hitting a left-handed forehand at the
2010 US Open. There are four main
grips for executing the forehand and their popularity has fluctuated over the years. They are the
western, the
semi-western, the
eastern, and the
continental. Some rarer grips include
extreme-western or
Hawaiian.
Western The
western was widely used in the first two decades of the 20th century. For a number of years the small, apparently frail 1920s player
Bill Johnston was considered by some to have had the best forehand of all time, a stroke that he hit shoulder-high using a
western grip. Few top players used the
western grip after the 1920s, as a number of them moved to the
eastern and
continental, but in the latter part of the 20th century, as shot-making techniques and equipment changed radically, the
western forehand made a comeback and is now used by a number of modern players. Some consider it to be an extreme or radical grip, however. The maximum amount of topspin can be generated with this grip. Prominent exponents of the western grip include
Sébastien Grosjean,
Kei Nishikori,
Nadia Petrova,
Lleyton Hewitt,
Sania Mirza,
Robin Söderling,
Samantha Stosur,
Jack Sock, and
Andrea Petkovic.
Extreme-Western, "Hawaiian" The
extreme-western or
Hawaiian grip is a tennis grip where the player places their knuckle past the 5th bevel on the tennis racket. It's considered by some to be too extreme for tennis, as the optimal strike zone for this grip is high up and is suitable only for pure spin hitting. Indeed; flattening out a shot at that height is near impossible due to wrist constrictions, and so this grip is suited only for clay court specialists. However, some players are able to take advantage of this grip's massive spin generation due to their defensive play style or height, which allow them to hit the strike zone often. An example would be
Florian Mayer. Other players that employ this grip are
Nick Kyrgios and
Karen Khachanov. On the WTA tour,
Anna-Lena Grönefeld and
Amélie Mauresmo were well known for using the Hawaiian grip. The Extreme-Western is also known for causing arm and wrist problems if employed incorrectly. Currently,
Iga Świątek employs the Hawaiian grip on the WTA tour, allowing her to generate levels of topspin comparable to
Rafael Nadal on her forehand.
Semi-Western The
semi-western grip is also widely used today, and falls in between the
western and the
eastern. It is popular with players who want to hit heavy topspin, but still want to be able to flatten out the ball for finishing shots. It is currently the most popular forehand grip among ATP and WTA pros, with multiple top players employing this grip on their forehand. It can be further modified to be closer to a semi-eastern grip, or more to a full-western grip depending on the player's profile and playing style. A number of the world's current players use this grip, such as
Rafael Nadal,
Novak Djokovic,
Andy Murray,
David Ferrer,
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga,
Venus and
Serena Williams,
Ana Ivanović,
Maria Sharapova, and multiple other professional tennis players in today's modern game.
Eastern The
eastern grip widely replaced the
western in the 1920s and thereafter was used by such
World No. 1 players as
Ellsworth Vines,
Don Budge, and
Jack Kramer, all of whom were considered to have powerful forehands. A number of beginners start with the
eastern grip because of its comfortable feel. It is often described as shaking hands with the racquet. Forehands hit with the
eastern can have either topspin or backspin, as the gripping hand is on the same plane as the racquet, and can thus be tilted up for topspin or down for backspin rather easily. Although rarer on the professional tour as it makes hitting topspin somewhat difficult, there are some notable players who use the eastern grip to great effect.
Juan Martín del Potro is an excellent example of an eastern forehand user.
Roger Federer is often noted as having an eastern grip, although his forehand lies somewhere in between semi-western and eastern. His power and versatility on the forehand side are commonly attributed to this twist on the forehand grip. WTA players who have utilised the eastern grip include
Steffi Graf,
Justine Henin,
Anna Kournikova,
Petra Kvitová,
Angelique Kerber, and
Lindsay Davenport.
Continental preparing to hit a forehand. The
continental grip was popular with a number of Europeans of the 1920s and 1930s and with a number of Australians of the 1940s and 1950s. The
continental has the advantage of being used for all strokes: serves, volleys, forehands, and backhands, without having to be shifted in the player's hand, as is the case with all the other grips. It is particularly well-suited for hitting low balls — "taking the ball on the rise" — but is generally considered inferior for most forehands. It is rare for a modern professional player to utilize a "continental" grip, owing to the difficulty of topspin generation and poor ability to hit balls above the strike-zone, crucial in today's heavy topspin game.
Richard Gasquet is an example of a player who uses the "continental" forehand, but he generally switches his grip over to a semi-western during his takeback process.
Fred Perry, the great English player of the 1930s and 1940s was notable for his snap forehand using the continental grip and taking the ball on the rise.
Two-handed forehand No matter which grip is used, most forehands are generally executed with one hand holding the racquet, but there have been fine players with two-handed forehands. In the 1940s and 50s the Ecuadorian/American player
Pancho Segura used a two-handed forehand with devastating effect against larger, more powerful players. His frequent adversary and even greater player
Jack Kramer has called it the single finest shot in the history of tennis.
Ellsworth Vines, another great player, agreed. He wrote: "Two-handed forehand is most outstanding stroke in game's history; unbeatable unless opponent could avoid it."
Monica Seles also used a two-handed forehand effectively, with 53 career titles that included 9 Grand Slam titles.
Marion Bartoli won Wimbledon in 2013 with a two-handed forehand. Unusually, both players placed their dominant hand at the base of the racquet, resulting in a cross-handed stroke.
Fabrice Santoro, who was ranked as high as 17 in the world, used a two-handed forehand. Among current players
Peng Shuai,
Ayumi Morita,
Yan Zi, and
Aiko Nakamura employ two-handed forehands. Peng's forehand is also cross-handed. Some players will use a two-handed forehand when they need a sure-fire in. The constricted movement will generally generate less power, but more racket head control. ==Evolution==