Sidespin grip

[FiReFTW]

Was watching a youtube vid on some tennis techniques and noticed one where this guy shows sidespin shots and where and how they are effective to use.
Im talking about shots that really have that side spin and curve away from the opponent, like that popular federer shot against Murray.
Long story short, he used an eastern forehand grip for the backhand sidespin, and said its better to use, so I thought about it a bit and realized it is indeed a bit more natural and easier to hit sidespin like that, same like it is hitting a forehand sidespin with an eastern backhand grip, the only disadvantage seems that u need to switch the grips, while if you used continental for both, you would basically not need to change at all, losing no time, just using continental always for all these shots and volleys.
So im wondering, when some of you guys use this type of shot, do you use the continental, or do you switch grips a bit to more natural grip positions for creating sidespin?

 

[SystemicAnomaly]

Are you referring to the "banana shot" that Nadal has hit in matches quite often? A good measure of (Y-axis) sidespin is imparted to the ball to get it to curve left or right. It is an inside to outside sidespin. To also get the ball to bounce in that same breaking direction, (Z-axis) spiral spin is also imparted to the the ball. (Regular sidespin will not do this).

I do not switch grips to execute a banana shot. But then, my Fh grip is an extreme Eastern. To execute the shot, my contact point is a bit later -- behind the back foot rather than forward or even with the front foot. This make it much easier to produce the inside-to-outside swing path needed for ample sidespin (and spiral spin). Search for "Nadal banana shot" for some examples of the shot I'm referring to.

Here is a good one by Roddick:

 

[NLBwell]

I use the continental grip on all shots and that allows the freedom of movement in the wrist to hit any shot. I can hit the "banana shot" shown above as well as the inside-out sidespin that tails away from a righty's backhand. I can hit windshield wiper topspin forehands and, of course, flat and slice forehands as well as any type of backhand. The down side is that the additional degree of freedom is another variable which must be controlled, making it more difficult to be consistent and it takes more practice hours to hit all these shots well. This can lead to very streaky play where for sets or several matches in a row I feel like I can do about anything to just playing abysmal tennis where I feel like I have no idea how to get a ball in the court.

 

[SystemicAnomaly]

...
Im talking about shots that really have that side spin and curve away from the opponent, like that popular federer shot against Murray...

Missed this in my earlier reading. (Time chance to ST has thrown me off a bit). Are you referring primarily to slice (backspin) shots? Or both topspin and backspin shots?

 

[FiReFTW]

Systemic I meant more like this

note he said he uses an eastern forehand grip to make it more natural and easy, like I said it makes sense, but like NLBwell said makes sense also, if you use continental for all ur grips its easier to be more consistent, while changing grips for all kind of different shots does mean you have more room for error.

 

[Bender]

It's always going to be about racquet swingpath, not the grip. You want to be exaggerating the swingpath in the direction in which you want the ball to spin:

• Topspin: Low to high
• Backspin: High to low
• Left-right sidespin: Right to left
• Right -left sidespin: Left to right

 

[dominikk1985]

I would advice against trying banana shots unless you have a really high Level. mastering the normal Topspin shots (actually every Topspin has a small side spin component too) is hard enough, better Focus on them. the sidespin shot is really an advanced shot and even then it is only used rarely. nadal might use it 2-3 times a match at best, although if one of those is a BP it still be be important of course.