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Choice advice
Choosing the grip size of a tennis racket
The grip size of the racket corresponds to its diameter or its thickness, as it is sometimes called. Choosing the right grip size for your tennis racket is essential to optimize your performance in the game.
Expert guide
Racket advice
Indeed, a grip size that is too large will reduce your wrist flexibility. This will therefore be a hindrance to progression, but even worse, it can eventually cause elbow and wrist injuries.
A grip size that is too small can also cause muscular problems (risk of tennis elbow).
How to choose the grip size of your tennis racket?
There is a well-known method that consists of holding the racket you play with by the end of the grip in an open position. This will create a space between your ring finger and the palm of your hand.
If your ring finger touches the palm of your hand, then the grip size is too small. Conversely, if you can fit more than one pinky finger in this space, then the grip size is too large. To determine the correct grip size, this space should be between 5mm and 1cm, which is the width of the side of your pinky finger.
If you are between 2 grip sizes, we advise you to take the smaller one. It is indeed easier to thicken a grip size with an overgrip, whereas the opposite is difficult to achieve. A topspin player will prefer smaller grip sizes to facilitate easier wrist movement and the use of closed grips. A player with flat strokes will adapt more easily to larger grips.
Only Head rackets have grip pallets that can be modified. This allows for increasing or decreasing a grip size.
The different grip sizes in tennis
We regularly get this kind of question: “What does my 4 1/4 grip size correspond to?”
These are American sizes that you will find on the grip's “butt cap”. Generally, it is located on the left side when reading and on the right for the French measurement.
Here is a conversion table to help you.
| US | Europe | Diameter |
|---|---|---|
| 4 inches | 0 | 100 - 102 mm |
| 4 1/8 inches | 1 | 103 - 105 mm |
| 4 1/4 inches | 2 | 106 - 108 mm |
| 4 3/8 inches | 3 | 109 - 111 mm |
| 4 1/2 inches | 4 | 112 - 114 mm |
| 4 5/8 inches | 5 | 115 - 117 mm |
| 4 3/4 inches | 6 | 118 - 120 mm |
What are the most commonly used grip sizes
In general, the grip size used for:
- men: size 2 and 3 in most cases, up to 4 or 5
- women: size 1 and 2
- teenagers: size 1 to 2
- children under 11 years old: grip 0
If you are in doubt between two grip sizes, choose the smaller one! If you add an overgrip, you will increase its size.
Furthermore, if the size turns out to be too small, you will always have the option to increase the grip size whereas the opposite is more difficult.