Use continental grip on every shot
- Thread starter Curious
- Start date
Curious
G.O.A.T.
I will drive him mad this time!Yes ... preferably at that Jurassic Park court against the high tosser.
ByeByePoly
G.O.A.T.
I will drive him mad this time!
Yes you will.
user92626
G.O.A.T.
So how exactly are you learning or training to hit top spin FH?
For me, I don't remember I ever have to learn flat shots. It's always been top spin for me, whether I can do it or not. LOL
J011yroger
Talk Tennis Guru
Step one: Racquet tip up, hand under the ball.
Step two: Throw your hand over the net towards the target.
Ta-da!
J
Curious
G.O.A.T.
No flat. Always a bit or a lot of under spin.
user92626
G.O.A.T.
I LIKKKKKE that.
Simple, easy to process, like my breakfast egg burrito.
Throw egg, cheese over a tortilla. Nuke it for 2 minutes. Ta-da!
J011yroger
Talk Tennis Guru
How come when I eat Chipotle I get the ring of fire the next day but the corn comes out two days later?
J
user92626
G.O.A.T.
That's your go-to ground stroke? How do you hit low ball over the net? There's oodle of low balls at rec courts
J011yroger
Talk Tennis Guru
Jolly's 10 questions science can't answer.
J
J
J011yroger
Talk Tennis Guru
user92626
G.O.A.T.
You should ask for a mix of sour cream and hot sauce on the side. Everything will come out after minutes instead of days.
J011yroger
Talk Tennis Guru
ByeByePoly
G.O.A.T.
Chicken bowl ... white rice ... veggies no corn ... brown beans ... sour cream ... cheese ... red salsa on left (mild) ... don't forget to ask for tortilla on side. Damn ... might have to go tomorrow.
If i went vegan, I would be angry instead of nice.
To answer the question, I think it is rare to win at 4.0 level without at least a good topspin forehand. Overwhelming majority of 4.0 level players can at a minimum hit a decent topspin forehand when they have time and aren't pressured. Going flat/slice off both sides makes sense if you'll older and/or very unfit. I had a 4.0 level teammate who hit all flat/slice and he did very well at 4.0 level. But, the guy played tennis for decades, was over 55 years old, taught some tennis to juniors, and I don't know if he hit topspin when he was younger. I am 62 and still hit big majority topspin. I do like to hit a slice backhand approach and I'll hit slice of the return if its a really good server. On the FH, I rarely hit slice unless I have to dig out a low ball or a wide squash style shot.
I recommend against your all flat/slice plan. Also, tennis should be a challenge and learning to hit an aggressive topspin shot is part of the fun.
Curious
G.O.A.T.
Friedman Whip
Professional
Dave Smith's ideas are maybe the most insightful I've ever seen concerning average tennis players. His main theme is that if you start out wrong and get some bad habits engrained you most likely will never make changes for the better because it is so hard to learn to hit with a different grip and a different swing. In my experience this is so true.
IowaGuy
Hall of Fame
@Curious - I'm pretty sure I could beat most 4.0's with such a tactic - but I would be attacking the net a lot with slice approach shots, chip & charge, S&V. I would not be hanging at the baseline in groundstroke rallies with a conti grip hitting slices all day against a strong 4.0 unless he was very error-prone.
There are a couple of older guys at my club that play high-percentage (pusher?) tennis with conti flat/slice on both sides and do just fine competing at 4.0. I think you could do just fine with conti playing at 3.5 or 4.0 tennis, where most matches are won by making fewer UE than your opponent.
The problem starting around 4.0-4.5 is that your opponents will start to have some decent weapons. If you get attacked by a guy with good topspin groundies and good net play to put away points, and your only counter is a conti slice/block, you will be at a disadvantage since you won't have great passing shots... Even slice-master Santoro would usually abandon his slice and bust out a topspin shot when his opponent rushed the net...
Curious
G.O.A.T.
Sure that’s part of the package.
IowaGuy
Hall of Fame
If you think you might try switching to conti on both sides, I would recommend a simple drill my old-school HS coach had us do occasionally, to improve touch around the net and to improve our drop shots, half-volleys, etc.
Play mini-tennis using just the serve boxes on each side of the net (front 1/2 of the court for each player).
Conti grip only, and can only hit flat/slice (no topspin).
Start each point with a neutral hand-feed, then play to win the point. Ball must bounce before hitting it (can't volley out of air), but otherwise it's like regular tennis, just with a conti grip on half of the court.
If you do this drill consistently for a few weeks, you will develop good touch with your conti grip. You'll also improve your use of angles on the court - you'd be surprised how much you can move your opponent, and how often you can hit winners with a conti grip using just half of the court. I still do it for 15 min or so every couple of weeks with a willing partner, to keep my drop shots finely honed
Curious
G.O.A.T.
Yeah I know, it’s very fun practice that I’ve done quite a few times before. Actually I’m not thinking of giving up topspin, at least not on the forehand . But being curious I am happy to try different interesting stuff. I use slice only forehand here and there for a few games or set at times and I really like it.If you think you might try switching to conti on both sides, I would recommend a simple drill my old-school HS coach had us do occasionally, to improve touch around the net and to improve our drop shots, half-volleys, etc.
Play mini-tennis using just the serve boxes on each side of the net (front 1/2 of the court for each player).
Conti grip only, and can only hit flat/slice (no topspin).
Start each point with a neutral hand-feed, then play to win the point. Ball must bounce before hitting it (can't volley out of air), but otherwise it's like regular tennis, just with a conti grip on half of the court.
If you do this drill consistently for a few weeks, you will develop good touch with your conti grip. You'll also improve your use of angles on the court - you'd be surprised how much you can move your opponent, and how often you can hit winners with a conti grip using just half of the court. I still do it for 15 min or so every couple of weeks with a willing partner, to keep my drop shots finely honed
J011yroger
Talk Tennis Guru
ByeByePoly
G.O.A.T.
Passing shots with a flat 1hbh cont grip (drive or slice):grip
I know this one ... lived it.
- dtl drive is your friend, cc not so much. dtl drive was my 1st, 2nd and third option ... you get the point. "Usually" ... at least the 4.5 s&v I played against, even opponents that knew I was going 9/10 to that side couldn't end the point on that first volley as long as I kept it low.
- so just have to be aware cc pass and sharper angle cc from baseline is more limited (still possible ... situational ... see next item)
- passing shots are situational:
1) tight to the net ... dtl is your friend
2) not tight to the net, cc becomes good option ... ts helps with more angle but any good 4.5 flat cont grip (fh or bh) can hit cc passing shot if opponent is around his service line
3) low is always your friend .. even if flat/slice ... takes very good skills to end a point with dropper volly against a low ball from a fast opponent
4) pass with slice ... two words ... Ken Rosewall. My experience in combating the s&v player is there are times when any type of accurate shot will pass the net player because you catch them changing direction. If your opponent is tight to the net ... covers your dtl passing attempt but then is recovering back to center ... sometimes the slowest little slice back dtl wins the point easily. Really counts as two points ... because it tends to **** s&v players off getting passed by slow a.s.s shots.
This always also happened even if player wasn't tight to the net. If net rusher around service line ... a pretty slow ball that bounces an equal depth to opponent can't be tracked down with their full momentum crashing the net. Yes ... a solid 1hbh drive dtl is priceless against the net rusher, but if I only had 1hbh slice pass ... with slice dtl, slice cc when they were caught out of position, and low drive lob when they are tight to the net ... still could cause headaches for opponent.When I watch Rosewall video ... you see him hit a winning 1hbh slice passing shot often ... but it was the right time/situation.
btw ... we get to add Berrinttini to the quality 1hbh slice to watch. Very good looking shot. Also ... they showed Dimitrov with a cont grip in ros ready position, and then it looked like he rolled it significantly hitting a slice 1hbh return. I didn't expect that ... thought he would keep the cont.
Nostradamus
Bionic Poster
your forehand will suck
ByeByePoly
G.O.A.T.
Enjoying life? Have you not seen those videos of the watering hole on the nature channels?
Besides ... I don't think a chicken could play ball. Duck ... sure ... chicken ... no way.
IowaGuy
Hall of Fame
Agreed, Berrettini has a very nice slice, I have only started watching him over the last few months, but am impressed how he uses the CC slice to elicit a weak/spinny shot from his opponent which Berr then crushes with his big FH.
Dimitrov also working the slice very effectively this year at the US Open. Will be interesting to see him match up against Medvedev in the semifinals - I love using slice against tall guys with a 2HBH, we'll see if 6'6" Medv with his flat-ish strokes struggles with Dimitrov's slice...
ByeByePoly
G.O.A.T.
This was the first time I have seen Berrettini ... 6' 5" looks like a linebacker. He is definitely not hitting a cont FH. It will be interesting to see how his 2hbh evolves ... sign of big offense but he does not strike me as someone that will be a 2hbh machine like Djoker, Medvedev, Monfils.
ByeByePoly
G.O.A.T.
user92626
G.O.A.T.
Eh..the train has passed. User don't give a heck.Go read it again ... I missed it the first time also. Jolly be funny.
Dragy
Legend
Explaining jokes... sometimes makes senceGo read it again ... I missed it the first time also. Jolly be funny.
BounceHitBounceHit
Legend
@Curious
First and for most, I love your passion in your tennis journey. [emoji56]
With regard to using exclusively a continental grip, I don’t recommend it.
Your comment that doing so gives you a “larger window“ makes me think yyour swing path is likely too angular. The “modern forehand” as hit with an eastern to semi western to western grip is actually still best executed with a good deal of forward “drive“ through the ball. I witness this on a daily basis with the Division I tennis players with whom I hit and at the ripe old age of 57 have learned over the last several years to do it myself.
Best,
BHBH
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
Curious
G.O.A.T.
Thank you. It was just a fictional scenario. As I said in an earlier post I enjoy hitting topspin shots a lot so I won't be giving up on that. I guess I would still like to use forehand slice more as a change up, on returns, approach shots etc. I agree with you on 'driving through the ball' rather than an angular swing path which I don't still execute well although I frequently remind myself to do so. By the way I noticed that one of the biggest culprits for not driving through the ball/swinging forward, extending is the lack of shoulder/torso turn in the prep before the forward swing starts. The more the chest faces the net the more angular the swing path has to be, in a way.
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BounceHitBounceHit
Legend
Actually, I was referring to the actual swing path. The change in grip will change the angle of the Racket face, but even with a more closed racket the swing path is through the ball more than is sometimes portrayed. The idea of the windshield wiper has perhaps been to the detriment of many tennis players. The racket is driven out and through the ball. At the finish the overall arc/path is akin to a windshield wiper but not primarily in the vertical plane, if that makes sense.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
J011yroger
Talk Tennis Guru
Curious
G.O.A.T.
Couldn’t agree more. Well said.
Dragy
Legend
The pre-internet era allowed misconceptions to thrive and attract adepts. Only some areas where airplanes couldn’t fly or houses fell apart, or even more so, weapons didn’t provide enemy destructions, were studied to the good extent of reliable documented knowledge.
Today internet doesn’t ensure knowledge, but absolutely does it’s job challenging conceptions and teachings. I mean not just the great TT discussions, but to some degree all the objective info like videos and statistical data.
Well said. I picked up tennis late in life after years of table tennis and so my idea of top spin has always been like that of table tennis - thin cuts. Took me a long time later working with a coach to correct that.
J011yroger
Talk Tennis Guru
Dragy
Legend
While I agree you need forward, this up is more about getting down...
ByeByePoly
G.O.A.T.
Before the internet we just ruined them on our own in lonely solitude ... now we group source the ruining. I prefer this with Jurassic Park courts and high tossers.
Yup. Essentially that's what my coach drilled me to visualise and do. Contact point in front, "hit through the ball", etc.
ByeByePoly
G.O.A.T.
That and the monkey drum
... but no worries, I killed that one with @J011yroger garage R&D. I still wonder if Jolly's car runs after that "science".
J011yroger
Talk Tennis Guru
Dartagnan64
G.O.A.T.
The day i can no longer hit a topspin FH is the day I move to pickleball!
Shroud
G.O.A.T.
Corn has fiber that the gut/colon bacteria need. They are greedy bastards and the pushers of the bacteria world...so its slow and floaty.
