While it is not generally recommended to change your grip too much during a point, the service is one area where breaking the rules can be a good thing. In this article I'm going to examine the three basic table tennis grips that shakehanders can use when serving, and discuss the strengths and weaknesses of each variation.

Shakehand Serving Grip Videos

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Service Grip Variation #1 - Standard Playing Grip

The most obvious variation that a shakehander can use when serving is to use exactly the same grip that he would use during the point.

The strengths of employing the same grip for service as for your rally strokes include:

• There will be no need to adjust the grip after the service, so you will always be ready to play your next stroke.
• You will have very good control over the racket due to your firm grip, giving better natural consistency.

There are downsides to using the same grip, such as:

• Because your fingers are firmly wrapped around the handle, you have a restricted range of motion from the wrist and less ability to move the paddle within your hand. This will reduce a little your potential to spin the ball, and to vary the spin on the ball.
• Because of the reduced range of motion, your ability to deceive your opponent by subtly changing the angle of the bat during the serve is also reduced.

Service Grip Variation #2 - Loose Fingers on Handle

The second grip variation that you can use is to allow your bottom three fingers to loosen on the handle, while retaining contact with it. By closing your fingers quickly during the service, you can add significantly to the amount of snap you can achieve with your bat.

Advantages to this grip variation include:

• The increased snapping of the bat allows greater spin to be imparted on the ball if desired.
• By varying the speed and amount of closure of your bottom three fingers, you can change the amount of spin or speed imparted on the ball in a way that is not easy for the opponent to read.
• Because the three finger loosen up on the handle, you have a greater range of motion available, and thus more opportunities for service variations and deceptions.
• Once the service motion is finished, it is easy to simply firm up the grip of your fingers, and you are ready to play your next stroke.

There are some concerns when using this grip though:

• You don't have a extreme range of motion available to you, since your gripping of the blade with the bottom three fingers will still reduce your range of motion.
• You will lose a little control in comparison to holding the handle firmly, although this can be overcome with enough practice.

Service Grip Variation #3 - Thumb and Index Fingers Only

Jan-Ove Waldner of Sweden was a pioneer and true master of this technique, where the bat is held loosely between only the thumb and index finger when serving. There are a number of advantages to this grip, such as:

• Because the bat is held so loosely, you have a very wide range of motion available to you when serving. This makes it much easier to deceive your opponent about what angle your bat was at when contact with the ball was made. It also allows you more options in terms of what placements and spins you can use.
• The loose grip allows the bat to be snapped very quickly at contact, or hardly snapped at all. This adds to the amount of deception you can achieve.

This grip is not without its own disadvantages though, including:

• Because of the wide range of motion that can be achieved, it takes a great deal of practice to be able to successfully perform a desired service with any consistency. Many hours of practice are needed to build an awareness of how your bat is angled at any given moment. A very small change in your grip can cause large changes in the angle of the bat, making consistent results harder to achieve.
• The player must quickly adjust his grip back to his standard rally grip before he plays his next stroke. Again, this takes practice to perfect the motion and grip the racket correctly before your next shot.

Conclusion

Which grip variation is best? It's not quite as easy as comparing the positives and negatives for each grip type. But in today's game of modern table tennis where hidden serves are banned, the ability to use your wrist and range of motion to deceive your opponent has never been more important, so I believe grip variation #1 (standard rally grip) should only be used as a last resort.
If you have many hours available to spend practicing your serve, then I would recommend trying grip variation #3 (thumb and index fingers only), and investing some significant training time in mastering this technique - you will be duly rewarded for your hard work! If you then find that you do not have the time available to truly master this variation, you should be able to move to grip variation #2 (loose fingers) with minimal trouble.

However, if you do not have a lot of training time, I'd suggest trying grip variation #2 (loose fingers), and sticking with it for a few months. This grip is a good compromise between control and range of motion, and most players should be able to use this grip without too much fuss. I would recommend that grip variation #1 only be used if you have already spent years serving that way - and even then I think most players can move to grip variation #2 and improve their deceptive abilities when serving with only a little effort.