Jay Davern | Quick Tennis Tips YouTube series – how everyone can put on an over grip + the key differences for a right and left-handed tennis player.
This video is a 1-minute and 3-second demonstration of how to wrap an over grip on your tennis racquet when you are a left handed tennis player.
In the description below, an in detail explanation provides a step-by-step guide to do it yourself.
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How to put on an over grip on your tennis racquet when you are a right handed player is also here for you, so all tennis players are looked after here! The visual demonstration for a right handed tennis player is here 👉 https://youtu.be/uJfkb2YcNFk 🎥🎤
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Importantly, I explain what the critical differences are and why, for putting the over grip on in totally opposite ways for right handed tennis player versus a left handed tennis player.
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To skip the video introduction and get right into the live tennis tips video footage go to 0:11
The key differences between putting on an over grip for a left hander versus a right hander are:
- You must start the grip wrapping in opposite sides of the tennis racquet handle i.e. on the left hand edge for a left hander. For a right hander start at the right hand edge of the tennis racquet handle.
- Once you begin the over grip the next key difference is that you must wrap the grip from left to right for a left hander, as you wind the grip up to the top of the tennis racquet handle. For a right hander you must wrap from right to left.
- The critical reason for starting from the correct corner of the tennis racquet handle and wrapping the over grip in the correct direction for whichever is your dominant playing hand is because how well the grip holds in your hand is strongly dictated by this. This is because the “grain” or “slant” of the line the over grip makes as you wind up to the handle needs to be in the opposite direction to the base of your index finger and the bottom of the thumb, when you hold the racquet with your forehand groundstroke position.
Key points:
For a left hander you must begin wrapping the grip from the very bottom LEFT hand corner of the tennis racquet handle as the handle is nearest you and with the top tip of the racquet furthest away from you.
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To begin wrapping, attach the sticky little section of the over grip onto the handle. Make sure the over grip runs right next to the very bottom edge of the handle but not over the edge at all – so your hand will always touch the over grip and not the base of the handle plus the over grip does not hand over the edge of the handle.
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Keep pressure on the over grip all the way until the end of the wrapping which is when you stick on the tape that fixes the over grip to the handle at the very top of the handle ie before where the handle ends and the racquet frame begins.
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When wrapping the over grip at the beginning you should heavily overlap the grip as you begin to wind as at the bottom of the handle is where your hand will be in contact with the grip to play tennis.
As you do this you need to redo the overlapping if there are any wrinkles or in the over grip due to not wrapping firmly enough. The area right towards the base of the handle then will have the most friction so a little movement of the over grip will not be optimal to “grip” the handle and can lead to the over grip coming apart, bunching up etc. due to the wrinkling and/or not overlapping enough.
As you continue to wrap the over grip up the handle towards the racquet frame you need to overlap quite a bit less to make sure the over grip reaches the end of the handle especially if you use a two handed backhand stroke. In doing this, you need to still overlap enough that the grip will hold in place.
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When you are wrapping the grain or slant of the line the over grip makes as you wind up to the handle needs to be more pronounced and not too much of a straight line because the grain running the base of your index finger and the bottom of the thumb is a strong contributor in aiding how well the grip holds in your hand.
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When you end the wrapping the over grip needs to be fixed by the sticking tape and really press the tape down firmly as you attach the over grip to the handle even a couple of times after initially sticking it on. Ideally then you place the thick rubber band that should be at the very top of the handle right over the sticking tape to further seal the sticking tape to the over grip and handle.
Notes on starting:
Unwind the over grip that you are going to wrap fully by removing everything from it, especially the thin plastic.
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There is usually a thin little cylinder that over grips are wound up on to form the circle they are stored in and the paper to keep the little sticky adhesive square ready to attach the very base of the handle.
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Make sure you find the sticking tape which can sometimes be within the wrapped up over grip initially. Try not to touch the adhesive sticky little spot so that it sticks better to the very edge of the handle.
