Real Tennis Players - Like You! - Asking For, and Offering, Advice on the Sport They Love
Player to Player is USTA.com’s regular feature in which everyday tennis players are given a forum to ask advice on the sport they love – and their fellow players will dish out advice. We’ll post a number of the best responses we receive to our question of the week.
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This week's question from Elaine
I notice when the pros serve they all land on their left foot. I've been landing on my right foot for years. Is there any advantage to the former, and if so, is it worth the effort to change my landing? I'm a 3.5 senior player.
Please share your advice with Elaine by e-mailing Player@USTA.com and include your name and hometown.
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READ OTHER PLAYERS' ADVICE
Last week's question from Jun
(Please note: There's no need to send additional responses to this question)
I have a 7-year old son, who has been learning tennis for two years. During the time, I have been wondering and confused by one question: Should a kid at this age learn a proper grip when he does forehand strokes? For example, the average grip among the pros now is semi-western; should the kid learn this semi-western? Is it the right age for that?
Player Responses:
From Ken, Davenport, IA:
To answer your question, Jun, not necessarily. It is true that the majority of pros do have semi-western grips, however there are plenty of great pros who do not have semi-western grips, who have turned out to have fine careers. Former world No. 1 Pete Sampras hit with an eastern grip; so did Tim Henman. Rafael Nadal, who currently has a world ranking of No. 2, hits with a western grip. Mark Philippousis hit with an unusual continental forehand.
Your son needs to hit with whatever grip he feels comfortable with. Generally speaking, having an eastern grip means you hit flat or with mild topspin. The contact point is more in front and away from your body. The semi-western grip's contact point is a bit higher and closer to the body. With this grip you can hit with more topspin and is generally considered to be a more balanced grip overall and is highly recommended by many. The western grips contact point is even higher at about shoulder level or higher and closer to the body. With this grip, you can hit with a lot of topspin; however, this grip is not recommended because of how difficult it is to master.
If your son is comfortable with his grip, then he should stay with it. If he wants to change it, is it impossible? No, I have been playing tennis for eight years and for six of those years, I hit with an eastern grip. My tennis coach recommended that I hit with a semi-western grip. It has taken me a year and a half of hard work to change my grip and get my consistency down, but I am now playing better with this grip than I did with eastern. If your son has a tennis instructor, it would also be a good idea to consult him/her with this question. You can also look online at different tennis websites for more information about grips.
From Kenny, Chicago:
Children being taught tennis should learn the basics on all shots the proper way. Developing good technique is so key when first learning tennis at any age. The proper way can be defined in different ways, but all the shots have the basic map to follow. It is good to get muscle memory of each shot so you are doing it naturally. Hitting lots of balls both being fed from the baseline or service line and point play is so important in developing all strokes. Usually a player settles into their own comfort zone or form as time passes. There is no correct grip to start with, but a semi-western is a good start and ready position. Have fun and work hard.
From Major Dan, Northborough, MA:
Your son and all players should use a proper grip from Day 1. Is there any point to using some other ‘non-optimal’ grip? However, younger children have small hands and often end up with extreme western grips, especially if the racquet grip is too large. Try it yourself – temporarily wrap a racquet handle with rags or a wash cloth or hand towel so it is 5 ½” or 6“ and see how you will gravitate toward a western grip.
Most likely, your son already has a grip he is comfortable with. As long as it is somewhere between western and semi-western, he will be OK. If it is too extremely western for your taste, get a racquet with a smaller grip and watch him make the adjustment.
From Coach Poppie, Palm Bay, FL:
Grips and kids 10-and-under are important to the extend of their learning capacity and level of play. The QuickStart format does not place much emphasis on grips. Just nothing extreme. However, as the young player develops, grips do need to be understood.
It is said Federer has approximately 15 forehand grips. What Federer has is true understanding of his contact point and can instantaneously position the grip to align his strings for maximum contact performance. Remember, the ball goes where the string at pointed.
Kids should start with a comfortable grip in the area of an eastern forehand and find their contact point. This should be done with the feet; let the feet move you into position. Learn to hit a failing ball first. This allows young players more time to read the ball, position themselves and swing low to high.
As mastery of movement improves, grips can be adjusted. Once the eastern grip is dependable, then adjusting the grip to a backhand and service grip will be less difficult to achieve. When young players get accustomed to the semi-western grip, they often move to a western to accommodate hitting higher balls, and their footwork tends to diminishes. This is due to accommodating with the arm instead of positioning with the feet.
We want to develop all-around players. This takes footwork coupled with the player's understanding of their contact point and the bounce/flight of the ball. The semi-western grip limits your player's ability to volley.
Having young players fearless of playing any ball anywhere on the court should be paramount, and that takes footwork and understanding of one's contact point.
The semi-western grip is a valuable grip change. It allows for taking high balls, finishing the point from inside the service area on balls that bounce higher than the net. The earlier contact point can be used to control time by lessoning the response time of the opponent, etc. Hence, don't write off the semi-western grip simply added to his game after mastery of more versatile grips and the performance then produce.
Hope this helps. Growing kids - growing the game.
From Robert, Honolulu
We had my daughter just grip and rip with two hands on both sides. We waited until she was 9 to change to the proper grips, and she is one of the top kids in the area.
The problem with going to soon with the semi- and full-western grips and then having the young ones, like 7 years old, hit too much is that sometimes it causes problems due to the kids arms not being fully developed. Sometimes this pushing the kids at too young of an age hampers rather than helps them.
Just an eastern forehand grip with going low to high swing at this point can be easily changed to semi and western as his arms develops later.