Safe volley grip and serving grip in Tennis?

Question

Which is a correct and safe volley grip aka serving grip in Tennis? One where hand is clearly on the handle or the one where some fingers are resting on the handle? Images screenshot from the video here.

I trained very intensive weeks tennis where my baby finger and ring finger got damaged/painful/non-flexible due to holding the racket so that only 3-4 fingers on the holding -- video about training here -- this was because I used more the grip where some fingers were not totally on the grip so strong swing put intensive stress to the baby finger and ringer finger. Initially, physiotherapist said that it is only tight muscles so 1 week's rest. Now I realise that my right-hand muscles are far stronger on my holding hand and that the tension is getting lower and morning hardness is becoming less. Yet the feeling in the serving hand is not the same as in the other hand, this may be a good (muscles/bones getting stronger used to playing tennis or I am using a wrong technique). Now I am uncertain:

Should I change my serving grip and my volley grip so that all of my fingers are on the handle of the racket (picture on the left) or half finger, one finger or 2 fingers over the handle (picture on the right)?

Answer 1

In general, I think the grip you use on any of your shots might be a little different depending on whether you're an advanced player or a beginning player. The "choke up" grip shown in that video on volleys looks fine and probably helps beginning tennis players have a more firm wrist (and therefore more racquet head stability) on their volleys. I don't use that grip myself though, and I hit my volleys just fine - but that has little to do with my grip - it has more to do with knowing how to split-step, keep a firm wrist, and keep my racquet head from dropping (also something touched on in that video). Basically I'm trying to say there's a lot more to hitting a volley than just the type of grip you use.

I don't think the choke up grip shown in the video is really good for serving. This is because when you serve, you want to get the maximum amount of reach/extension possible when making contact with the ball. The more you choke up on the handle, the less reach you will have and the tougher it will be to have net clearance on your serve.

As far as your hand/arm/finger soreness goes - that has nothing to do with your grip or volleying technique really. If you are new to tennis then your muscles will have to adjust but your technique would have to be pretty bad to be producing chronic muscle soreness for you.

Also keep in mind that this kind of question is very difficult to answer without actually being out on a court hitting with you and seeing what you're doing first hand. Coaching a very technical sport tennis is virtually impossible only using videos and the internet.

Answer 2

I noticed one mistake in your serving, your back turns to the side of the field. I don't know a solution to this so moved it to a new question: What causes the imbalance where back points towards the side after serving?.

As for the grip, I think you are heading towards RSI due to using new muscles: forearms are rarely used by most people. This video (around 2m30s) has excellent points about forearm training

by the tips here I have overcome my earlier problems below with tennis elbow, ulnar claw and pains on both sides of my forearms

1. Preparing fingers for intensive sports requiring hands a lot? where I solve the ulnar claw (nerve problem)

2. How to improve baby finger's extension and flexion? How to relax it? How to stretch it? where I solve the twisting muscle problem (totally new twisting muscle in use requiring some weight training to get to normal state)

So I recommend after fixing the above problems and undergoing RSI rehabilitation

1. stretching of hands, forearms and arms

2. strength training for forearms/fingers/arms where training forearms are particularly important and easily overlooked (I really recommend the Mutant video and the twisting muscle movement told in the other thread -- hurray to painless training!)

Answer 3

I've had a lot of problems with my arm that eventually culminated in ulnar nerve transposition surgery. But that was years after they had begun.

Strength training does help, but don't focus on the problem area, that'll just make it worse. Focus on building up the muscles around the problem area. If it's ulnar issues, start with your shoulders and work your way down your arm. That approach has helped me the most, especially with tennis.

Also, the most helpful stretch I've found is the same thing as making the "finger glasses" with your thumbs and forefingers, with your other fingers pointing down and resting on your cheeks (hands are inverted, palms touching face):

Multifilament strings are life-savers for tingling and inflamed nerves. They are much more expensive, but really do make a difference.

In tennis, the continental grip is the grip pretty much everyone serves with. I wasn't sure I was gonna be able to do it with my arm after surgery, but it ended up not being a big deal. I'd say hold the racket looser, that seems to be what most pros do. I hold the racket loose and with part of my hand hanging off of the grip for groundstrokes, but when I serve my palm is nestled in the flair of the buttcap.

This guy rocks when it comes to rehab stretches. He is former pitcher who has had nerve transposition surgery: