If you have doubts about how to hold the padel racket, in this post we teach you the benefits and how to do it correctly.
THE BENEFITS OF HOLDING THE PADEL RACKET CORRECTLY.
To hold the padel racket correctly is recommended to use a single way that is useful for most of the shots, since the distances in padel are very small and the ball arrives quickly there is no time to change the grip, rotate the racket during the points seems a bad idea to develop a good game.
For this reason, the grip we recommend is the “CONTINENTAL”, which has several notable benefits:
HELPS TO PREVENT INJURIES.
Being a natural grip that allows you to make both forehand shots, backhand, volleys, and smashes with a positive consecuence to the health of our elbow. Continental grip seems a very convinient way to play without having to change the grip.
HELPS TO AVOID MISTAKES.
Thanks to not having to change the grip you should not waste time moving the racket, and perhaps, taking it the wrong way for the next shot.
In addition, it allows you to react quickly in the volley, being a great advantage in volley against volley confrontations.
FACILITATES THE SHOTS BELOW THE WAIST.
This grip makes it easier to hit below the waist. The Continental grip it´s the easiest way to hit the lower shot close to the ground, it helps to make a correct angle to “lift” the ball up over the net and continue with the point.
Obviously, this is a great advantage since the rivals will try at all times to force us to play low balls.
HELPS TO EXECUTE THE BACKSPIN SHOTS.
It is a grip that allows you to easily perform flat strokes, but it also helps a lot to perform the backspin.
You can read the article about the different ball spin in padel:
2. HOW TO HOLD THE PADEL RACKET
1. Place the open hand on the face of the shovel.
2. Later we are sliding the open hand from the edge to the handle of the shovel.
3. The sensation must be like you were holding a hammer.
Sometimes it will feel a bit uncorfortable but it´s a fact of time and practice to start to feel good with the continental grip.
3. WHEN TO CHANGE TO THE CONTINENTAL GRIP
There is only two cases where you can change the “Continental” grip and you could allow changing it to:
Children or beginners: Who do not have enough strength to perform the forehand or backhand shots.
This is a way they feel more comfortable and safe when hitting so can create an easy starting point, thus, they will have a greater surface of the racket, although, as they gain confidence with the shots, it is essential that they start progressive to use the correct grip “Continental” grip.
In advanced players: Professionals variate sometimes the way they hold the padel racket and changing it when making certain strokes (specially in very high or low ball), but is very important to have the experience of a solid and comfort continental grip to start with new different grips.
However, although we recommend using the continental grip, there is a wide variety of different ways to hold the padel racket with more popularly in the world of tennis.
