Feliciano Lopez"s Slice Backhand Grip
Feliciano Lopez's Slice Backhand Grip
The grip Feliciano Lopez uses for slice backhands reflects the overall skew of his backhand grips toward the forehand positions. His topspin grip is Continental; for slices, he rotates his hand half a handle plane (22.5 degrees) toward the Eastern forehand position to a Semi-Continental position. For most players, such a grip would produce a ton of backspin but relatively little power. Feliciano is strong enough to generate decent drive on his slice backhand, but it's mostly a defensive shot, and his backhand is clearly his weak side.
James Blake's Slice Backhand Grip
James Blake's slice backhand grip is as extreme as you'll see among prominent pro players. Blake's topspin backhand grip is just a bit toward the Modified Eastern from Continental, and that grip would work fairly well for slices, but as he gets ready to slice, James rotates his hand a little more than a full handle plane (45 degrees), all the way to an Eastern Forehand grip. For most players, this would be an extremely weak grip that would produce a high, floating slice with a ton of backspin, but because James is exceptionally strong and used to it, he manages to hit a decent, although mostly defensive, slice.
Mikhail Youzhny's Slice Backhand Grip
For slice backhands, Mikhail Youzhny rotates his hand 1.5 handle planes (67.5 degrees) from his topspin backhand grip, which is 3/4 of the way from Continental toward Modified Eastern, all the way to an Eastern forehand, where he wraps his hand straighter around the handle than one would for a forehand grip (instead of spreading it up along the handle). Most players would find Mikhail's topspin backhand grip fairly solid for slices, whereas slicing with the Eastern forehand grip as Mikhail does requires exceptional strength to generate any power and to avoid floating the ball much too high.
Nicolas Almagro's Slice Backhand Grip
Nicolas Almagro uses a Semi-Continental grip for backhand slices, rotating his hand 1.5 handle planes (67.5 degrees) from his topspin backhand grip, which is Full Eastern. Many players hit slice backhands lower and harder with an Eastern backhand grip without sacrificing backspin, but with the Eastern grip, you have to rotate your forearm counterclockwise (for a righty) to make the string bed tilt upward enough to hit a slice.
With Almagro's Semi-Continental grip, you have to rotate your forearm the other way; otherwise, the racquet face would tilt upward too much and make the ball fly too high if hit with any real forward drive. The Semi-Continental grip doesn't support the racquet as well as the Eastern backhand grip, but perhaps Nicolas prefers the direction of rotation it requires--or he may have just learned that way and gotten used to it.
Richard Gasquet's Slice Backhand Grip
Richard Gasquet has an unusually large grip change from his slice backhand, which he hits with a Semi-Continental grip, to his topspin backhand, which he hits with a grip a bit beyond the Eastern, toward the Semi-Western. Gasquet slices fewer backhands than most one-handers, because his topspin backhand is spectacularly powerful and he can execute it up to a much higher contact point than most players can.
When Richard does slice, rotating his grip makes it easier for him to open the racquet face (tilt it upward), but almost two full racquet planes (90 degrees) is much more rotation than he would need if he had learned to slice with an Eastern or Modified Eastern backhand grip, either of which would feel stronger to most players.
Roger Federer uses a Continental grip for slice backhands, a relatively small change (less than 45 degrees) from his topspin grip, between Modified Eastern and Eastern. The Continental grip produces a natural racquet angle well suited to hitting heavy backspin, but it doesn't support the racquet as solidly for driving a slice with power as the Modified Eastern or Eastern backhand grips do. The few players who beat Roger do so mostly by hitting high to his backhand, where he has trouble driving the ball back aggressively with slice or topspin, so one might think Roger could lessen that weakness by using a stronger grip for slices, but Roger's strength almost certainly makes up for the relatively mild weakness of the Continental grip; it's difficult to hit an aggressive one-handed backhand drive from a high contact point no matter what you do.
Stan Wawrinka uses a Continental grip for his slice backhands, changing the least of any of the players here from his topspin backhand grip, which is only half a racquet plane (22.5 degrees) away at Modified Eastern. Stan prefers to hit his exceptionally efficient topspin backhand, but his slice works well when balls are too high or too low to topspin, and, of course, when he wants to make his shot stay low on his opponent's side, such as on approach shots.
The grip Feliciano Lopez uses for slice backhands reflects the overall skew of his backhand grips toward the forehand positions. His topspin grip is Continental; for slices, he rotates his hand half a handle plane (22.5 degrees) toward the Eastern forehand position to a Semi-Continental position. For most players, such a grip would produce a ton of backspin but relatively little power. Feliciano is strong enough to generate decent drive on his slice backhand, but it's mostly a defensive shot, and his backhand is clearly his weak side.
James Blake's Slice Backhand Grip
James Blake's slice backhand grip is as extreme as you'll see among prominent pro players. Blake's topspin backhand grip is just a bit toward the Modified Eastern from Continental, and that grip would work fairly well for slices, but as he gets ready to slice, James rotates his hand a little more than a full handle plane (45 degrees), all the way to an Eastern Forehand grip. For most players, this would be an extremely weak grip that would produce a high, floating slice with a ton of backspin, but because James is exceptionally strong and used to it, he manages to hit a decent, although mostly defensive, slice.
Mikhail Youzhny's Slice Backhand Grip
For slice backhands, Mikhail Youzhny rotates his hand 1.5 handle planes (67.5 degrees) from his topspin backhand grip, which is 3/4 of the way from Continental toward Modified Eastern, all the way to an Eastern forehand, where he wraps his hand straighter around the handle than one would for a forehand grip (instead of spreading it up along the handle). Most players would find Mikhail's topspin backhand grip fairly solid for slices, whereas slicing with the Eastern forehand grip as Mikhail does requires exceptional strength to generate any power and to avoid floating the ball much too high.
Nicolas Almagro's Slice Backhand Grip
Nicolas Almagro uses a Semi-Continental grip for backhand slices, rotating his hand 1.5 handle planes (67.5 degrees) from his topspin backhand grip, which is Full Eastern. Many players hit slice backhands lower and harder with an Eastern backhand grip without sacrificing backspin, but with the Eastern grip, you have to rotate your forearm counterclockwise (for a righty) to make the string bed tilt upward enough to hit a slice.
With Almagro's Semi-Continental grip, you have to rotate your forearm the other way; otherwise, the racquet face would tilt upward too much and make the ball fly too high if hit with any real forward drive. The Semi-Continental grip doesn't support the racquet as well as the Eastern backhand grip, but perhaps Nicolas prefers the direction of rotation it requires--or he may have just learned that way and gotten used to it.
Richard Gasquet's Slice Backhand Grip
Richard Gasquet has an unusually large grip change from his slice backhand, which he hits with a Semi-Continental grip, to his topspin backhand, which he hits with a grip a bit beyond the Eastern, toward the Semi-Western. Gasquet slices fewer backhands than most one-handers, because his topspin backhand is spectacularly powerful and he can execute it up to a much higher contact point than most players can.
When Richard does slice, rotating his grip makes it easier for him to open the racquet face (tilt it upward), but almost two full racquet planes (90 degrees) is much more rotation than he would need if he had learned to slice with an Eastern or Modified Eastern backhand grip, either of which would feel stronger to most players.
Roger Federer uses a Continental grip for slice backhands, a relatively small change (less than 45 degrees) from his topspin grip, between Modified Eastern and Eastern. The Continental grip produces a natural racquet angle well suited to hitting heavy backspin, but it doesn't support the racquet as solidly for driving a slice with power as the Modified Eastern or Eastern backhand grips do. The few players who beat Roger do so mostly by hitting high to his backhand, where he has trouble driving the ball back aggressively with slice or topspin, so one might think Roger could lessen that weakness by using a stronger grip for slices, but Roger's strength almost certainly makes up for the relatively mild weakness of the Continental grip; it's difficult to hit an aggressive one-handed backhand drive from a high contact point no matter what you do.
Stan Wawrinka uses a Continental grip for his slice backhands, changing the least of any of the players here from his topspin backhand grip, which is only half a racquet plane (22.5 degrees) away at Modified Eastern. Stan prefers to hit his exceptionally efficient topspin backhand, but his slice works well when balls are too high or too low to topspin, and, of course, when he wants to make his shot stay low on his opponent's side, such as on approach shots.
