Video:How to Get a Western Forehand Grip
with Jeff CooperA Western forehand grip in tennis can help to handle high balls and hit more topspin. Watch this how-to video from About.com to learn how and when to use the Western grip.See Transcript
Transcript:How to Get a Western Forehand Grip
Hi, I'm Jeff Cooper for About.com, here to show you how to get a Western forehand grip.
What's the Western Forehand Grip?
The Western grip places the base knuckle of your index finger on the bottom plane of the handle, which is a full 90 degrees away from the plane of the strings. On the Western grip, like on any other grip, you want your hand spread along the handle a little bit.
About the Western Forehand Grip
Because the Western grip puts your hand on a plane that's 90 degrees below the plane of the strings, it really makes your racquet want to tilt down severely, so that to compensate for that, you have to swing up pretty sharply and hit a lot of topspin, and also, you have to meet the ball quite forward. The fact that it makes you hit more topspin is useful for some players, and it's also very useful to be able to hit the ball up high. You can hit higher on a Western grip with comfort than you can with the other grips.
But, the huge disadvantage is that it's almost impossible to hit a slice, and it's also very weak on low balls.
For more on grips and everything else in tennis, visit About.com.