Hi guys, So generally from my understanding, you hold the grip with the last 3 fingers, specifically for the neutral/basic grip. When it comes to backhand drives, I switch to a thumb grip, but I initiate the power by first tightening my last 3 fingers, followed by the thumb. When I do it this way, I don't feel any tension on the thumb. My question is, do the last 3 fingers serve any purpose at all in the thumb grip in terms of power generation? Should I focus on the thumb specifically on the hand? Hopefully this makes sense. Basically all my shots, overhead, net, drives etc... I initiate the finger tightening with the last 3 fingers first. But I'm not sure if it's proper or not. Thanks in advance!
Your thumb provides tons of control, and will allow you to shorten the impact time with the shuttle. If you do it in the air without your racket, you'll notice as you push your thumb forwards, your bottom 3 fingers will squeeze naturally too.
thank you, I will have to get rid of the old habit and develop this new one. So just to confirm. The last 3 fingers are tightened first for a forehand stroke (naturally tightening the index and thumb too, but with a focus on the last 3 fingers). However, for the thumb grip, you tighten and pinch with the thumb and index first (naturally tightening the last 3 fingers afterwards). Now this leads me to another question... how about for backhand overheads. Does this apply to backhand overheads too such as clears, drops with the bevel and basic grips?
For the thumb grip all 4 fingers should be tightening with it. For overhead backhand, I find: Bevel grip for clears Bevel/BH grip depending on position for smash, the higher the shuttle is, the more towards bevel it wants to be. BH grip for drops. But apparently BH preference is very personal, so..
Try this exercise: hold racket out in front, with a thumb grip, with the racket pointing upwards (as if you were going to play a drive or net kill at full arms reach in front). Now relax your fingers slightly and let your wrist cock backwards slightly - you will see the racket head fall backwards towards you a little bit. Now push forwards with the thumb (which naturally involves uncocking the wrist as you push the racket forwards), and squeeze the grip as hard as you can at the same time. The harder and faster you squeeze, the quicker your racket will move (aim for a short sharp motion, not a big long swing). What you have just experienced is the correct technique - it doesn't matter what happened first, what matters is that you understand how to squeeze the grip whilst pushing forwards with the thumb. The feeling for overhead backhands is very similar - pushing with the thumb and squeezing the grip. But you will probably be using a bevel grip. As a side note: for forehand strokes, just swing as fast as you can without actually throwing the racket - you will probably have achieved perfect finger tightening. Its a very natural occurrence if you start with a relaxed grip, and then swing at maximum speed without throwing the racket at your opponent.
