Hello, I am a fairly new poster here. I am trying to achieve a forehand stroke with heavier spin than what I have now: what I think is MOSTLY eastern. I line the 'V' created by the right hand thumb and index finger with bevel 2(first right bevel). I hit mostly hard flat shots but in an attempt to move towards a more singles-minded consistent game I want to get more spin. Would switching to a full semi-western really help me get more spin. Or can an eastern forehand with a windshield-wiper finish be enough? Any help, tips, etc. would be appreciated.
If your hitting flat shots your swing at contact with the ball is fairly perpendicular, to get more spin from any grip you want to contact the ball, so that you brushing upward on it , more vertical.
Remember, to have more spin, you need to swing faster on every ball. IF you have the energy! I don't, so with my strong SW grip, almost full W, I often choke up a bit and slow my swingspeed down for more consistency without using as much energy. I'm old, of course.
An E. grip with a WW swing path (don't think finish, think swing path) can get a ton of top spin. The WW motion at contact will come mostly from pronation of the wrist, while folks that use a mostly W. grip get a fair amount of WW motion from upper arm rotation. For that E. grip upper arm rotation is important to decelerating the racquet and making sure that you don't twist you wrist over too far. I use a strong E. grip, almost SW. I'm always thinking about swing the racquet up to get the top spin. Because of my grip I never have a problem hitting through the ball. I little leg bend and getting your outside leg behind the ball (semi-open stance) can go a long way to generating good topspin. You may find that your grip naturally moves a bit more W than it is now. Mine did.
yeah thanks for the advice guys. eastern grips make it easy to hit through the ball so power never is the problem for me. I'll try using my lower body more and more hip and focus on a better ww swing
Actually, the grip doesn‘t have nearly as much impact over spin than what people think. It‘s that spin is produced by accelerating the edge of the ball (the top edge forward in your case) and you do not need to hit very vertically and make a contact right behind the ball. You can hit the upper edge of the ball by giving your string bed a slight forward tilt. Instead of presenting a face that is perpendicular to the ground, you can close it a little. With the exact same horizontal swing path, you‘ll get more spin and less pace. If you get your swing more vertical (prior ball contact), you‘ll send the ball higher over the net and you‘ll get only a marginal amount of additional spin. Pros might seem to swing very vertically, but much of that upward movement occurs once the contact is made. As for your grip, it might influence your swing a bit, but not much and it won‘t get you free spin necessarily if you get a more extreme grip. You are better off working with what you have and trying to nail that WW finish properly.
Experiment with both grips and pick the one you like. I am in between a SW and a FW myself. When I first started playing, I had Eastern grips though. You will probably get adequate spin using an Eastern and a WW motion. You will probably get more spin the more Western you go, but bear in mind as you go more Western, your ideal contact point will be higher and farther out in front. It is a great thing to be able to hit flat, hard shots, don't give that up completely. It is really great to be able to hit both flat and with spin.
You can hit spin with E. I use something between an E and a SW - you may want to try this. Basically, grab an E grip and shift your palm down just a bit toward SW. I find topspin easier with this grip than an E and it is still a pretty good grip for low balls. I don't like a SW for low balls. For spin, this might help: 1. move the hand to contact and try to touch the lower outside of the ball. 2. pull the hand thru contact and accelerate the racket. You must speed up thru the contact zone to generate spin. 3. racket path should go from lower right to upper left 4. racket face should be slightly closed or near vertical but not open
