Eastern forehand grip for flat serves?

[jlui21]

I recently read that on flat and slice services, one should use a continental grip. However, I recently discovered that I use an eastern forehand grip to create some pretty nice pace. Does this really matter?

I tried using the continental grip, and well, it didn't fan out so well, but I do use a mix between continental and backhand eastern grip for a (terrible) version of the kick serve. I could practice with the continental grip and possibly learn it for the flat serve, but is it really worth it? What grip do you use on the flat serve?

 

[Slazenger]

Learn to use continental. Hard to generate spin with an eastern FH grip.
If you're comfortable using eastern FH for a flat serve it's your perogative to keep it or not. But at least be able to use a continental to apply spin to your second serve.

 

[Jonnyf]

I used to use an Eastern FH grip for EVERY SERVE. However, a few years ago once i learned that litterally every pro uses Continental. My serve used to be my weakness now its a massive strength (im 14 and had it measured at 91 using an 03 tour but its constantly increasing.

 

[kevhen]

I use an eastern fh for flat but am starting to switch to continental for a slightly higher serve percentage although I lose about 5mph in pace but I go back and forth right now. If you are tall enough you can use eastern fh without much spin and really crank up your serve.

I used eastern BH for slice and topspin serves.

 

[Osteo UK]

I used to use an eastern FH grip when I started tennis 6 years ago (I'm 39). I used to have a very pacey serve compared to others in the club, but there was no guarantee that it was going to land in and over time I have switched to continental.

I hit with less pace now, but with more consistency - I shouldn't grumble, but I do hanker for the good old days of "do or die" sometimes.

 

[PM_]

Whether you spin your flats or not, you do not have the full capacity to pronate with the eastern grip as you can with a continental. I have friend at my club that serves 100+mph bombs with an eastern and I can only imagine how much harder he could serve if he switches his grip now.

 

[Freedom]

I tried to do that, switching to an Eastern grip. I hit big serves, but about a week after the switch my shoulder totally fell apart. I took some time off, and now I use Continental again. It wasn't the grip, but the way I had to change the swing to compensate for the grip.

I would stick with Continental.

 

[jlui21]

I guess the general consensus is to use the CONTINENTAL. I think the other day while I was serving, I was struggling to hit anything in. I realized that I was using more of a continental grip than anything else. Then when I switched to the Eastern FH grip, I started to hit things in again and with pace. HOWEVER, I will practice with the continental and see how that turns out b.c continental is the way to go on TW...I appreciate the help.

 

[gzhpcu]

About the only pro who ever used an eastern forehand grip was Mike Sangster, a long time ago. The eastern forehand grip limits pronation. There is no such thing as a flat serve by the way. Every hard hit serve has some element of spin on it, otherwise it would never enter the service box. For spin you need the continental. For extreme spin, the eastern backhand grip.

 

[kevhen]

No, you can hit hard flat serves and get them to land in without any spin, but it is difficult and you need some height. Without gravity and spin, the ball will be at 3.5 feet when crossing the net when struck at 10 feet and still land in the box. Do the math. 60x = 21 X 10. 60 is the horizontal distance from contact point to the opposing service court line. 21 is the distance from net to service court line and 10 is the height of the contact point. You have two right angle triangles 10/60 and x/21. x = 3.5'. Do the math before stating that you must add spin. You don't need spin but it does help alot.

 

[arnz]

Yes you can hit a ball flush and hit it flat without any spin whatsoever, if you put your entire bodyweight in to it, it travels through the air very fast. If you can get it in 60 to 70% of the time, congratulations. Even Sampras hits his first serve with a lot of spin

 

[jlui21]

Will tape the Eastern FH serve

I guess this weekend I will video tape my Eastern FH grip serve and have y'all give me some feedback about it - and yes, I am a southerner and we say yall.

Anyway, I read all the posts and see that continental is the preferred grip for "flat" (power) serves b.c you can generate spin despite some loss in pace, and that spin diminishes the amt of unforced error.

Question: has anyone ever used a E FH on the slice, and is the slice generally used with a continental grip? More techincal questions: at what face (referring to the face of a clock) do I hit the kick and slice serve, ie hit from 7 to 3 o'clock for a slice?

 

[arnz]

For the slice serve I use an eastern backhand grip and brush the back of the ball. These are the things I've learned to get a consistent serve...keep your head up looking at the ball until well after contact, throw the ball in front of you (i throw the ball well in front so that I lean in as I make contact) and do not hit the ball down, hit with your racquet going up, the brushing action to the back of the ball will impart the necessary spin to get it in the box.

My left foot is actually either pointing to the right net post, and sometimes its parallel to the baseline.

Anyhow, this is how I get consistency in my serve. Hope it helps you out

 

[jlui21]

For the slice serve I use an eastern backhand grip and brush the back of the ball. These are the things I've learned to get a consistent serve...keep your head up looking at the ball until well after contact, throw the ball in front of you (i throw the ball well in front so that I lean in as I make contact) and do not hit the ball down, hit with your racquet going up, the brushing action to the back of the ball will impart the necessary spin to get it in the box.

My left foot is actually either pointing to the right net post, and sometimes its parallel to the baseline.

Anyhow, this is how I get consistency in my serve. Hope it helps you out

Thanks...and what about the slice?

 

[Midlife crisis]

My 12 year old son, who has been playing tennis since last April, is still most comfortable using an eastern forehand grip for his serves. He's a lefty, and when he pitched in little league he never was directly behind the ball even when trying to throw it straight. Consequently, when he uses a continental, the ball goes way too far to his right.

He's managed to learn to hit both a good slice and a slight topspin serve using this grip. While it is true that this grip limits pronation, it doesn't prevent it from happening somewhat, so he still gets good racquet head speed. He's actually unable to fully pronate anyway - he just doesn't have the timing or technique down yet and probably won't for another couple of years. He has hit 90 on a radar gun even with this grip (he can pitch a baseball in the very low 60's) and hits a fairly high percentage of serves in at a speed of around 70 MPH.

So, the biggest problem isn't with his serve, which is adequate for his level of play (about a 3.0). The biggest problem is that he doesn't have time to switch from his continental volleying grip to his eastern forehand to hit a high shot at the net. If it's an overhead, he has time to switch, but for a volley that is popped up, he can't quite get the grip right all the time and that hurts his ability to put that shot away.

 

[jlui21]

My 12 year old son, who has been playing tennis since last April, is still most comfortable using an eastern forehand grip for his serves. He's a lefty, and when he pitched in little league he never was directly behind the ball even when trying to throw it straight. Consequently, when he uses a continental, the ball goes way too far to his right.

He's managed to learn to hit both a good slice and a slight topspin serve using this grip. While it is true that this grip limits pronation, it doesn't prevent it from happening somewhat, so he still gets good racquet head speed. He's actually unable to fully pronate anyway - he just doesn't have the timing or technique down yet and probably won't for another couple of years. He has hit 90 on a radar gun even with this grip (he can pitch a baseball in the very low 60's) and hits a fairly high percentage of serves in at a speed of around 70 MPH.

So, the biggest problem isn't with his serve, which is adequate for his level of play (about a 3.0). The biggest problem is that he doesn't have time to switch from his continental volleying grip to his eastern forehand to hit a high shot at the net. If it's an overhead, he has time to switch, but for a volley that is popped up, he can't quite get the grip right all the time and that hurts his ability to put that shot away.

So what about you? I can see that your son uses the Eastern FH grip on his service, but what do you use since you seem knowledgeable about the game. Any additional input would be nice.

 

[Midlife crisis]

So what about you? I can see that your son uses the Eastern FH grip on his service, but what do you use since you seem knowledgeable about the game. Any additional input would be nice.

I've played tennis a long time, and in my freshman year played on a division I school varsity tennis team so I've been there, done that. I clearly remember a time when I used an eastern forehand grip to serve, but can't remember when it was that I switched to a continental. Currently, I use a continental for flatter serves and pure slices, and move to almost a full eastern backhand for any serve that has a topspin component. I'm 6' and use a 28" racquet, so I don't need any topspin to hit an effective enough slice serve for my current level, which is 4.5 to 5.0.

I guess my original thought still stands, that you probably won't be hurt during your serve, by using an eastern forehand grip up to about a 3.5 to 4.0 level. At that time, the inability to put a lot of spin on the second serve will probably be the undoing of that grip. Of course, this also supposes that you don't sooner run into problems playing at the net and needing to quickly switch to an eastern forehand grip to hit anything above head height.

 

[jlui21]

good stuff

I've played tennis a long time, and in my freshman year played on a division I school varsity tennis team so I've been there, done that. I clearly remember a time when I used an eastern forehand grip to serve, but can't remember when it was that I switched to a continental. Currently, I use a continental for flatter serves and pure slices, and move to almost a full eastern backhand for any serve that has a topspin component. I'm 6' and use a 28" racquet, so I don't need any topspin to hit an effective enough slice serve for my current level, which is 4.5 to 5.0.

I guess my original thought still stands, that you probably won't be hurt during your serve, by using an eastern forehand grip up to about a 3.5 to 4.0 level. At that time, the inability to put a lot of spin on the second serve will probably be the undoing of that grip. Of course, this also supposes that you don't sooner run into problems playing at the net and needing to quickly switch to an eastern forehand grip to hit anything above head height.

Thanks. I have not developed the muscle memory or mindset to attack the net after my serve. Thus, I never worried about the grip during a serve and volley, but when I was practicing the volley, I had great backhand volley with the Eastern FH and a really poor forehand volley. I guess I can attribute that poor shot due to the grip. I hadn't realize that volleys should be used with a continental.

So all this has helped me rethink my game. I will all this try this weekend.

 

[arnz]

It takes time to get used to new grips. Don't get frustrated if it doesn't work at first

 

[Midlife crisis]

Thanks. I have not developed the muscle memory or mindset to attack the net after my serve. Thus, I never worried about the grip during a serve and volley, but when I was practicing the volley, I had great backhand volley with the Eastern FH and a really poor forehand volley. I guess I can attribute that poor shot due to the grip. I hadn't realize that volleys should be used with a continental.

The problem that my son is having is not from serving and volleying - he doesn't have that technique yet. It's when he gets to the net and is volleying, for instance in doubles, and gets a high shot on his forehand side. Many times, he's too rush to switch from his continental volley grip to his eastern forehand grip to hit what is an abbreviated overhead putaway shot. Instead, he ends up still basically holding a continental but using the hand/wrist/forearm position that he would normally use with his eastern forehand grip, and the ball goes severely crosscourt. He's a lefty, so if he is in the ad court, this is fine, but if he is in the deuce court, the ball will more often than not go wide.

Up to about two months ago, he hit his forehand volley with an eastern forehand grip but didn't seem to have problems switching between that grip and his continental backhand volley grip, but there is something different about having to switch to an eastern forehand grip while moving the racquet upward that he is unable to do.

In any event, he realizes this is a problem, but just doesn't have the mechanics down yet to serve with a continental, despite several years of having pitched in little league and using forearm pronation.

 

[jlui21]

I just tried out the continental grip, and boy was I wrong. I love it! I am giving up the eastern FH grip on the serve for the all-purpose continental grip! This is great. Side note: volley are done with a continental grip also, right?

 

[Midlife crisis]

I just tried out the continental grip, and boy was I wrong. I love it! I am giving up the eastern FH grip on the serve for the all-purpose continental grip! This is great. Side note: volley are done with a continental grip also, right?

Most better players use a continental grip for all volleys. It's hardest to learn to volley well with this grip on the forehand, so that side usually takes a bit more practice if you're switching grips.

 

[paulfreda]

You do not need to 'give up' the EFH grip for service. You can use the Cont and also use the EFH grip depending on how you are feeling, what you need that day/match, etc. etc.

In short, there is no ONE way to play tennis. Becker and Nalbandian use an EFH grip type service very well.

One suggestion to improve it. Pre pronate your arm (rotate your forearm counterclockwise which will open the face) and c0ck your wrist so the racquet tip faces the ground on the backswing (very much like the backscratch position) . From this c0cked position you should be able to really pop it.

One nice thing about the EFG grip service is you can toss it to your right or slightly overhead. This makes for more of a natural throwing motion.

Tennis is about technique. Don't be afraid to develop your own while also listening to the advice of others.

 

[Bungalo Bill]

I recently read that on flat and slice services, one should use a continental grip. However, I recently discovered that I use an eastern forehand grip to create some pretty nice pace. Does this really matter?

I tried using the continental grip, and well, it didn't fan out so well, but I do use a mix between continental and backhand eastern grip for a (terrible) version of the kick serve. I could practice with the continental grip and possibly learn it for the flat serve, but is it really worth it? What grip do you use on the flat serve?

Well if you are used to using an Eastern, it probably will feel uncomfortable.

The Eastern grip can be used to serve but here are your dillemma's:

1. In order to take full advantage of the Eastern forehand serve and the ball trajectory it tends to make (straight line or flat), you need to be about 6' 4" to give yourself margin over the net so you can serve consistently. If the serve goes into the net or is long, how fast you hit it really doesn't matter!

2. The Eastern forehand grip tends to put more stress in the arm.

If I were you, I would learn to hit with the Continental. The Eastern grip is most often used by beginners. But if you want to advance, the Continental grip is by far (and I mean by far) the grip of choise for serving.

 

[jlui21]

Well if you are used to using an Eastern, it probably will feel uncomfortable.

The Eastern grip can be used to serve but here are your dillemma's:
1. In order to take full advantage of the Eastern forehand serve and the ball trajectory it tends to make (straight line or flat), you need to be about 6' 4" to give yourself margin over the net so you can serve consistently. If the serve goes into the net or is long, how fast you hit it really doesn't matter!
2. The Eastern forehand grip tends to put more stress in the arm.
If I were you, I would learn to hit with the Continental. The Eastern grip is most often used by beginners. But if you want to advance, the Continental grip is by far (and I mean by far) the grip of choise for serving.

I have been serving pretty poorly with the continental grip for the past two days. However, my excuse for today is that wind was really blowing, but nevertheless, I still sucked it up. My question is: what is the greatest difficult in serving? I am starting to believe that the toss is the determining factor in whether or not I serve well. I am gonna post a vid somewhere and get some feedback. And Mr. bungalobill, I am 5'8 with shoes on and feel the stress with the EFH grip.

In short, there is no ONE way to play tennis. Becker and Nalbandian use an EFH grip type service very well.

One suggestion to improve it. Pre pronate your arm (rotate your forearm counterclockwise which will open the face) and c0ck your wrist so the racquet tip faces the ground on the backswing (very much like the backscratch position) . From this c0cked position you should be able to really pop it.

Hey mr.paulfreda, I am gonna try this prepronate thing. I'd hate to give up the EFH with the extra pace, added to the fact that a few other Pros use it. BUT of course, I have to get some consistency down with the EFH and continental grip.

 

[Jay27]

I just tried out the continental grip, and boy was I wrong. I love it! I am giving up the eastern FH grip on the serve for the all-purpose continental grip! This is great. Side note: volley are done with a continental grip also, right?

Good to hear you like it. You're potential to develop further and further with a good serve will revolve around having the proper continental grip. I always say, begin with the wrong grip, get good at using it, and never develop to your full potential. Learn it the right way, continue developing, and become a great server. It's all up to you!

And yes, the continental grip is used for volleying. It's a good grip that can easily be used to switch between forehand vollley and the backhand volley.

 

[bkc]

I used the continental for years and switched to the EFH over a year ago. It is much more comfortable and natural feeling. I don't hit it flat either. Hit a topspin. I'm 5'9".

 

[Andres]

Try continental for flat serves. Eastern Backhand will work perfectly for some extreme spinny serves

 

[jlui21]

slice with protonation?

It takes time to get used to new grips. Don't get frustrated if it doesn't work at first

I finally started to get the hang of it. I have footage of my new serve with the continental grip and protonation. I got my toss down and now know where I should place my feet. My stance is wider than shoulder width.

However, my question is do I still protonate my arm during a slice serve? My flat serves are protonated, but if I hit from a 7 to 3 o'clock position (according to the face of the ball for a slice), then it doesn't make sense to protonate?

 

[dennisgal]

Denster

I'm new at the game, and I'm hooked, big time. Started playing 3 years ago and I have the good furtune of having a top-of-the-food-chain instructor, but anyway, this is very interesting topic. I've been serving using a continental grip with a drift toward eastern for all this time, (3 yrs.) and just now my coach is taking me into a pure continental and I'll tell you, it throws everything off, he said it's perfectly natural, I just keep at and at it. I have about 8 hours time into the practice of the continental serving grip and just now they're starting to go in, but I'm not comfortable with it yet by no means, but it's coming, it is very strange. For myself, by the end of summer, practicing every day for about an hour, (and under the watchful eye of my coach) I feel I'll have at least scratched the surface. Boy, I'll tell you, as uncomfortable as I am with it at this stage, it is consistent. The continental grip allows me to impact the ball (very sharply) at 1 o'clock, but I have to think 1 o'clock. My goal, of course is the same as everyone playing - for everything to become second nature.

Thanks Guys

 

[ATXtennisaddict]

At least some of you are willing to change. I recommended the continental to some of my buddies who use the eastern (their serves are crap) and after 2 mins of trying they switch back and refuse to learn the continental. Damages their pride or something.

Too bad for them.

 

[jlui21]

can't go back Eastern after switch to Continental

At least some of you are willing to change. I recommended the continental to some of my buddies who use the eastern (their serves are crap) and after 2 mins of trying they switch back and refuse to learn the continental. Damages their pride or something.

Too bad for them.

I briefly tried the eastern after a week of the continental, and I couldn't even serve with the eastern grip I loved 2 weeks ago. It took me several days to get used to, and I believe it to better in the long run b.c from what others have said, more spin means more consistency.

 

[ramseszerg]

its not necessarily the spin youre concerned about for reasons for continental... its about the pronation and shoulder turn that comes more naturally with the continental grip.

btw you can hit a BACKSPIN serve with the eastern grip, and trust me if you can hit this shot consistently (i cant it kills my elbow and my muscles die) then it can be a big weapon.

 

[junnie]

yeah i use eastern as well but lot of my friends use western

 

[Ripper]

I finally started to get the hang of it. I have footage of my new serve with the continental grip and protonation. I got my toss down and now know where I should place my feet. My stance is wider than shoulder width.

However, my question is do I still protonate my arm during a slice serve? My flat serves are protonated, but if I hit from a 7 to 3 o'clock position (according to the face of the ball for a slice), then it doesn't make sense to protonate?

As I've said before, English isn't my native tongue, but isn't the correct word "pronation"? Just asking.

 

[paulfreda]

Yes, the correct word is PRONATE or Pronation.

You can get some good spin with an EFH grip serve if you toss the ball behind you and pronate up into the ball. In some ways you can get almost as much spin as with an EBH grip ..... no kidding.