Know thy grip

I have been to this page of Jeff Cooper a few times before and never really looked into it much; his lingo here never meant much to me. Tonight though, I got my racket out, the first time when reading about tennis and it all came through. The handle of the racket is hexagonal!! I never noticed that until now :O

So here are the grips.

Continental Forehand Grip
The palm is on the upper, right slant of the hexagonal handle

• The racket face tilts upwards
• Appropriate for hitting a slice
• To hit flat - need to meet the ball in a weaker, slightly farther back than with eastern
  
• Poorly suited to hitting top spins
• Best for handling low bounces
  

Eastern Forehand grip
Palm is along the side(Right vertical) of the handle.

• Wrist is straight and relaxed - Very natural and physically secure position
• Racket face remains vertical
• Very versatile - easy enough to tilt the face to slice the ball, and can hit a top spin with a vertical face.
• more western grips yield better top spin, hence are preferred more.
  

Semi-western forehand grip
Palm is on the lower right slant of the hexagonal handle

• Results in a natural downward tilt of the racket face
  
• To counteract this, meet the ball a bit farther forward than you'd for an eastern grip
• You will generally need to swing upward more sharply, which encourages you to hit topspin
• Good at generating top spin and handling opponents' the high bounces
• Not so great for slices and on low balls
  

Western Forehand Grip
Palm is on the bottom side of the hexagonal handle!

• Racket faces tilts downwards severely
• Must meet the ball even farther forward
• Most natural swing pattern is sharly upwards and very fast - heavy top spin.
• Hitting flat or a slice is awkward
  

Hawaiian forehand grip
Palm is on the lower, left slant of the hexagonal handle!!!

• Requires point of contact to be way in the front or quite high
• Requires whipping upwards severely
• Cant hit flat or slice

Wow, I had never thought there was so much behind each grip. Hopefully, knowing about this will help consciously choose the right one and possibly switch between shots. If I may borrow a pharse from cricket - playing according to the merit of the ball.