Does anyone here use full Western grips on both forehand and backhand?

I was watching some ranked Armenian players at the Pasadena Rose Bowl tournament and noticed the big Western forehands. My regular partner, who is also Armenian, got the itch to slug it out and so we went to Lacy Park, the nicest public tennis park I know.

I went ahead and used full Western on both sides and began really slugging the ball. I could nearly flip the racquet over and not have to change grips, like Phillip Kohlschreiber!

It was amazing to see it could be used aggressively on fast hard courts. Has anyone here have this style of game for their hard court game?

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Permalink Reply by Tim Prapong on January 31, 2011 at 2:02pm

lol. The Western grip requires a larger radius. The problem is when the ball is hit close into the body and if someone does not recognize that beforehand with footwork. There is still a solution if that is the case. Place the elbow bend behind the right rib cage, not in front or by the right rib cage. Then, at least there is an opportunity for leverage going radially, across the ball. If you do it the other way, there is no leverage opportunity because the upper arm is already finished rotating. Federer does this alot as well.

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Permalink Reply by Todd Scott on January 31, 2011 at 2:11am

Doesn't work with much power at that point.

I can only imagine!

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Permalink Reply by Tim Prapong on January 31, 2011 at 2:19am

Gasquet's high backhand return technique is killer. Juniors with two handers need to look at that one and have new found respect for one handers. But his grip is semiwestern or full Eastern.

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Permalink Reply by Meags on January 31, 2011 at 3:45am

I have full western fh and 1hbh. I find its much more comfortable than semi. Not changing grips is a bonus too. I always likes guga kuerten and he has fw on both sides but he changes grips right round prob cos he has done this from young. Hard courts are great for me with the higher consistent bounce. I actually play on astro in the main which slides thro but I've learnt to cope.
Set up early and hit out in front. In this i looked at djok for my fh and Wawrinka for my bh.

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Permalink Reply by Tim Prapong on January 31, 2011 at 12:23pm

My rally experiment was to copy Djoko fh and Kuerten bh together. They feel really compatible because the radius of the swings are similar. Wawrinka is great also, he stands much more open than Kuerten and is aggresively balanced forward off the front foot.

It really is easy to flatten out the swing. One just has to find the line of extension where the grip likes swing around flat and not upwards.

I would have to get used to hitting Djoko fh out in front. I have a tendency to keep the shoulders closed and hit it to the side around 2:30. I know Djoko turns his shoulders open and gets that contact way forward. Do you think he hits it at 2 o'clock, Richard?

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Permalink Reply by John Spoerl on January 31, 2011 at 1:23pm

Meags- I have never seen this combo. Usually 1hbh is accompanied by a more classic forhand. I like it though, it makes sence

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Permalink Reply by Meags on January 31, 2011 at 2:36pm

i started playing 3/4 years ago after not hitting a ball since i was a young kid. However I have played several sports to a fairly high level. I was always visually adept I could look at things and copy them, to the analytical point of madness when i played scratch golf in my late teens.

I suppose ive brought some of this to my tennis game, when i joined a club I wasnt offay with all the grips etc but once i was hooked its been an obsession since. I started with a semi western fh and back and changing grips quickly was always problematic and i became a little unstuck when caught on the hop on my bh side. I was hitting with my 1st Div friend and we were practising full westerns and we both felt it click, he has since changed back to semi but i was in the zone.

I think i read something in a biog of someone who used a "hawaian" grip who hit without changing grips (think he had an extreme semi western fh and something mad on the bh)...so i tried it and i found i could hit my bh really comfortably.

I suppose Im a fusion of old and new. I loved S&V growing up and I play it a lot but I also like to rally from the baseline and hit big topspinny winners etc etc. My coach and i have been working on consistency and Ive noticed recently and unconsciously that ive dropped the amount of S&V i use. Dont get me wrong I still do it a lot when the conditions are right but recently where its been difficult to get free points on serve in the heavy wet conditions then ive been happy to rally instead.