Where should THUMB be during shakehand grip?

Baal wrote: VGripper proposes that "thumb position correlates with paddle rotation in the grip. i.e FH, BH, or neutral biased grip." I think this is sometimes true when you look at top players, but watching some videos closely, I think there are exceptions.  A good example of what he talking about is Kong Linghui, whose basic grip tends towards the BH side; his thumb rides up a bit, same with Zhang Jike, even when they hit forehands.  Actually, I think most people who play like that tend to have thumb higher. But there are guys who use a more forehand oriented grip on FH and they usually change their grip a lot when they hit backhands (e.g. pretty much every top German player, especially Boll) and the thumb position isn't always the same with this group.  For example, Timo Boll' thumb definitely does not ride up so far, but Kreanga is a really opposite extreme when he hits BH.  Another thing is how far up or down the handle people generally grip, which can also vary a lot among really good players.  Some guys really tend to grip pretty far down the handle (Wang Liqin, Timo Boll, Cheng Yinghua), and some guys grip somewhat higher (Kreanga, ZJK).  If you grip low, your thumb will stay low.    It's best not to think about grip too much when you are playing, it's got to be comfortable but automatic.

kindof99 wrote: Forgive me if you find out that this post is about 7 years old. When you do forehand loop, you are supposed to press the index finger on the rubber, how about the thumb? If you let the thumb relax, the paddle face is going to to somehow as the thumb is not there to stop the paddle from moving. A lot of people talk about holding the paddle like pinching it.  Does it mean that your thumb and index fingers should apply some pressure on the paddle all the time?

Edited by stiltt - 11/17/2019 at 6:39pm

I worry that when people talk of neutral grip its not always clear what is meant. Some mention "fh with neutral grip" or "bh with neutral grip".
Really the original idea was to be neutral and relaxed at readiness or between shots. Then for each individual shot adapt or not for comfort, efficiency and creativity.
This flexible approach fits well the fact that our future stars begin when their hand size is dramatically smaller than it will be when they become senior players

FinalFight wrote: Perhaps the best grip is the one you can always use consistenly and hopefully with good results. It's one of those things that always seems to change with my game and I can never remember the 'default' way I usually hold the paddle. Sometimes I'll move fingers around if a shot isn't working  or playing against a particular style and then the entire foundation collapses.

Just have a loose relaxed halfway grip and forget about it.
the very idea that fingers must be n a particular position is what is spoiling your technique