I have never played pickleball so I am coming from a tennis background. In your post, you fail to mention the Eastern grip which is the shakehands grip and is usually the first grip taught to beginners. The continental grip is one bevel towards the knuckle if you start at the Eastern and the semi-western is one bevel away from the knuckle. Unless your name is John McEnroe, nobody uses a Continental forehand anymore. The Continental is the preferred grip for serving and volleying, however. It is also the the preferred grip for squash. The Eastern was/is the preferred grip for Steffi Graf, Pete Sampras, Ivan Lendl and Juan Martin Del Potro, Roger Federer uses what is called an Eastern Modified grip which is somewhere between Semi-western and Eastern. The vast majority of players on the tour use Semi-Western, which is better for low balls than Western and better for high balls than Eastern. Rafa Nadal and Novak Djokovic, use grips that are between Semi-Western and Western, but closer to Semi as they need to get the power from the semi. Bjorn Borg, Serena Willaims and Andy Murray use pure Semi-Western grips.The way I think that it easiest to get to Semi is to put you racket on the floor and then pick it up. Wah lah!, you are now in Semi-Western grip. My question is do pickleball players hold the racket in Eastern as the Eastern grip allows for a straighter, flatter shot than Semi-Western? Or is Continental preferred as it allows the player to avoid having to constantly change grips. Remember, McEnroe never had to change grips, he was always in Continental. As you can see, I am a semi-western guy (it is the grip I use), but several Eastern players (Sampras is my favorite) along with Federer and Edberg, and or course Continental McEnroe are the most fun to watch.

I love watching you play. I think if you were partnered with a good player, you can have some success in WTA doubles. How do you think the Bryan brothers would do in Pro Pickleball doubles? IMHO, I believe they would be tough to beat - Yates and Johns may be able to hang with them. They are retiring at the end of 2020. It would be great to see them play some pickleball doubles in 2021. Again, IMHO, especially in the men's game, we will see more power and less dinks in the future, especially as more and more players that retire from ATP tour gravitate to pickleball. As for Anna Leigh, she has a very tough decision in deciding to stay with pickleball or trying to make it on the WTA tour. If she goes to a top tennis academy, she could probably get to top 100 by the time she is 20. X factor is how tall will she get, most women on the tour are pretty tall - mom doesn't look too tall. There are shorter women who do very well; ie Kerber, Halep, and Ash Barty (took a year and a half off to play cricket). Being a tennis guy, I would love to see Anna Leigh out there on the WTA tout.

@@mrbobevans Give pb a try. I believe continental is preferred in pb because of kitchen defense. When an opponent speeds up the play when you're at the net you are more likely going to have a backhand shot. It's a comfortable grip for a backhand. There's no time at the kitchen to switch grips.

Great video. I think it is also good for return of serve, and especially the lob serve where you have to generate your own power back as there is very little residual from the serve.

simone mentions a semi-western grip here in this video but doesn’t explain it.

As an ex-tennis player, I noticed that too.

John If you want to use a closed stance. With an open stance, which is the modern forehand in tennis, you gotta load with the right foot and push off of it.

As a tennis player, I'll say that whether you step forward or back depends on where the ball is bouncing. It's easier to step forward, but if the ball is very deep, you may need to step back first with the right foot before stepping forward with the left.

Sushant I know this is super late, but how hard you're griping the paddle has a direct effect on how far the ball goes, so if you're mid court, holding the paddle softer will allow you to use the same swing with less distance

Sue Prince Response Pro

Same rules apply. Feet must be inside the sideline/center line

Exactly. The forward step with her left foot is actually setting up forward momentum which then transfers into angular momentum of the body, particularly the shoulders and hips. This is the classic tennis "unit turn."

I could be wrong but I think this grip is mostly for drives from around the baseline. Once you start moving up you'd change your grip to the traditional continental.

@@Squaredot01 Squaredot, Can we hit backspin with a Semi-western grip? Thanks so much.

@@randallkadish5663 No, you'd use a slice shot with a continental grip to produce a backspin shot.

@@Squaredot01 It seems to me that if you are using a semi-western grip you are committing yourself to a forehand topspin, before your opponent hits his/her shot. Supposing you have to use a backhand? Supposing your opponent hits a low shot and you want to start your swing above the ball and hit a backspin shot? I am practicing hitting top- and backspin with a continental grip. Maybe I won't get quite as much topspin on my forehand, but I feel the continental grip gives me more options. Am I wrong? Thanks.

Probably a matter of preference. You're right that if you commit to this semi-western grip for the forehand then you'll need a grip change for backhands. We're at or near the baseline in this instance so there's time for a grip change.

I can't tell if you're trolling. It's not a new sport. A lot of pb players are very appreciative of this video. Simone is a very accomplished pb player. She has a very consistent forehand. So, however she hits a forehand is probably a good way of doing it.