The small finger on your hitting hand, and topspin grips

[Amone]

I've recently been trying to learn to hit with a lot more topspin, and so today I was messing with a western forehand, and eastern backhand (made the change faster, since I didn't have to. Might try moving it even further west on the backhand) and the first few games I was just kind of spraying everything all over. This wasn't really anything wrong by me since the grips are different from my normal ones. But, the interesting thing was that I accidentally moved my hand down the grip just enough that my little finger hung off the end, and suddenly my accuracy improved tenfold. I started doing that for the last game, and really rather dominated the return game I was playing. I was hitting returns right on the line, which is not something I can usually do, and when my opponent got to it, I could usually hit a down the line reply with enough accuracy that it was often a winner.

This is far beyond the results I expected, even though it was against someone who I know is below the level of opponent I'm going to be competing against. Is this shift in hand position something that is just a placebo that works the powers of my mind, or does anyone else have the same thing?

[Rickson]

I've recently been trying to learn to hit with a lot more topspin, and so today I was messing with a western forehand, and eastern backhand (made the change faster, since I didn't have to. Might try moving it even further west on the backhand) and the first few games I was just kind of spraying everything all over. This wasn't really anything wrong by me since the grips are different from my normal ones. But, the interesting thing was that I accidentally moved my hand down the grip just enough that my little finger hung off the end, and suddenly my accuracy improved tenfold. I started doing that for the last game, and really rather dominated the return game I was playing. I was hitting returns right on the line, which is not something I can usually do, and when my opponent got to it, I could usually hit a down the line reply with enough accuracy that it was often a winner.

This is far beyond the results I expected, even though it was against someone who I know is below the level of opponent I'm going to be competing against. Is this shift in hand position something that is just a placebo that works the powers of my mind, or does anyone else have the same thing?
I know some guys who do that pinky off the handle grip and I blast the ball at them. I managed to force plenty of errors, but I was shooting for knocking the racquet out of their hands. You don't need that pinky hanging off to get more spin and a good whip. I have very big hands and I never needed to take my pinky off the handle for added spin. If you like it, then use it, but I wouldn't because it's completely unnecessary to take a grip that's halfway off the butt cap.

[nViATi]

If you like that, try buying a slightly longer racquet.