Q: Everyone thinks that my grip is too small for my hand. Is that bad? If so, what can I do to make it bigger?

A: This is an important question, because if your grip is too small, it is more likely to spin in your hand on off-center contacts. To compensate, players end up squeezing the grip harder. This death grip can wear out your arm and is a factor in tennis elbow.

 

The first thing to do is check to see what grip size you should be using.

 

The second thing to do is to measure your grip. Although many racquets have the grip size marked somewhere on the frame or butt cap, it's not a bad idea to wrap a flexible ruler around the grip to see what the actual circumference is.

 

If it turns out that your grip size is smaller than your hand measurement, you have a couple of options. Most frames are offered in grip sizes between 4-1/8 inches and 4-5/8 inches. If your hand measurement is less than 4-5/8 inches, you can buy another racquet that fits your hand better. It can be expensive, of course, to buy a new racquet, but buying a properly-sized racquet off the rack means that the weight, balance, and performance will be as the manufacturer designed it.

 

If your hand measurement is larger than 4-5/8 inches, some manufacturers offer larger grips on some of their frames. If you are not ready to purchase a new frame to get a bigger grip size, the easiest way to make your grip a little bigger is to use an overgrip. The next easiest way is to replace the grip with a thicker replacement grip (some grips are manufactured a little thicker than others). Alone, either of these tricks will only add 1/32 to 1/16 inch to the grip size. If you do both, you might get closer to 1/8 of an inch.

 

If you need a bigger build up than that, you will have to build up your handle. There are two main methods for doing this. Both involve removing the replacement grip adding material to the handle, and reinstalling a replacement grip. For many years, racquet service professionals have used a waxy material called Add-On that they wrap around the handle, trimming away any overlap. The material has adhesive on one side to hold it in place.

 

However, these days, most racquet service professionals are using "heat shrink" sleeves. These are rubbery tubes that slide over the handle. You then heat them with a heat gun and they shrink down and conform to the shape of the handle. These sleeves will build up a grip size either 1/16 inch or 1/8 inch, depending on which thickness you use. You can even use two of them to build up a grip size as much as 1/4 inch. It is not recommended to use more than 2 of these sleeves on a handle because it can start to round off the edges (bevels) of the handle making it harder to feel whether your hand is in the right position.