The forehand grip is the base of every stroke. Learn where the V sits, how loose to hold, and how to check your grip in two minutes.
The honest answer: In the forehand grip you place the V between thumb and index finger on the top edge of the handle and hold the racket so loosely that it could almost slip out of your hand. Sounds too simple? That is exactly why so many get it wrong: they clamp down like on a hammer, and the whole arm tenses up.
The forehand grip (also called the universal grip) is your default grip. Almost every stroke on the forehand side starts here: clear, smash, drop and most net shots. Once you master it, you can derive every other grip from it. And it takes only a few minutes to learn if you know what to look for.
An honest note up front: there is hardly any solid research on the grip itself. What follows is mostly coaching practice and labelled as such. What is documented is how much fine control of the hand matters for accuracy: in a small study with five skilled and five unskilled people, the skilled ones controlled their hand and forearm muscles far more consistently, and their strokes landed closer to the target [1]. Sounds like muscle science, but it means: a loose, controllable hand beats raw force.
No prior knowledge needed. The forehand grip is the first building block of the learning chain.
Hold the racket with the tip forward, the face vertical and the edge pointing at the target. Now reach out with your free hand and grab the handle as if shaking someone's hand. This image helps most people right away.
Milestone: The racket face stands vertical when you let it hang loosely.
The handle has eight sides. The V between thumb and index finger goes on the top, slightly slanted edge, not on the broad side. This is the standard in club training.
The fingers wrap around the handle. The index finger may sit slightly spread, the thumb supports from the side. About one finger's width of air remains between the palm and the end of the handle, so the wrist stays free. The strength sits in the middle, ring and little finger, not in the thumb.
Ask a partner to gently pull on the racket. It should come out without much resistance. If you hold against it like in a tug of war, the grip is too tight. A good feeling: you hold the racket like a small bird, firmly enough that it does not fly away, but without crushing it.
Milestone: You can swing the racket loosely and squeeze briefly at contact.
In competition a rally lasts 6.4 seconds on average, followed by 12.9 seconds of rest [3]. That is plenty of time to reset the handshake grip every time. Make it a routine until you find it blindly.
Do the dry test: swing a few times without a shuttle and listen to the sound. A cleanly swung racket "whooshes" at the end of the motion, a tense one sounds dull. You need neither shuttle nor partner. The same works as a phone video: in slow motion you can see whether your grip changes at contact.
Place the V between thumb and index finger on the top edge of the handle, with the racket face vertical, as if shaking hands with the racket. Hold it loosely; the force comes only at contact. This is coaching practice; solid studies on the grip itself are rare.
Loosely enough that a partner can pull the racket out of your hand with a light tug. Tighten the hand only briefly at contact and let go afterwards. Skilled players relax triceps and wrist flexor right after contact, unskilled players do not [1].
The forehand grip, also called the universal grip. It is your starting grip for clear, drop and smash. You derive backhand and special grips from it with small rotations. Once the forehand grip is solid, everything else becomes much easier.
After every stroke and in every pause. A rally lasts 6.4 seconds on average, followed by 12.9 seconds of rest [3]. That is enough to reset the grip each time and make it automatic.
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