Grip tension

[gzhpcu]

i read in an old tennis book that for the seve, you should grip mostly with your thumb, and forefinger, keeping the rest loose. For groundstrokes, just the opposite. Thoughta?

[arturohernandez]

I am a big advocate of actually letting the pinky and ring finger completely loose on the serve. My son actually loosens both forefinger and pinky at the same time. My daughter can loosen the pinky but not the forefinger. So I agree with this part.

For groundstrokes, I agree with your view. It feels to me that FHs mostly come from the palm of the hand and so the thumb and forefinger (but not the pinky) can be looser.

Not sure about the backhand. I have experimented with a looser grip on one handed backhand and found that it is hard to pull off. To me it has to be a bit tighter because there is nothing behind it. Maybe it's different for the 2HBH.

[stotty]

I'm not sure about this finger business. My fingers seem to work collectively and the idea of loosening one or two of the fingers on my grip while keeping the others firmer seems close to impossible when I try it.

[bottle]

No rule. Best to find one's own way but include some crisp decisions then stick with them. On both forehands and serves I'm all for a thin strong band of thumb and middle finger around the handle. On serve the pointy forefinger does not apply pressure but rather is good for pointing at the target during ISR. On forehands start with forefinger up handle but don't use it, it's just along for the ride during a flattened out shot. That way you get all the firmness you need from mondoed wrist laying all the way back-- you don't have to firm up anything and shouldn't.

For topspin specialty and higher trajectory forehands one can use the same strong band as one purchase point and the forefinger as the other to put a big spin or baton-like wiper into these shots.

Backhands, I don't know, other than that there should be a real attempt-- on all ground strokes-- to find the ideal pressure.

One needs to be deliberate about swinging the racket with both too much hand pressure and too little. In this way one finds the happy medium. Brent Abel just said that in one of his blogs.

He gets a lot of credit for saying things in that he believes in attribution and giving credit where credit is due. His compatriot and former assistant Doug King, who still calls him "little Brennie" to evoke their younger days in Berkeley tennis, receives less attention since he does not believe in tennis technique attribution, thinks it's all a grab-bag there for anybody to take from without ever wasting time by mentioning anybody's name. "We all steal from each other all the time," he wrote to me in a nice email.