The Fed connection: How Smith’s grip is linked to tennis, and why it’s helping his game

If it has looked like Steve Smith is hitting the ball about as well as his all-time tennis hero Roger Federer lately, that’s because he is.

In the wake of his latest barnstorming effort, a powerful century in the Sydney Smash at a packed SCG on Saturday night that was his second Big Bash League hundred in as many innings, Smith used tennis terms to describe his recent technical changes.

Steve Smith launches at the SCG.Credit: Getty

A stunning, unbeaten 125 from 66 balls flowed from Smith’s bat for the Sixers against the Thunder despite a sluggish pitch and a back complaint – he suffered spasms during the afternoon before play and needed plenty of time on the physio bench beforehand.

In opening up what was previously a grip for a very closed bat face, Smith said he moved from the top spinning “western” grip favoured by most baseliner tennis pros in the contemporary era, to something more like the “eastern” or “continental” grips.

Those grips, which open up the face of the bat (or racquet) to allow more slice on the ball, also allow for a forehand to be hit more flatly with less top spin and greater power – something Federer naturally chose from a young age, and used to awesome effect over his career.

For comparison, Federer’s more eastern forehand was known to generate a little more than half the topspin revolutions imparted by Rafael Nadal’s western grip.

“I was probably actually holding the bat how I hold my tennis racket before,” Smith said at the SCG. “I don’t know what it’s called, the western grip maybe with my right hand. But I’ve opened that up to what’s called a continental grip maybe ... a bit more open, just allowing me to slice the ball and hit gaps and hit the ball further.

More eastern than western: the Federer forehand.Credit: AP

“It just opens my bat face a bit. If you look at some of my footage from 12 months ago ... four or five years probably, during that period I was quite closed with my face, which probably didn’t enable me to hit the ball as big.”

That’s because the western grip imparts more top spin on the ball, meaning more height over the net and more chance of landing safely inside the baseline in tennis terms. But in cricket, where hitting the ball further offers more value, something flatter or even back spun can bring rich rewards.

“I was probably top spinning it, as opposed to back spinning it and letting the ball go up and away further,” Smith explained. “I thought I back spun a couple of nice ones tonight. The ball just travels a lot better when you do that.

Steve Smith with Roger Federer at the Australian Open 2018.Credit: Instagram

“It’s been a nice adjustment for me, I feel like I’m batting well in all forms of the game. Hopefully I can continue scoring some runs and helping firstly the Sixers and then the Aussies after that.”

On some level, Federer’s retirement from tennis in September 2022 may have aided Cricket Australia in its efforts to bring Smith back to the BBL following a similar deal for David Warner, because it lessened the temptation for an Australian Open visit in late January between Test match assignments.

Smith’s admiration for Federer has been long-running. Back in 2017, he spoke about the sort of cricketer Federer might have been. The same year, Smith indulged in a promotional hit of tennis with the Canadian pro Milos Raonic on a court at Melbourne Park.

“I kind of liken him a bit to Mark Waugh, who was my favourite cricketer growing up. He just made everything look so easy and effortless,” Smith had said of Federer. “I see similarities in the way that those two go about their business in the respective sports. I think he’d be very stylish and just make it look easy.”

As for the back flare-up, Smith said that if anything, it had helped him to stay low on the ball for an SCG surface that rewarded that kind of posture.

“I’m struggling to get upright, I can bend down alright. Getting into extension is probably not ideal,” he said. “But it probably helped me in my batting and kept me a bit lower in my shots for a bit longer on that wicket. It’s a bit stiff, but hopefully I’ll pull up OK.”

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