Is Western Grip Making Pro Forehands Vulnerable?

[stroke]

How would a modern day Fabrice do? I think he or she might really go higher than we think.

To me, Fabrice was a great player who realized his potential, but I think the mens field has gotten even deeper.

[arturohernandez]

To me, Fabrice was a great player who realized his potential, but I think the mens field has gotten even deeper.

I agree. I just wonder if at the junior level someone will try to develop these skills better. Maybe that is what Alcaraz is doing with the drop shot. Finding a way to change the game so that he doesn't have to bang groundstrokes all the time.

[jimlosaltos]

One item in the NYT piece that struck me as wrong was this quote by an ATP coach that the one-hander has to make bigger grip changes. Then I thought that he is probably still talking about the full Western forehand, so then, yes the grip change is huge -- unless you're Philip Kohlschreiber, in which case you just flip the racket over and use the same grip -- and racket side -- for forehand and backhand <g>.

[stroke]

One item in the NYT piece that struck me as wrong was this quote by an ATP coach that the one-hander has to make bigger grip changes. Then I thought that he is probably still talking about the full Western forehand, so then, yes the grip change is huge -- unless you're Philip Kohlschreiber, in which case you just flip the racket over and use the same grip -- and racket side -- for forehand and backhand <g>.

I can still remember that service return piece by JY on the Kohl service return where he pointed out Kohl was using the same side of the racquet strings with hardly any grip change. There was also at one time an article by Chris Lewitt on this site that addressed that Kohl method. Chris call it the "universal grip", or the new continental. There are so few 1 handers now, it may not really get going.