Does tennis racquet grip size matter? Maybe not.

Tennis players often fret about the type of racquet they should get and the grip size that they should order for their new racquet. Often times they will test out several different frames, and thanks to the web it’s as easy as going to a website and getting a front door delivery the next day. Racquets come in different shapes and colors, varying in weight and balance, all of which are in part marketing schemes but also attempts by manufacturers to involve studies and come up with different racquets that fit the needs of different types of players. Players usually end up picking the ones that feel the best, the ones that give them the best power or control, or whatever they are seeking and then they move onto ordering grip size.

Does grip size matter as much as your racquet choice? Tennis magazines always say that the wrong grip size can lead to tennis elbow and other overuse injuries, but is that really the reason? In order to find out more, I looked in the American Journal of Sports Medicine. I came upon the following study by George Hatch et. al (Jul, 2006) “The Effect of Tennis Racket Grip Size on Forearm Muscle Firing Patterns”. Now that is too scientific for us, but in short, these scientists hypothesized that ¼ of an inch change in either direction from the recommended grip size won’t affect the forearm. Keep in the mind the notion of the correct grip size was developed by a guy named Nirschl who believed that depending on the grip size being bigger or smaller a player would have to squeeze their hand around it harder or looser and overwork or under work their forearm. Nirschl then recommended measuring grip size by determining the distance from the tip of the player’s ring finger to their proximal hand crease, and the resulting distance was to be the grip size, which would have been neither too big nor too small. This idea was then adopted by racquet manufacturers.

In this particular study, these scientists took a group of D1 and D2 college players and had them hit one handed backhands with 3 different grip sizes while connected to these little wires that gave a reading of how their forearm muscles reacted to the sizes. They concluded that the forearm muscles didn’t show a difference in reaction to 3 different grip sizes and that it really doesn’t matter what grip size you use as long as you can grip the racquet. By extension, they also don’t think grip size can be blamed for injuries like tennis elbow since the muscles work the same regardless of size. Now as a player, you know that grip size matters in terms of comfort, so having read this, and taken all risks aside, just like you evaluate your new frame, in the end, its best to choose whatever is most comfortable.

This is also good news for people that do not have the option of being selective about racquets and grips, as is the case of people using Tennis Racquets for Kids, if grip size doesn’t matter and you can get your hands on a frame, you’re half way there!