The Tennis Coach Daily · Coaching Notes
5 Reasons I Make Every Tennis Player Over 35 Add This $27 Undergrip to Their Racket
After 20 years of coaching club players, this is the single best gear upgrade I've found for keeping people on the court past 50.
I've coached tennis for 22 years.
In that time, I've watched thousands of club players come through my courts. Some of them played into their 70s without a problem. Many of them quit by their late 40s — not because they wanted to, but because their bodies forced them to.
Here's what nobody told them, and what I tell every single one of my students over 35 in their first lesson:
Every shot you hit sends vibration through your racket, up the handle, into your wrist, and into your elbow. Over years of play, that vibration is what destroys the tendons. It's what causes tennis elbow. It's what shortens careers by ten or fifteen years.
And it's almost entirely preventable — with a $27 fix that almost none of my students had heard of before I told them.
Here are the 5 reasons I make every player over 35 use it.
Vibration is the silent career-ender — and nothing else addresses it.
Most players think the gear that matters is the racket and the strings. After 22 years, I can tell you the gear that actually matters most for longevity is the layer between the racket and your hand.
Every time you hit the ball, vibration travels from the strings, through the frame, down the handle, and into your arm. Even the most expensive carbon racket — even the softest polyester strings — still let 70-80% of that vibration through to your hand.
The only thing that meaningfully reduces it is the grip layer itself. And the grip that comes on your racket from the factory is one of the worst layers for this.
After 35, your tendons recover slower — and the damage compounds.
Here's what changes when players hit their mid-30s: your tendons stop recovering as fast as they used to.
A 25-year-old can absorb the same level of vibration for years and bounce back overnight. A 45-year-old absorbs the same vibration and the tendon doesn't quite finish healing before the next session. After six months, you have lateral epicondylitis — tennis elbow. After a year, you're seeing a physio twice a week.
I've watched this exact pattern play out with dozens of students. It's not bad luck. It's the math of accumulated damage on a tendon that's no longer in its twenties.
The fix is a $27 grip layer — not a new racket or surgery.
When my students start feeling arm discomfort, the first thing they want to do is buy a new racket. $400. Sometimes $500.
Then they switch strings. Another $50 every few weeks. Then they buy a brace. Then they pay for physio. Then they take time off and lose their rhythm.
The fix that actually works — the one I tell every student about first — is a $27 undergrip that slides on under the overgrip they already have. It's called the Octopus Undergrip. The silicone bumps on it are specifically designed to absorb vibration before it reaches the hand.
Same racket. Same strings. Same swing. Just a different layer between the racket and your hand.
The undergrip I have on every one of my students' rackets.
- Slides under any overgrip in 30 seconds
- Works with any racket, any brand
- 30-day money-back guarantee
- Free shipping on orders over $50
Installation takes 30 seconds and doesn't change how your racket feels.
One of the reasons most undergrips don't catch on with recreational players is the installation. You have to remove your existing grip, fight with a rubber that rips, and end up with a racket that feels foreign in your hand.
The Octopus is different. You slide it on over your existing grip. Wrap your overgrip back on top. Done. Takes under 30 seconds. Your racket feels exactly the same in your hand — just without the vibration getting through.
I've watched students install it on their racket between points. That's how simple it is.
The students who use it stop showing up to lessons with ice packs.
Here's how I know it works: my students who use it stop showing up to lessons with ice on their elbow.
They stop wearing braces. They stop talking about taking time off. They stop asking me whether their backhand technique is wrong (it usually isn't — the technique is fine, the vibration was the problem).
Within a few weeks of switching, most of them are playing more often, hitting cleaner, and stop thinking about their arm during matches.
That's not a small thing for a player in their 40s or 50s. That's the difference between playing for another 10 years or quitting in 18 months.
"I started using this 4 months ago after my coach recommended it. No more wrist ache after long sets. I'm 51 and playing the best tennis of the last decade."
"My coach told every player in our group over 40 to get one. Three of us switched. None of us have arm pain anymore."
If You're Over 35 and Still Playing — Don't Wait Until It's Too Late
Most of my students who develop tennis elbow tell me the same thing: "I wish I'd done something earlier."
The Octopus Undergrip is the cheapest, simplest preventive measure I've seen in 22 years of coaching. $27, takes 30 seconds to install, comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee.
If you're over 35 and you play more than once a week, this is the upgrade I'd put on your racket tomorrow.
Order your Octopus Undergrip today (currently 20% off this week only).
When it arrives, slide it under your existing overgrip. Takes under a minute.
Play the way you've always played — without the vibration reaching your arm.
If it's not for you, send it back within 30 days. No questions, full refund.
But this batch sells out fast. The last three have. Order while it's still available.
The undergrip I put on every one of my students' rackets.
Claim Your Discount →30-day money-back guarantee · Free shipping over $50 · Selling out fast
