Tennis Grip Types Explained: Continental, Eastern, Semi-Western, Western, and Two-Handed Backhand

The short version

There isn't one "correct" way to hold a tennis racquet — there are several, and good players change grips constantly, sometimes mid-point. A serve, a forehand, a slice, and a topspin groundstroke each want the racquet face meeting the ball at a different angle, and grip is how you set that angle before you swing. The five grips worth knowing: Continental (all-purpose — serves, volleys, slices), Eastern forehand and Eastern backhand (flatter, versatile, beginner- and net-friendly), Semi-Western (the modern topspin-forehand standard), Western (maximum topspin, a clay-court and high-ball specialist), and the two-handed backhand — really two one-handed grips working together. This guide covers how to find each one on the handle, what shot it's built for, and the mistakes — serving with a forehand grip chief among them — beginners make without realizing it. It's checked against USTA's grip instruction, the ITF's racquet-technology resources, and established coaching references, listed in Sources below.

The bevel system: how grips are actually defined

A tennis racquet handle isn't round — it's an octagon, eight flat facets (bevels) wrapped around a roughly rectangular core. That shape is what makes grips learnable and repeatable instead of vague: each named grip corresponds to a specific bevel that the base knuckle of your index finger and the heel pad of your palm rest against.

To number the bevels on a right-handed player's racquet: hold it with the strings perpendicular to the ground, as if about to hit a forehand. The bevel facing straight up is bevel 1, and numbering runs clockwise from there through bevel 8. Left-handed players use the same physical grips, but mirrored: bevel 2 (Continental for right-handers) sits at bevel 8, bevel 3 (Eastern forehand) becomes bevel 7, and bevel 4 (Semi-Western) becomes bevel 6. Bevels 1 and 5, directly opposite each other, sit on the axis of symmetry, so they're identical for both hands: bevel 1 is Eastern backhand, bevel 5 is Western forehand, for everyone.

Once you can find bevel 1 and count from there, every grip in this guide is just "the base knuckle goes here" — a far more reliable check than eyeballing it, especially adjusting on the fly mid-rally.

The "shake-hands" method: a fast (but limited) shortcut

The fastest way to find a grip without counting bevels is the "shake-hands" method: hold the racquet out by the throat with your non-dominant hand, then grip the handle the way you'd shake someone's hand — palm and fingers wrapping naturally around it, no rotation. Done correctly, that lands your hand almost exactly on the Eastern forehand grip (bevel 3), which is why it's sometimes called the "shake-hands grip."

It's useful, but it only gets you one grip. It's not a shortcut to Continental, Semi-Western, or Western — those need the hand rotated further around the handle — and "shaking hands" with the racquet before every shot is a habit that actively works against you on serves and volleys, the mistake covered later in this guide. Treat it as a way to find the Eastern forehand grip specifically, not a universal trick.

Continental — the one grip everyone needs (bevel 2)

How to find it. Base knuckle and heel pad on bevel 2 (bevel 8 for left-handers). A reliable shortcut: hold the racquet by the throat with the strings vertical, then slide your hitting hand straight down the handle without rotating it. The V shape formed by your thumb and index finger should land roughly on top of the handle, not off to either side.

What it's for. Continental is the default grip for the serve, volley, overhead smash, and slice/chip shots — essentially everything except the modern topspin forehand. It's what makes full wrist pronation possible on a serve (the forearm-and-wrist rotation that generates racquet-head speed and spin), and it's what lets a volley be a short, compact punch rather than a full swing. Most coaching resources treat Continental as the first grip a beginner should master, even before a dedicated forehand grip.

The tradeoff. Continental is deliberately weak for topspin on a forehand groundstroke — the racquet face sits closed relative to the ball's flight, producing a flatter, lower-margin shot. That's a feature everywhere except the forehand, which is exactly why players switch grips between shots rather than using Continental for everything.

Eastern forehand — the natural, versatile starting grip (bevel 3)

How to find it. Base knuckle and heel pad on bevel 3 (bevel 7 for left-handers) — the grip you land on with the shake-hands method described above.

What it's for. Eastern forehand sits between Continental and Semi-Western, and that middle position is its strength: it produces a flatter shot closer to Continental's flight, or moderate topspin closer to Semi-Western's, without committing fully to either extreme. It's historically the standard beginner forehand grip and remains strong for an all-court game — attacking the net behind an approach shot is easier from here than from the more extreme grips below, since it's a smaller grip change to Continental for the volley that follows.

The tradeoff. It runs out of room against high-bouncing balls — a ball arriving above shoulder height is awkward to strike cleanly, since the grip doesn't close the racquet face enough to control that contact point the way Semi-Western or Western do.

Eastern backhand — the one-handed backhand grip (bevel 1)

How to find it. Base knuckle and heel pad on bevel 1 — the top bevel, the same for right- and left-handed players since it sits on the racquet's axis of symmetry. From a Continental grip, rotating your hand one bevel toward your body (counterclockwise for a right-hander) gets you there.

What it's for. This is the standard grip for a one-handed topspin backhand, giving a workable mix of topspin and flatter, penetrating shots along with relatively easy net transitions, since it's only one bevel from Continental. Players using a one-handed backhand also lean on Continental itself for the backhand slice, switching within the same rally depending on whether they're driving or slicing.

The tradeoff. Like Eastern forehand, it struggles more against shoulder-height and above balls than the more extreme forehand-side grips handle high balls on the other wing.

Semi-Western forehand — the modern standard (bevel 4)

How to find it. Base knuckle and heel pad on bevel 4 (bevel 6 for left-handers) — one bevel further around the handle from Eastern forehand, two bevels from Continental.

What it's for. Semi-Western is, by a wide margin, the most common forehand grip in the modern game, from advanced juniors through the professional tour. It closes the racquet face enough to brush up the back of the ball aggressively, generating significantly more topspin than an Eastern grip while staying flexible enough to flatten a shot out when needed. It also handles high-bouncing balls far more comfortably than Eastern forehand — a ball kicking up past shoulder height against a topspin-heavy opponent is routine, and Semi-Western takes it on the rise without an awkward swing.

The tradeoff. Low, skidding balls are harder — the closed face that generates topspin so well on a normal bounce has to work much harder under a ball staying low. It also requires a bigger grip change to Continental than Eastern forehand does, so frequent serve-and-volley players sometimes trade a bit of topspin for that smaller change.

Western forehand — maximum topspin (bevel 5)

How to find it. Base knuckle and heel pad on bevel 5 — the bottom bevel, the same for right- and left-handers, directly opposite Eastern backhand's bevel 1. One easy way to find it: hold the racquet with the face pointing straight down at the ground, then wrap your hand around the handle from underneath.

What it's for. Western is the most extreme common forehand grip, closing the racquet face further than Semi-Western and producing the most topspin of any standard grip. It's especially effective against high-bouncing balls — the exact shot that gives Eastern forehand the most trouble — which is why it's associated with clay-court specialists, where the surface produces higher, slower bounces than hard courts.

The tradeoff. Western is genuinely difficult on low balls; the closed face that's an asset against a high bounce becomes a liability scooping up a ball near the ankles, and it demands strong wrist and forearm timing. It's also the furthest grip from Continental, meaning the biggest change to reach net-game shots. Most coaching resources don't recommend it as a starting grip — Continental for serves/volleys plus Semi-Western for groundstrokes is the more common beginner combination, with Western a later refinement once a swing is already grooved.

Two-handed backhand — two grips working together

The two-handed backhand isn't a single grip; it's two separate one-handed grips, one per hand, working in tandem. Standard setup: the dominant hand takes a Continental or Eastern backhand grip (bevel 2 or 1), while the non-dominant hand — directly above it, hands touching but not overlapping — takes an Eastern forehand or Semi-Western forehand grip.

That combination is why a two-handed backhand generally handles a wider range of ball heights and generates topspin more easily than an underdeveloped one-hander: the non-dominant hand drives through with a familiar "forehand-like" motion, while the dominant hand's Continental-leaning grip stabilizes the face. The tradeoff runs the other way on reach and slice: two hands shorten your effective reach on a wide ball, and a clean slice or disguised low volley is harder with two hands on the handle, since slicing wants the one-handed Continental setup a two-hander isn't built around.

Common beginner mistakes

A handful of grip mistakes account for most of the technical ceiling recreational players run into, and nearly all are invisible until someone points them out:

Serving with an Eastern forehand grip instead of Continental. Probably the single most common and limiting grip mistake in recreational tennis. Because Eastern forehand feels natural for pushing the ball forward, self-taught players often default to it on the serve too — but it locks out wrist pronation, the rotation that generates real racquet-head speed and lets you vary a serve between flat, slice, and kick. The result is a flat, armed "push" serve with a low power ceiling and no spin variety, and it's a habit that gets harder to unlearn the longer it's grooved in.
Never leaving Continental for the forehand. The opposite mistake: some beginners get comfortable with Continental and never rotate to an Eastern or Semi-Western grip for groundstrokes, leaving them with a flat, low-margin forehand and little topspin to bring the ball down into the court.
Jumping to a Western grip before the fundamentals are there. Western produces spectacular topspin on video, which is why beginners are drawn to it — but it demands a fast, well-timed swing and strong wrist control, and it's the hardest grip to use on a low ball or transition quickly to net play. Most coaching guidance points beginners toward Continental and Semi-Western first, treating Western as something to grow into.
Squeezing the handle too tightly, regardless of grip. A death-grip restricts the wrist's natural motion and is tiring to sustain — coaching guidance generally points toward light-to-moderate pressure, tightening only momentarily at contact.
Overlapping the hands on a two-handed backhand. The hands should sit directly adjacent, touching but not overlapping; overlapping cramps the non-dominant hand's ability to drive through the shot and usually shows up as a weak, arm-only backhand.
Not adjusting grip at all between shots. Advanced players change grips constantly within a single point. Beginners who pick one "comfortable" grip for everything are trading away the specific advantage each grip was built for; the fix is practicing the transitions until they're fast enough to happen without thinking.

A practical starting combination

Building grips from scratch, a sensible order is: Continental first (it covers the most shots), Eastern or Semi-Western forehand second (Eastern for an easier net transition, Semi-Western for more baseline topspin), then Eastern backhand or the two-handed setup depending on your backhand style. Add Western later, once your contact point is consistent. Grip changes are a physical habit — easier to build correctly from the start than to rebuild later. For how the racquet itself interacts with grip and swing — head size, weight, balance, grip size — see our guide to choosing a tennis racquet.

Glossary

Bevel — one of the eight flat facets running the length of a racquet's octagonal handle; grips are defined by which bevel the base knuckle and heel pad rest on.
Base knuckle / heel pad — the two hand landmarks (base of the index finger; fleshy pad near the base of the palm) used together to identify a grip's bevel position.
Pronation — the forearm-and-wrist rotation that turns the racquet face over through contact, central to serve power and spin; only fully available from a Continental grip.
Open vs. closed face — an "open" face tilts the strings up and back (more likely to loft the ball); a "closed" face tilts them forward and down (more likely to drive the ball down with topspin). More extreme grips (Semi-Western, Western) close the face further at contact than Eastern or Continental do.

Sources

Now find somewhere to use it

Grips are muscle memory — the fastest way to groove them is repetition on an actual court. The Court Scout maintains a verified directory of tennis courts, every listing checked against a primary source instead of scraped from a stale aggregator. Find tennis courts near you and put these grips to work, or read our guide to choosing a tennis racquet if you're still shopping for the frame that goes with them.