Learning the grips in tennis

One of the issues facing many new players is learning the grips in tennis. There are a few tools you can use to help you along though.

Learning the grips in tennis can be frustrating. You need one grip for the serve and volleys, one for the backhand, and one for the forehand. To make matters worse there are different grips to choose from for the forehand: western, semi-western, and eastern.

Learning the grips is not only for beginners. It can also be for long-time tennis players who want to transition to a more spin-friendly forehand or from a two-handed backhand to a one-handed backhand.

Tennis grips

The above picture is from Swingitbig

Since the racquet has a tendency to move a little bit while you play and you need to be able to efficiently switch in between the different grips, you can easily transition over to the wrong grip. That’s why you see pros making sure they grip the racquet properly ahead of each stroke.

Gripfixer

There are tools that can help you focus on achieving the right grip. One such tool is the Gripfixer, which is a rubber band that is wrapped around the grip and is designed for you to feel where to the base knuckle of the index finger.

If you want to try Gripfixer, you can use the code TENNISNERD and get 10% off.

A similar tool, but without the strong indications of where to put your fingers is the Tennis Grip Guide from Tennisbuilder. It strikes me as a bit more versatile, but on the other hand, the Gripfixer fixes your grip in place a little more.

The issue with both of these grip tools is that they do change the feel of the tennis grip quite a lot, so I’m not sure how that affects you once you’ve gotten used to them. Perhaps it’s a smooth transition, I don’t know to be honest.

I will be testing both these grips alongside each other and see if they do what they’re supposed to. My grip is pretty ingrained though, so it would be interesting to hear from beginners who have tried these to learn the proper forehand grip for example. If you’re out there and have tried these products, please let us know!

Do you struggle with your tennis grips? And do you think these tools can help in developing the correct grip? 

If you’re interested in the forehand grip, you can watch this video I did with coaches Vijay and Nick as a part of our Tennisnerd Academy series