As racquet handles get smaller, spin gets bigger.
Get a grip on this: Racquet handles are downsizing faster than General Motors among both pros and recreational players.
The tree-trunk grips of the Boris Becker (4 5/8 inches) and Monica Seles (4 1/2) era are out. Thin is in.
For example, according to Prince, the average grip size for racquets bought by recreational players has plummeted since 1980, when 58 percent of the company’s racquets sold came with either 4 1/2- or 4 5/8-inch grips. Now 69 percent are either 4 1/4 or 4 3/8, with only 5 percent of grips as large as 4 5/8. Head reports that 4 1/2-inch grips have been shrinking in popularity, so it now produces about the same number of 4 1/4- as 4 1/2-inch grips.
“It’s been a dramatic shift to smaller sizes,” says John McBride, who has worked at Prince for more than 30 years, including 17 years as the company’s purchasing manager.
The reason for the change? Thinner grips make it easier to play in today’s wild-Western forehand, open-stance, wristy style. Rafael Nadal has become the poster player of the skinny gripster set with his 4 1/4 grip, which allows him to snap his wrists into his ground strokes with more ferocity than Alex Rodriguez smacking a home run.
“Players like the thin grips because they can come over the ball much more and whip it,” says Roman Prokes, owner of RPNY Tennis in New York City and stringer to many pro players.
Wilson and Yonex estimate that almost two-thirds of their male pro players are opting for 4 3/8-inch grips these days, while the majority of women who use Babolat frames are going for 4 1/4-inch grips.
“No question, the trend to smaller grips is real,” says Rick Macci, who has coached Jennifer Capriati and Venus and Serena Williams. “The best of the best are using them and there’s been a trickle-down effect to recreational players.”
If you’ve got the skill to generate fast racquethead speed, a smaller grip might be for you. “It increases the whip in the racquet head, and allows you to wrap the heel of your hand below the handle to create more snap and speed on the serve,” Macci says.
Back in the day, thin grips didn’t make any sense. The heavy and clunky wooden clubs of yore required you to use the biggest grip you could hold to lock your wrist in place and prevent the racquet from twisting in your hand when you made contact outside of the small sweet spot.
“Trying to generate spin with those old racquets was practically impossible, like trying to swing a rock with a rope,” says TENNIS racquet adviser Bruce Levine. “Now frames are lighter and more aerodynamic, with open string patterns that put more grab on the ball, making it easy for just about anybody to generate spin.”
And today’s smaller grips make it even easier, helping players put action on the ball with their wrists.
Who has gone the lowest so far on tour? France’s Marion Bartoli plays with a light Prince Speedport Red with an open string pattern and—ready for this—a 4-inch grip, believed to be the thinnest handle used by a pro.
Badminton, anyone?
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Originally published in the September 2009 issue of TENNIS magazine.