Is thumb necessary for backhand

Strokes

Rakshith Parashurama Asked 8 years ago

hi Alois,

I have a small question when playing my backhand strokes where exactly should my thumb be. I normally keep my thumb close to my other three supporting fingers and my strokes are consistent and really spinny as I can use my wrist very easily like this but I often see players keeping the thumb high up on the racket and playing their backhand strokes. but when I tried doing so I found that the transition from that grip to my forehand grip takes me a lot of time and i end up playing my forehand with my thumb high up on the face of my racket. Please help me sort out this confusion.

Alois Rosario Answered 8 years ago

Hi Rakshith,

Keep playing with your thumb down. It is a better way to play the stroke as you don't need to change between eh forehand and the backhand. It also allows more use of the wrist.

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Thoughts on this question (2)

Rakshith Parashurama Posted 2018-08-10 11:21:20

Thank you for your answer.

Beauford P Posted 2018-08-10 11:21:20

Different strokes for different folks I guess. I was having trouble with my backhand so my coach suggested I try resting my thumb in the middle bottom of the rubber (it looks like you're giving a 'thumbs up'). This helped tremendously and improved my back hand. It felt unnatural for a few times, and it was hard getting back for the forehand as you say, but my muscle memory quickly got used to it and it's not an issue any more.

I find that having my thumb up lets me swing more freely and there's no strain on my arm, because I'm not over-stretching my thumb on the wind back anymore which it was doing when I had it down with the other fingers.

I also feel like I have more control of the ball because I can feel it through my thumb through the stroke.

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