Two Hand Backhand Grip Tutorial - Tennis Lesson - Grip Instruction

Hey,

this is Ian from EssentialTennis.com,

and in today's video I'm going to talk about what I recommend

for grip when it comes to the two-handed backhand.

I'm going to talk about both the right hand

and the left hand in this video.

This video goes out to Anne Marie in Florida who was requesting this topic.

And I'm not going to go

back over all the different numbers of the bevel and the big knuckle and all that.

I'm going to link,

if you're curious,

what I'm referring to in this video,

I'm

going to put a link to another grip video at the

end of this one so that you can check that out.

All right,

so let's talk about two-handed backhand

and grip.

And I'm gonna talk about the dominant hand first,

the bottom hands.

What you're seeing most professional players and high-level players

using with the bottom hand is just a continental grip,

which is a

big knuckle of your index finger on bevel number 2,

and your hand spread out,

your knuckles spread out across the handle

at about a 45-degree angle.

This is,

you know,

the most neutral grip there is between

the front of your hand and the back of your hand and how it relates to the racket face.

It's just a nice neutral base

to have your bottom hand be.

It's just very easy to maneuver the racket

with a continental grip.

If you're used to eastern forehand with your bottom hand,

I'm okay with that.

Also,

if you're used to a little bit higher up towards the top of the handle,

I'm okay with that as well.

A lot of times players have an easier time

hitting topspin on their two-handed backhand when their top,

I'm sorry,

their bottom hand,

their dominant hand,

is a little bit more up towards the top,

towards an eastern backhand grip for one-handed backhand.

So, I'm okay up until this point,

which is close to one-handed backhand.

I'm okay with eastern forehand,

although I definitely don't prefer eastern forehand.

Continental is right in between and generally that's what I recommend

for a two-handed backhand grip with the bottom

hand.

On the top hand,

what I

see most often

with,

again,

pros and high-level players

is an eastern forehand grip with the left hand,

and that's

big knuckle of the index finger

on bevel number 3,

the flat bevel

directly on the side

of the handle.

So

again,

big knuckle

straight on the side,

bevel number 3,

that's an eastern forehand grip.

And again,

I

just like this grip because it's kind of in between.

It's not all the way at the bottom.

It's not up towards the top.

It's halfway in between.

It makes it very easy to maneuver the racket naturally in my

experience and in my opinion.

You can drive the ball well with this grip.

You can also hit topspin with this grip easily.

It's not very aggressive one way or the other.

I'm okay with as far as the semi-western

grip.

I would definitely not go to full western

with that left hand.

I'm also okay with continental,

but in general for hitting topspin,

I think eastern forehand with the left hand

tends to be the most natural.

And really that's what my recommendation comes down to here.

Eastern forehand with the left hand

and

continental with the right hand.

For me it's just kind of right down the middle of the road.

It's generally speaking,

the most natural,

the

most neutral grip there is.

You can easily drive,

you can easily make topspin,

and it's just a great,

you know,

kind of compromise between topspin and drive.

If you turn your either hand very much in either direction.

You're probably going to find yourself really kind of

preferring one type of shot or the other,

meaning

a really flat straight drive or a really kind of loopy,

spinny topspin shot.

And I definitely want my students to be able to have the best

of both worlds.

So, those are my recommendations,

Anne Marie,

hopefully that's helpful.

If you're watching on YouTube right now,

hopefully it's helpful to you as well.

If you enjoyed this video,

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If you have any comments or questions at all,

leave those down below,

and with that,

I'll sign off for today.

Thank you so much for watching and I'll talk to you again very soon. (MUSIC)