The contact point: the stepping stone to an attacking game
Modern tennis is dominated by players with closed (semi-western or western) grips. This trend was started by clay court specialists like Guillermo Vilas back in the 70’s. Since the change to graphite and composite racquets, all the players with big forehands like Marc Rosset, Jim Courrier, Sergi Bruguera, Andre Agassi, Carlos Moya, Gustavo Kuerten, Albert Costa, and Roger Federer play with closed grips. The only exception to this rule is Pete Sampras!
Nowadays all top 10 players in the world play with a closed grip. You are only a couple of players in the top 100 who use an open (eastern or continental) grip.
The thing is that the semi-western and western grips enable the players to hit with more power and spin.
In the resorts in Mauritius where I work, a lot of players that come to see me forget one important point when they hit a closed grip forehand: your racquet face has to face the net at the point of impact. The common mistake is for the racquet face to stay closed. The result is a ball with no power that falls short or in the net…
Those same players come to see me and they ask me to teach them to attack.
The way to develop an attacking forehand is to have your racquet facing the net every time you make contact with the ball. The trick is to rotate your shoulders just before the point of impact so that your torso is also facing the net on contact. Just like Andy Roddick on the picture. This rotation will also add power and spin to your shot and you will deliver a high quality shot!
If your grip is extremely closed and you are still having trouble consider making corrections with the wrist so that you can get that racquet face at the right angle.
Enjoy and have fun on the court with your new forehand!!!
The contact point: the stepping stone to an attacking game
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