Hand grip when serving

[Colin Ksh]

Guys I have a question here. I’ve seen many players having similar grip when they serve and the way Harimoto holds the racket while serving is quite strange from what I see (the term strange here refers to neither a positive thing nor negative one) That’s what I’m here for. Any idea why he grip like that during his serve? Is it something extraordinary or nothing special. Could there be advantages/disadvantages griping that way.

I’ve added some photos below just to be evident more or less of what I wanna mentioned above.

I’d be happy to hear from you guys

 

[SamTheMan]

Con: less potential for spin.
Pro: no time needed to adjust grip, immediately ready for third attack

 

[SamTheMan]

Harimoto wants to stay close to the table and hit the ball immediately after bounce. I think those extra milliseconds are more important for his play style than a few extra percent of spin. Just like most women serve backhand to be ready for a close the table backhand game.

 

[UpSideDownCarl]

I disagree with the idea of that grip allowing less spin. That grip, in the hands of someone who knows what he is using it for can add lots of spin; as much spin as any grip. But that grip will cause you to contact a certain part of the ball that is more limited than some of the grips where the fingers are more on the back of the blade face.

I think Sam's point about it being easier to switch to the grip for FH or BH stroke from that may have a point. But I also know that the switch, for me happens without me even realizing it and so fast, I am not sure that would be the reason either. But, everyone is different. So, it could be the reason.

But when you mess with your grip on a serve you can create different angles for how the blade face meets the ball and therefore, you can create different spins without changing the motion of the serve. Play around with different grips and see what you get. Let yourself explore.

I know to get full backspin (almost no sidespin) on a pendulum serve, I hold completely differently from how I hold on my sidespin pendulum serves (whether side top or side back). I don't have to, but it makes it much easier to get that spin from under the ball straight forward. And the grip I use for different degrees of sidespin also changes.

Same with my reverse pendulum serves. And same with my hook serves. With the hook serves I really vary the grip a lot. With my hook serves, I have a few gips that are not too different than what Harimoto is doing in your photos, except, how I am holding my arm and my wrist is different. And on those serves I get so much spin with very little effort. So, I don't think the grip would limit the amount of spin.

But for one person it might while for another it might not. That depends on the technique used for the serve.

Play around with different grips. Explore how you can use that to change the spin on the serves.

 

[Colin Ksh]

I disagree with the idea of that grip allowing less spin. That grip, in the hands of someone who knows what he is using it for can add lots of spin; as much spin as any grip. But that grip will cause you to contact a certain part of the ball that is more limited than some of the grips where the fingers are more on the back of the blade face.

I think Sam's point about it being easier to switch to the grip for FH or BH stroke from that may have a point. But I also know that the switch, for me happens without me even realizing it and so fast, I am not sure that would be the reason either. But, everyone is different. So, it could be the reason.

But when you mess with your grip on a serve you can create different angles for how the blade face meets the ball and therefore, you can create different spins without changing the motion of the serve. Play around with different grips and see what you get. Let yourself explore.

I know to get full backspin (almost no sidespin) on a pendulum serve, I hold completely differently from how I hold on my sidespin pendulum serves (whether side top or side back). I don't have to, but it makes it much easier to get that spin from under the ball straight forward. And the grip I use for different degrees of sidespin also changes.

Same with my reverse pendulum serves. And same with my hook serves. With the hook serves I really vary the grip a lot. With my hook serves, I have a few gips that are not too different than what Harimoto is doing in your photos, except, how I am holding my arm and my wrist is different. And on those serves I get so much spin with very little effort. So, I don't think the grip would limit the amount of spin.

But for one person it might while for another it might not. That depends on the technique used for the serve.

Play around with different grips. Explore how you can use that to change the spin on the serves.

I'll definitely try out more grip styles in the future when I get to play again. I can see that most of harimoto's serve are with insane side spins at the same time with that kind of hand grip. I also accept with that fact that you mentioned about in the hands of someone with the right technique and key factors of that grip, it could still produce as much spin as you desire.
Somehow, thanks for explaining Carl.

 

[DukeGaGa]

To me that looks nothing special, lots of professional players use that grip, and they can all impart spin just the same as all the other grips. As for myself, since I have a very flexible wrist, I don't bother with different grips too much. I can serve a reverse pendulum serve with a normal pendulum serve motion, i.e. I can do right side spin and left side spin with the same motion, just a very slight change of the wrist angle is needed which the opponent won't be able to identify.

 

[Lula]

You guys are thinking alot! I think the grip you use when serving is very subjective. Good if you can find a grip so you can move the wrist well, get the angle you want and be able to stop the motion. I believe in trial and error here.

 

[IB66]

A loose, relaxed grip pressure, is very important, regardless of the type of 'grip' used.

If you hold the handle with a very tight grasp, your wrist locks up, little movement and speed of wrist movement are available.
For me this is the key to really good spin production during a serve.

Also the smallest fast movement can produce very high spin, especially when combined with the correct amount of 'brush' & bat angle etc
So a grip that some consider as 'reducing' or 'restricting' the amount of movement may be correct, but may not necessarily have too much adverse effect overall.