Billy Idol, lets give you the answers now!
1-Using an Eastern forehand grip on the forehand volley. (tennisserver.com)
A. The Easterns are very good grips for volleys and many players use these grips successfully. The weakness of the continental grip is it is "more" difficult to hit down the line without repositioning the face or your body to do so. Obviously, it is not impossible but that is one of the weaknesses that a lot of people dont talk about or dont know or dont care!
The easterns position the wrist in a naturally strong and comfotable position. They put the hand and racquet face in a powerful positon to really tag volleys. They are also easy to hit crosscourt or DTL. The trouble comes in the grip switch. Many purests believe that you dont have time to switch grips at the net - like in doubles or S&V. High speed cameras with fast moving balls going side to side show clearly that there is plenty of time to switch grips. Most people hold the grip to tight when they are attempting to do so which causes problems.
Once a player learns to volley with the Easterns the vast majority dont stay there. Slowly they start migrating back towards the Continental. The medium. Sometimes they settle inbetween grips, and some settle with a continental for all volleys, some adjust the grip a little for the backhand (a ton of players in the pros do this (including Sampras) and hit a continental for the forehand, and vice versa.
My point is the Easterns ARE good volleying grips used for many different things. And yes, some like the easterns so much, they never have looked back. This is not a myth, this is a preference that falls within acceptable guidelines.
2-Using an Eastern backhand grp on the backhand volley. (tennisserver.com)
A. See above.
3-Using an Eastern forehand grip on the serve. (Many books) Now this is usually a beginner grip to get the player to become productive. The books I have read I did not see that. They all recommended the continental grip. So you might want to mention the books you saw this in.
A. As for the Eastern Forehand grip, I am not a fan at teaching this grip for three reasons:
1. As the speed of the arm picks up, more and more strain heads to the wrist. Some players (like Kevhen on this board) can get away with it he is tall and strong. Becker hit some of his serves with an Eastern forehand grip. The strin it places on the wrist is the main reason this grip is not recommended. The chance for a player to get tendonitis increases with the use of this serving grip.
2. Unless you are real tall (at least 6'4") the eastern forehand grip leaves very little net clearnace because the eastern forehand grip promotes a fast and very flat serve. Net clearance even on the serve is very important. If someone is shorter using this grip, their chances to fault in the net are very high.
3. The Eastern forehand grip promotes "waiters wrist". This is a deadly habit that is diffiucult to break once the brain gets used to firing muscles a certain way. This is one of the main reasons I avoid teaching this grip. When I move a player to a continental grip that used to use an Eastern forehand grip, there is a lot of unlearning that needs to take place. I would rather have the student struggle a little in the beginning getting used to a continental grip (ball on the string aid, ball wedged in the fence drill) then have them struggle with unlearning and then relearning something. It takes twice as long to learn with unlearning then just learning the "better" way to begin with.
So I am in agreement with you,but it is not a myth. The Eastern forehand grip is considered by many a "beginners" grip. It helps a student who does not have a good serve motion to play the game quickly.
4-I went to an "advanced" small group tennis class and was told that the instructor would "tailor" his instruction to your needs. Well, some of it was ok. But when I told the instructor that I wanted to learn a two handed backhand, his lesson was exactly 5 seconds long. He demonstrated the 2hbh twice and this was it. He said, "Just go like this". Heck, I knew that! What grip should I use? What about returns? Straight back or loop? Well, I should have been a lot more pushy, but to tell you the truth, I didn't think he knew a lot about it, and he personally played with a 1 hander, so I could tell he didn't like teaching the 2 hander. Is it a bad sign when you are actually beating your instructor?
A. Well every coach needs to start somewhere. When you said "I want to learn a twohanded backhand" that is a pretty big topic. Getting into "straight back" vs. "loop" is a bit premature if he hasnt seen you hit nor understands what you are really asking for.
If you want to know grips and things like that a "group" class may not the right setting. First of all, the coach is not thinking of just you. When he said "tailor to your needs" tailoring means he has to first take measurements!!!! He needs to see you hit, and move, and do other things before he starts "tailoring"things to your needs. He needs to take measurements not just stop everything and answer every single question you want answered without seeing how you hit in the first place.
And come on now, you expect a quality individual lesson in a group setting???
5-I'm still not sure on this one. Do we switch grips on the volleys slightly with the Continental? Do we totally keep fh and bh volley grips EXACTLY the same (Continental)? Forget the Eastern fh and Eastern bh grips!
A. Yes. You can have a pure continental, you can adjust slightly, you can have more of an eastern forehand or backhand grip and if you do leave your hand lightly on the handle for the grip change. Do what is right for you and stay within the guidelines of recommended grips.
For those that feel you can not change grips fast enough - I say hogwash.
Try to see if you can step out with either foot as you pretend your volleying and see if you can step out quicker then a grip change in either direction.
There is your answer. It is just practice!
6-In "Tennis Mastery" David Smith says that you should keep your racket face open on the volley. This worked for me tonight! I have been told by many instructors and books that the face of the racket on volleys should be vertical. I think Smith is right on this one, the racket face needs to be open!
A. Yes, the racquet face can be both vertical and slightly open. I prefer slightly open for most of my volleys but sometimes when I am closing and do not want too much underspin I will flatten the racquet face for a flat hard volley.
No one is wrong. You found something that works now improve on it.
7-I have seen the overhead demonstrated in so many ways that I have lost count! I'm still not sure on this one!
A. Turn like you are a center fielder running back to cath the ball. Keep your arm very loose. If the ball isnt too high, take it in the air using a continental grip. Dont force the racquet into the ball or you will take a chance pulling down and missing or sending the ball long or into the net.
Nice smooth stroke like your serve. If it is real high let it bounce then hit. Dont know the "other demonstrations" you have seen.
8-On easitennis.com, I understand the type I serve (kick) with continental grip and wrist pronation. I don't really understand the type II serve using a backhand grip with forearm pronation. In Smith's book, it looks like he is doing the forearm pronation with the continental grip! Still not sure on this one!
A. Pronation is going to happen naturally. Wedge a ball in a fence at your serves contact height. Get in a backhand grip and learn for yourself in slow motion what the arm needs to do in order to hit the ball. You will quickly learn it is something that happens naturally like lifting your foot to take a step and you really dont need to concentrate on pronation. Just get in the grip and learn the SWING PATH and WHERE YOU NEED TO BRUSH THE BALL TO PRODUCE THE SPIN. This will simplify things for you.
9-I liked some of Wegner's work, and he seems to make tennis simple to learn, but I think that he is obsessed with "finding the ball" and "waiting for the ball". I think that he is right in that you should not take your racket back too early, but I do at least turn my shoulders early. I also think that Wegner's work is a little shaky on volleys, and not very specific with most grips!
A. Two schools of thought on this one: I am not a fan of getting the racket back later or as the ball bounces = especially at the club level. Too many people have poor footwork and focus problems to do this consistently and keep the ball in play. You should have the racquet back before the ball bounces to improve your timing. As you get better, you will be able to sense when you need to initiate your backswing and forward swing to consistently make clean contact with the ball.
Getting the racquet back and learning to run with it back helps your body to learn to balance itself on the run. It also helps promote the grip change and shoulder rotation as soon as possible.
My preference is to prepare while the ball is in the air. Your grip change your shoulder turn and almost all of your backswing needs to be complete with all efforts readyt o move forward once the ball bounces to hit cleanly and not feel rushed.
Most pros prepare before the ball bounces. Racquet back early is a good training drill. It helps your brain to learn something automatically to free up the brain to concentrate on the ball. By doing this in practice and exaggeration you will learn a good thing.
