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We often talk about playing with an open racket face. It will to help us lift the ball, and biting the strings into the ball will enable us to more accurately control the length. One bi-product of this is a very small loss of power as some of the energy of your swing is transferred to making the ball rotate and spin. If you want out and out power though, it is best to play with a closed face. This will ensure all the speed you put into your racket is transferred into speed on the ball.

In this rally Tom Richards spots an opportunity for him to win the rally – but he needs real speed on the ball when his body position is not conducive to generating power. He’s at full stretch and the ball is low.

He has changed grip to close the racket because he can’t get in a good enough position to do it with his wrist, but using the wrist would be an option if the ball was further back in the court. Now from a really short swing he can generate enough power to beat one of the fastest men on the planet.

Changing the grip in this way, is a really difficult skill to learn , but what you can definitely put into your game is the thought that if you want to generate maximum power you close the racket face, and more accuracy will come from opening the racket and cutting the ball.