Have you ever tried changing the grip for different shots? Or changed the way you hold your racket during a rally to aid a particular shot? Or played with the angle of the racket face from the default stance of ‘open’? Perhaps you’ve gripped your racket higher up the handle when the ball was in the back corners of the court in order to give you more control and leverage for digging a dying ball out of the back. Or maybe you’ve opened your grip up to further open the racket face when going for a drop shot.

Amr Shabana, the Four-Time World Open Champion, does this to great effect. He frequently slides his hand up and down his racket, changing the grip depending on the shot he is playing.

As a general rule of thumb, the lower you hold the racket on the handle, the more power you get. The higher you hold it, the more control. This is why it is almost universally recommended that you grip the handle somewhere in the middle, so that you can achieve both.

There are certainly shots and situations where changing your grip can help though, such as in the aforementioned example of being in the back corner. Holding the racket a little higher allows you to get more control on the ball and not only stay in a rally but stay in it with interest.

As a general rule of thumb, the lower you hold the racket on the handle, the more power you get. The higher you hold it, the more control. This is why it is almost universally recommended that you grip the handle somewhere in the middle, so that you can achieve both.”

It can also help to shift the grip so that the face is more open from the back, giving you a bit more bite from the back.

If you’re feeling particularly bold, try closing your racket face for particularly aggressive drives or kills, as this has the effect of keeping the ball very low. You can also try to do this  when going for an aggressive boast, which can make the ball flatline and die.

It might feel a little clumsy at first but it’s something you should experiment with as it can really make all the difference in challenging situations.

For more information on how you should be holding your racket, visit our page on the grip here.