Tuesday, May 14, 2013

The Modern One-Hand Backhand

I stumbled over an excellent video by Tom Avery on maximizing the one-hand top spin backhand stroke. This video is concise and covers his instruction from the proper points of view, making Tom's explanation easy to understand.

As soon as he had covered the basic parts of the stroke and completed a full swing from preparation to finish, I was reminded of one player, Roger Federer.

I remember years ago after winning a major match (those days when we were more likely to see Roger run around his backhand), he was asked what part of his game he wished to work on the most. "My top spin backhand", was his reply. Well, we know what has become of this - it's one of the most graceful and accurate one-hand backhand swings in the game.

So if you are from that era when you learned nothing but the one-hand backhand and you either fear or don't care to make the transition to the two-handed variety, but wish to increase your power, control and spin, this is a wonderful beginning toward doing so.



Personally I feel the one-hand backhand to be more versatile, particularly on those lateral reaching shots as not as much of the upper body is committed toward to the ball contact point, allowing for quicker recovery.


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