My Thoughts on the McEnroe Forehand...

[bottle]

Questions, Answers

In answer to Stotty's question, I just see some down and up in all of the martinet's ground stroke backswings regardless of the different heights at which they occur. It's a bit less true of the slices which tend to consist of levelness through unit turn then bee-line up, but generalities, metaphors and similes all begin to decay at some point.

While I hadn't checked out every video when I came up with my hasty generalization (and still haven't), I've clicked on enough of a fair sampling to still believe it's generally true, this down and up, which generates "feel" and converts the arbitrariness of loop or even level or slanted bee-line upward takeback into something more organic, an easy backward swing before the forward swing or forward stroke or forward strike-- all separate ideas.

The forward part can then be organic if you're lucky or robotic if you're not.

So one can, at least, permit oneself to feel great during the first part of these strokes nearly every single time. That has to be worth something all by itself. Rhythmic straightening of the arm as it goes back might contribute to this good feel.

I'm truly interested in the ideas Steve has had which I didn't have during my whole year of this experiment, e.g., the direction of one inch wrist punch being in direct relation to the direction of followthrough.

One can join the sheepled, worldwide condemnation of continental grip all one wants, but I'm wondering at this point if maybe the potential is still pretty good in these seasoned shots which may not be relic but rather the victims of poor info of which there is so much.

The one inch delayed wrist punch certainly does create a nice swoosh in our living room.

Here's the question I want an answer for. I know Ivan Lendl loves golf, and John McEnroe, the martinet, loves to drain three-pointers from the guard position in basketball, but does he also have a connection to golf?

If what Steve is saying is true, McEnroe certainly should (if he doesn't). But maybe his broadcasting and seniors and world team tennis and instruction and music and art gallery stuff and family and kids already takes up enough time.

[don_budge]

The McEnroe Forehand Backswing...

What is the purpose of the backswing? Remember one thing...you don't hit anything with the backswing. The purpose of the backswing is get the racquet in position to follow the leads of the body parts until finally the arm swings into position for the wrist to deliver the payload.

https://www.tennisplayer.net/tp_player/john-mcenroe/

beauty...johnny will give you beauty and effectiveness. look here...the stereotype ready position with an initial turn of the shoulders and hand and racquet have done nothing. they have merely turned with the body. now here is a true swinging motion for you...the racquet head swings as a pendulum swings. weight of the racquet head with the turning motion of the shoulders swing the racquet back into position until the last little bit of energy loads the wrist (although you disbelievers cannot see it because now it is behind his body, now you see it now you don't) and therefore the little lagging wrist. the hips turn which drops the racquet head down into position then the shoulders clear until the arm comes swinging through to deliver the payload of the wrist. come to think of it...he has a bit of pendulum motion in the forward swing. now that is rhythm. note that mcenroe has maintained this lag in his wrist until just before the door slams...and slam it does. right square into the ball. the racquet goes shooting through and over the path of the ball sending a low hard skidding drive into the forehand court of his opponent.

https://www.tennisplayer.net/tp_player/john-mcenroe/

i will take effective over aesthetics any day of the week. and here is virtually the exact same motion except guess what? the shot is a spinning and hooking ball diving low and hard to the opponents backhand from the exact same backswing as in the above. same backswing and two drastically different results. the pin point control is exasperated by the deceptiveness and freezing ability of the mcenroe backswing. impossible to read and he can virtually make up his mind up at the last nanosecond or change it if he wants to. there is the beauty of this backswing.

The beauty is in the hand of the beholder of the racquet. The shortest distance between two points is a straight line...and in this case it is a bee-line. Look at the hand and not the racquet head. From point A to point B...no muss, no fuss. Superb preparation without regards to flourishes which do not show in the scoring column. One more thing...look at how slow and deliberate his backswing seems. This forehand from backswing to impact is one of economy of motion...which pays high dividends in a game that is played as quickly as tennis.

The last bit of energy from his backswing lands the racquet back into position every single time...in the exact same position with the wrist only slightly laid back which accounts for the great accuracy in the shots plus an extraordinary control of depth placement. There is much to be said for hitting the ball in the center of the strings. McEnroe uses the whole court and is a master at using the forecourt as well. Today's forehands are judged on RPS or RPM and MPH...but he is having none of that. He is playing a different game of subtle deception and subtle tactics. Daring to be different. McEnroe could never be accused of following the herd. Listening to his own drummer who very well may of been a wee bit wild.

[stotty]

Sliced backhand of Mac

There’s rhythm in every John McEnroe backswing, which partially comes, I think, from a slight down and up travel path for the racket:

https://www.tennisplayer.net/tp_player/john-mcenroe/

And one can see it even in backhand slice. What’s the logic in that? Slice is high to low, and this one is even higher to lower than usual.

If you want your racket high, why not go there on a bee-line?

Well, John McEnroe’s backswings are already stripped down to the essentials. So if you choose to go in his direction, perhaps you should restore the tiniest bit of decoration to the equation.

Not for vanity. (Fifth grade: “Oooooh, he’s stuck on himself. I just hate conceited people.”)

But rather for the elegance and effectiveness that great rhythm brings.

Do you mean the slight dipping of the racket prior to commencing the backswing?

Actually the beauty of Mac's slice backhand for me is that he takes the racket back a varying heights depending on the height of the incoming ball. This is in stark contrast with many sliced backhands you see in the modern game where backswings always seem high regardless of whether the ball is around the ankles or the ears. This is where sliced backhands these days seem to work poorly in certain scenarios - Nadal's and Djokovic's being good examples.

The great thing about Mac's slice backhand (witnessed by myself at Wimbledon many times) is that he can really knife low incoming balls. His approach shots off the backhand were terrific. His handwork and feel on the stroke is incredibly subtle. He can get a lot of pace of a short swing or even just a stab...just beautiful to watch.

[bottle]

Stripped Down but Rhythmic

There’s rhythm in every John McEnroe backswing, which partially comes, I think, from a slight down and up travel path for the racket:

https://www.tennisplayer.net/tp_player/john-mcenroe/

And one can see it even in backhand slice. What’s the logic in that? Slice is high to low, and this one is even higher to lower than usual.

If you want your racket high, why not go there on a bee-line?

Well, John McEnroe’s backswings are already stripped down to the essentials. So if you choose to go in his direction, perhaps you should restore the tiniest bit of decoration to the equation.

Not for vanity. (Fifth grade: “Oooooh, he’s stuck on himself. I just hate conceited people.”)

But rather for the elegance and effectiveness that great rhythm brings.

[bottle]

"Right back at you," as someone recently said.

And Steve, if I had your insights and particularly your narrative descriptions back in the whole year when I hit everything with a continental grip, I may never have switched back. But the experiment was overly lonesome with no real reinforcement from anybody.

I remember being similarly excited in my self-feeding sessions. But then when I played matches I came up short. My conclusion right now: I almost knew enough to carry a continental grip conversion off.

Besides that, for five years I played tennis twice a week at 6:30 a.m. with the principle dancers' piano player at the North Carolina School for the Arts. He was two years more elderly than I, had developed exquisite balance by osmosis through being always in the presence of great dancers, had seemingly played tennis every day of his life, had taught tennis, had never considered using anything other than a continental grip.

So I got to see how the continental works, particularly when Fred Astaire does it (sorry). But I don't think Frank Partridge had a golf background to draw on as you, I, 10splayer and others do.

The different golf hands function (speed hand and the other) are a great thing to try for anybody who has played enough golf to perfectly understand what you mean-- this hand function for forehand, that hand function for backhand even though you're using one hand!

Another good question in these threads: whether we all in tennis are brainwashed. The safe assumption is yes. One can always change one's mind later if one has done the honest experiment himself.

Put another way, read the directions when all else has failed.

But who is the real expert in tennis anyway? The person who has done the experiment.

Also, I know, as John M. Barnaby wrote, there are players everywhere with too many strokes in a state of "slight disrepair," but really, if you've practiced another kind of stroke forever, why not use both?

Tilden apparently was not beyond that when, as a relatively old man, some young topspinner was taking him apart, had him down a set and more.

So the smelly Tilden, in the Frank Deford biography, got mad, changed gears, chopped the dude to death-- my favorite part of the book.

[klacr]

Happy Happy Everything to you my fellow Spin Doctors! What does it matter if we ever agree...you are there and I am here. But I will tell you one thing...this little discussion about the continental grip and the John McEnroe forehand is spinning and spinning around my head like I remember the wind in the Cochise mountains one fall night when it sounded like a train going around and around the canyon. The lights in the eyes of the little critters peering in from the night at my fire were highly entertaining until there was a noise that sounded a little too big for comfort and sent me diving into my tent. So much for courage...we are all afraid of the dark. Especially if we sense there is something bigger than us out there. Where was I? Oh yea...the Spin Doctor. Listening to the wind of my soul. You feeling this blake_b?

But anyways we had this little discussion about grips and golfing and brainwashing yesterday. Well it all adds up to something...to me. Perhaps there is someone out there that can follow my train of thought. I don't know...everyone needs to be understood. I wonder if I am any different.

Back to the golf grips and the McEnroe deal. Try this one on for size and see if it fits. You are going to love this...or hate it. All yesterday I was trying to find my way through this maze of grip discussion. Now I know how it feels to hit with a continental forehand because I have tried it. I have a pretty good feeling for the mechanics as I took a couple of weeks off to study the video evidence in the archives while holding my racquet solely in a continental grip for the duration. The feeling that I have now is that my forehand is much superior since I converted to the continental. My previous forehand could probably be termed a Federfore imitation. I have described some of my experiences with the continental forehand and how much more variety there is to my forehand now. My young protege has seen it a couple of times now and he is completely perplexed. It seemed that the worm had turned and he was all over me with his topspin and speed and youth. Now I was creeping up on the baseline and taking the ball early and driving it back with really good accuracy to all points of the court...ala McEnroe.

But I turned the tables and his comment was he couldn’t find any holes on my side of the court and from my point of view I had him off balance way more than he did me. Sure he beat me with his speed some, but when there was an exchange between us I had all of the answers way more often than not. Tactically speaking with all of my experience I had all kinds of choices as I described in my post regarding the Karsten Popp Classic backhand. Believe me...when I was playing I wasn’t asking myself the question why...I was only concentrating on my mechanics and my tactics. The mechanics were simply boiled down to the McEnroe backswing, set the racquet back in position ala Johnny with the wrist only slightly laid back and getting my feet and body in position. Everything else took care of itself...from that position everything seemed really simple...just to get the racquet going forwards and holding onto the little bit of lag as long as I could and the results surprised both me and my opponents. I repeat...holding onto that little bit of lag as long as I could. It is possible that it doesn’t matter how much lag there is...maybe it is a matter of just holding onto it until the last possible moment and with the continental it seems that it is possible to hold onto it much longer than with a stronger grip.

So here are my thoughts. It feels that now my wrist is behaving as my speed hand should on my golf club. It seems to me that my golf grip with my speed hand most accurately can be described as a continental grip that I am now using for my tennis swing. My forehand is now speeding through the ball as my speed hand on my golf swing should. Let me put it this way...way more acceleration at the moment of impact. With just the little bit of lag that I achieve when using the continental grip, something about the structure of the wrist and the swing of the tennis racquet has what I describe as a multiplier effect when the racquet face is making contact with the ball...in fact let’s say through the hitting zone. The hitting zone being defined as immediately before contact and immediately after contact...as long as I can maintain the integrity of the wrist until as a passive hinge it wants to slam the door. And slam the door it does. tennis_chiro calls it the Bruce Lee one inch punch effect.

From watching all of the John McEnroe video that I did...and as I have mentioned I stopped it repeatedly and studied it from every conceivable angle, it seems to me that the continental gripped forehand is behaving much like the speed hand in my golf swing should. The way that Hogan has described it. Now here is the kicker...on the other side of my body when I am hitting the drive backhand with the same grip it seems as if my wrist is behaving as the hand on the end of my golf grip behaves. Exactly. But that is another story...and one that I will be embarking on shortly.

Now keep in mind a couple of observations that have been discussed. Some say that the continental is designed for low balls and thinking about the golf swing and how the ball is so far below this sort of corroborates this theory. The way that the speed hand sets up on the grip of both the club and the racquet it is ideal to somewhat apply some what of a descending blow...but in the tennis stroke if you place the ball just a bit further forward in your stance you are hitting up on the ball and voila...instead of underspin as in a golf ball it is top spin. Top spin with a lot of speed behind the racquet face. Just look at the McEnroe videos and study the path of his follow throughs. They sort of seem to match the way the speed hand wrist behaves...in fact it doesn’t seem, it does.

Even though the stronger grips of modern tennis are termed strong...I wonder. It takes an awful lot of backswing to generate that racquet head speed whereas the continental is practically instantaneous as compared to. Since the arc of the backswing is greatly reduced and the speed is instantaneous now the element of control is greatly enhanced as well. One can access the whole court with only subtle deviations in the swing...which I find very interesting compared to, well you know what.

Ok...the title of this thread is “My Thoughts on the John McEnroe Forehand”. That is precisely what it is. It's only a dream...my hallucinations. Take it for what it is. Either this or "Song for a Winter's Night"...there isn't any more room in my head.

This post from don_budge was my Christmas present and I'm so thankful. Thank you db for the insights and time you put into this thread. Awesome stuff. Geeking out to it big time. Thanks for your knowledge, support and kind words throughout the year.

Merry Christmas to all!

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

[don_budge]

My thoughts from Golfers and grips to the John McEnroe forehand to a Winter's Night

Happy Happy Everything to you my fellow Spin Doctors! What does it matter if we ever agree...you are there and I am here. But I will tell you one thing...this little discussion about the continental grip and the John McEnroe forehand is spinning and spinning around my head like I remember the wind in the Cochise Stronghold in the Dragoon mountains one fall night when it sounded like a train going around and around the canyon. The lights in the eyes of the little critters peering in from the night at my fire were highly entertaining until there was a noise that sounded a little too big for comfort and sent me diving into my tent. So much for courage...we are all afraid of the dark. Especially if we sense there is something bigger than us out there. Where was I? Oh yea...the Spin Doctor. Listening to the wind of my soul. You feeling this blake_b?

But anyways we had this little discussion about grips and golfing and brainwashing yesterday. Well it all adds up to something...to me. Perhaps there is someone out there that can follow my train of thought. I don't know...everyone needs to be understood. I wonder if I am any different.

Back to the golf grips and the McEnroe deal. Try this one on for size and see if it fits. You are going to love this...or hate it. All yesterday I was trying to find my way through this maze of grip discussion. Now I know how it feels to hit with a continental forehand because I have tried it. I have a pretty good feeling for the mechanics as I took a couple of weeks off to study the video evidence in the archives while holding my racquet solely in a continental grip for the duration. The feeling that I have now is that my forehand is much superior since I converted to the continental. My previous forehand could probably be termed a Federfore imitation. I have described some of my experiences with the continental forehand and how much more variety there is to my forehand now. My young protege has seen it a couple of times now and he is completely perplexed. It seemed that the worm had turned and he was all over me with his topspin and speed and youth. Now I was creeping up on the baseline and taking the ball early and driving it back with really good accuracy to all points of the court...ala McEnroe.

But I turned the tables and his comment was he couldn’t find any holes on my side of the court and from my point of view I had him off balance way more than he did me. Sure he beat me with his speed some, but when there was an exchange between us I had all of the answers way more often than not. Tactically speaking with all of my experience I had all kinds of choices as I described in my post regarding the Karsten Popp Classic backhand. Believe me...when I was playing I wasn’t asking myself the question why...I was only concentrating on my mechanics and my tactics. The mechanics were simply boiled down to the McEnroe backswing, set the racquet back in position ala Johnny with the wrist only slightly laid back and getting my feet and body in position. Everything else took care of itself...from that position everything seemed really simple...just to get the racquet going forwards and holding onto the little bit of lag as long as I could and the results surprised both me and my opponents. I repeat...holding onto that little bit of lag as long as I could. It is possible that it doesn’t matter how much lag there is...maybe it is a matter of just holding onto it until the last possible moment and with the continental it seems that it is possible to hold onto it much longer than with a stronger grip.

So here are my thoughts. It feels that now my wrist is behaving as my speed hand should on my golf club. It seems to me that my golf grip with my speed hand most accurately can be described as a continental grip that I am now using for my tennis swing. My forehand is now speeding through the ball as my speed hand on my golf swing should. Let me put it this way...way more acceleration at the moment of impact. With just the little bit of lag that I achieve when using the continental grip, something about the structure of the wrist and the swing of the tennis racquet has what I describe as a multiplier effect when the racquet face is making contact with the ball...in fact let’s say through the hitting zone. The hitting zone being defined as immediately before contact and immediately after contact...as long as I can maintain the integrity of the wrist until as a passive hinge it wants to slam the door. And slam the door it does. tennis_chiro calls it the Bruce Lee one inch punch effect.

From watching all of the John McEnroe video that I did...and as I have mentioned I stopped it repeatedly and studied it from every conceivable angle, it seems to me that the continental gripped forehand is behaving much like the speed hand in my golf swing should. The way that Hogan has described it. Now here is the kicker...on the other side of my body when I am hitting the drive backhand with the same grip it seems as if my wrist is behaving as the hand on the end of my golf grip behaves. Exactly. But that is another story...and one that I will be embarking on shortly.

Now keep in mind a couple of observations that have been discussed. Some say that the continental is designed for low balls and thinking about the golf swing and how the ball is so far below this sort of corroborates this theory. The way that the speed hand sets up on the grip of both the club and the racquet it is ideal to somewhat apply some what of a descending blow...but in the tennis stroke if you place the ball just a bit further forward in your stance you are hitting up on the ball and voila...instead of underspin as in a golf ball it is top spin. Top spin with a lot of speed behind the racquet face. Just look at the McEnroe videos and study the path of his follow throughs. They sort of seem to match the way the speed hand wrist behaves...in fact it doesn’t seem, it does.

Even though the stronger grips of modern tennis are termed strong...I wonder. It takes an awful lot of backswing to generate that racquet head speed whereas the continental is practically instantaneous as compared to. Since the arc of the backswing is greatly reduced and the speed is instantaneous now the element of control is greatly enhanced as well. One can access the whole court with only subtle deviations in the swing...which I find very interesting compared to, well you know what.

Ok...the title of this thread is “My Thoughts on the John McEnroe Forehand”. That is precisely what it is. It's only a dream...my hallucinations. Take it for what it is. Either this or "Song for a Winter's Night"...there isn't any more room in my head.

[stotty]

Upright Mac upright Mecir

Yes, another part of McEnroe's uniqueness is his uprightness. It's like someone is pinning back both his shoulders as he plays. Upright players have been seen before but not to the extent of McEnroe. Mecir kept his lower back locked and straight which accounted for his upright style, but McEnroe is pinned back at the shoulders...never seen that in any other player.

[bottle]

Down and Up Backswing

Vertical backswing close to the body in the example of hard hitting you, Steve,
picked for me. Then M's forward swing, in pure contrast, is out to the side, which means he's getting good connection and clout from his erect, martinet-like body.

Now I'll look up the word "martinet": 1) a strict disciplinarian, 2) one who stresses a rigid adherence to the details of forms and methods. Derivation: a 17th century French army officer.

There must be some irony here someplace. In any case M's body is upright and rigid, like an imagined 17th century French army officer.

But he looks and is preternaturally relaxed. Does this mean he failed to suck in his gut?

I believe there are some interesting opposites to be discovered in this fellow, and in this shot.

https://www.tennisplayer.net/tp_player/john-mcenroe/

[10splayer]

I believe in good grips.....whether it be volleys, serve, or in this case the forehand.... The most important part of this is choosing a grip, that will allow a player to develop a game that suits them.. NOT limit there future options by allowing them to play with an extreme grip. Just as i would never let a kid start with a full western, like wise NEVER a continental. By allowing them to operate within these extreme grip parameters, you (as a teacher) have locked them into a certain style of play. (more or less) There is a huge grey area here, from which to choose from. And that's about all i have to say on the subject. Carry on.

[10splayer]

This really is a great thread. For me it's not the continental grip that makes Mac's forehand shot so unusual, unique. What gives it weird and incredibly distinctive look is it's lack of lay back in the wrist...it's responsible for so much. If he broke the wrist back even a litte more then it would start to look a little more like Laver's.

We normally associate very talented players as being incredibly good wrist snappers, like Nastase...but with McEnroe it's all about the hands...incredible hands....the best in the business...the best ever.

I'm on the same page as 10splayer regarding the grip. While it is possible to get good flip with a continental if you try, it is less natural and the wrist never bends back as much as with more extreme grips, where it's hard NOT to flip.

Forehands these days are far better than they were in the classic era. For me that's down to the grip, and from there all the things that resulted from it. There is no going back...only forwards...but it's great fun to look back and study all the things that we missed and were right in front of our eyes all along.

Magnificent thread don_budge...great discussion and dialogue...Tennisplayer.net at it's best.

This......agreed.

[don_budge]

Thanks John...

Tennisplayer.net at it's best.

This has been a lot of fun...Major Fun! A huge thanks to John. From the stroke archive birthed the basis of this study of the John McEnroe forehand.

The availability of 31 different variations of the John McEnroe forehand that you can pause and analyze at any given point countless times made this discussion possible.

So many ideas have popped up from previous discussions and previous articles...the website is a great tool for tennis coaches.

The best to you John for this Holiday Season...the very best to your family. That goes for the rest of you...we Motley Crew of tennis_coaches and tennis_students.

I am still not done with this one. More to follow.

[stotty]

Continental Mac

Another thing that comes to mind is that I believe Harry Hopman the legendary Australian tennis coach may have actually had some influence on the McEnroe game as I believe that he may of had something to do with an outfit at the Port Washington Tennis Academy. I think that tennis_chiro could shed some light on this.

http://www.bardmoortennisacademy.com/?section=tennis-legacy

It looks like good old "Hop" is using a continental forehand grip.

This really is a great thread. For me it's not the continental grip that makes Mac's forehand shot so unusual, unique. What gives it weird and incredibly distinctive look is it's lack of lay back in the wrist...it's responsible for so much. If he broke the wrist back even a litte more then it would start to look a little more like Laver's.

We normally associate very talented players as being incredibly good wrist snappers, like Nastase...but with McEnroe it's all about the hands...incredible hands....the best in the business...the best ever.

I'm on the same page as 10splayer regarding the grip. While it is possible to get good flip with a continental if you try, it is less natural and the wrist never bends back as much as with more extreme grips, where it's hard NOT to flip.

Forehands these days are far better than they were in the classic era. For me that's down to the grip, and from there all the things that resulted from it. There is no going back...only forwards...but it's great fun to look back and study all the things that we missed and were right in front of our eyes all along.

Magnificent thread don_budge...great discussion and dialogue...Tennisplayer.net at it's best.

[don_budge]

"stroke's" comment from the Karsten Popp classic backhand thread...

I like what Don Budge pointed out about Karsten standing up on the baseline and refusing to budge, which his basically continental, old school style allow him to so. Certainly no extreme grips and spin here, which makes the game a lot easier to play as one ages. As also has been pointed out by a couple of posters, Karsten's grip structure and style resembles McEnroe, who appears to be the greatest over 50 player ever. McEnroe's grip structure, and resulting style of play, is to me the ultimate role model for aging players.

I think you are making a very good point here for the aging tennis player. The difficulty that I have these days in my golden years with these young whipper snappers is the question of preparation. Split seconds add up when you are trying to turn the mass of your body and at the same time trying to make some massive backward motion with your backswing.

If you look at McEnroe's hand the distance that it covers by going directly back into position to go forwards is much less than say a Federer backswing. Then there is the question of changing grips for a drive backhand from a strong gripped forehand. Now you have a double indemnity...movement to the ball and at the same time trying to find the proper grip. Using one grip eliminates this variable in the equation. Time saver!

I have found too that it is possible to hug the baseline and go toe to toe with the heavy topspin and put these players back on their heels "Mac Style". Shooting darts back on the high looping balls and the high looping backswings is as good an answer to making up a few years that I can think or. Excellent point...stroke!

Economy of motion for the aging...why not for the young at heart too?

[don_budge]

Harry Hopman and John McEnroe...

Going back to Mac's originality, it is conceivable that he was influenced stylistically by a much lesser player than a world-class player. I was influenced by the top players at my club as I was growing up, not always the very top players. You have no judgement about technique when you are young, so look for styles that impress you...you go for looks. It's feasible Mac did a similar thing...what a thought.

As it turns out it is not so unusual afterall...considering his idol was one Rodney Laver...the great Aussie from the Harry Hopman school of tennis tradition.

https://www.tennisplayer.net/tp_player/rod-laver/

https://www.tennisplayer.net/tp_player/rod-laver/

Another thing that comes to mind is that I believe Harry Hopman the legendary Australian tennis coach may have actually had some influence on the McEnroe game as I believe that he may of had something to do with an outfit at the Port Washington Tennis Academy. I think that tennis_chiro could shed some light on this.

http://www.bardmoortennisacademy.com/?section=tennis-legacy

It looks like good old "Hop" is using a continental forehand grip.