The grip is actually a lot more important than most players realize because it influences

the angle of your racket face. It influences how open or how closed your racket face is

and it therefore influences your ideal swing shape.

Now in order to describe the different kinds of grips, players and coaches often use terminology

like the Continental grip, the Semi-Western grip, or the Western grip. What I found is

that this terminology actually confuses people and there's a better way to look at tennis

grips. Okay, so the grip actually has eight sides to it. I've put some numbers on here

and you can see the top bevels right here: number 1, number 2, number 3, and number 4.

Those are all the bevels we're going to worry about for now. For the left-hander, it goes

the other way. Bevel number 1 is the same, number 2, and number 3 here on the side. Now

we need to measure the relation of our hand to the grip. In order to do that, we're going

to look at the index knuckle and the heel pad of the hand.

Let's have a look at some forehand grips. We're going to focus on the index knuckle

right here as a reference point. The index knuckle is the most important reference point

and the one that I use most of the time. Usually, if you get the index knuckle right, you don't

have to worry about the heel pad. What you can see here is that my index knuckle is on

bevel number 3 which is often called an Eastern Forehand grip. If I moved down a little bit

further, right now I'm on 3.5 which is the edge between 3 and 4. Going down even further

to number 4 and now what is often called a Semi-Western grip. Anything further down is

called a Western grip, 4.5 or even 5. These are very extreme grips that I do not recommend

any of you guys use. Ideally, you want to stay in the 3 to 4 range with your forehand

grip. Anywhere in between there should be fine.

Okay, let's have a quick look at the grips for the One-Handed Backhand at the possible

ranges here. The range is actually very small that I recommend. As you can see right now,

my index knuckle is on bevel 1.5 just between bevel 1 and bevel 2 on the edge. This is the

grip that I would that you guys start out with. Now if you've been playing for a while,

you can move over to bevel number 1 which is going to help you deal better with topspin

shots and high-bouncing balls. Now let's have a look at the grip that I recommend

for the Two-Handed Backhand. As you can see here—my right hand—the index knuckle in

on bevel number 2 over to the right side of the grip. Now I'm going to put the left hand

here on bevel number 3, counting the other way for the left-hander. So the grip's going

to look like this: bevel number 3 for the left hand going the left way and bevel number

2 for the right hand. Last but not least, let's have a look at the

grip for the serve. As you can see, my index knuckle is on bevel number 2. This is called

a Continental grip and is the grip that I recommend for the serve. Only if you're a

beginner, it might make sense to start it off a little bit further to the right on bevel

2.5 or 3. That's going to make it easier to get the ball in the court in the beginning

but as soon as possible, you want to try to move to a grip on number 2. Alright! So much

on the basics of tennis grips. Now, good grips are an essential part of good

tennis strokes so go ahead and check out on your own grips.