Forehand landing a little short (consider changing grip?)

[dandruffkb]

Hey! I've been playing for around 9 months or so (hitting 5-6 times per week), and I've been trying to improve as fast as I can; however, an issue came up in the last month or two and I have no idea how it 'started.'

When I first started, I had a modified eastern and was taught to hit relatively flat (the first coach said that he doesn't care for spin and even if I stayed with him longer, he will not teach it)... fast forward, I switched coaches. When I went to my new coach, I was hitting balls very flat and had plenty of issues creating spin/control; however, I moved subconsciously to a semi-western grip for a while and I had a great 3-4 months of loving my forehand when fixing my technique and naturally creating spin.

However, in the last 2 months or so, I noticed that my forehand grip has crept its way towards a more extreme semi-western (base knuckle basically is on the edge between semi-western and western). I'm pretty sure it's still considered a semi-western, but I feel like my forehand has deteriorated recently and I can't even drive/flatten out high/short balls (literally I'll feel like I'm driving the ball forward completely flat, and somehow there is still spin on the ball). I also think I am wrist-ing the ball way too much. I think my inability to create spin early on and being insecure about it (lol) just found its way to force spin into my grip/forehand, but now the issue is I can't seem to drive/flatten the ball as well and get it deeper.

Obviously, there are players with western grips or grips more similar to mine who can still get depth and flatten out shots (to an extent). I tried to move the grip yesterday back to something less extreme and tried to be at the center of semi-western and I saw immediate change; however, (obviously since I'm not currently used to it) lacked control and it felt completely off/weird -- plus, I can never easily find the normal semi-western grip when switching from backhand to forehand and end up just finding my old grip.

Ultimately, it's likely up to me, but my coach has given me the option to explore changing grips, so I'm just looking for suggestions. Should I go with what I am, now, accustomed to or move it back a little bit towards the traditional semi-western? I know there are probably tons of things I still need to learn and worrying about not even a full grip change is a smaller concern, but any suggestions?

Should I bite the bullet of uncomfortableness and change my grip or just learn how to better create depth (more weight transfer, go through the ball more, etc.) with the grip that I am more comfortable with right now?

 

[Slicehand]

Use semiwestern, for todays game is the best, i had the same issue and realised myforehand was much bigger with semi, just extend the arm foward at contact and dont close the stroke too fast, as that makes it land short, use semi but be relaxed and extend at contact, you will find its easier to put a lot of acceleration into the ball, extend elbow too and just that, dont close it too fast

 

[dandruffkb]

Use semiwestern, for todays game is the best, i had the same issue and realised myforehand was much bigger with semi, just extend the arm foward at contact and dont close the stroke too fast, as that makes it land short, use semi but be relaxed and extend at contact, you will find its easier to put a lot of acceleration into the ball, extend elbow too and just that, dont close it too fast

Thanks for the reply! Yeah, I've been getting the same advice that I close my elbows too fast and don't extend enough (trying to slowly fix and incorporate it), but just want to confirm your suggestion!

I believe both grips that I was discussing are considered semi-western, but one is just closer to western. Are you suggesting I should move back to a less extreme semi-western and adjust to it over time (or does it not matter in the long run and my current grip is fine and I just need to not close my elbow too quickly and extend more at contact)?

 

[LeeD]

If your shots are short, swing faster or aim higher over the net.
If you feel the need to change grips to flatter shots, just do it.

 

[Funbun]

To be conscious of this is incredible for someone playing only for 9 months. Keep it up man.

You have several options and there is no correct answer: only the answer you're most comfortable with doing.

I had exactly the same problem as you did.

As someone who also had a grip that naturally crept to semiwestern/western just like yours, on guidance from my coach, I switched to regular semiwestern in addition to modifying and simplifying my takeback. I had the same exact problem as you where I felt my shot was too wristy/wild, shanking sometimes, and very frequently dropping short if I made a shot. I've made my takeback more of a side-drop instead of a C-shape, in addition to keeping the wrist slightly extended, still, and a little firm the whole time (releasing only well into the follow-through) to eliminate any wristyness.

Looking back, I think the grip change was unnecessary but I've since taken a liking to the semiwestern grip anyhow. Also, I think the side drop takeback makes it harder to time yourself getting into the racquet lag position for the forward swing, but for me, there's less motion and thus less room for creating error. But now I'm capable of doing both the flatter, fast heavy drives as well as the safer high RPM heavy topspin shots whenever I want to, and it's extremely consistent/controlled now.

Both these changes, the takeback and the grip, took about two weeks to rebuild it back into a way better forehand.

 

[eah123]

At the stage you are at, I would stick with whatever grip feels most comfortable to you. Sounds like semiwestern. It is not difficult to switch at a later time.

 

[Slicehand]

Thanks for the reply! Yeah, I've been getting the same advice that I close my elbows too fast and don't extend enough (trying to slowly fix and incorporate it), but just want to confirm your suggestion!

I believe both grips that I was discussing are considered semi-western, but one is just closer to western. Are you suggesting I should move back to a less extreme semi-western and adjust to it over time (or does it not matter in the long run and my current grip is fine and I just need to not close my elbow too quickly and extend more at contact)?

Use normal semi, im not a fan of modified grips, if you use semi is always easy to find the vevel and have a feeling for yourk knuckle sitting on it, tennis is already very complicated, you cant go wrong with semi, use always the same grip and just develop a feel for what the rest of the arm should do, having always the same grip will give you more unconcious control of what the racquet head is doing, so the day that your shots are off, you dont have to think about a thousand things trying to correct it, just with a couple of things it improves, thats how it worked for me anyways

 

[Slicerman]

You don't need to change your grip to hit a particular ball. You should adjust your swing instead.

 

[dandruffkb]

Thanks, everyone! I'm aware that it is not necessary to change grip for more depth, I was really asking that since I'm still relatively new, should I consider going towards the normal semi-western or what I'm comfortable with right now (and where I find myself gripping the racket naturally) for easier depth in the long run (since the racket face will be slightly less closed) and learn to get used to it (better now than later).

To be conscious of this is incredible for someone playing only for 9 months. Keep it up man.

You have several options and there is no correct answer: only the answer you're most comfortable with doing.

I had exactly the same problem as you did.

As someone who also had a grip that naturally crept to semiwestern/western just like yours, on guidance from my coach, I switched to regular semiwestern in addition to modifying and simplifying my takeback. I had the same exact problem as you where I felt my shot was too wristy/wild, shanking sometimes, and very frequently dropping short if I made a shot. I've made my takeback more of a side-drop instead of a C-shape, in addition to keeping the wrist slightly extended, still, and a little firm the whole time (releasing only well into the follow-through) to eliminate any wristyness.

Looking back, I think the grip change was unnecessary but I've since taken a liking to the semiwestern grip anyhow. Also, I think the side drop takeback makes it harder to time yourself getting into the racquet lag position for the forward swing, but for me, there's less motion and thus less room for creating error. But now I'm capable of doing both the flatter, fast heavy drives as well as the safer high RPM heavy topspin shots whenever I want to, and it's extremely consistent/controlled now.

Both these changes, the takeback and the grip, took about two weeks to rebuild it back into a way better forehand.

Thanks for the kind words! This reassures me a lot, haha. Everything you said in terms of wristy/shanking/dropping short is like mini-PTSD right now.
Still completely new to the game so playing some matches against pushers/junkballers always frustrates me as I seem to do better against someone at 3.5/ low 4.0 than I do against a 3.0 as I make far too many unforced errors trying to hit winners, so I'm just trying to get more depth/tools to answer them as there are usually plenty of balls I should be putting away, but I just fail to do it either by adding too much spin or just trying to out sustain a rally with no depth .

Regardless, thanks for the feedback/criticism everyone!
What I'll likely do is do a couple of rounds of ball machine each with my current grip and a more normal semi-western and see how much of an effect it really even has and see if the change of grip will be more worthwhile to get accustomed to or just learn how to hit more depth with my current grip!

 

[Jonesy]

Just aim higher.