Ready position grip while rallying

[tdog]

For my return of serve I've had a lot of success by changing from a continental grip and I'm wondering whether to change my ready position grip while rallying.

Currently I wait for the serve with a semi-western forehand grip on the bottom and a semi-western backhand grip on the top. So if I have to return with my forehand I just take off my top hand. If I have to return a backhand I just move my bottom hand to continental and my top hand is already in place. Couldn't be simpler.

When rallying I immediately switch to a neutral continental grip between strokes with my left hand (i'm a rightie) on the throat of the racket.

Now here's the problem. I can change to a forehand easily from this position but I'm struggling to get to my extreme backhand grip from the throat of the racket.

My question is: what do the pros do while rallying? After looking at some videos I can't see a grip change between forehand strokes which suggests they are waiting in a forehand grip. Is this right?

I keep hearing that it's best to wait in the continental grip since there are so many shots that use this grip (volleys, overheads etc.) but I hit my forehand way, way more than all of those over shots put together so surely it is best to wait in my FH semi-western while rallying?

your thoughts?

 

[olliess]

My advice is to do what's comfortable for you. Just practice until you're secure in acquiring that backhand grip from whatever ready grip you choose.


(To me the continental grip in "ready" makes sense because it works on both sides in a pinch and it's the grip you want when when you have the least time to prepare -- on volleys. On other shots, there's plenty of time for most grip changes during the takeback if you're prepping your racquet early enough.)

 

[rk_sports]

For my return of serve I've had a lot of success by changing from a continental grip and I'm wondering whether to change my ready position grip while rallying.

Currently I wait for the serve with a semi-western forehand grip on the bottom and a semi-western backhand grip on the top. So if I have to return with my forehand I just take off my top hand. If I have to return a backhand I just move my bottom hand to continental and my top hand is already in place. Couldn't be simpler.

When rallying I immediately switch to a neutral continental grip between strokes with my left hand (i'm a rightie) on the throat of the racket.

Now here's the problem. I can change to a forehand easily from this position but I'm struggling to get to my extreme backhand grip from the throat of the racket.

My question is: what do the pros do while rallying? After looking at some videos I can't see a grip change between forehand strokes which suggests they are waiting in a forehand grip. Is this right?

I keep hearing that it's best to wait in the continental grip since there are so many shots that use this grip (volleys, overheads etc.) but I hit my forehand way, way more than all of those over shots put together so surely it is best to wait in my FH semi-western while rallying?

your thoughts?

Interesting question.. though I would not be surprised to hear that it should not be a huge factor for rallying as there is more time.. but I'm really interesting for 'return of serve' .. when the time is so little
I remember a while back.. Darren Cahill was saying that Carsten Ball has huge issue with changing grips on return of serve where you've to make super quick change to make big returns!

 

[olliess]

Interesting question.. though I would not be surprised to hear that it should not be a huge factor for rallying as there is more time.. but I'm really interesting for 'return of serve' .. when the time is so little
I remember a while back.. Darren Cahill was saying that Carsten Ball has huge issue with changing grips on return of serve where you've to make super quick change to make big returns!

I heard a similar comment from an announcer during a match where Almagro was receiving serve from Roddick and having more issues on his forehand side (said to be an extreme western grip).

 

[fuzz nation]

I need to try and remember to watch some of the sluggers if I get to New Haven and Flushing for some of the action later this month. I suspect that it's not written in stone from one player to the next for either rallying or returning serve.

I'm inclined to offer that you could try using your more difficult grip as your neutral position for rallies. If the ball comes to that side, you're already set with your hands, but it's your easier switch if it goes to your forehand side. I certainly understand the idea of a neutral position, but the downside with that is that you've got to change grips to hit topspin off either side.

Something that's helped me to rally more consistently is to keep my grip set if let's say I'm in the middle of a cross-court rally. If I've just hit a good stroke and the next ball is likely to come back to that wing, I can hit with more confidence when I've still got the same grip that worked well on my last stroke. I found my way to that through some experimentation and you might have your own revelation if you try to shade toward one grip over another.

 

[goran_ace]

Most of the time I would say go with the the grip that is more difficult to change to (BH in your case), grip loosely with your dominant hand, hold the racket primarily by the throat or top of the grip with your off-hand.

The situation in which I would favor a forehand grip is when you are playing against someone who is giving away their serves with their eyes so you know where its going and can look for the return you want or on second serves that you can pounce on.

 

[mike53]

I hit my forehand way, way more than all of those over shots put together so surely it is best to wait in my FH semi-western while rallying?

Sounds good to me. I usually have a conti grip in the ready position mostly because it's the easiest and most reliable grip for me to find in a crisis situation (which happens more often that I would like). Lately though, I've been holding a semi-western when rallying, again mostly because it feels good in my hand and mentally, I feel like I've really got it dialed in. So for me, it's a mental thing. I don't really get all that many shots to my forehand so I have to do a lot of switching but that doesn't much bother me in a rally. For return of service I always hold a conti.

 

[pyrokid]

I set up with my dominant hand like it is when I hit a FH, and my non-dom like it is when I hit a backhand. So then I can just switch the grip on my dom hand if it's a backhand, and take the hand off if it's a forehand.

 

[julian]

Grip

Your quote
---->
semi-western backhand grip on the top
---->
Question:
How do define western backhand grip?

 

[julian]

Statistics

I need to try and remember to watch some of the sluggers if I get to New Haven and Flushing for some of the action later this month. I suspect that it's not written in stone from one player to the next for either rallying or returning serve.

I'm inclined to offer that you could try using your more difficult grip as your neutral position for rallies. If the ball comes to that side, you're already set with your hands, but it's your easier switch if it goes to your forehand side. I certainly understand the idea of a neutral position, but the downside with that is that you've got to change grips to hit topspin off either side.

Something that's helped me to rally more consistently is to keep my grip set if let's say I'm in the middle of a cross-court rally. If I've just hit a good stroke and the next ball is likely to come back to that wing, I can hit with more confidence when I've still got the same grip that worked well on my last stroke. I found my way to that through some experimentation and you might have your own revelation if you try to shade toward one grip over another.

Say that your default bottom hand grip is continental ( very typical for
2hander).Say that you use a semi-western forehand grip.
Say that a click is defined as a rotation of one bevel
Say you have a sequence of three touches in A POINT
1.your forehand return of serve
2.your baseline forehand drive
3.your baseline forehand drive- a winner
You will use 10 or 12 clicks- 2 for stage #1 and 2 to return to a default postion,etc
It maybe quite expensive

 

[tdog]

As Julian rightly points out, in my original post i didn't describe my backhand grip well (i'm a righty doing a 2HBH). i called it a semi-western backhand grip which is another thing entirely. What I am actually doing while waiting for serve is holding a lefty semi-western on top and a righty semi-western on the bottom. Then I do exactly what Pyrokid also describes: take off my left-hand for a FH or switch the bottom hand to a conti for a BH.

olliess makes a great point about the continental ready position being great for when you have the least time to react: volleys. If I have time to take the racket back while rallying from the baseline then I have time to change my grip from this neutral position to my extreme FH or BH grip. Just need more practice on my BH side.

I like Julian's point about how many clicks of the bevel occur during a simple three stroke exchange. I'm going to try holding a SW grip between shots in my next singles match in order to minimize this.

I had a doubles match today and found it impossible to use anything but a conti in my rallying ready position since there was so much volleying going in.

When I play singles I would definately describe myself as a baseline rally player who runs around a lot of backhands to hit my favourite shot: the inside-out forehand. Since so much of my game is based around my forehand I will try holding my SW between shots.

My only concern is this: I am already struggling to reach my BH grip from my current rallying ready position of the conti with my RH and my LH on the throat (all I need to do is slide my top hand down and rotate round one bevel to reach the lefty semi-western with my left hand)

By holding a SW between shots in a rally, should I then need to execute a backhand, I will have to move to a continental with my bottom and THEN execute all of the above. This is even more complicated.

My solution: the ready position I use for my return of serve is proving very successful for me. Why not use this while rallying as well?

Question: how many of you use, or have seen a pro use a rallying ready position where the hand is not on the throat at all? This seems to be the best solution for me since I rarely come to the net to volley as a singles player thus requiring a conti.

Well, I've prattled on for long enough, over to you...

 

[julian]

return of serve

http://wp.me/pUxIL-or

 

[Cindysphinx]

Let me bump this up.

I switched to a SW FH grip last year (probably was using Continental before). I have always used a Continental for 2HBH, so I think I was just not doing a grip change to Eastern for the FH. And of course I serve, overhead and volley in a Continental.

Anyway, I suffered a pretty bad case of grip confusion while I was learning to use SW for the FH. I found myself with all kinds of weird grip errors last year (overheads with a SW grip -- ouch).

Now things have settled down. I have an EF grip in the ready position at the baseline. For FH or BH groundies, I make the appropriate grip change. If I come inside the court, I come in with Continental.

Well, today I had a lesson with a new pro, and he said I should use the SW in the ready position. The reason is that 2/3 of shots should be hit as FHs (those coming to the FH side plus those coming to the body). Then you are good to go 2/3 of the time.

I'm trying to decide whether it is worth it to take that advice. Right now, I am conditioned to know that I need to find the right grip every time between shots, period. With his method, I felt I kind of had to remember what grip I had on the previous shot. So three FHs in a row meant no grip change. But since I was used to making a grip change on every shot, I was going way past SW and getting lost.

Anyway, I am willing to invest the time to learn if there is a significant benefit to doing so.

One other worry I have is about dealing with hard serves from the guys in mixed. Ideally, I would want the option to slice these back, so I would want EF or Continental, but I would be waiting with a SW. Sounds like trouble . . . .

 

[scottjen26]

I've been having these same questions lately. I've been playing tennis now for 6 months after a 15+ year layoff, basically retooling my game since my strokes and fitness are not what they were in college...

I don't remember what I used to do really with grip changes, I have a one handed backhand and I do remember thinking it would be quicker to change from my SW forehand to my eastern backhand by flipping the racquet the short way, only moving 1 bevel, instead of all the way up and down. So that feeling is ingrained in me still. However, it's easy to flip it too far in the heat of battle, and I've also done some research and this isn't done very often.

Just trying to figure out a good neutral position, and begin to work on making these grip changes automatic like they seem to be for the pros and other better players. Right now I wait with my SW FH grip, and somehow manage to flail into a backhand grip of some sort for a slice or topspin backhand return. When I have extra time, this isn't an issue, I'm trying to make it automatic and also working on prep so the shoulder turn and grip change happen seamlessly.

So, what do most pros do? Wait with FH grip and change to BH or continental as needed, or wait in neutral position (continental) and change all the time for normal ground strokses as part of the prep?

Thanks,
Scott

 

[BevelDevil]

For my return of serve I've had a lot of success by changing from a continental grip and I'm wondering whether to change my ready position grip while rallying.

Currently I wait for the serve with a semi-western forehand grip on the bottom and a semi-western backhand grip on the top. So if I have to return with my forehand I just take off my top hand. If I have to return a backhand I just move my bottom hand to continental and my top hand is already in place. Couldn't be simpler.

When rallying I immediately switch to a neutral continental grip between strokes with my left hand (i'm a rightie) on the throat of the racket.

Now here's the problem. I can change to a forehand easily from this position but I'm struggling to get to my extreme backhand grip from the throat of the racket.

My question is: what do the pros do while rallying? After looking at some videos I can't see a grip change between forehand strokes which suggests they are waiting in a forehand grip. Is this right?

I keep hearing that it's best to wait in the continental grip since there are so many shots that use this grip (volleys, overheads etc.) but I hit my forehand way, way more than all of those over shots put together so surely it is best to wait in my FH semi-western while rallying?

your thoughts?

The problem with transitioning from a SW forehand to a SW/Cont backhand is that it essentially involves two significant grip changes: moving the top hand to SW then moving the bottom hand to continental. This is cumbersome.

Many pros can transition to the 2hbh from a SW forehand because their top hand on their bh is Eastern, which is easier to grab from the SW forehand position.


I think the real issue is why you are having difficulty finding your top-hand SW grip from the bottom-hand continental position. Can you describe in greater detail the situations that tend to cause the problems and also explain what the problem is. It could simply be that your fingering positions need to be modified slightly so you can "feel" the SW grip better.