In tennis you'll hear us talk about a dominant hand and a non-dominant hand.
For a right handed player the dominant hand is the right hand and for a left handed player the left hand.
This is important when it comes to the two-handed backhand because we'll be using both hands!
Dominating the backhand
With your dominant hand (so right for right handers, left for left handers) just pick the racquet up at the end of the handle, as if you were going to shake hands with it.
This is called the CONTINENTAL GRIP. It’s the most basic grip and you’ve probably seen it before.
You can double check that you have the correct grip by understanding more about the anatomy of the tennis racquet handle.
For the continental grip the knuckle of your index finger should be resting on Bevel number 2.
The Top Hand (non-dominant)
This is a little paradoxical but for the two-handed forehand, the non-dominant hand is actually doing a lot of the work. In other words, it’s very important to make sure we have this grip correct on the non-dominant hand!
Here you have some options, but for now we’re just going to focus on what’s considered by some to be the easiest to master.
Start by holding the racquet with the dominant hand as we described above. Add the non-dominant hand by placing the heel of your palm flush against the back of your racquet.
Both hands should now be holding the racquet and it should look something like the images below. Note – per the 2nd image below – that when you hold the racquet out in front of you, the backs of your hands are pointing in opposite directions.
You can check this by making sure the knuckle of your index finger on your non-dominant hand is resting on bevel number #3 of the racquet. And remember that your dominant hand should be around bevel #2.
Here’s a reminder of where you can find bevel #2 and #3.
And finally a reminder that for lefties the numbers are reversed!
Stay loose!
Now just go ahead and make sure you are holding the racquet in the right grip and swing the right back and forth as if you were hitting an imaginary ball…just get a feel for it.
As we said earlier, gripping the racquet loosely and without too much tension is going to be important so just practice keeping that loose grip.