GRIP and how it affects technique

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Hi people,

I never had any coach, like many, what I know is by reading online.
So sorry if this questions are silly :D

For the last year I practiced a loose and relaxed grip(with the fingers barely adding any pressure at all) approach and found that I am faster and my backhand improved a lot too, but its not all advantages for me:

1 — with the loose grip my forehand top spin Has considerable less spin, I just can’t add as much spin and I tried many different ways, but its quicker with more speed and less recovery time.
2 — my backhand improves a lot, as well as my banana flip
3 — i have less consistency, specially with my short serve receives and transitioning from backhand to forehand etc

with a more solid grip, not pressing too hard, just adding a little grip with all the fingers:
1- I have more confidence in all aspects of the game except the backhand becomes much worse and I can't banana flip at all.
2- I can add incredible amounts of spin from the forehand but I lose speed and power.

So basically should I be changing my grip depending on the shots I make or should I try to find a middle point? I only practice 2 times per week with competitions at the weekends.

Thanks guys





 
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Hi people,

I never had any coach, like many, what I know is by reading online.
So sorry if this questions are silly :D

For the last year I practiced a loose and relaxed grip(with the fingers barely adding any pressure at all) approach and found that I am faster and my backhand improved a lot too, but its not all advantages for me:

1 — with the loose grip my forehand top spin Has considerable less spin, I just can’t add as much spin and I tried many different ways, but its quicker with more speed and less recovery time.
2 — my backhand improves a lot, as well as my banana flip
3 — i have less consistency, specially with my short serve receives and transitioning from backhand to forehand etc

with a more solid grip, not pressing too hard, just adding a little grip with all the fingers:
1- I have more confidence in all aspects of the game except the backhand becomes much worse and I can't banana flip at all.
2- I can add incredible amounts of spin from the forehand but I lose speed and power.

So basically should I be changing my grip depending on the shots I make or should I try to find a middle point? I only practice 2 times per week with competitions at the weekends.

Thanks guys





Just play and practice and focus on shot quality. The more you practice, the more you will adjust your grip to produce the optimal ball quality. No one plays with exactly the same grip or grip pressure on every shot. Test tips but focus on ball quality.
 
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Both loose and hard. You use both in many strokes. Moore loose in the beginning and more tense when you hit the ball.

I also think many players are more tense with the thumb and the rest relaxed when playing bh and more tense with the finger and the rest relaxed when playing forehand. I think it woks for backhand and not as good for the forehand.
 
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When contacting the ball you have to contract/ tighten to accelerate. Rest of the time be relaxed. This may be wrong as I'm a beginner myself. But this strategy is helping me to be explosive at the right time
 
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Hi people,

I never had any coach, like many, what I know is by reading online.
So sorry if this questions are silly :D

For the last year I practiced a loose and relaxed grip(with the fingers barely adding any pressure at all) approach and found that I am faster and my backhand improved a lot too, but its not all advantages for me:

1 — with the loose grip my forehand top spin Has considerable less spin, I just can’t add as much spin and I tried many different ways, but its quicker with more speed and less recovery time.
2 — my backhand improves a lot, as well as my banana flip
3 — i have less consistency, specially with my short serve receives and transitioning from backhand to forehand etc

with a more solid grip, not pressing too hard, just adding a little grip with all the fingers:
1- I have more confidence in all aspects of the game except the backhand becomes much worse and I can't banana flip at all.
2- I can add incredible amounts of spin from the forehand but I lose speed and power.

So basically should I be changing my grip depending on the shots I make or should I try to find a middle point? I only practice 2 times per week with competitions at the weekends.

Thanks guys







It would be good to clarify what is your setup.
It matters.
Provided you have proper techniques it seems you play with softer rubbers.
Grip matters a lot.
But usually the difference between loose and firm is subjective.
"Too loose" and "too firm" will always mean that something is wrong.
Loose grip is a very general qaulification.
Different techniques require different finger assemble and preasure, though generally the grip may be called "loose".
So you can't blame the "loose" grip in general, but the interpretations of the loose grip you execute in your play.
 
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Probably my main question is why do I find it much easier to impart spin with a tighter grip than with a loose grip. But it might just be that I m used to spin the ball with a tighter grip, because it has been my grip for many years, even thought I have been practicing a looser grip, one year might not be enough to get the feeling necessary .

I really don’t thing setup matters in my case because I used different hardness rubbers and it has always been like this.
But I’m playing with zetro quad , mxs fh and hexer grip bh.
 
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You think to much black and white. Read the answers again. If you loop you hold both loose and tight.

Tight all the time and your wrist and forearm Will be tense so you can not move it fast enough.

Too loose and nothing Will happen. Need to stop the stroke after rhe impact to get power and spin. Also need to tigthen at tr impact. You need the resistance.
 
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Executing the "right" (hard to choose some words - maybe appropriate( (for what is being tried) base grip, whip mechanics, and change of grip pressure is a great topic to discuss and learn. A lot of players never learn or realize what is going on with their grip.

For maximum power transfer and delivery of power to the ball, staying loose, accelerating to a real fast bat speed and firming up grip right at impact give you the best power for output.

Certain shots are better off loosing up the grip at impact to control or keep it on the table.

You will need to do some discovery on your own, we can talk about this stuff all day and three times on Friday (and I REALLY wish we would discuss this more), but you will need to see it in action for yourself and DO it your self to feel it and know.

It is also possible you don't make much a whip on a certain shot and with a loose grip at impact get less spin, because the loose grip with a slow bat (and no firming0 (especially vs a slow incoming ball with light spin) eats power/produces less spin.

Another word to discover is how your MIDDLE SHOTS are affected by changing grip pressure. You can really do a lot with your non-attacking strokes with this.

Next Level and I had some off camera talk on this same topic and Next Level proved to the world he "got it" by defeating the top amateur player in US who is best and changing grip pressure the next day in a sanctioned tourney. (Next Level SO wanted to have had that talk on camera... but now, he could prolly give that talk blindfolded.
 
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I agree with the general consensus that grip is a very personal thing.

In fact, I think even my definition of "loose" and "solid" grip are almost the exact opposite of yours.



1 — with the loose grip my forehand top spin Has considerable less spin, I just can’t add as much spin and I tried many different ways, but its quicker with more speed and less recovery time.
2 — my backhand improves a lot, as well as my banana flip
3 — i have less consistency, specially with my short serve receives and transitioning from backhand to forehand etc

I would consider this a much harder grip, as I would be holding on to the handle of the bat much more with my back fingers/hand.

Whereas on what I would consider a soft grip, most of the force is applied through my front fingers (primarily my thumb on the backhand, and index finger on the forehand), and my back fingers would just be resting on the handle, not really applying any force.

It also makes sense that this would be more comfortable on the backhand (for you and me both), since it creates a lower fulcrum for the swing, giving you a longer pivot on a shot that uses more of your wrist to generate power.


with a more solid grip, not pressing too hard, just adding a little grip with all the fingers:
1- I have more confidence in all aspects of the game except the backhand becomes much worse and I can't banana flip at all.
2- I can add incredible amounts of spin from the forehand but I lose speed and power.


Whereas, I would consider this a looser grip, since my back fingers are barely involved, and I'm pretty much just holding the bat with the front fingers.

This also makes on a forehand stroke easier, since the major pivot point for generating power on a forehand would be your elbow or shoulder depending on your stroke anyway, and you are just looking for fine tuning and a bit of snap from your wrist/fingers.
The secondary pivot point being at the neck of the blade, rather than further down, both feels less weirdly stiff, and allows you to apply more force on your index finger.
 

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I just had a light bulb turned on yesterday on how much pressure/tight to use. This is subjective to the forearm mass/muscle, grip strength, and size of the player. A loose grip to a big/strong player can already be a somewhat more tight/firm grip or more pressure to a smaller player. I am a small player with skinny forearms. I just realized that my loose grip/pressure is too loose compared to a bigger or more muscular player’s loose grip.
 
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I just had a light bulb turned on yesterday on how much pressure/tight to use. This is subjective to the forearm mass/muscle, grip strength, and size of the player. A loose grip to a big/strong player can already be a somewhat more tight/firm grip or more pressure to a smaller player. I am a small player with skinny forearms. I just realized that my loose grip/pressure is too loose compared to a bigger or more muscular player’s loose grip.
That's the wrong way to look at it IMO. A racket is ~200 grams, and a ball just a few grams. So whether you're big or small, weak or strong, unless you're a little kid you're gonna have plenty of pressure on the racket to ensure full energy transfer to the ball if you firm up. The issue of loose and firm grip is in how it affects YOUR mechanics, which in turn affects the racket/ball, and not so much how it affects the racket/ball directly.

Tightening joints/muscles sequentially generate a whip motion in the intended direction of swing, and that's one way to ensure full energy transfer from your lower body to your arms to your hand and then the racket/ball. The second way it helps is as mentioned above, to ensure full energy/momentum transfer to the ball by preventing the racket from rebounding backwards after impact. Again, for this second purpose, you and your racket's mass and rigidity should be high enough that the only major determining factor for power is your racket speed, not your strength.
 
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I knew about this keeping grip loose and firming up at impact some time ago but never really understood it, until I came across Ti Long's method of using the fingers to spin the ball. Once I started doing that intentionally, I was automatically keeping grip loose and then firming up during contact, because there's no way to use the fingers when you're gripping the bat tight. And you're forced to tighten during contact to actually prevent the bat from flying out of your hands (I actually did that a few times before lol). So it's kinda a shortcut to achieving the loose - firm timing.
 
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