Changing grip from extreme western to semi-western

[MaratSafin_fan]

I am changing my grip now from a very extreme western to a more semi-western/normal western. The things is that the grip feels great but it feels strange to change grip and its hard to hit hard and place the ball. How long do I have to practice with my new grip to make it feel comfortable and how should I practice from now on with the new grip? Please give me advice because I like the new grip!!

 

[GPB]

I'm doing the same thing -- I always thought I hit with a SW, but the other day looked at my hand as I followed through and said "OMG it's a Western!"
I don't expect it to be a quick change to make, but I'm trying to get back to my SW.

 

[Ben10is]

My change from Eastern to Semi-Western

About a year ago I went the opposite way...from an Eastern to a Semi-Western (actually, just on the Eastern side of semi). Here are some notes that might help, though some may not apply, or even be "opposite", in the grip direction sense. They're semi-chronological, in the order I started working on them. I'm not done retooling the stroke yet, and won't be until I feel I'm as far as I can be with each of these. I think I'm 75% of the way there, after about 9 months of 2-3 workouts a week.

• Find the grip...quick! - The first the I noticed was, even though I could keep the grip consistently on the ball machine or with a rally partner, as soon as I played a match, I'd hit long, look down at my grip, and see I was back on Eastern. The trick here was to find a ridge or plane under my fingers I could feel in my sleep. After some experiments I found that focusing on the 2nd knuckle of my pointer finger aimed straight down, with the racket face vertical, gave me something I could "feel" with minimum "think". It still took a month of rallying to get it most of the time, and I still look down and see Eastern a couple times a match. I also spent some time on the sofa spinning the racket and "getting it" without thinking. (Early round ATP matches are good for that )
• Find the stance - For my move, it meant going from mostly closed stance hitting to open stance hitting. (In fact, that was a lot of motivation for the move...already had good topspin). The open stance hip turn is a very different feeling than closed Eastern. What helped here is looking at a lot of Roger Fed videos (there's a good slomo on youtube), and (interestingly) Sam Querrey -- the guy is so lanky, you can really see the weight xfer, leg & arm movements. And, he can really crack a forehand. I also spent more than a few hours just dropping balls and hitting them, and playing air-tennis in my living room. (I didn't drop balls and hit them in my living room, though.)
• Fix the footwork - With the items above coming around, I found my next big prob was lining up the ball correctly. From my closed-Eastern, I was setting up too close. Nothing but practice helped here, ball machine and guys who just like to hit baseline for an hour or two.
• Re-align the backswing - It's funny, when I first moved my grip, my backswing was in good shape...from the Eastern I was used to a lot of wrist layback to produce topspin. As the other pieces came together, I found myself losing some "loop" on my takeback and getting an inconsistent angle moving through the point of contact. I'm working on getting that consistent right now--more work on the ball machine. IMO, some of that is also staying loose during match play, not hurrying your shots.
• Feel the follow-through - The last piece was to follow through on the shoulder, a little higher than my Eastern. Fed videos helped a lot here, as did holding the throat on the takeback, something a commentator pointed out Federer does to get more whip out of his shoulder turn. (Fed's a textbook on FH technique!)
• Stop peeking - The last thing, for me at least, is tracking to the point of contact. Open stance encourages pulling your head, at least for me. But then, this is the single biggest challenge in anyone's game, IMO...breath focus helps, and ball tracking workouts (where all you think about is the ball, not feet, not swing; just eyes, ball, racket.)

Hope this helps...love to hear other experiences...always open to ideas!

R

 

[Element54]

It takes a while to orientate yourself to a new grip. You have to change your footing, point of contact, & swing too. Keep trying with your SW grip, it will become natural in due time...

 

[lordmanji]

It takes a while to orientate yourself to a new grip. You have to change your footing, point of contact, & swing too. Keep trying with your SW grip, it will become natural in due time...

with the semi-western, i feel that its much harder to get under the ball. like i have to bend my wrist more than i already do with my full western. plus the times ive tried it, i feel like i have a bat in my hand when i hit the ball. it has more pace but also goes long. so ive always reverted back to the full. do other semi westerners feel this same way?

 

[Tim Tennis]

It is very hard to go to and master a new grip even if it is just a one bevel adjustment, clockwise or counter clockwise. One of the hardest things to do is to get your hand to move to the new grip position consistently. The best way to accomplish this is to give the handle a new shape, create a new powerful frame of reference which will lock in the Semi-Western grip, since most people want to master it. It is a great grip. The Power V Grip, link below, gives you a great feel for finding any grip.

http://www.tennisgeometrics.com

In moving to a new grip you have to adjust to some extent the contact point, swing path and get used to adjusting you hand wrist angle to accommodate the new grip so you have the correct racquet head angle upon contact. It will take some practice and experimentation, but the rewards can be well worth it if you are serious about advancing your tennis game.

Best regards.

Ed
Tennis Geometrics