Gripping the Racquet
From TableTennisTraining
One of the most important decisions a player makes when he first starts playing is what grip he will use to hold the racquet. The two most popular grips are called shakehands and penholder. Shakehands is the predominant grip in the US and Europe, while penholder is the most common grip in Asian countries.
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Shakehands
This grip is known as shakehands because it is like you are "shaking hands" with the racquet. This is the dominant style in the USA and Europe. It's a fairly balanced grip that is good for "two-winged" loopers (loopers who like to use both the forehand and backhand to loop).
Penholder
This grip is known as penholder because the grip resembles the way a person holds a pen to write with it. There are usually two ways a penholder can grip the paddle, one with the 3 fingers in back curled (chinese grip), and the other extended with the pads of the fingers pressed against the back (japanese/korean grip). The chinese grip is considered better for a close-to-the-table flat hitting game, whereas the japanese grip is slightly better for looping. Penhold players are predominantly forehand attackers and typically only use one side of their bat to hit both forehands and backhands. Recently some penhold players have begun to use the other side of the bat for reverse penhold loops that enable backhand looping with a penhold grip. Ma Lin, currently World #2 player, is perhaps best known for this style at the current time.
Many chinese-grip penhold players use bats with short handles and many japanese-grip penhold players use bats with a raised finger rest on the handle. Penhold bats are typically lighter than the bats used by shakehands players (primarily because they usually only use one sheet of rubber). However, shakehand bats can also be used with a penhold grip without any real problems.
Seemiller
Named for its inventor, 5-time U.S. champion Danny Seemiller. This unorthodox grip uses one side to hit both backhand and forehand shots. The grip is similar to the shakehands, except that the index finger wraps around the edge of the paddle and the thumb points "forward" to the hitting surface. A similar grip, but with less stability, can be acheived by placing the index finger in the middle of the racquet.
V-grip (specialized bat required)
http://www.tomveatch.com/tt/vgrip.html
Pistol Grip
A chinese company called Sanwei has recently started selling a "pistol grip" racquet. The grip is very similar to the way one holds a pistol, with a finger hole for the index/trigger finger and another larger hole for the remaining three fingers.
I recently purchased one of these to play around with: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ih=011&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWN%3AIT&viewitem=&item=320080856797&rd=1&rd=1 When ordering, it's important to note that there are two versions available, a left and a right-handed version, so be sure you get the right one. Be aware that this bat is fairly heavy, but the grip makes it still comfortable, in my opinion.
I recommend the finger hole in the racquet be sanded down for maximum comfort. I've also placed a bit of adhesive rubber (standard grip tape used on tennis racquets) at the top of the large three-finger hole, to reduce abrasion with the side of the middle finger. The rubber that came with the bat is a fairly sticky chinese rubber. The red side was playable, but the black side seemed too sticky and gave me a lot of trouble when doing backhand pushes. I've replaced it with Joola Mambo H (my normal rubber for several years now) and it pushes fine now.
I really like this bat and I think it has real potential. It's great for service and forehand looping and especially good for forehand flipping (a weakness of mine in the past). Even after playing with it for just 2 or 3 days, I was able to play within 90% of my normal shakehands game. I'm also experimenting with some "unique" strokes and serves that are possible with this bat. I'm able to generate very strong spins with my wrist without changing grips for service and it seems easier to add spin deceptively (both serving and during strokes). I also seem to be able to loop balls consistently a little further in front of my body than I've been able to do (for example when the ball drops faster than I expect and I haven't gotten to the perfect position to loop the ball). Several players have commented that it's harder for them to handle the balls that I hit with this bat, and I believe that is due to the increased variation in spin and placement control that it gives me. I'm still a little uncomfortable when using it for counters and smashes, as I'm getting used to the slight change in blade angle (during loops, spin control compensates for this pretty easily). It's also a little more difficult for me to serve short spinny balls presently, but I think this is just a matter of modifying my service technique.
I'm able to hit strong backhand loops and counters with the bat, but the stroke is a bigger change from shakehands than the forehand, so it took me a little longer to develop consistency. In the long run, though, I think it provides a better backhand stroke as stroke motions feel more smooth. I've already developed a very powerful backhand smash against short balls that are within 3-18 inches higher than the net.
I would like to have a slighly lighter version of the bat, since I occassionally feel it "move" in my hand a little more than I'm comfortable with during some strokes (particularly during counters and smash shots when I need firm control). I hope that my hand muscles will get more strength and control and eventually this feeling will go away.
Here's some clips of the pistol grip in action: Robot drilling with pistol grip bat
