serve return grip

[arturohernandez]

Hi Everyone,

My daughter was in a lesson and her instructor thinks that she should switch to a forehand grip from a continental as the default. My daughter then later explained to me that she does not like returning with a forehand grip as her default. She has to switch a long ways to the backhand. She also says that she switches from continental to forehand or backhand as she is turning. She basically said the turn and her grip switch are like a chunk. They are linked together and so trying to take them apart messed up her return. She would rather just turn the grip a little bit just as she is turning her shoulder and preparing to receive the ball.

Has anyone had experience with players that use a continental as their default and then turn just a little bit in either direction to return the ball?

Do any pros do this?

I personally use a forehand grip and then switch to backhand. But am not wedded to any particular approach.

Her return seems fine and she can handle fast balls very well.

Any thoughts?

Thanks,

Arturo

[seano]

As a teacher, I always take into account the grips my student uses on their FH and BH and if it's a 1 or 2 handed BH and what is comfortable for them. I personally have a 1 handed BH and was taught in the mid 70's to wait with a continental grip. I will either slice my BH with the continental or drive with full eastern BH or semi-western FH. For me, that's a good balance between FH & BH.

[doctorhl]

I’m wondering why the instructor at this point thinks she needs a fh grip as a default. A default fh grip means a long way to go to change to bh grip( unless she had a two handed with little change of bottom hand). If the instructor thinks she is slow in executing her fh and thinks the grip change is part of the problem, try this. Keep the continental as default, but in the ready position have her point the tip of the racket to her left with the racket face closed as much as is comfortable without losing the continental grip when waiting. Or does she already do that ?

[bottle]

I’m wondering why the instructor at this point thinks she needs a fh grip as a default. A default fh grip means a long way to go to change to bh grip( unless she had a two handed with little change of bottom hand). If the instructor thinks she is slow in executing her fh and thinks the grip change is part of the problem, try this. Keep the continental as default, but in the ready position have her point the tip of the racket to her left with the racket face closed as much as is comfortable without losing the continental grip when waiting. Or does she already do that ?

Unless one uses the flying grip change that tennischiro, John M. Barnaby and even I myself advocate. Then forehand grip as default is just fine. But why not have two or more defaults? In time one can get from anything to anything.

[arturohernandez]

I did a little digging and found out that Federer holds a continental (at least according to several articles). My daughter says that she actually goes back to a continental after every shot wherever she is on the court after every ball she hits. In a real emergency, she can simply chip the ball back from either wing.

Her instructor uses a two handed backhand and that might be the difference.

What is the flying grip change? Never heard of that one.

[bottle]

What is the flying grip change? Never heard of that one.

It's my personal neologistic name for it but a name I note Tennischiro was willing to accept. He has quite often described it in full in these pages. Another expert description of it appears in RACKET WORK: THE KEY TO TENNIS by John M. Barnaby, a great book whether one can find something in it with which to disagree or not.

Barnaby was the varsity tennis coach at Harvard for 50 years. His approach to tennis was great cleverness wedded to amazing specificity and verbal flair. I figure that Timothy Gallwey, the only true best-selling teaching pro author ever, had to be rebelling against something and someone, viz., John M. Barnaby about the time Gallwey was Harvard captain in 1960 .

And since I learned at college to go to primary sources whenever possible I go to Barnaby.

My own explanation of flying grip change is this: You wait with forehand grip. You relax the fingers of right hand while using left hand on throat to pull racket tip back 80 degrees synonymous with unit turn. This gets you an amazing head start on whatever you are planning to do next with your backhand. And without much further effort you are close to the grip you want.

Do you need to add fine tuning? Probably. It helps to know exactly where you'd like, say, your index pad or thumb. But to go from strong eastern forehand to full eastern backhand or composite is easy. Despite the speed of the 80-degree conversion, the flip of it, your cerebellum will be happy to let you make the fine distinction without thinking overly much about it. You just have to know what you want.

So, for any "fine distinction" do loose fingers re-position on handle or handle re-position in hand or both? Dunno and don't want to know. That's a much bigger question when one doesn't use a flying grip change either through innocence or ignorance or perhaps foolish disdain. The loose flip takes care of so much of the change that I see the rest as a mere probing for what feels right.

An interesting subject if we value simplicity and maximum economy. But so clever in a handsy way that one would think Germans in particular would adore it. But examine the grip changes of Philip Kohlschreiber (or the "cabbage patch kid" as don_budge used to call him). Nary a flying grip change ever.

Why pick slowness? To be careful? To be too careful? I can't figure it.

Vocabulary: fingerblase (where did I get that?): bubble I mean blister on finger. Open fingers enough and it won't happen.

[arturohernandez]

Yes, I often keep my fingers very loose when returning. Maybe I do something like this without even noticing.

[bottle]

Yes, I often keep my fingers very loose when returning. Maybe I do something like this without even noticing.

Not sure I'd want you to work on my car.

[arturohernandez]

Not sure I'd want you to work on my car.

Definitely not! I barely know how to add oil to my car.