8/8-8/21: Tennis Lessons #101-25
Philadelphia, PA • 08/21/2007
Tennis Lessons #101-25: Schedule your next tennis lesson at WWW.TennisWinners.com
Did Roger Federer use an Eastern forehand grip earlier in his career? I can see he's using semi-western forehand grip now, but it seemed like he played with eastern forehand long time ago.
- This question forced me to really examine the way Roger Federer holds the racquet on his "routine" forehands.
- It appears to me that he uses a "hybrid" grip, almost exactly between the classic Eastern and the more common semi-western.
- Federer, even more than most players, seems to "float" his grip depending on the shot he needs to produce.
- For example he often uses a Continental grip to block back returns of hard first serves or, for that matter, to play a disguised drop shot (not exactly his favorite play, by the way).
- On balls that will be struck well above his waist-level, Federer seems to hit with his hand a little more underneath the handle (semi-western grip)- although despite my reviewing high-speed footage from nearly every angle, this may be an optical illusion.
- I would presume that, with the way Federer puts his forearm "on stretch" (a la Andre Agassi) that he has a flexible and strong hand/wrist/forearm.
- The precise answer: I don't know.
- As a coach and an observer, I can speculate however.
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