Serving with a choked up grip

[Chingoo1255]

is the serve better with a choked up grip? I've been serving with a three finger grip and pinky off the handle all my tennis life. First and only time, I tried serving with a choked up grip ala choked up volley grip and it seems to have some benefits. More control and dare I say more power? I will say it's easier to keep the racket/arm in power L when choked up. With the three finger grip, I hit more with a straight in-line arm/racket. Or is it all in my mind......

 

[SinjinCooper]

With fundamentally correct mechanics, there should be no real benefit to choking up.

That said, not all that many people have fundamentally correct serving mechanics, so it's entirely possible there's something idiosyncratic about your motion that is enhanced by (or "less screwed up by") shortening the racquet.

 

[2HBH-DTL]

1. You definitely lose power with a choked up grip. You lose a ton of leverage on serve by choking up.

2. Pinky should stay on the grip and not hang off. I'm not sure how that got spread and how coaches would teach players to do this. Complete nonsense.

 

[LeeD]

There's a balance involved there......
Some weaker people, like me, find almost as much power choking up, because the racket is shorter and lighter, so I can swing it faster without added effort.
However, there does exist a fine line, where holding the buttcap gives a longer racket more leverage thing, higher contact point, bigger target, that offsets easier swing.
I've seen plenty of juniors and smaller people benefit from choking up on their racket's for strokes, and CONTROL and ease of swing are the primary benefactors.
Also, a lot of seniors seem to be choking well up the grip for control, since they don't have the power any more to overpower their opponent's like they used to, now they rely on control and placement.
FYI, I hold my pinkie on the buttcap, so I"m sorta in the middle there for serves.

 

[Deleted member 120290]

is the serve better with a choked up grip? I've been serving with a three finger grip and pinky off the handle all my tennis life. First and only time, I tried serving with a choked up grip ala choked up volley grip and it seems to have some benefits. More control and dare I say more power? I will say it's easier to keep the racket/arm in power L when choked up. With the three finger grip, I hit more with a straight in-line arm/racket. Or is it all in my mind......

I use a full grip at the very end of the racket to make it as long as possible for max power.
The only time I choke up a little is when I'm in a tournament and the wind is behind me. I choke up a little to swing as hard as I can on kick serves and still keep the ball in the service box.

 

[Rubens]

Choking up is a good way to learn the conti grip because makes it harder to cheat (i.e. slip to eastern fh grip mid-swing).

 

[Chingoo1255]

To clarify, my pinky used to be off the handle and against the butt cap. What I would see is the racket would "snap down" rapidly at contact. Not sure if it's a conscientious thing but I can definitely stop it if I consciously stop it.
By choking up for me this means the butt cap is flush with the very edge of my palm. It is definitely more difficult to use the wrist to "brush up" the ball for more spin.

 

[Chas Tennis]

OP
".....With the three finger grip, I hit more with a straight in-line arm/racket....." When during the motion?

During the last and most important racket acceleration, the racket has to be at an angle to the forearm in order to develop racket head speed from internal shoulder rotation in a high level serve. That angle changes very rapidly though.

Take a video of your serve and see what technique you are using. You don't have to post it.

 

[Chas Tennis]

The part between the red arrows will not work unless there is an angle between the forearm and racket.

Between the red arrows, the forearm to racket angle is rapidly changing but at impact the racket is still tilted to the left. The arm is near straight and rotating rapidly around the axis of the upper arm from ISR and the axis of the forearm from any pronation.

"Or is it all in my mind......"
If you are only swinging and straightening the arm and racket with little ISR rotation, as it moves straight away from you, the arm and racket may appear to you to be in a straight line. ? That technique is the most commonly used serving technique among active tennis players, the Waiter's Tray serve. It is a lower performance serving technique.

In the Tennis Serve Nuthouse most players don't know this.

 

[vectorthurm]

is the serve better with a choked up grip? I've been serving with a three finger grip and pinky off the handle all my tennis life. First and only time, I tried serving with a choked up grip ala choked up volley grip and it seems to have some benefits. More control and dare I say more power? I will say it's easier to keep the racket/arm in power L when choked up. With the three finger grip, I hit more with a straight in-line arm/racket. Or is it all in my mind......

Just got some feedback from pro that relates to what you’re onto here. You could be finding that a choked up grip forces better pronation with external shoulder rotation (ESR) after contact with ball. If you’re like me you may have faulty technique involving wrist flexion after contact, I believe I may have developed that problem from gripping the racquet with only thumb, index & middle fingers at end of buttcap. This is great for leverage and loose grip..but bad for pronation & ESR. Pro actually suggested practicing shadow serves and 1/2 motion serves choked up to build up muscle memory of better pronation and ESR on follow through. That forces the classic Sampras elbow up finish..

Anyway..thought I’d throw my 2 cents in

 

[Chas Tennis]

I looked at grips of tennis players after reading instructions to place the butt of the racket on the fat pad of the hand. I found many examples where the butt of the racket ended around the little finger area, and very few at the fat pad. That placement option affects the forearm to racket shaft angle by about 10 degrees for me.

Anyway, for those who like to know what is out there in the top 100 ATP, the butt of the racket mostly ends around the little finger.

If you want to see for yourself, look at some pictures and videos of high level players stroking tennis balls in matches and get some stats...........................

 

[Hmgraphite1]

Just got some feedback from pro that relates to what you’re onto here. You could be finding that a choked up grip forces better pronation with external shoulder rotation (ESR) after contact with ball. If you’re like me you may have faulty technique involving wrist flexion after contact, I believe I may have developed that problem from gripping the racquet with only thumb & index finger at end of buttcap. This is great for leverage and loose grip..but bad for pronation & ESR. Pro actually suggested practicing shadow serves and 1/2 motion serves choked up to build up muscle memory of better pronation and ESR on follow through. That forces the classic Sampras elbow up finish..

Anyway..thought I’d throw my 2 cents in

Believe its ISR on shoulder motion into ball and follow through

 

[vectorthurm]

Believe its ISR on shoulder motion into ball and follow through

Agreed, I had it backwards

 

[vectorthurm]

I looked at grips of tennis players after reading instructions to place the butt of the racket on the fat pad of the hand. I found many examples where the butt of the racket ended around the little finger area, and very few at the fat pad. That placement option affects the forearm to racket shaft angle by about 10 degrees for me.

Anyway, for those who like to know what is out there in the top 100 ATP, the butt of the racket mostly ends around the little finger.

If you want to see for yourself, look at some pictures and videos of high level players stroking tennis balls in matches and get some stats...........................

Grip not my point, I’m talking about using it as a practice device that improves follow through. Once mechanics are improving then you can switch back to what grip makes you happy..