Developing a Weapon: Andy Roddick’s Forehand

There’re many ways to create a world class forehand.

When I look at video of Andy Roddick, it’s like I’m having flashbacks because I see this little kid I met
when he was 9 years old, and he already had that forehand.

In fact his game today is exactly the same now as it was then, except he is bigger, stronger, faster and
obviously mentally, a lot different player.

I wouldn’t really suggest that someone hit the ball like Andy. I think his grip is a little awkward. You
wouldn’t really teach someone to hold the racquet like that.

But I learned a lot about coaching working with Andy. For one thing, I learned there were many ways to get to
the mountain top to create a world-class stroke.

Grip

When I started with Andy, he was nine years old and he already had that extreme western grip. Did I ever
think about trying to changing it? Absolutely.

Believe it or not, Andy’s grip was even more extreme when he was
9 or 10 years old.

I thought about moving it to a less extreme semi-western, because he is so far underneath the handle it’s almost like a baseball grip….