Smaller Grips in the Modern Era: Will 4 5/8 or Size 5 Grip Become Obsolete?

louis netman

louis netman

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My correct grip size according to the standard measurement technique is 4 5/8. I have used 4 5/8 since adulthood and through the years (1995-2016) have purchased many second-hand 4 5/8 frames to demo with my custom string setups.
Then, about 5 years ago, I switched to 4 1/2 as I discovered a shortage of 5/8 frames listed (and a greater difficulty selling my 4 5/8 frames).

In fact, as the 4 5/8 supply was dwindling, the number of small grip sizes, (4 3/8, 4 1/4, 4 1/8) appeared to increase dramatically.

Is this simply a fad, that is, are players using grips that are smaller than the actual specs indicated by their true hand size, or have hand sizes physically shrunken in the the last half century?

Evolution? It appears that as we've transcended to modern culture, there has been less emphasis on jobs working with our hands and more emphasis on machines and computers...

Anyhow, I checked on some newer model frames this afternoon and could not find a single 5/8 in the TW Classifieds, or elsewhere. Will 4 5/8 grip size become obsolete?

Will manufacturers continue to produce 4 5/8 knowing that everybody is buying small sizes?
 
The other thing is with western grips the smaller size apparently helps wrap their hand better I’ve read. I hit eastern FH myself so no experience personally
 
Players liked bigger grips when they played with Continental/Aussie grips and the grip size measuring method is based on that. With SW/Western grips for FH and strong Eastern BH grips or 2BH grips predominating for BHs in the modern poly era, players like smaller grips by one size or more compared to 20-30 years ago. Now grips seem to be getting longer to account for 2HBHs. Are there any players below the age of 40 who want a grip size 5 left anymore?
 
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DropvolleysRhard said:
This is one reason I use Head. I can change pallets. Put 4 5/8 on one of my speeds this morning to try it compared to my normal 4 1/2.
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Yes, I used Volkls for years because of the pallet system and I still have a few Head Satellite Tours with 5/8 pallets. Unfortunately, my bad TE has healed and become accustomed to the PK Kinetic line, most particularly the flexy Black Ace series.
 
The down-sizing of preferred grip sizes is partly due to Nadal? but like others have mentioned the Western forehand grip. At the margin it is possible human hands have been decreasing in size due to less labor with hands along the same vein that our jaws and associated muscles have also decreased in size and strength due to packaged foods vs raw veggies and meat that we needed to hunt down or farm.

Player frames should always be offered through 4 5/8' size imho.
 
AmericanTwist said:
The down-sizing of preferred grip sizes is partly due to Nadal?
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I don’t understand this comment. Players with extreme grips have preferred smaller grips since the Nineties. Since extreme grips were more prevalently taught in countries where players mostly played on high bouncing clay, the trend might have come later to the US where there are less clay courts. I’ve seen small grip sizes in Europe since the Nineties and switched myself to more extreme grips including a smaller grip size when I played primarily on clay in Germany for a couple of years.
 
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Well I hope they don’t delete 5/8 because I have a large hand and using a 1/2 is likely to cause an arm injury.
Every time I bought a 1/2 I had to put 2 over grips, and it is a pain to do this when you have more than one racquet. And the thing is this, if a racquet company wants to charge top dollar for their product, they better, at least, have the right grip available, otherwise I am not buying it,
People say that the modern game with all its topspin and end range movements work better with smaller grips, but you see here in Australia, at the district level at least, we play on medium to fast synthetic grass and while I have a semi western forehand and one handed backhand, I play serve and volley, because you can win using that strategy on these courts. When you are volleying, a larger grip give your wrist more stability.
I just think that companies are slack in not providing the grip 5 option. It’s not going to kill them to have some available.
People say that you end up having too many grip
5’s unsold but I don’t think that’s the case and generally what you do in fact see on the rack left over is heavy RF autographs with 1/4 grips left over. Anyone using that sort of racquet should not be if they need it in a 1/4.
 
In my country I've never seen a racquet with a larger grip than L3 in a bricks & mortar store. In online stores you can find L4(4 1/2) on some models, but it's rare.
 
A good reason to look st Angell racquets where you can chose grip size up to L5 and grip shape (A,B,C = Head, Wilson, Prince)
 
louis netman said:
My correct grip size according to the standard measurement technique is 4 5/8. I have used 4 5/8 since adulthood and through the years (1995-2016) have purchased many second-hand 4 5/8 frames to demo with my custom string setups.
Then, about 5 years ago, I switched to 4 1/2 as I discovered a shortage of 5/8 frames listed (and a greater difficulty selling my 4 5/8 frames).

In fact, as the 4 5/8 supply was dwindling, the number of small grip sizes, (4 3/8, 4 1/4, 4 1/8) appeared to increase dramatically.

Is this simply a fad, that is, are players using grips that are smaller than the actual specs indicated by their true hand size, or have hand sizes physically shrunken in the the last half century?

Evolution? It appears that as we've transcended to modern culture, there has been less emphasis on jobs working with our hands and more emphasis on machines and computers...

Anyhow, I checked on some newer model frames this afternoon and could not find a single 5/8 in the TW Classifieds, or elsewhere. Will 4 5/8 grip size become obsolete?

Will manufacturers continue to produce 4 5/8 knowing that everybody is buying small sizes?
Click to expand...
The old measurements were based on the continental grip. And back then people didn't use overgrips as much as they do now. Nowadays most people hold the racquet and hit the ball with totally different techniques and grips. They don't hold the racquet like a hammer, and so that the but cap sticks out outside their palm, anymore.

I'm a former, devoted 4 1/2 + overgrip user myself, with rather long fingers, who has now gone down to 4 1/4 plus overgrip, and sometimes even that feels too thick, depending on the racquet. On my forehand, which is a hybrid between eastern and semi-western, I have a some sort of pistol grip where there's a good 1-2cm between my thumb and my middle and ring fingers. The little fingers is barely participating, and the but cap is hidden almost against the center of my palm. And I'm trying to hold the handle as loose as possible. And for those with semi-western or full western, the gap grows even bigger.

I have a plethora of great older racquets with 4 1/2 and 4 3/8 and this makes me a bit sad 'cos I don't like using them anymore due to their grip size.
 
Yonex still offers size 5, doesn’t seem to be as pervasive with them as it used to be but that could be what TW chooses to order. https://www.tennis-warehouse.com/Yonex_EZONE_98_Aqua_Night_Black/descpageRCYONEX-YEZO98.html

Try measuring with an overgrip on and switching that thin stock base grip with one a bit more chonky. I went down a size when I found the leather and OG I like compared to the 4-1/2 I played with just the stock grip when I was learning in the 90s.
 
one heat sleeve will not round the grip significantly. adds one increment, add a thicker grip and you will get 2 increments. Takes a 4 3/8 to a 4 5/8. Granted, not perfect, but not bad.
 
I don't think hand size is going down, people just like to use smaller grips. I've heard a lot of people try to explain it, but I haven't heard a scientific reason why.

You can usually still find grip 5's available on the heaviest racquets a manufacturer makes, but even those seems to be getting more rare. As a 6'5" male, I don't like this trend. I have several grip 4's that I built the grip up an extra size. Luckily I like a heavy and headlight racquet anyway so it doesn't bother me too much, it's just a little annoying.
socallefty said:
Are there any players below the age of 40 who want a grip size 5 left anymore?
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Me!
2ndServe said:
Smaller grips, make for better racket head speed, faster grip changes and feel.
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I've heard people say it makes for faster racquet head speed, but I've never actually seen any data to back that up, only anecdotal evidence (I.e. it feels like I swing faster or I hit better with it, etc). Do you have any proof of that?

As for faster grip changes, that's just not true. Even if it were, it would be so tiny (a fraction of a fraction of a second at best) that it wouldn't make a significant difference in play. The grip change is just too fast regardless of grip size. And feel? Do you have any explanation for why that would be? Personal preference/anecdotal evidence is insufficient. It might feel better for you, but I don't think it is objectively better feel.
 
It's all just fad/style/preference. When I was a competitive junior player in the 80s we all used the biggest grips we could. Plenty of guys even built their grips up beyond a 5/8. Of course. that was overkill, but the point is, it's just what you're used to.

I recently got a '21 Prestige Tour on clearance, and the 5/8 and the 1/4 were $50 cheaper than the other sizes. I got the 5/8 -- I couldn't imagine using a 1/4 grip -- and it's actually awesome.

And FWIW... I have a very average sized hand and normally use a 1/2. Even a 3/8 feels weird to me.

FWIW part 2... I know the mid to late 80s sound like ancient history to many of you, but no one I ever knew back then used a continental grip, and few even used an Eastern forehand. Ever since the Borg (and Vilas and Wilander and others) days, it's been mostly semi- to full western. Doesn't matter, the bigger grips work just fine.
 
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In China you can barely find 3/8. Almost everyone at every level plays 1/4, girls and youth play 1/8. Hard to find 3/8, 1/2 is literally impossible.
 
I noticed that Babolat and Yonex used to offer size 5, but for their newer lines (Pure Strike, Percept, VCore 2023), they are only going up to size 4. Definitely seems to be the trend. The current EZone is still offered in size 5, but probably will be the last generation to do so. Guess I should stock up.

But yeah, with the prices of new rackets these days, it seems they could at least offer a few more options.
 
Fintft said:
In the span of a year, I went from 4 1/2(Wilson) to 4 1/4 (Head), exactly for the reasons you mentioned. Plus I don't get blisters in my palm anymore.
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were you always a 4 1/2 and did you change to a western FH.
Not sure if this is the reason as I believe Federer also uses a smaller grip and Nadal has a Semi-western FH grip no?

I have a western FH but I also play a lot at the net. I'm scared to change to a smaller grip to chase more spin but to get some sort of elbow or wrist problem. I guess if it's not kabroken leave it alone.
 
Roforot said:
were you always a 4 1/2 and did you change to a western FH.
Not sure if this is the reason as I believe Federer also uses a smaller grip and Nadal has a Semi-western FH grip no?

I have a western FH but I also play a lot at the net. I'm scared to change to a smaller grip to chase more spin but to get some sort of elbow or wrist problem. I guess if it's not kabroken leave it alone.
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Always 4 1/2, eastern still.
 
2ndServe said:
Smaller grips, make for better racket head speed, faster grip changes and feel.
Click to expand...
maybe I'm just an antique but for me smaller grips mean way more rotation of the grip on less than perfect hits, more tension gripping due to that potential...

I can grip much more loosely on a larger grip (largen surface => more friction => less rotation within the grip) than smaller ones...

to me, smaller grips are more confortable for those who like to arm-wrestle the incoming ball :-)

Alsi I do see players with what seems like large grips - see Dimitrov as one example.
 
shamaho said:
maybe I'm just an antique but for me smaller grips mean way more rotation of the grip on less than perfect hits, more tension gripping due to that potential...

I can grip much more loosely on a larger grip (largen surface => more friction => less rotation within the grip) than smaller ones...

to me, smaller grips are more confortable for those who like to arm-wrestle the incoming ball :)

Alsi I do see players with what seems like large grips - see Dimitrov as one example.
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I think this was when rackets had a lower twistweight. Now the twistweight is so high on a lot of rackets, there’s really not much grip rotation twist difference between a 5/8 and a 1/4.

Also now most everyone has 2hbh, there’s really not much grip rotation on imperfect hits with high twistweight and 2hbh
 
As a former 4 and 5 grip user I note that many Pro shops and nearly all big box stores are mostly carrying sizes 1,2 and 3. Not many 4 sizes in almost every brand and no size 5.

Not such a big issue if you're a Prince user because their grip sizes run bigger these days. 3 size now is the old 4 and 2 is the old 3.

To get my grip size bigger I use an overgrip wrapped the Pro way (start with the end of the OG folded in half and wrapped twice around the butt). Wrapping this way enlarges the butt flare and increases the grip size by 1-2 size.

For example I have a Phantom 100x in grip 2 (bought very cheaply on sale, only size avail), OG wrapped the Pro way and it is the same as the old grip 4 size in Prince (I've still got an old Prince Scream and Ti Thunderbolt to compare).

Granted you have to be a fan of butt flare to make it feel comfortable but certainly works for me.
 
aussie said:
As a former 4 and 5 grip user I note that many Pro shops and nearly all big box stores are mostly carrying sizes 1,2 and 3. Not many 4 sizes in almost every brand and no size 5.

Not such a big issue if you're a Prince user because their grip sizes run bigger these days. 3 size now is the old 4 and 2 is the old 3.

To get my grip size bigger I use an overgrip wrapped the Pro way (start with the end of the OG folded in half and wrapped twice around the butt). Wrapping this way enlarges the butt flare and increases the grip size by 1-2 size.

For example I have a Phantom 100x in grip 2 (bought very cheaply on sale, only size avail), OG wrapped the Pro way and it is the same as the old grip 4 size in Prince (I've still got an old Prince Scream and Ti Thunderbolt to compare).

Granted you have to be a fan of butt flare to make it feel comfortable but certainly works for me.
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True, Prince grip size has resently been running larger due to new type of grip. Just replace the new grip with the old Resi Pro or Resi Thin and you are back on size.

I went from 1/2 to 1/4 and to me a smaller grip size is much more comftable and better for my elbow and wrist.
 
Happi said:
Dimitrov 4 3/8

Edit, some sites state grip 5, so I guess he also experiment with grip size.
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I base my saying from what I see on TV, I don't think he has small hands and it's clear on slow motions the big space or gap from the finger tips to the palm or base of the hand indicating a large grip.
 
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