on those forearms...

[Slazenger]

People see pics of someone hitting with a western and think ouch or wrong side because they are associating a more eastern swing path with the western grip.