All Court Tennis:
The Four Grips

Brent Abel

In my first article for Tennisplayer, (Click Here) I outlined what I feel are the many advantages of the all court style: versatility, competitive success, fun, and especially, less stress on the body. Instead of limiting yourself to one part of the court, all-court tennis lets you play comfortably everywhere - the baseline, the net, and especially, in the critical transition areas. It's a style that simultaneously helps your singles and doubles game.

For me this isn't just theory. It comes out of my own competitive experience in national senior tennis. And I find that playing all court tennis just keeps getting better and better. In the last article I talked about the thrill of winning a national senior doubles title.

Since that article I have had an experience that may have topped that: winning a second gold ball, this time a national singles title at the 60's Hardcourts in Rancho Mirage, California. In the next article, I'll outline how I used the all court style to win this title, and especially, the variety of tactics this required over the course of the tournament.

All court tennis yielded a gold ball for a national singles title.

It's important to understand that all court tennis is not simply a means of hitting the ball. All court tennis is fundamentally a court positioning strategy. The strokes, the grips, the tactics all work together in an integrated way to apply continuous pressure to your opponents. By moving to the right places, by using grips and strokes that help you get to these spots and hit the ball smoothly you constantly force opponents to come up with good shots.

The cumulative effect of this constant pressure often results in technical, tactical, and especially, mental breakdowns by your opponents. This is one of the major reasons this style produces fantastic competitive results.

The Foundation

So let's look at the foundation you need to build an all court game for yourself. And that foundation is grips. Grips are the foundation not only of all court tennis-but of any technical style. There are many factors that determine how we shape a swing and how we make contact with the ball- - feet, knees, hips, shoulders, eyes. But to a great extent, the grip is what dictates the nature and sequence of every stroke.

What I want to do is this article is to demonstrate the range of grips you need for an all court style. But more importantly I want to show how these grips correlate to all the various shots you hit with these grips everywhere on the court.

I believe there are four all court grips. The first is the Continental. The second is a less extreme version of the Continental grip, what I call the Modified Continental. The other two all court grips are the Eastern forehand grip and the Eastern backhand.

These grips work together in all court forcing tennis. They allow you to attack the net at every opportunity and play with confidence when you get there. They also allow you to optimize your groundstrokes to the situations and types of balls you are dealing with in a given match. This allows you to pressure your opponent from the backcourt and on returns, again creating opportunities for attack.

I said that alll court grips allow you to succeed at the net, in the backcourt, and also in the critical transition game, in both singles in doubles. This is because these grips allow you to go forward in the most efficient possible manner. Finally, they allow you to play great defense when needed, which is also an important aspect of all court style.

Only by employing the proper grip at the proper time can you play a full range of shots, and execute the right shot for the possible circumstance. If your grip choices are narrow or you don't know what each can do, your game will be limited.

If you're able to place your hand on the racket the right way, you'll maximize the way the ball comes off the racket. The more versatility you have with your grips, and the greater your awareness of what each grip can do, the more options you'll have when you hit the ball. And the more options you have, the more successful you'll be in placing balls out of your opponent's comfort zone.

Disruption

One of the other major advantages in learning to master a variety grips is the power of disruption. Don't underestimate the importance of this point. Most recreational players are somewhat competent at some range of shots, but everyone has ways they're more proficient hitting the ball than others.

Some people, for example, can't tolerate low, short balls. Others get nervous at high backhands -- but that same player will have no problem with high forehands. Or vice versa. Finding out what your opponent doesn't like is one of the key points in playing all court tennis.

A variety of grips allows you to master the shots you need to take your opponents out of their comfort zone. Sometimes the difference in a given match is just one placement and/or spin that counters or neutralizes the strength of your opponent's game.

Your ability to alter the shape, height, spin and depth of your ball with confidence and consistency will pay tremendous competitive dividends. This is something I'll be writing about more in the next article on my own competitive experience at the 60's National Hardcourts, where I employed a range of tactics against some very tough opponents, but players with very different games.

A Natural Swing

The purpose of any grip is to help you shape a shot or swing. The shape of the swing is what creates the shot trajectory -- and in the process, produces a natural level of spin and pace.

I believe that when you shape a shot, it should come to you easily and fluidly, without having to force your racket, or fight the ball, or use your muscles in an awkward, strained, or artificial manner.

That kind of stroking leads not just to ineffective shotmaking, but it can also cause injuries to your wrist, lower back, shoulder, neck and so on. There's just nothing to be gained from fighting the ball and trying to hit it harder than you really should.

Grip Tension

Besides the grip itself, another part of developing a smooth stroke is the level of tension in the grip. Most players hold the racket far too tightly regardless of their exact grip structure.

I will guarantee you this: a relaxed grip can do wonders for your game. If you haven't taken a close look at this aspect in your game, do so now. I feel most players should hold the racket a little more loosely than they actually do.

Try actually walking around your home holding your racket this way and trying to develop a soft grip tension. Try it when you're rallying. Don't worry; your mind and hands will react appropriately when it comes time to strike the ball.

You can even consider using a smaller grip than you've previously employed, like many players these days, for example both Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. Obviously Federer and Nadal are completely different technical players, but one thing they do share is smaller racket handles, relaxed grips and relaxed swings.

Why Four Grips?

So why do you need four grip variations to play all court tennis? Good question, and there are four reasons.

First, to create spin. The right grip at the right time allows you to naturally impart top, side, underspin, as well as presenting a purely flat racket face to the ball when needed.

The second reason is transition. Grips are critical to the various types of approach shots. I believe that tennis is even more about movement than about hitting. To make the most efficient and effective transitions, you want to be able to hit the ball without having to limit your forward progress. Finding the right grip at the right moment will help aid your transitional footwork so that you can be as fluid and balanced as possible.

The third reason is that you need the right grip at the right time is to maximize your shotmaking skills with the new rackets and string technologies. The changes in equipment provide bigger hitting areas and the ability to generate much more pace. But many players never learn how to control this additional pace effectively.

The fourth reason is that different grips allow you to receive balls that come with various degrees of depth and pace and spin. Again, movement is everything. In many cases, you'll want to think less about hitting the ball with a full or abbreviated stroke and more about using your body to move through and against the ball to help improve your court position.

This fourth reason is particularly important, because a big part of all-court tennis is the ability to view pace as your friend. Balls struck by your opponent with pace can be a great asset. Disciplined footwork, proper balance, combined with the right, relaxed grip--all these factors position the racket's string bed to naturally receive the incoming ball. This in turn allows you to borrow incoming pace from your opponent's shots, redirect the ball - and take away his or her time.

So let's take the time go over the four grips and the shots you create using them.

The Continental

The most critical grip in all court tennis is the Continental. If you aren't comfortable with the Continental grip you won't ever become effective at the net or in the transition game. And your defensive game will be limited as well.

The Continental is the foundation of all court tennis.

Since grip terminology varies so much let me explain what I mean by a Continental, and how this grip connects the hand to the racket grip. To me a Continental grip means that the heel pad is mostly on the top bevel of the grip. The index knuckle is in the middle of the next bevel to the right. Using the terminology that has already been developed on Tennisplayer (Click Here) this grip would be called a 2 / 1. So the Continental as I see it places the heel pad on the top bevel, or bevel 1 and the index knuckle on the next one to the right, or bevel 2.

To me the volley is the greatest shot in all court tennis. The Continental grip is the basic grip at the net because it allows you to hit through the volleys, but at the same time impart the right amount of underspin, depending on the height and pace of the ball. You don't have to shift grips, the Continental is the same for forehand and backhand volleys.

At the net, the Continental allows you to quickly adjust no matter how fast or slow the ball, or what angle a passing shot may be coming to you. You can handle low volleys and increase the amount of underspin and you can flatten the shot out slightly on high balls. It also gives you control to hit another shot that can be especially effective at all levels, the drop volley.

The Continental is also vital for what I call the "approach volley" - when you move forward to take an opponent's groundstroke out of the air. This is something you look for in all court tennis---a floating, high ball coming off your opponent's racket that you can attack. By moving forward and hitting the ball in the air with an approach volley, you can begin the attack as effectively and sometimes more effectively than with a traditional approach shot hit off the bounce.

The temptation is to think you have to put this shot away. But the truth is you're usually pretty far back in the court, so what you really want to do is look to strike the ball deep - usually to the open part of the court -- keep your body balanced and move forward to establish good court position.

Serve

The Continental grip is also the serve grip and I believe it helps you strike the serve naturally. With a Continental you can impart sidespin, topspin, hit a kick serve, and even try the occasional flat serve (though even a flat serve has spin on it, as you can't hit the ball down into the court).

The reason I favor the Continental here more than the Eastern backhand is because having your hand that far over with the Eastern forces you to generate tremendous racket speed. That's not so easy for recreational players.

The serve in particular is a shot where you need to hold the racket loosely throughout the swing. And the Continental helps you nicely attain that easy, fluid throwing motion.

Slice Groundstrokes

Slice groundstrokes are vastly underrated, especially below the highest levels in the game. Underspin and sidespin keep the ball low. That's particularly valuable against opponents who like to hit topspin with any version of a Western forehand grip -- and have a hard time getting down to the ball.

The Continental is the best grip here, largely because you're able to easily open the racket face. A Continental helps you naturally slice your backhand - not just from the middle of the court but also when you're run wide and really can't get in play to hit a drive. And even if you're not out of position, slices are wonderfully efficient shots that also carry deep.

And did I say slice forehand as well? You better believe it. It's a key defensive shot--you seen this all the time even at the top levels of the game--the so-called squash shot hit so beautifully by Federer, Nadal and others.

If you've been run off the court on the forehand side, you can't really get your body in place to drive the ball with topspin. Here hitting through the ball with slice is the right defensive play. The Continental will help you smoothly carve through the ball with control and also maintain good body balance so that you can efficiently retreat back to the middle of the court.

In addition to the defensive slice groundstrokes, you also use the Continental to hit short angles and drop shots, and these can be critical shots against certain opponents, as well see in the next article.

Approach Shots

Whether used for a forehand or backhand, the Continental is the grip that helps you strike an approach shot that stays low. Again you are hitting through the ball but still generating substantial underspin, usually with an element of sidespin as well.

The Continental grip lets you transition swiftly through the approach shot rather than have to stop, set up and drive it. Because it's so compact it allows you to flow through the shot quickly and efficiently. The other obvious advantage is that the Continental is also the grip you want to when you get to the net.

Eastern Grips

The Eastern forehand grip, used for driving with topspin.

Although the Continental grip is important everywhere on the court, it's also vital to be able to drive the ball off both sides with topspin. And by topspin I mean moderate rotation, not the massive kind hit by extreme players like Rafael Nadal.

Eastern grips allow you to do this, to drive through the ball with moderate spin. This allows you to obtain the natural, forceful shape of a safe, deep drive.

Remember what is involved in a baseline exchange. You are taking a small yellow ball that's bouncing a few inches off the ground and seeking to propel it more than 70 feet, over a net that's a yard high, so you need a grip that helps you stay down and hit through the shot as long as possible. The Eastern grips help you generate the right level of leverage for this.

Again, let me detail what I mean by my grip terminology. On the forehand side, the Eastern grip places most of your hand behind the handle and in line with your racket face.

The heel pad and the index knuckle are both centered on the third bevel. So using Tennisplayer terminology, the Eastern forehand is a 3 / 3.

Why Eastern as opposed to other options? A Continental forehand often leads to a shorter "flicky" stroke. And while semi-Western grips will generate topspin, too many players seem to use them to generate spin for it's own sake. Often, especially at lower levels, players with these grips hit the ball short, trading pace and depth for spin, and giving all court opponents the chance to attack.

Players who use semi or full Western grips are often extremely limited if opportunities for short balls present themselves, especially if they wait with this grip in the ready position. They also tend to retreat to defend against deep incomings shots with pace. And my own opinion is that by rotating their arms and bodies so much that they're risking injury, particularly in the older age groups.

In contrast, the Eastern forehand grip allows you to drive the ball deep with pace, and generate enough topspin for control and for hitting passing shots. Another application is to hit deep, looping shots, especially to the opponent's backhand. That can produce weak, floating responses so you can then move forward to hit approach volleys.

You can also use it to attack weaker second serves. But these drives are still compact compared to the larger western swings, facilitating movement forward in the all court game.

The Eastern backhand grip: topspin for passing shots.

Eastern Backhand

As with the forehand an Eastern backhand grip allows you to drive through the ball with moderate topspin and still hit with pace and depth.

To me the Eastern backhand places the heel pad and the index knuckle on the top bevel. This is a 1 / 1 usually the numeric terminology, very similar to the grip of Roger Federer.

On the backhand side, depending on the opponent, many groundstrokes will be hit with underspin using the Continental. In backcourt rallies though you may find that against a certain player you driving the ball is more effective than slicing.

At the very least you definitely need to get turned over to the Eastern if you want to generate enough topspin to dip the ball for passing shots. But there are also times, when you may want to slice the ball when your opponent comes in- - to keep it low and force the opponent to volley up.

Or an opponent might well handle pace better than underspin. In other instances you may want to knife an angle crosscourt to help buy you time to retreat and force your opponent to volley back up to you. In these examples, the Continental is better.

As with the Eastern forehand, the Eastern backhand is also good when you want to hit a topspin return of serve off a weak serve in either singles or doubles. And the same applies for hitting deep loops. One thing that I think is important is not just to hit topspin drives for the sake of hitting topspin. It's all about options, decisions and effectiveness.

The Modified Continental, the grip of John McEnroe.

Modified Continental

The fourth grip variation is what I call the Modified Continental. This grip is in between the full Continental and the Eastern forehand. In the Modified Continental, the index knuckle slides down to the edge between the second and third bevel. The heel pad slides down also, so that it is only partially on the top bevel. The heel pad is now centered on the edge between the first and second bevel. So in Tennisplayer terms, the Modified Continental is best described as as a 2 1/2 / 1 1/2.

It's the grip John McEnroe used for every shot, and if you think about how he played, you'll understand why the Modified Continental can be such an effective weapon. This is the grip you want to take the ball early. And this is a critical aspect of the all court forcing game.

Using the Modified Continental, it feels very natural to hit the ball on the rise around the baseline. Doing this puts continuous pressure on the opponent, by taking away his time. Players at all levels simply aren't used to seeing players stand in, or being forced on time.

It's an aggressive way to disrupt the opponent and draw errors. But more importantly, by playing up closer to the baseline and hitting on the rise, you are in better position to move forward and attack.

For the same reason, the Modified Continental is the ideal return grip. It allows you to stand in, time the return, and again create pressure by reducing the interval your opponent has to react. Another big advantage is that you don't have to change grips. It's the same for returning on either side. Another point on the return--you want to be relaxed, holding your hand and body loose, but ready to go.

If you are forced on time yourself, you can also hit passing shots on the rise with this grip. In addition, there are times in the transitional area in the mid court, when you might choose to hit a half volley with the Modified Continental rather than hitting slice. It's a good surprise tactic and can be an effective approach shot as well.

The overhead is another critical all court shot for which the Modified Continental is the preferred grip. The overhead is usually still hit with some spin, but much less than the serve. The Modified Continental is therefore ideal for flattening out the racket head somewhat coming through the contact zone.

Lobs

And finally, there are the lobs. First, my philosophy is that the lob is not intended as a point-ender. I suggest my players resist the temptation to try to hit them with whipping topspin. My experience with recreational players who attempt this is that the point indeed ends - -too often in a bad way, with a lob that is often way long or painfully short.

I recommend two lobs, both hit with the Modified Continental: The first is the offensive lob that tantalizes the net rusher and goes up and over his head on the backhand side, either forcing him to play an awkward high backhand volley or run back to play a groundstroke or a defensive lob.

The other lob is the massive defensive one you hit when you're trying to buy tons of time. Again, put that open racket face to work and really lift the ball up the air. Don't think about spin so much as lift and depth to help you get time to recover back to the middle of the court.

The Bottom Line

As you have probably figured out, there's tremendous flexibility built into all-court tennis. This style includes a very wide array of possible shots, some of which can be hit with more than one grip. Yes, I believe the anchor grip is the Continental.

But as you grow into your all-court game, you should experiment and practice subtle variations. For example experiment with the Eastern grips versus Modified Continental for various backcourt shots and see how they best work for you.

Most of all, keep that grip and hand relaxed, whichever of the four grips you happen to be using. You'll develop better feel for how to shape the shot - and in the process, strike the ball with greater depth, power and accuracy.

Next, we'll see how to put all the shots together to win matches against a range of opponents!