Ready Grips at US Open

[vmiller]

When I was at the Open a few weeks ago and watching some of the matches up close, I noticed something that I thought was kind of strange. While waiting to return serve, nearly every pro I watched waited in the eastern forehand grip, and none of these guys use that for a forehand grip. I wouldn't have thought much of it, but I saw it over and over. I understand the advantage of having an easier grip change at the cost of having to change grips every time, but I don't quite understand why it's so popular. Any opinions?

[moderntennis]

Is it possibly because you can chip a decent backhand return with that grip while still topspinning a forehand? Sort of hard to get a decent bh return I would think against a 130 mph serve with an extreme fh grip.

[johnyandell]

Think it's to make the shifts all more equi-distant-one way to chip, the other way to drive.