Common Pitfalls in Developing The Spanish Forehand

[100169]

I was reading Chris Lewis article and I was dumbfounded until I saw the two spoilers of US tennis: The Usta and the academies.
so according to Chris
1). You don't see extreme grips at pro level. Eh, Jack sock has the best forehand on pro tour.if it wasn't for his weak backhand he would be top 5.
2)He continues "I believe that, particularly initially, the emphasis should be on a relatively conservative grip" So my understanding from this is that kids need to learn a grip that they won't use later on. Academies are famous for changing kids grips. I say no more.
3)apparently his goal is " My goal: gorgeous swing shapes with awesome racket speed" someone needs to let Chris know force is mass X acceleration not mass X speed. If you look at his sample videos I can see that the racket speed is the same throughout the swing.
It goes on and on.
With tennisplayer.net being the cutting edge site are we that desperate to still have Usta advisors publishing content that has ruined US tennis?
Please comment.

[stotty]

There are a number of threads on this forum where similar questions were put to Chris and which he answered in person. He is actually one of the few coaches who has published articles on Tennisplayer who will then follow on the forum to answer questions put by Tennisplayer members. You may be able to track down these threads to see what I mean. Chris is awfully good...one of the very best.

A couple of things you state you have perhaps taken out of context. Kids are dissuaded from using extreme grips from the outset because they will naturally go further round still as they continue to play tennis....so ending in extreme western. Conservative grips are actually a great way to start things off.

Sock has a great forehand as has Gulbis, but they are the exceptions; most can't pull it off. Very extreme grips can work for some but definitely don't suit the majority.

From memory, I think Chris is happy kids have long swings but then shaves them down as they get older. This was discussed at length in one of the threads. I will try to dig the thread out if I can find it.

Chris is a great coach. He really is. I would urge you read more of his stuff and look into his background a little further.

All the best...

Stotty

[johnyandell]

Thanks for branding us cutting edge! But...USTA advisors publishing content that has ruined US Tennis? Uh, what does that mean?

[100169]

Thanks for your comments Guys.