Racket question for Geoff

[gzhpcu]

Geoff, I am watching Wawrinka play Gasquet. Gasquet's racket has a very prominent knob at the end of his grip. Never saw such a knob before... any idea why?

[GeoffWilliams]

He builds it up because he likes it that way, with some modifications. Just his preference, as he is a small guy, with small hands, but loves a huge knob to hold on to! http://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/index...handle.479006/

[klacr]

I actually tried this about 3 years ago or so after I saw Soderling have something similar. Personally, I didn't like it. I had no purpose for doing it in my game, just wanted to experiment. problem was I hold my hand fairly low on the grip and the knob just got in the way.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

[don_budge]

The Little Finger...

Geoff, I am watching Wawrinka play Gasquet. Gasquet's racket has a very prominent knob at the end of his grip. Never saw such a knob before... any idea why?

To answer your question we need some closeups of his grips on all of the various shots. How is he placing his little finger on his grips? I suspect we will find that his little finger is right on top of the knob at all times. My golf intuition tells me this.

[stroke]

To answer your question we need some closeups of his grips on all of the various shots. How is he placing his little finger on his grips? I suspect we will find that his little finger is right on top of the knob at all times. My golf intuition tells me this.

I think you are right. It looks to me that Gasquet places his little finger over that built up knob on all his shots, backhands, forehands, and serve. He appears to hold his grip toward the very end of the grip(and applies his overgrip to only this lower portion of the grip). I suspect this grip feels to him like he has a very secure grip with his ring finger locked in just above that knob.

[GeoffWilliams]

LIttle guys need big knobs.