Padel Grip Guide: Continental, Eastern, and When to Switch

Ask a club coach what they correct most often, and "grip" is in the top three. Players carry over a tennis grip, a squash grip, or something self-invented from their first lesson, and it limits every shot they hit. The padel grip system is simpler than tennis — there are really only two grips you need — but knowing when to use which, and how to feel the difference, makes a much bigger difference than most beginners realize.

This guide covers the two grips that account for 95% of padel shots, the small adjustments for specific shots, and a simple way to feel whether you're holding the racket correctly.

The Bevel System

Padel grips, like tennis grips, are described by which bevel (flat face of the octagonal handle) your knuckle sits on. Hold the racket horizontally in front of you with the face vertical. The bevel on top is bevel 1, then going clockwise (for a right-hander) — 2, 3, 4 underneath, and so on.

You only need to remember two:

Bevel 2 for the eastern grip.
Bevel 1 (or between 1 and 2) for the continental grip.

The base knuckle of your index finger is the reference point. Where it sits on the handle tells you which grip you're using.

The Continental Grip: Padel's Default

If you only learn one grip, this is it. The continental grip — sometimes called the "hammer grip" because you hold the racket the way you'd hold a hammer — is the foundation of padel. It is used for:

Volleys (forehand and backhand)
The serve
The bandeja and vibora
The smash
Most back-wall and side-wall play
The lob (most players)

That's the majority of your shots. The reason it works for so much: with the continental grip, the racket face stays close to neutral whether you hit a forehand or backhand, so you can switch sides without re-gripping. In a fast volley exchange at the net, you don't have time to change grips — the continental lets you play both wings with the same hand position.

How to find it: shake hands with the racket. Hold the handle the way you'd shake a friend's hand, with the racket face perpendicular to the ground. Your index knuckle should sit on bevel 1 (the top bevel, or between 1 and 2). That's continental.

The Eastern Forehand Grip: For Drives and Aggressive Returns

The eastern forehand grip rotates the hand slightly clockwise (for right-handers) — your index knuckle moves to bevel 2. This closes the racket face slightly and is used mainly for:

Hard, flat forehand drives from the baseline
Aggressive forehand returns of serve
Some players use it for the standard groundstroke when there's time

The eastern gives you more power and topspin on the forehand because the wrist is in a more natural hitting position. The trade-off is that switching to backhand requires you to re-grip — fine on slow baseline rallies, impossible on fast net volleys.

When to use it: only when you have time, and only on the forehand. Most pros stay continental for everything except specific attacking forehands.

What About the Backhand?

Here's the surprise: there's no "eastern backhand" grip in padel the way there is in tennis. The continental grip serves the backhand fine because most padel backhands are either:

One-handed slice-style shots played off the back wall
Two-handed for power on flat drives

For a two-handed backhand, your dominant hand stays continental and your non-dominant hand sits in an eastern forehand position above it on the handle. The non-dominant hand drives the shot. You don't change your dominant grip.

The Smash and Bandeja: Same Grip, Different Wrist

This trips up tennis players: in padel, the smash, bandeja, and vibora are all hit with the continental grip, not a "service grip" with an extreme bevel rotation. What changes is the wrist action — pronation on the smash, less pronation and more slice on the bandeja, more slice and side-spin on the vibora.

If you're trying to get an eastern or "Western" grip to add power to your smash, you're going to lose control. Stay continental and let your shoulder and forearm do the work.

Common Grip Mistakes

Holding too far down the handle. Your hand should be at the bottom of the grip with the butt of the racket pressing into the heel of your palm. Holding higher reduces leverage and forces wrist strain.
Death-grip pressure. Hold at maybe 3/10 between shots; firm to 6–7/10 only at contact. Constant max tension is the fastest way to develop padel elbow.
Index finger off the handle. Some tennis players splay the index finger up the throat of the racket. This destabilizes the racket on volleys. Wrap all four fingers around the handle.
Western grip carried over from tennis. If your knuckle is at bevel 3 or 4, you'll struggle with volleys and backhand. Rotate back to bevel 1.

How to Practice Grip Awareness

For one full session, focus on nothing but where your index knuckle sits between shots. Reset to bevel 1 (continental) after every point. If you naturally hold a tennis grip, this will feel awkward for the first half hour — and dramatically better by the end.

Then in subsequent sessions, experiment with one specific shot: use eastern on baseline forehands only, and watch what changes. You'll feel more racket face control on big swings and more comfort switching back to continental at the net.

One Hand or Two?

On the forehand, almost everyone plays one-handed. On the backhand, it's split:

Two-handed backhand — more power, more stability, easier to hit through the ball. Used by the majority of modern pros and most recreational players.
One-handed backhand — more reach, more disguise, better for slice and wall play. Used by players with strong tennis backgrounds.

Try both. The two-handed backhand is usually a faster path to a consistent backhand for newcomers, but a one-handed slice is a beautiful shot once you have it.

Bottom Line

Use continental for 90% of your shots. Add an eastern forehand only when you have time at the baseline and want extra punch. Stop trying to find specialized grips for the smash or bandeja — they don't exist in padel. Master the continental, and your shot variety will grow much faster than you expect.