Your Strokes: Ted Gregory: One Handed Backhand

[johnyandell]

We did use the high speed footage as shown in the article! And I would never tell another teaching pro not to follow his instincts about who to teach what and when. The student is the person really in the position to evaluate these choices.

Again, there are plenty of 4.0 to 4.5 to 5.0 players (and up) that do great with the one-hander--and also on the return. Both driving and slice.

Others not. That's one of the amazing things about tennis--about 8 basic strokes and a huge range of techincal options on all of them.

I do think we need to distinguish between teaching juniors and teaching adults, especially adult males who take up the game as adults--at least when it comes to the backhand... That is one of the premises of the article. But I think we can safely agree to disagree on this one and still continue to talk about issues in teaching.

[DougEng]

John. I appreciate your insights. I certainly don't want to beat a dead horse. But as a club player having access to all three surfaces, I have struggled with the one-hander for the past 6 years! I have found myself going back the the two-hander time after time. Not just because it makes the "shock-and-awe" return of serve possible, but because on the clay, it is almost impossible to generate any amount of pace on the one-hander unless you have a High Take-back. If, indeed, your article was intended to generate more interest in the one-hander over the two-hander, then an article featuring my one-hander at a 4.5 level would have been good. I, for one, intend to teach my 3 small kids both one- and two-handers, the two-hander for the return of serve only or the really high one you refuse to slice, and the one-hander for everything else.

Most folks like me mistakenly abandoned the one-hander because they cannot generate enough racquet head speed. Most folks think the one-hander too complicated. Most folks have trouble tracking the ball and turning their shoulders early and taking that last Giant Step with their right foot. I propose teaching the High Take-back early in one's training as it will 1. allow for the generation of racquet head speed 2. allow for more simplicity as the take-back is the same for the backhand slice 3. allow for better tracking of the incoming ball with the left hand just below the throat of the racquet, just like the slice (and the forehand too!), and the left arm naturally aids the turning of the shoulder. With all due respect, Federer's backhand is described by most commentators as "textbook." I cannot see your patient ever going beyond a 3.5, or ever playing on the clay, unless he reads the textbook. Perhaps working on simple left arm mechanics to "connect the dots in a circle" using your high-speed footage would have been more useful?

Respectfully, Pedro

Good points, Pedro! I prefer a high backswing myself. Lendl actually takes a high backswing but like I pointed out on the two-hander, there are players who make a C-loop and players who make a U loop. Lendl makes a good size U, John McEnroe uses a small U (racquet goes up but not above his shoulders) and James Blake is quite similar to Lendl (U above the shoulders). I prefer a loop more like Federer, but not like Gasquet. The other point is that you can attack high balls with the one-hander but most players never take the correct mechanics for it. It requires a high-loop backswing and an extreme eastern backhand or western backhand grip. Only a few players will try that grip but it works.

Best,
Doug

[privas]

C-Loop on the One-Hander

John, thanks your your insights.

And Doug, congratulations on 3 excellent articles on the modern two-hander. I think it's great to introduce terms like C-loop and U-loop and wrist break and hybrid grips, etc. I think this will make teaching tennis a more deliberate act.

I have spent the last 5 years and hundreds of dollars on lessons to try to develop more racquet head speed on my one-hander. I wish someone would have told me about a C-loop vs. a U-loop many years ago. My one-hander with the eastern backhand grip and U-loop was effective on the grass and hard courts with a low bounce, but not so much on the clay and higher-bouncing hard courts. I finally took a lesson with my good friend Barry who grew up on the grass of Wimbledon, as his dad is Alan Mills. Barry couldn't figure out why my one-hander couldn't generate enough pace on the higher-bouncing hard court. My form seemed adequate. He then had his assistant pro shoot a video of me with my own iPhone. He figured that I would go home and analyze the video myself. (He's a smart guy!) I then played it back on my computer, alongside Federer's from Tennisplayer.net Stroke Archive. It was clear very quickly. My U-loop was not a C-loop! I then spent hours analyzing Federer's motion, especially his left hand on the C-loop, back and side views. I am still working on this today, but it was a Giant Leap forward. I imagine that the timing issue is what makes teaching this difficult to older adults, as John implies.

The lesson? John Yandell's website is much more valuable than hundreds of dollars in tennis lessons. Perhaps Mac made the U-loop work for him because of his strange grip, but not for me. Certainly on the two-hander, the U-loop rules because you have two arms to help generate pace and it makes the timing much easier, which helps on the return of serve.

Anyhow, Doug and John, I look forward your next installments. Regards, Pedro

[johnyandell]

Pedro,

Now that is an awesome post. It's very gratifying to see the resources of the site used as they are capable of and that they are creating better understanding and real benefit! Congrats on your analysis and hard work.

JY

[privas]

One handed backhand, role of the elbow (one more comment!!)

John, I have used your articles in Advanced Tennis as a reference for many strokes, especially the one-handed backhand over the years. In that series you analyzed many aspects of this shot, but I noticed that you do not specifically address the dominant arm elbow position during the unit turn and take-back, like you did somewhat in this particular article. The "straight take back" of McEnroe and Lendl results in a more locked elbow during the unit turn and take back, which can also be used with an extreme grip combination on the high balls like Robredo and Gonzalez. As you mention in this article, the bent elbow of Federer may work for him, but How does one teach that elbow to lock just before contact? And How does one teach making contact away from the body with the arm at about 45 degrees with the torso at the point of contact? If the elbow begins in a more locked position, like your subject in this article, and like Lendl, McEnroe, Robredo, Gonzalez, and perhaps Justine, then perhaps this leads to a stronger contact point...out in front, away from the body? The analogy of the one-hander as "tossing a frisbee" is, I believe, inappropriate for most of us who lack that talent. Unlike the tennis ball, the frisbee is already in your hand.

[johnyandell]

Pedro,

Couldn't have said it better.