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Which badminton grip for serving?

HomeArticlesGrips guideWhich grip?Which badminton grip for serving?

Forehand serves

Forehand serve — singles
Singles forehand serve, using a long basic grip.

Use the basic grip for all forehand serves.

In singles, the badminton racket is usually held with a long grip, so that you can play an effective high serve.

You may prefer to use a short grip for low serves, but be aware that your opponent might observe the change in grip length and guess that you will serve low. In this case, a surprise flick serve could be effective.

In doubles, use a short grip. Consider using a backhand serve instead: all professional doubles players serve backhand.

Backhand serves

Backhand serve — doubles
Doubles backhand serve, using a short thumb grip.

Use a short thumb grip for backhand serves in doubles. Using a short grip helps you to make deceptive flick serves, because you can suddenly increase the speed of your racket.

In singles, I also recommend using a short grip; but remember that after serving, you should change to a long basic grip.

Related topics

Serving guide
My guide to serving in badminton, covering techniques for all the different serves and serving tactics for both singles and doubles.

Sources

The advice on this page is based on the Badminton England coaching manuals and technique DVD.

This page was last updated on 8 February 2008 (article update log).

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