Using same side of racket face for both BH AND FH?

[Exxion]

okay I was bored and I was experimenting with differnt grips....


so say you use a semi western grip for forehand..... you can use that same grip for a 1 hander backhand.!! But basically you have to use the same side of the racket face.... so you have to sort of turn your hand around the handle as if you were changing grips for a backhand, but DONT lift your hand off the handle, the racket will end up being positioned correctly for a backhand...

dont know if I explained that correctly.... but after some practice it felt natural... and I didnt have to change grip from backahnd to forehand since I use a SW for forehand already (for groundstrokes)

Did anyboyd else know of this??? I was also wondering is there a disadvantage of doing this

 

[MChong]

Well, I'm not sure how it would work out with a semi western grip, but I use a full western, pretty extreme. The "v" formed by my thumb and index finger is probably on the bevel left of where it is for a continental, so just one over (I'm a righty, by the way). With this grip, I hit forehands and backhands with the same side of the racquet face.

 

[TwistServe]

I used to do this when I was in my "experimenting" phase... It worked sometimes and didn't work other times.. I've solidified my groundstrokes now and I make the grip changes instead of using the same grip for both strokes.

 

[Rickson]

I use a semi-western for my forehand and there's no way I can use the same side for my 1hbh. If I used a full western, that would be a different story.

 

[paulfreda]

Same side of racquet face

Yes , I use a SW FH and just turn the racquet over to hit my
Semi-Western BH.
I usually fan the face open on the backswing ala Guga Kuerten and Lisa Raymond, but sometimes on a slower ball I will not resulting in a very closed face that nips the ball as I swing forward low to high with my wrist turning thru the ball. Very similar to Shrichiphan's motion.
I also found you can hit nice ripping cut/drive slices by releasing the face under the ball. But the hand/wrist must always stay ahead of the racquet head on this shot.
And of course, the SW BH is great for high balls on that side.

I highly recommend working with this SW BH grip until it becomes comfortable.

 

[ohplease]

Bud Collins often mentions some male Japanese players from a long time ago, perhaps before the open era, using these grips. Or at least, implied they used these grips because they hit their groundstrokes using only one side of the stringbed.

 

[hlkimfung]

I also hit both FH and BH with the same side, but for a different reason.

I use a eastern forehand, but I still find my hand travel less distance going right than left for a back hand grip, so go figure

for a second reason, I wonder if it apply to you but it certainly matter to me, is the grip shape...

no matter how hard and cautious I try, I can NEVER make the grip prefectly symetric looking from the side. One side always slightly curved in while the other side slightly bump out, look like a 'J" on one side and a 'D" on the other side, if you get my idea.

For both FH and BH, I need to keep the 'D' side against the palm for better control, or my hand will feel hallow when grip the 'J" side against my palm, and subsqeuntly losing control.

That's why I need to hit both wing on the same face.

Anyone got the same concern?

 

[Camilio Pascual]

Beratasegui (sp?) hits with the same face and a Japanese player that played Tilden at Wimby in the 20's did it. I did it until about 5 years ago. I hit with an extreme Western grip with the base knuckle of my forefinger on the "bottom" bevel. Then, I would flop the racquet over to hit with an Eastern backhand. However, I would shift the palm of my hand using the weight of the racquet, so it wasn't exactly the same grip. I stopped doing this for several reasons: Switched to a 2H BH, started to notice the effectiveness of the slice FH in my league, switched to the high swingweight POGStick, and switched from being a pure pusher to being a net rusher and counterpuncher type of pusher. I will occasionally revert to hitting with the same face on clay for fun. I think you will find it more effective on slower courts than faster courts, where you may be rushed for time in flopping the racquet over. Plus, an extreme Western works better on clay.

 

[Chanchai]

Yeah, I use the SW backhand (the one you are describing anyways) on occasion for my one-hander. It's a backhand I enjoy hitting sharp angles with, but I can barely get much pace on the ball if I want any depth--I tend to get a pretty loopy shot and I admit it's a rather unorthadox backhand.

It's the same side of the racquet because on a SW forehand, your hand is sorta "under the handle" while on a SW backhand, your hand is sorta "on top and behind" the handle--and so you are technically hitting with the same side of the racquet.

It's the same case as a Western Forehand being somewhat the same grip as the Eastern backhand--the western fh being held under and the eastern bh being held on top.

Back to the SW backhand. Fun shot, but I feel very restricted in terms of how I can use it. Despite how much it feels like the topspinace ratio is heavy, I can't get the same sort of touch as an eastern or coninental backhand for shots like the topspin lob. I can hit a topspin lob with the SW backhand, but the apex generally doesn't go as high, and the control just hasn't worked out for me as much as I'd like.

But for attacking shortballs and pulling an opponent out wide, I really love using this backhand--even if it's telegraphed (at the club level, nobody ever seems to read it though) it should pull the person out wide enough and I should be able to position nicely for a put away volley.

BTW, even when I drive with this grip... I never get that drive feeling--maybe a little bit but not really. It's a pretty heavy brushing action unless I try to really rip it.

And if you want to know weird (the SW backhand isn't weird imo)... I knew a guy who hit with a backhand that wouuld flip the racquet over during the swing. He essentially would hit almost regularly, but with an eastern forehand grip, and right before contact you would see his racquet flip over (bottom going forward and then up) and he would hit some mean shots this way. it was weird, but he was basically swinging with his hand in front of the grip, but before contact flipped it to be something more proper (for lack of a better word) and struck a hard backhand and it was a low to high swing and shoudlers and knees were good and all. But it was so weird to look at.

-Chanchai

 

[paulfreda]

Chanchai
You said "BTW, even when I drive with this grip... I never get that drive feeling--maybe a little bit but not really. It's a pretty heavy brushing action unless I try to really rip it. "

You can drive the ball very hard with this grip if you learn
to hold the grip like you had a little bird in your hand; just
hard enough for control, but not too hard.
You then can release your wrist into the ball even tho
it feels locked to most people. This assumes you have
a slower ball that you want to add pace to. The loose
wrist won't work on a ball with good pace.
I used to just top it back with consistency as the weapon,
but have learned to get the racquet to drive thru the ball
over this last year.
Good luck
BTW, Tom Avery's tape on the SW BH is a great tape.
He is based in Florida.