Most tennis players have no idea what tennis grips they are using and what that means for their game. The grip is extremely important though because it influences the angle of your racket face!
In order to help you guys get a better understanding of the proper tennis grips I made a video where I explain all of the basics and give some recommendations for good grips!
My Tennis Grips Video
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Video Summary
The grip influences the angle of your racket face and therefore influences how open or how closed your racket face is, which has a big influence on how you need to swing to contact!
Players and coaches often use terminology like the continental grip, the western grip, or the semi-western grip to describe different tennis grips. This is certainly an option but I believe there is a better way to describe tennis grips.
Every tennis grip has 8 sides or bevels to it and we can put numbers on the grip. Then we can measure where the index knuckle and heel pad of our hand are in relation to those numbers. This is a much more precise way to describe the different kinds of grips and makes it much easier for players to work on changing grips!
For simplicity we can focus on the index knuckle because the heel pad usually falls in place if you have the index knuckle in a good position.
For the forehand I recommend any grip that is in the range between bevel number 3 and bevel number 4. For beginners it is usually a good idea to place the index knuckle on bevel number 3 for the forehand. This is often called an eastern grip. With that grip it is usually rather easy to get the ball over the net in the beginning. For intermediate and advanced players I recommend the index knuckle either on bevel 3.5 or bevel 4. Placing it on 4 will make it easier to deal with high-bouncing topspin shots and placing it on bevel 3.5 will make it easier to deal with lower shots.
For the one-handed backhand I recommend that beginners place the index knuckle on bevel 1.5. This can also stay your long-term grip. Some advanced players prefer to move over a little bit though and put the index knuckle on bevel number 1. Again this closes the racket face a little more and therefore makes it easier to deal with high-bouncing balls. I do not recommend any of you guys to go over any further than bevel number 1 though!
For the two-handed backhand we have to look at the placement for both hands. The bottom or right hand for the right hander is well placed on bevel number 2. 1.5 is also an option. Try to stay away from having a bottom hand grip that is further over towards the forehand grip; so do not put the index knuckle on bevel number 2.5 or even bevel number 3!
For the left hand we simply count the other way on the grip and place the left hand on bevel number 3, counting the other way. Do not go down towards are more extreme grip with the left hand. If you have your left hand on bevel number 4 you are in big trouble!
Ok. Last but not least let’s look at the serve grip. The serve grip is fortunately one of those tennis grips that people do not argue that much about. The ideal grip is with the index knuckle on bevel number 2, what is often called a continental grip. Beginners can start a little more towards a forehand grip; so on bevel 2.5 for example. This will make it easier to get the ball into the court in the beginning. Just make sure that you switch over to bevel number 2 once you get to the intermediate stage in your tennis development!
Allright. So much for the tennis grips. They are important so make sure that you check on your own grips!
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