Questions for JY et al re 1hbh

[faultsnaces]

Been working on my 1hbh and going through JY's excellent Advanced Tennis 1hbh series, and I have two questions:

1) In the forehand, we see a lot of players, particularly those with more extreme grips, have the strings closed to the court surface (stringbed pointing down) at the bottom of the backswing / beginning of the forward swing. But with the 1hbh, seems that all the players, even those with the more extreme grips, have the racket fully on edge, within a few degrees of normal to the court surface. Seems the extreme grip players are cocking their wrist to keep the racket in this position. Is this racket on edge positioning an essential commonality of the 1hbh? (And curiously why would this be so different than the modern FH?)

2) I've found that I have had an easier time hitting consistently with a grip rolled a little farther over to the extreme, though this does cause me to need to get much lower to the court surface to hit the typical balls I see. (4.0 club player here, semi western FH grip, I like to hug the baseline) The deep knee bend required seems to help me execute the stroke with authority rather than let me be more casual, which seems to be good. Are they any particular disadvantages to using the more extreme grip that should have me work harder to use the more classic neutral grip, though?

Thanks - great series of articles, great site, great resource!
-f

[johnyandell]

Good questions! Not sure why the difference in racket angle except to speculate that it's something to do with having the hitting shoulder forward rather than behind and how that effects how the body can swing a racket. I wouldn't worry about it!

I don't think the extreme grip players are really "cocking" the wrist" --more that angle is a function of the grip itself. If you feel more confident with the extreme grip, no need to change for the sake of change. The only disadvantage if it is one is that the contact point is further in front and so the timing is a bit sooner to get there. You also have to deal with/be comfortable with the slightly increased torso rotation and the timing of that. I wouldn't over think it if you prefer it!

Thank you so much for the great words about Tennisplayer!