How to hold the racket

How you hold the racket is the first thing worth getting right, because almost everything else in your game is built on top of it. The good news is that it's simple to learn, and a few small adjustments can instantly give you more power, more control, and a lot less strain on your arm. Let's walk through the grips you'll actually use and, just as importantly, when to switch between them.

The basic forehand grip

This is your home base, the grip you'll use for most shots on your racket-arm side: clears, smashes, drops, drives and lifts. The easiest way to find it is to imagine shaking hands with the racket. Hold the racket out in front of you so the strings are at right angles to the floor (on their side, like a knife edge), then simply shake hands with the handle.

When you've got it right, the V shape made by your thumb and index finger sits along the top edge of the handle, and your fingers are spread comfortably rather than bunched up in a fist. Your index finger should be slightly separated from the others, almost like a trigger finger, which is what gives you fine control.

1. Hold the racket out with the strings facing sideways (edge-on to the floor).
2. Reach out and shake hands with the handle.
3. Check the V between your thumb and index finger runs along the top edge.
4. Spread your fingers a little and let the index finger sit slightly forward.

The backhand grip

For shots on your non-racket side, the forehand grip leaves you weak and awkward, so you switch to the backhand grip. From your forehand grip, rotate the racket slightly in your hand so your thumb lies flat up the wider, flat side of the handle. That thumb is doing the work: it presses against the handle and pushes the racket through the shuttle, giving you far more power and control than you'd get otherwise.

You'll use the backhand grip for backhand drives, lifts, net shots, backhand serves and a lot of doubles defence. It feels strange at first, but the thumb push is the secret to a backhand that actually goes somewhere.

The bevel grip

The bevel grip is a small step on from the backhand grip rather than a halfway point back towards the forehand. Starting from the backhand grip, you twist the racket a touch further in the same direction so your thumb rolls off the flat wide side and rests on the angled edge (the bevel) of the handle. It's a slightly more advanced grip, so don't worry if it takes time.

You reach for it mainly when the shuttle is behind you on your backhand side, such as a backhand clear or drop from the rear court, or when you're stretched and need the racket head to come round at an awkward angle. As a rough rule: if the shuttle is level with you or in front, the standard backhand grip is fine; if it's behind you, rolling the thumb round onto the bevel helps you get cleanly behind the shuttle.

Why you switch between them

In a rally the shuttle comes to both sides of your body, often very quickly, so no single grip can do everything. Strong players are constantly making tiny rotations of the racket in their fingers, switching from forehand to backhand and back again between shots, usually without even thinking about it. You don't need to rush this. Start by switching deliberately, and with practice it becomes automatic.

Grip pressure: relax, then squeeze

This is the part most beginners miss. For nearly all of the rally your grip should be loose and relaxed, almost as if you're barely holding the racket. A loose grip keeps your wrist and forearm free to generate speed, and lets you switch grips quickly. Then, at the precise moment you strike the shuttle, you briefly squeeze and tighten the fingers to add power and snap, before relaxing again straight away.

The classic beginner mistake: the frying pan grip

By far the most common error is the panhandle, or frying pan, grip, where you hold the racket so the strings face up and you swat at the shuttle like flipping a pancake. It feels natural because it's how you'd instinctively pick the racket up, but for most shots it robs you of power and reach and puts strain on your arm.

The fix is to go back to the shake-hands forehand grip with the strings edge-on. The frying pan grip isn't completely useless, mind you: it has a real place at the net for quick taps and net kills when the shuttle is right in front of you. The mistake is using it for everything. Learn the proper grips first, and save the panhandle for those tight net situations.