*note to 5263*.....quit digging your hole. It's only getting bigger, lol. The others are right. I've spoken with Landsdorp and seen his coaching firsthand. You are completely mischaracterizing his teaching viewpoint, opinions, and method. Also, strawmen galore in your posts.
Oh, so you know RL!
Spoken with him too? Impressive.
If I'm digging a hole, you just fell in it.
So if you really know anything about him you would know he has been quite outspoken in the past about how heavy TS and western grips are not the way to the top of the game, along with how his training focus is hitting out thru the target with conservative grips. Since you don't seem to know this, I guess you don't know him as well as you think.
Now the best player in the world comes up hitting big spin with a western grip, which contradicts RL's predictions and claims below. JY has these predictions and comments on his site, so I don't expect he will deny this, but continue to make general supportive comments for RL.
If you don't have an interest in this, fine, but it is relevant to his insight into the future of the game and his claimed focus on his instruction.
found this from RL on Western Grips, as an ad for TP
The Grip
The foundation of the forehand is the grip. One of the biggest problems in American junior tennis is the poor foundation so many young players have because of their extreme grips.
Under the handle, extreme western grips are incredibly common in high level junior tennis. Kids have great success early in their careers because they can hit topspin and get a lot of balls in play. If the ball is high and not too fast, these kids actually look pretty good.
The limitations don't show up until later, in the older age divisions or when a good young player first tests himself in professional tennis. Now these same kids suddenly don't look so great. They have severe problems handling the pace in the pro game, especially when the ball is low and skidding.
Pete Sampras hits through the ball with a classic forehand grip and perfect followthrough.
But nobody talks about these problems. Kids hold the rackets with the extreme grip and think it's alright. Nobody stands up and says that teaching extreme western grips are actually ruining these kids.
Nobody explains to the parents that if you take your 8-year old to a coach who let's the kid hit with an extreme grip, you're already up the creek - you just won't know it for another 8 years. This is what I call the disaster of teaching methods in American junior tennis.