Photo Tour of the Forehand Grips for Tennis

The Western grip places your palm on the bottom plane of your handle, a full 90 degrees clockwise from the plane of the string bed. This makes the racquet face tilt downward severely, and you must meet the ball even farther forward (at a given height) than you would with a Semi-Western grip to get the string bed into a vertical plane. The most natural swing pattern with a Western grip is sharply upward and very fast, which explains why most Western hitters generate heavy topspin. The Western grip handles high balls much better than low ones, in large part because a higher point of contact need not be as forward. It is possible for some players to hit flat with a Western grip, but doing so forces your wrist into a very awkward position. Hitting slice Western is only for the true contortionist.