Lots of tennis players try to imitate the pros.

Give me 30 days to help you re-build your forehand into a never ending top spinning machine. Click this pic to get started.

Thats’s cool, and we should always attempt to model ours strokes based on another player that hits the ball the way we want to.

But there are some stroke mechanics that look cool and are sort of the popular latest and greatest, but the reality is, the player we’re watching hitting those strokes is a highly trained professional world class athlete.

Watching Rafa, Roddick, and other pros hit their massive topspin forehands ought to come with a disclaimer at the bottom of the TV screen that says “Don’t Try This At Home”.

Here are 3 reasons why I don’t think you should use any version of the western forehand grip as your staple forehand (read that again, staple, as in your normal all day long forehand.  Once in awhile when a specific situation presents itself, then fine, but not as your staple forehand grip).

• With a western forehand grip, low incoming balls to your forehand require a ton of racket speed to be able to get your shot up and over the net and have the spin bring itself back down – most players get tentative, slow their racket down just prior to contact, and you become inconsistent not only with your control but with making a lot of unforced errors.
• On deep incoming balls, players with a western grip tend to back up, and typically have to play their shot as they are backing up which means their racket may still have some racket speed but they lose the ability swing out past the point of contact.  Shank you central.
• Once a player with a western forehand grip gets a short ball from their opponent, they are generally so locked into another forehand grip that they don’t feel comfortable playing an approach shot, so they topspin another forehand back into play, back up, nd give up that juicy opportunity to play an approach and force their opponent to pass them.

The eastern forehand grip solves all of those 3 problems.

Comments to this post… You know I love to read what’s on your mind.  What are your thoughts about this post’s subject?

Let me/us know below.  Thanks.

Brent