Penhold backside fingers

I am also the exact same as you and no, I don't think you should change. As long as you have no difficulties playing keep doing the wang hao grip as you are use to it. I don't know if this is true but from my experience, The wang hao grip has more wrist flexibility than the xu xin grip. I mean, wang hao has no trouble playing forehand at all so.. it won't matter

I change my grip based on the shot a bit. I'm more WH dominant but if the player is lobbing I'll switch to fingers straighter for more power.

Wang Hao's hand is much smaller than Xu Xin's. I think your grip also depends on how the paddle feels in your hand. You should be able to hold the paddle and do FH and BH loops without having to put excessive force on your fingers. I hold my paddle Like Xu Xin because it is more comfortable for me. Bo Wen Chen (2600 USATT rating chinese penholder) also holds this way and made a video showcasing his grip. I hope this helps

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VO4ZO3-6eF4&index=18&list=PLvPoFKs0DI9DMdDVgpOfAQq9qkooft9UH

Andyzhao123 said:

Xu Xin, Wang Jian Jun, and Ma Lin are forehand dominant players, and have their backside fingers flat out. Wang Hao and Xue Fei are backhand dominant players, and their backside fingers are curved so that only their fingertips touch the rubber. Does the backside fingers have a slight effect on how powerful the strokes are in the long run?

Click to expand...

I think we're really splitting hairs here and there isn't much difference at all. To me they all look mostly straight or slightly curled. If there are differences, I think we're talking maybe a inch here or there in placement of the fingers on the back. Again, splitting hairs.



So IMO Wang Hao & Xue Fei have better backahands has nothing to due their finger grip. They're just inherently better. Perhaps they practiced RPB more. Or maybe it just came naturally to them. Xue Fei is significantly younger than the rest and I think future penholders will favor more of his style with strong RPBs.

Xu Xin for years people said has the best FH in the world so it'd be easy for me to believe he lived on that weapon. That and the fact that he's left handed I think plays a factor. Ma Lin's career was still early in the RPB era and was a primarily TPB player so I don't think he really fits much in this discussion.

But before I get too off track. No I don't think finger placement really has much to do if you have a good RPB or are FH dominate, etc. I'd just stick with what's most comfortable to you and what feels natural.

Hello PH brothers!

As my screen name suggests, I'm an oldschool penholder. I used the traditional curled fingers grip.

After a 30+ years break from TT, I started playing again about 3 yrs ago. About a month ago, I have switched to play the modern PH style with RPB. My hand/wrist was used to the weight of one rubber. I experienced no discomfort. After playing RPB, my fingers have discomfort.

I tried to RPB with the traditional curled fingers grip but I was inconsistent with my shots. Member JeffM RPB's with a curled fingers grip. He posted a few videos yesterday to the Daily Table Tennis Chit Chat Thread.

I tried the extended fingers grip with 2 variations:

1) 3 fingers extended
2) middle finger extended with other 2 resting on the middle finger ... member songdavid98 uses this grip.

I am still not used to the extended fingers grip but have found the 3 extended fingers touching the racket to be comfortable for me. I am still experimenting despite 1 month regular RPB practice/play. I have tried to use 1 grip for all shots but due to discomfort, I sometimes resort to curled fingers grip on serves and FH and extended for RPB. In time I'm guessing my hand/wrsit/fingers will get stronger and used to non-curled fingers grip.

Ultimately my advice is to find what is most comfortable for you and hopefully it will also be effective.

Good luck!

~osph

I also tend to agree that the position of the fingers is not of primary importance. For example in the traditional backhand the position of the wrist is more important than the fingers. In fact in almost all penhold motions how you use your wrist (or not use it) overrides how you place your fingers. So I would not focus to much on that but more on things like where you are taking the ball (right off the bounce, too high or too low, etc.) and I would focus more on your wrist because that will determine where the face of your blade is when you are making your shot, especially on the backhand.

Having said that I used to be more of a fingers curled player and have gradually become more of a fingers out (not fanned out) player. I felt it helped me develop my forehand loop more since with the fingers curled I would put too much wrist roll into my shots. I felt I was able to minimize that with fingers uncurled and get a better grip on the blade. It worked for me and I think that is all there is to it. It is by no means the only way to do it.

I do however vary my grip for serves.