Topic: What grip is she using?

[Babblelot]

I've always found Angelique's forehand awkward looking. It's a different grip and follow through from what you see on tour today, or in a long while. It must be old school. Continental? Eastern? And she strikes the ball so flat.

[monstertruck]

I'm surprised you don't know the answer to this Babs!

3 different pics, 3 different frames.

Notice the swing shape as well.
Definitely coming through the ball rather than over it.

She CONK DA BALL!!!

Off-topic-  a quick look through the latest photo galleries from Paris & Pattaya, out of 16 pics only 2 are action photos of a player striking the ball.  To top it off, one is a pic of Bartoli's convoluted, ineffective, service motion!!! aaaaaaargh!!!  The rest are hugs, kisses, and trophy presentations.  WTF???

Looks like an eastern FH grip from here.

[falcon]

Eastern  I've never actually seen her play much but that motion is sure going to hurt her wrists....

[monstertruck]

Actually, with the hand more firmly behind the handle it is more stable than the whipping semi & full western grips favored by most of today's pros.

Great grip for a variety of surfaces.
Can produce some topspin.
Good for low balls.
Terrible for high balls and slicing FH (rarely seen these days).
Also a great grip for transition game.

[falcon]

But look at the awkwardness she has to face when hitting high balls and most returns are high these days. That grip will hurt her wrist.

[monstertruck]

Out of the small sampling of 3 clips provided here, none of the balls are above her shoulder.
I took a brief moment to watch a few vids of her in action.
Several times she did struggle with accuracy on balls above the shoulder to the FH.  The remainder of her shots appeared to be extremely smooth and compact.

As a player who still uses an eastern FH (and having played with numerous others through the years who used the same grip), all I can tell you is none of us ever hurt our wrists.   Certainly not definitive proof though.

My experience has been that a grip change is required to even strike a FH above the shoulder.  It's almost physically impossible to hit the shot with an eastern.

[falcon]

Out of the small sampling of 3 clips provided here, none of the balls are above her shoulder.
I took a brief moment to watch a few vids of her in action.
Several times she did struggle with accuracy on balls above the shoulder to the FH.  The remainder of her shots appeared to be extremely smooth and compact.

As a player who still uses an eastern FH (and having played with numerous others through the years who used the same grip), all I can tell you is none of us ever hurt our wrists.   Certainly not definitive proof though.

My experience has been that a grip change is required to even strike a FH above the shoulder.  It's almost physically impossible to hit the shot with an eastern.

Agreed. I need to watch more of the videos my self but watching WTA??? 

[monstertruck]

Painful, I know.

The good news is, the first 2 clips I watched of Kerber showed she is quite willing to transition to the forecourt and finish points.

Like a breath of fresh air!

[Babblelot]

Grips I don't know, but I figured it was too open to be a continental, which adds to the visual awkwardness.

Henman and Davenport (similar heavy balls as Kerber) also used the eastern grip. But neither looked as odd as Kerber's. She's just got a quirky FH.

[falcon]

Its actually not very odd, having watched a few videos...I think its perfect for the top spin, just that she will be having a lot of trouble with high balls, fortunately for her, no one is consistent enough in wta to exploit that Achilles heel.

[monstertruck]

# indicates where the base knuckle of the forefinger meets the grip for a FH.