Tour Portrait: WTA Forehand Grips

[jimlosaltos]

Our series closely examining top pros' grips continues with WTA Forehands this month. You'll see a lot of variety among players with good forehands. There's a list of the players at the end of this post. A small challenge for readers, the last photo is of a golden oldie. See if you can recognize her before looking at the list

I've singled out Aryna Sabalenka because she has one of the hardest, if not the best, forehands on tour. Yet her grip doesn't follow the severe Western trend. Also note regarding John's article last year, how she has the grip butt well above the heel of her palm. And look how small her racket handle is. Either that's a child-size handle or Aryna has the hands of Paul Bunyon.

Let me reprise this link from the US Open, to emphasize how big her forehand is: The world No 2 has recorded average forehand topspin speeds of 129 kph in New York, bettering those of the ‘big three’ of Carlos Alcaraz (127 kph) Jannik Sinner (126 kph) and Novak Djokovic (122 kph).

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List of WTA Players in this month's Tour Portrait "WTA Forehand Grips"
Please click to see these photos.

1 - 3. Iga Swiatek
4. Aryna Sabalenka
5 - 6. Elena Rybakina
7. Coco Gauff
8. Zheng Quinwen
9 - 10. Jodie Anna Burrage
11. Paula Badosa
12. Danielle Collins
13. Daria Kasatkina
14. Anastasia Sergeyevna Potapova
15. Maria Sakkari
16. Ons Jabeur
17 Carla Su?rez Navarro


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[doctorhl]

In reference to that handle "butt in the palm" grip, I am surprised that there hasnt been some altered handle manufacturing of some sort to accommodate it. I wonder what her racket/ string specs are to handle slight mishits.

[jimlosaltos]

In reference to that handle "butt in the palm" grip, I am surprised that there hasnt been some altered handle manufacturing of some sort to accommodate it. I wonder what her racket/ string specs are to handle slight mishits.

Well, Saby supposedly changed from a Wilson Blade 98v9 with 16x19 strings to a Wilson Blade 98 18x20.
Luxilon Alu Power main and Luxilon Ace cross on all three.

Ah, here's a more recent write up from Wilson. I offer no guarantee on its accuracy

This is the Aryna Sabalenka Wilson Blade 98 v8 18?20 ... . The racquet comes strung with the full bed setup that Aryna is said to use: Luxilon ALU Power 125 Silver Tennis String (Set) @53Lbs.