Backhand grip questions

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Generally my thumb position is upward during my backhand grip (compared to my forehand grip).

But… my thumb is usually touching the rubber and I’m usually applying pressure with my thumb during backhand drives. I’ve heard lately that the thumb should never touch the rubber and apply pressure in that way. Is that true? Is it slowing down the ability for my wrist to naturally whip forward?

Should I instead have my thumb resting on the top edge of the handle? If that’s true then which fingers should provide pressure at the very end of the stroke so that the bat stays in my hand?
 
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Generally my thumb position is upward during my backhand grip (compared to my forehand grip).

But… my thumb is usually touching the rubber and I’m usually applying pressure with my thumb during backhand drives. I’ve heard lately that the thumb should never touch the rubber and apply pressure in that way. Is that true? Is it slowing down the ability for my wrist to naturally whip forward?

Should I instead have my thumb resting on the top edge of the handle? If that’s true then which fingers should provide pressure at the very end of the stroke so that the bat stays in my hand?

As long as you dont have any issues with gripswitching, having your thumb touching your rubber is no problem. It is actually the opposite, because you gain a ton of controll over your backhand with your thumb applying pressure on your rubber.

The only reason why this might be bad is that beginners cant usually handswitch. Doing that requires to be able to relax your grip and tighten it to perform your next stroke. That is by far easy for a beginner.

 
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I think this is very individual. Many asian players have their tumb up and some players have it down. I think the thumb up gives stability and control but i think you will lose some power. Then again, there are players with their thumb up that generate a lot of power. As a coach in my free time i often feel that players with the thumb up, atleast in the beginning lose some roation from the elboe and wrist so they push the ball forward more. If they can move it down for forehand and it is not really extreme i let them use what they feel is the best.
 
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watch Lee Sang-su
https://www.youtube . com /playlist?list=PLztFCRJvnfBKgmbL9JeJ0HR1BVZ500b6k
(remove the spaces before you paste. I'm bypassing "intelligent" stuff)

He probably will give you a good answer.
 
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watch Lee Sang-su
https://www.youtube . com /playlist?list=PLztFCRJvnfBKgmbL9JeJ0HR1BVZ500b6k
(remove the spaces before you paste. I'm bypassing "intelligent" stuff)

He probably will give you a good answer.

The tips from Lee Sang-Su were very helpful overall, but he doesn’t really explain grip and pressure points that much.

What does seem interesting is the new Master Class video from TTD with Liam Pitchford. In the preview video he explains that for a certain backhand strike he applies pressure with the bottom three fingers. This may answer my question exactly.

https://www.instagram.com/tv/CWYp-3VIsSL/?utm_medium=copy_link
 
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