Bring back wooden rackets and restrict head size. Then require one foot on ground during service. These should make tennis great again. Watching tennis these days is like watching paint dry. No strategizing; no fun plays. Mindless ball bashing and serving.
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The evolution of the grip is fascinating history as it pertains to the pros and I enjoyed the article and the graphics. However, in my experience with a range of HS and club players, pros that are teaching recreational/semi-competitive players to hit with topspin using a Western grip are doing many of them a disservice relegating them to a lifetime of inconsistency. Topspin shots are much harder to time than flat shots, and a pusher who just gets the ball back destroys them and doesn't go through the frustration of so many missed shots. The over emphasis on the mechanics of spin production seems to eclipse strategy, and the robotic topspin shot production tends to encourage predictable placement, and in particular in doubles, shots right to the net player. The challenges of placing well with hard hit topspin shots hinder the development of how to work the opponent by moving their opponent around the court and exploiting weaknesses - despite the obvious strategy of hitting topspin hard and deep, often a no-pace ball is harder to return than a harder hit ball. The easiest shot in tennis to return is the medium paced topspin. Except at the very highest level of play, consistency and defense beats offense in general, and the most miserable players on the courts are those that can't keep the ball in play and "beat themselves".
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I'm 65, have been playing tennis for more than 40 years. Chiefly self taught, I have always used an extreme Western grip, generating lots of topspin. Drives opponents crazy. Many many years of tennis pros trying to show me other grips, but I resisted. Never a day of elbow issues I might say. My achilles heel is low dipping drop shots to my (righty) forehand. I'll be right back at that tennis as soon as my total knee replacement fully heals! It has been my exercise, my support system, my social life, my world , my sanity for so many years. I heart my tennis. Great article for a walk down tennis memory lane.
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I like the Eastern. As kid of the 70s i was taught continental, but i get more power and precision with the Eastern. For topspin I use a shoulder twist, i suppose thats what Borg did. I tried but I cant fathom how Djokovic and Katchanov go so far down.
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I enjoyed this clear article which I read with my (old) tennis racket in my hand. Excellent drawings!
Still, I can't understand how modern pros can play with a western grip and hit a volley or a backhand....
I definitely belong to the continental/eastern generation....
3
@Jean Roudier The pros with extreme grips have to adjust the racquet to continental to hit volleys, overheads and serves. Teh back hand requires another adjutments of course.
What the article didn't mention is that a player may change their grip depending on the situation. When a player flattens their shot, they are moving their grip counterclockwise to achieve less topspin and more horizontal velocity. If a player wants to hit a topspin lob, they move their grip clockwise. Racket head control, i.e., the grip, is one of the three basic variables of tennis, along with timing and balance.
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@Jack Edwards "Players are constantly shifting their forehand grip to react to other shots coming their way: a backhand, a volley, an ankle-high chip".
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This is some very good reporting and visuals on a topic which seems hard to explain. However, I wish it had mentioned the actual injury effects (and projected ones for the more recent changes) as the grips changed over the years. The newer grips seem to put unnatural stress on the arm. Are those utilizing it going to have to pay a painful price? What would biodynamic experts say? Also, with it, is it really possible to make the adjustments needed for different types of strokes when the ball is coming so fast?
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A fun stroll down memory lane. I learned in the 50s and my father and Don Budge were Bay Area opponents as teen agers in the 30s. My father couldn't ever beat him and switched to doubles. And they were technically on the tennis team at Cal together but he was hardly there, given the travel times of the 30s.
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I don't get this.
In my experience, topspin on a tennis ball causes the ball to rise initially, due to the magnus effect generating positive lift. On ground contact, the topspin will cause the ball to "skoot" forward, not bounce high.
Backspin will cause the ball to bounce high; in the extreme, back towards the hitter on the other side of the net!
What am I missing here?
@Ron Howell Depends on the trajectory of racquet and ball and type of surface, I think. I don’t find the article very clear about a number of things, and uses the contrast of extremes to exaggerate the changes for that have occurred over time for most. In the women's game, for example, there are a lot of flat hitters, and the grip for a high bouncing serve is not necessarily carried onto other strokes.
@Ron Howell
You have it backwards. Magnus effect on a forward spinning ball produces negative lift, driving it into the ground harder and causing a higher bounce, as if you'd spiked the ball. Backspin produces lift, giving the ball a soft landing = lower bounce.
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Ball speeds generated from stationary body rotations and pivots picked. Now players have to learn transfer their linear motion. https://www.amazon.com/dp/1973518805
The guy left out is Alberto Berasategui, who went all the way around to the West and did not change his grip when going from extreme western to extreme backhand, he just hit with the other side of the racket on the backhand. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LoRKLWQTWgk
His game was a wild example of McEnroe's single grip theory of tennis using the Continental. Alberto did flip his grip when serving, volleying etc, but for groundies, he marks the limit for the Western grip. Amazing spin!
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@smokepainter - Yes! I wish the article had showed a little video of Berasategui's forehand/backhand like they did of Khachanov. Otherwise great visuals...
Considering that the three fellas mentioned using the most extreme modern grip are in their physical athletic primes and unable to even offer a sniff of a challenge to the three champions who are well into their thirties, you may want to scrap the western grip.
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I was taught the continental grip as a kid swinging a Jack Kramer wood racquet. Several years ago I started noticing how young players were being coached. I figured out that if I took my regular continental grip and then attempted to hit the ball with the opposite side of my racquet I was hitting like these kids. I never could get it right. You must learn the Western grip very very young.
The problem with these grips is that it becomes difficult to pick up balls with lower bounce. On grass against an opponent with a biting underspin, these new "under" grips are a liability.
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Rod Laver was left-handed, so he gripped the handle between 8 and 1
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Interesting discussion but perhaps all for naught because, in the end, squash > tennis !
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too much information, just over complicated the game, now everyone is going to think how they hold the racket. Western society loves to cut up and dissect every bit of life including the tennis grip, label it, classify it, assign which players etc etc
@Oella Saw and Tool And that's how progress is made and notated. Welcome to the present, or in your case, the future.
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You forgot to mention a crucial aspect of this evolution - that today's modern players with the optimized forehand topspin grip will do anything to avoid hitting a backhand. This often results in one of today's most spectacular shots, what they call in French, the "coup droit croisé". Hence the need for better physical conditioning, to cover more distance on the court to "run around" your backhand.
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Watching Townsend & Babos use more net play may be an indication that the pendulum keeps swinging. Just as we declare the grips (and one handed BH) are extinct, we notice how unnerved some player are by an attacking forward game. The fact that this is a novelty now makes it useful.
Even though there is the certainty among many commentators that severe topspin will defeat all volleyers, but what if players cultivate a better net technique?
The game evolves forever!
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@Sara Stosur won the USOpen singles with an extreme western grip and also volleys well. Well enough to have a bunch of doubles slams to her resume. The skill is in changing the grip from shot to shot, as required.
Nice piece.
Would love to see same thing on the one-handed backhand - a dying breed but not gone yet - versus the two-hander.
I hit a one-hander and have always wondered about the two-hander. I guess the two-hander is more reliable but the one-hander is fun to hit - and the pros make it look as beautiful as a swan flying in silhouette across the moon.
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@Diego Have you read this TNYT article? https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/08/22/magazine/stan-wawrinka-backhand.html
1
Some of this is not correct. You would think from this article that the Eastern grip started with Borg and the Western grip with modern players. Jack Kramer and Tony Trabert used Eastern forehand grips 70 and 60 years ago. I am 77 years old and was taught, as a kid, the Eastern forehand grip.
The Western grip goes back to the early 20th century when tennis in California was played on cement courts that produced a high bounce. "Little Bill" Johnston, a rival of Bill Tilden's, was a proponent of the Western forehand.
The great Aussies of the 1950s and 1960s tended to play one-grip tennis and thus a Continental forehand. Laver was a great exponent of this and John McEnroe, who idolized Laver and was taught by Harry Hopman, who had been the Australian Davis Cup captain, also played and plays one-grip tennis.
14
would agree, as I am 72, and was taught primarily the continental, but also the eastern; I did learn and grow up on the wood racquets
1
@Grandpa
Yeah, in 1956 all those college guys from California who played on concrete arrived at the University of Arizona and its asphalt courts to the serious detriment of all of us who were taught and played on grass and the clay courts of New Jersey and New York! Never did get my athletic scholarship from tennis coach Zip Lesher at the university.
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I believe that the history and naming of the forehand tennis grip would be interesting -- at least to some of us. Why Continental, Eastern, and Western? Did these grips develop first in the 1920s (or even earlier), as a reflection of the height of the bounce on different surfaces -- lower in the Eastern U.S. (lawn/grass, "Big Bill" Tilden ) and higher in the Western U.S. (hard/concrete/clay, "Little Bill" Johnston ) and/or regional style of play such on the Continent of Europe (the French Four Musketeers such as René Lacoste )?
3
Some of the newer grips and attendant topspin motions look like they'd be very hard on the wrist, elbow and shoulder. Nothing about impact on health / longevity in this article.
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Great graphics, good article!
I started playing in 1970 with an eastern forehand. It's rotated slightly under over the years, but not much, and my swing path has changed enough to let me handle the high kicking shots of young players -- better than with my original flatter swing.
What the article doesn't cover is how much grip rotation to the other side is needed for pros to hit the heavy topspin backhands they do now -- tho as someone mentioned, some simply use the same side of the racket for backhands. The unfamiliarity with a container grip is probably one reason current pros aren't as well adapted for the net game.
3
With technology advances, it forces the players to play the same type of game. It maybe not be good for the growth of the sports. With all the serve-and-volley players cannot survive with the speed of modern games. You can hardly see players move away the baseline. No doubt today's player are better athletes, but to spectators, the day of Jimmy corner vs John McEnroe is gone. The games have become monotonous. You see one game, you have seen them all.
Maybe put a limit on the equipment on the Pro, you can make the game more interesting to see. Say, if you want to do an Hour Record in Cycling, you have to petty much ride Eddy Merckx's bike. Professional Tennis needs to move back to Wooden Rackets and slower tennis balls.
4
I was taught continental - your grip should make a v-shape.
1
Superb article. Thought the modern players were just holding the racquets funny and twisted it back into the traditional grips when actually hitting the ball! Duh!
Haven't played for decades because of a shoulder injury from too many American twist serves. But even at that time, I still adore and prefer my old wooden Borg racquets over the open throated monstrosities. Despite hitting almost always topspin on both forehand and backhand, somehow I had much better control over the shots. Against the backcourt guys, my favorite was a pure spin with little power wide crosscourt. If they can reach it, they are forced to volley. Most can't.
1
Great article and graphics! Love it! My story.....Changing to a more modern grip for older players doesn't have to be impossible. I've been playing tennis for 50 years now. Stared at 19 years old with the traditional Eastern forehand and after 35 years on the court and never feeling the grip was one where I had total control or much power, I switched over to a semi-western and learned a new swing trajectory and take-back. It was not all that difficult. Within a few months, I had a cleaner, smoother, more rhythmic forehead with greater head speed. For years, I lamented the fact that I couldn't have attempted this change 20 years earlier. For you old dudes, try it, you might just get it.
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would agree; the grip is not a static thing, but a subtle adjustment throughout the entire match
It looks like the western grip would result in more injuries to the wrist , forearm, and elbow. Is there data on that?
4
It's interesting to watch pro players return serve - do they start with their semi-western forehand grip and adjust to hit the backhand. Or do they start in their backhand grip and adjust to hit the forehand. Or do they split the difference, like Federer seems to do.
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@JEYE I had the same question. I'd love to know how the pros manage this - seems like the change would need to be particularly rapid for returning serve.
Fantastic article. Clears up so much confusion. I wish you had discussed Delpo's grip, since he has one of the most devastating forehands on the tour and, it seems to me employs a trip back in time and up the grip to a 3-4 Eastern-Semi-Western?
3
@raman Delpotro forehand devastation comes from it being fast and flat. I think the article does not mention one of the reasons for the need to have so much spin is higher clearance over the net. Which makes the shots safer for the increased power. Delpotro hits his forehand flat and the bal stays low over the net which is possible with eastern grip but would be impossible or very hard to do with Western.
Was watching Coco Gauff in a match last night. When she was returning serve, it looked like she was holding a pizza box. A terribly odd sight for a child of the 70's used to Guillermo Vilas types. Then this article today. All is clear.
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Fun quick read. Love your last line.
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Jack Sock's forehand grip is so extreme that his hand is already in position to hit a backhand. So he hits his backhand on the same side of the strings as his forehand!
@John
That may explain why Sock is now about 180 in the rankings and rarely wins a singles match any,otre on the ATP tour.
1
The Eastern grip evolved in the 1940s in younger (college) players on clay and became popular in the 1950s. The Western grip was developed by West Coast players on asphalt courts in the 1950s, but originally by Bill Johnson in San Francisco in 1910, The Continental grip remained popular in Australia because it could be used for almost every shot and they played a lot on grass,
13
I am curious if the evolution of the racket with its larger head, composite materials, and far larger sweet spot have had a significant influence on grip evolution. Certainly, I evolved from a control-placer to power-blaster player as I switch from those sad wooden abominations to a big-headed titanium canon.
6
Great piece. For senior players changing grips is nearly impossible. I am 67 and was ranked sectionally for 10 years or so and learned and exclusively used the continental grip. Coming up my idol was Rod Laver. Recently the pro I work with tried to get me to convert to a semi-western grip. My old school forehand didn't have enough pop. After countless hours many hundreds at least, I just couldn't do it. I was spraying the ball over the curtains and fences, it was impossible. So a friendly warning to my peers, stay old school, changing will drive you crazy. Cheers
21
@chris merrow,
Same age, looking to get back to tennis after recent back surgery and problems that forced me to stop about three decades ago.
Yeah, I also came up with Australians as my idols. I had a brief tennis resurrection in 2014 until a wrist issue stopped that, but not before learning how to impart a reasonable forehand top spin with the Eastern grip l learned with and a new Babolat racket.
Hope to get back in the game at last.
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@chris marrow
would respectfully disagree, as I have transitioned to a semi-western (although I use the other grips as needed); I am 72, certainly not world class, but enough of a player to be highly competitive. Don't fight the grip, but look at the actual windshield wiper mechanics of the stroke
1
@chris merrow
Go Eastern, my friend. Minimal stress and good enough spin for the club or the town courts.
3
Between this and the story about the candidate's music choices you guys are really killing the game right now. Great content.
3
I have been wondering about this for a long time, so I am so thankful somebody took the time to explain it. Thanks!
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@SK
Same here, it still seems all wrong to me to hit a "backhanded" forehand, but I can clearly see the advantages as well as the disadvantages.
As an unrepentant one hander, it seems even more out of place. No surprise that Roger uses a more traditional grip, even if it is still a little "underhanded" still.
2
The grip is not really the essential distinction between today's game and the past. Federer has an eastern grip, but hits with a modern swing path. The swing path is what really distinguishes new from old. The old racquets required you to plow through the ball and hold it on your strings as you hit out and through over your shoulder. Today the new racquets allow players to whip across the ball in a windshield wiper motion. There is no holding the ball on the strings through the shot. This requires much greater timing and less room for error since there is only a split second in the swing path when the racquet face is in the right position to hit the ball. But there is much greater racquet head speed.
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@John
Vic Braden convincingly refuted this myth many years ago with his super-slow video studies. Nobody "holds" the ball on their strings. It's not possible. Similarly, Braden's studies also showed that players who feel they are literally coming "over the ball" to impart topspin are doing no such thing. The racket face is 90 degrees to the court surface upon contact.
13
@John
I agree with John. The grip is a minor change compared to how top players swing the racket today. The old tennis swing was a straight back and straight through linear swing. The modern tennis swing is similar to all other sports - baseball hitting, baseball pitching, golf swing - where there is a build up of power and release, harnessing angular acceleration and torque of the racket head. It is COMPLETELY different from the previous tennis swing and infinitely more powerful!
2
@J Graham Pratt
True but if you've ever tried to swing a Jack Kramer racquet the way you swing a current racquet, it's just not the same.
The old wood racquets are fun to mess around with because it's almost impossible to hit the ball out, unless you're trying to - because you just can't get enough power on it. But the control is great.
2
I'm marveling at the story-telling. Brilliant use of pictures - clear well-crafted images and animation, laid out in logical progression to bring the reader along. Made a potentially technical story very accessible.
And as an aside - fascinating bit of tennis history too!
80
Fascinating piece on the changing grip. I had a discussion just last night on what changed tennis, graphite rackets or a change in the game. Clearly the game changed with more top spin but Borg used a wood racket so clearly the game changed and technology responded. My own experience was to start with an eastern grip in the 1950s and add top spin in the 1960s, but never to the extent now played. Keep up these informative articles.
11
This must be the end. Your shoulder can only twist so much.
8
I agree with John. I wonder what the orthopaedic folks would say about the long term effects of the Khachanov grip and wrist movement...?
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@Linda
I really wonder about teaching the extreme Western grip to children. Wouldn't it set them up for arm problems? What responsibility should coaches have to prevent injury?
3
Fabulous article. As I've aged into my 50s, the continental grip of my serve and volley years evolved in parallel (without any Wimbledon semifinal appearances).
I wish this piece had come out 30 years ago...but then again, the semi-Western and Western grips hadn't evolved.
I'm stuck in the same bevels that Federer uses, without the same results. It certainly has helped against the younger players who have loopy shots, often without the forward power of other players, but whose shots would bounce over my shoulder if I didn't get to them early.
I wonder whether tennis will someday put some limits on technology development, in the way that golf has done with golf balls. The heavy topspin game really has crowded out much of the beauty of the game - touch and placement are no longer rewarded.
Pickle ball has become a sport that rewards these qualities of play.
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@Rashaverak,
Well, actually, touch, placement, timing, and especially court anticipation are still the reasons Federer is still beating most guys half his age.
19
I learned tennis in the 60's, and the Eastern, or "handshake" grip was the way to go. When I watch a swing with a full Western grip, I still can't believe how they hit the ball.
24
Interesting analysis.
I wonder if there are any studies that compare grip with wrist/arm injuries? Are the more contorted grips harder on the players?
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@John,
Indeed, the often unspoken reason modern players can seriously attempt the Western grips for their forehands is because modern rackets are both lighter and stiffer than ever, offering a far greater variety of shot selection with both precision and power.
In my day, from the 60's through the 80's, the lob and drop shot both became endangered species. Now, even serve and volley/chip and charge are making a come back.
6