# Perceptions and Practices of Accredited Tennis Coaches When Teaching Foundational Grip Development
## 4 Discussion
### Grip Positions  
Grip positions are a fundamental contribution to effective techniques that are developed during the initial stages of learning tennis [1]. The serve may be considered the most complex of strokes performed in tennis. Classed as a serial skill, the serve relies on the interplay between shot selection, ball-toss positioning, temporal organisation of key kinematic events, and coordinated shot mechanics [12; 34; 35]. This complexity may explain why more experienced coaches may not enforce adherence to the continental grip position for the serve until later in development, compared with less experienced coaches. Despite the fundamental nature of grip positions for effective serve performance, more experienced coaches may rather focus on the temporal and kinematic attributes for effective serves, which include (but are not limited to) 'leg drive' coordination with shoulder mechanics [36], and dominant-arm long-axis internal rotation [37]. These results may also reflect the ages of athletes taught by the coaches as demographic backgrounds have previously been shown to affect survey responses [38]. Less experienced coaches predominantly taught athletes between 7 and 10 years old compared with more experienced coaches who taught athletes between 11 and 17 years old. Given coaches indicated that they teach grip positions for the serve in different age groups, this presents a possible response bias. Adapting to a new grip position or stroke technique in tennis is important to continue developing with evolving physical and tactical match-play characteristics. Over half of coaches indicated that students'revert' their grip positions from what they were instructed to use, with the primary perceived causes being discomfort and out of habit. In more experienced coaches, the frequency of used grip positions across the forehand and double-handed backhand is greater compared with less experienced coaches, who are still in favour of the Eastern and Semi-Western grip. This is consistent with the previous literature as the majority of the top 100 professional players (male and female) use the Eastern and Semi-Western grip as the top hand in the double-handed backhand [15]. Also evident in sub-elite tennis, athletes reported using the Eastern (24.9%) and Semi-Western (60.5%) grips for the forehand stroke [5]. It is important to note that grip influences the kinematics of the swing and subsequently post-impact ball characteristics [1; 27]. The Eastern is considered to be a \"traditional\" forehand grip, featured with greater horizontal racket head velocity contribution to ball speed, compared with the Semi-Western, which features increased vertical racket head velocity [3], possibly imparting greater ball spin compared with the Eastern grip. Both are considered versatile to use across playing surfaces as they allow athletes to adapt their swing technique with varying incoming ball speeds and heights. It would be most appropriate to conceptualise the athlete in a nonlinear nature, and that their movement behaviour emerges as an adaptive pattern. Athletes are constantly interacting with affordances, resulting in self-organised movement responses in a complex and dynamic performance environment [10; 11]. In relation to grip positions in tennis,every stroke exchange between opponents (e.g., serve and return, forehand to backhand on the baseline) provide critical sources of information that athletes engage with to prepare and perform effective task outcomes (e.g., returning the serve), commonly requiring an adaptive grip position. Naturally emerging a grip, an approach that involves using multiple grip positions during a stroke, could benefit athletes, allowing them to naturally build grip positions across different scenarios with associated techniques through discovery and movement exploration. Interestingly, a lower number of coaches (up to 8% for the forehand) expressed that they use/allow the Western grip in their methods for tennis development.