HD video close-ups of Roger's Eastern forehand grip

[stumphges]

Another tennis site just put up a video on Youtube of some HD footage from Indian Wells showing Roger's forehand grip during practice sessions.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXcsblS3Jl4&fmt=22

Their close-ups seem to clearly show that he uses a 3/3 eastern grip. They claim that they've looked at thousands of frozen frames, and only one looks semi-western, and that was a migrated heel-pad.

I'm surprised, as my scrutinizing had me convinced he was closer to a 3.5/3.5 than Yandell's conclusion of 3.5/3.

I've looked really closely at still images, some in the Tour Portraits section, wherein the degree to which the end of his ring finger wraps around the handle onto bevel 8, with the tip of that finger reaching even onto bevel 1!, convinced me that he had the 'heel pad' at 3.5 rather than 3.

Because his heel pad is off the racquet it's hard to place that landmark, as John has pointed out. If he really is a 3/3, then the positioning of his ring finger suggests that he is indeed using a grip size (he uses 4 3/8 + 1 overgrip) at least 4 sizes 'too small'.

Thoughts?

[johnyandell]

Yeah I saw that. Not sure I agree about the analysis of their own pictures. I have a bunch of new stuff from Indian Wells that we'll put up next month.

The one more general point is that the grip is very conservative whether 3 or 3.5 and that is something a lot of people still have wrong.

[stumphges]

Yeah, I can see your point about interpretation - the first knuckle could still very well be nearer the edge between 3 and 4. Maybe 3.25/3

Anyway, strange how this works, psychologically, but a more conservative grip always felt more secure for me, although I've been playing around (a bit uncomfortably) with something more SW. Now I have evidence to support my own proclivity

[johnyandell]

Contact height, court position, and personality are really the factors here.

[hyperwarrior]

I also notice that his backswing is slightly different from those videos in youtube comparing to the one in stroke archive...Anyone else is noticing that?

[stumphges]

Well, I think his backswing has gotten smaller and more compact over the years. But alot of that footage was practice swings and rally balls where it appears that he was flattening out his swingplane and slapping the ball with a very loose arm and lagging racquet.

I also noticed that he was exhaling forcefully, or releasing his breath in a burst, maybe making a (very subtle) vocalization, at contact. His mouth makes a shape suggesting he may be exhaling 'pow', or something.

Overall the footage gave me the impression he focuses on relaxation and timing during these mid-tourney practice sessions.