Interactive Forum December 2012: Nicolas Almagro Backhand

[johnyandell]

Nicolas Almagro Backhand

By repeated popular request, here is the Almagro backhand in all it's one-handed glory. Points for discussion! That extreme grip. The seeming preference for closed stance and the amount of body turn related to it. The forward body rotation from the turn. And the relationship between the extension and the wrap! Plus I am sure more that I will learn from subscriber comments!

[johnyandell]

Quicktime version

Nicolas Almagro Backhand

[stotty]

Impressive

I saw Almagro play Rufin in the 2nd round of Wimbledon earlier this year. I was about 10 rows back looking directly along the baseline. Almagro is a sweet striker of a tennis ball. His backhand is a treat to watch. He's very happy to drive shoulder high balls and does it superbly.

Looking at the clips it's odd how he resettles his lower two fingers before commencing the forward swing. I am forever telling a couple of my finger-wriggling students to wrap the fingers around the handle early and keep them there...no fidgeting or wriggling the fingers just before the strike. Seems Almagro blows that theory out of the water...although my students are resettling their fingers even later in the swing than Almagro.

Technically it's hard to fault Almagro's backhand. I think it's close to perfect in it's execution.

Both the top of the backswing and the end of the follow through seem on the high side. In fact the follow through on all three shots is very high. I have a very good student with a one-handed backhand who follows through much lower...roughly in line with the shoulder...makes me wonder...should I encourage my student to follow through higher? Why is Almagro's so high? When I watched him at Wimbledon he didn't seem to be hitting with tons of topspin...a generous supply...nothing excessive.

I notice he keeps an almost straight arm throughout the backswing and locks it completely straight on the forward swing. Having an almost straight arm on the backswing is a little unusual. Looking in the archive, most one-handers are more bent in the backswing.

And does the left hand hit the back of his shorts as it goes to counter balance and split away...looks so on one of the clips...and very close to it on the others?

[julian1]

Multiple backhands

I saw Almagro play Rufin in the 2nd round of Wimbledon earlier this year. I was about 10 rows back looking directly along the baseline. Almagro is a sweet striker of a tennis ball. His backhand is a treat to watch. He's very happy to drive shoulder high balls and does it superbly.

Looking at the clips it's odd how he resettles his lower two fingers before commencing the forward swing. I am forever telling a couple of my finger-wriggling students to wrap the fingers around the handle early and keep them there...no fidgeting or wriggling the fingers just before the strike. Seems Almagro blows that theory out of the water...although my students are resettling their fingers even later in the swing than Almagro.

Technically it's hard to fault Almagro's backhand. I think it's close to perfect in it's execution.

Both the top of the backswing and the end of the follow through seem on the high side. In fact the follow through on all three shots is very high. I have a very good student with a one-handed backhand who follows through much lower...roughly in line with the shoulder...makes me wonder...should I encourage my student to follow through higher? Why is Almagro's so high? When I watched him at Wimbledon he didn't seem to be hitting with tons of topspin...a generous supply...nothing excessive.

I notice he keeps an almost straight arm throughout the backswing and locks it completely straight on the forward swing. Having an almost straight arm on the backswing is a little unusual. Looking in the archive, most one-handers are more bent in the backswing.

And does the left hand hit the back of his shorts as it goes to counter balance and split away...looks so on one of the clips...and very close to it on the others?

Some pros do have at LEAST TWO variations
1.more rotating,lower finish
2.higher finish
I cannot see a unique answer to your question about the choice
I would say the same applies for forehand-does one flatten forehand or not.
I anticipate that it is NOT an answer you were looking for

[florian80]

Almagro's backhand is indeed excellent. I saw him at the Sony Ericsson last year and it was simply a pleasure to watch him hit those backhand winners from anywhere on the court.

I believe that even though his grip is extreme, we can see all the elements of a great "classical" one-handed backhand in play here.

1. The amount of body rotation is really not that great in my opinion. Yes he does rotate from the unit turn toward contact but around contact his body does not rotate much anymore at all. His left arm stays back, essentially keeping his upper body relatively still. Even with a grip like this I believe players are much better off "trying to stay sideways" around contact then "trying to rotate" the upper body which usually results in a disaster.

2. The high finish position. This is essential for a great one-hander and it gives Almagro the necessary depth and penetration on his shot. He of course finishes lower sometimes when he wants to add more spin or hit an angle but this is the exception rather than the rule and that's how it should be for the average player as well.

3. Unwinding of the front leg. We can see how he coils his upper body towards the unit turn and also bends his legs. He then uncoils upper body and legs, which results in a straightening of the front leg on most shots. This is also classical teaching "Vic Braden style".

Almagro is really fun to watch live in my opinion and I would encourage everyone to go out and watch him play if you are at a live event!

Cheers

Florian Meier

[julian1]

Typo?

Almagro's backhand is indeed excellent. I saw him at the Sony Ericsson last year and it was simply a pleasure to watch him hit those backhand winners from anywhere on the court.

I believe that even though his grip is extreme, we can see all the elements of a great "classical" one-handed backhand in play here.

1. The amount of body rotation is really not that great in my opinion. Yes he does rotate from the unit turn toward contact but around contact his body does not rotate much anymore at all. His left arm stays back, essentially keeping his upper body relatively still. Even with a grip like this I believe players are much better off "trying to stay sideways" around contact then "trying to rotate" the upper body which usually results in a disaster.

2. The high finish position. This is essential for a great one-hander and it gives Almagro the necessary depth and penetration on his shot. He of course finishes lower sometimes when he wants to add more spin or hit an angle but this is the exception rather than the rule and that's how it should be for the average player as well.

3. Unwinding of the front leg. We can see how he coils his upper body towards the unit turn and also bends his legs. He then uncoils upper body and legs, which results in a straightening of the front leg on most shots. This is also classical teaching "Vic Braden style".

Almagro is really fun to watch live in my opinion and I would encourage everyone to go out and watch him play if you are at a live event!

Cheers

Florian Meier

Did you mean "around contact than"
instead of "around contact then" ?

[cburr]

Amagro's beautiful backhand

1. The shift of grip at the end of the backswing: Almagro makes an early grip change with the unit turn. He seems to relax his grip at that point and the finger movement seems to be a firming up of the grip; there does not seem to be any substantive change in the grip itself although it might be possible that he has a subtle difference between his grip going down the line than crosscourt. Generally, I agree that re-gripping is usually not good because it is a sign of changing from a new, uncomfortable grip particularly when learning something new (commonly seen on learning the continental grip on the serve).

2. It seems to me that Federer keeps his head on the ball longer and hits the ball slightly further in front on the backhand which would seem to be advantages, however...

3. It seems to me that Almagro's using less movement at the elbow and more from the shoulder simplifies the shot and allows him to finish through the ball more while still imparting a lot of top; his more extreme grip facilitates the top. Federer seems to have more movement at the elbow on the follow-through when imparting topspin.

4. Nadal poses the best question for the efficacy of a one-handed backhand in my opinion. His high bounding forehand to Fed's backhand has given (arguably) him five French titles. I have no idea how hard it would be to try and hit a one hander from Nadal's crosscourt forehand nevertheless I have the temerity to suggest that Almagro's straighter arm on the shot may allow for the timing to drive the ball off the heavy top. If he does hit the lower with even shorter follow-through, flattening and stinging the ball up the line, can he at times take Nadal out when Nadal's forehand lands about six feet behind the service line (the shot that Fed could not take advantage of)? It would be necessary to take these balls on the rise of course.

5. I think the fluidity of Almagro's shot allow him to not get tired in the shoulder area. The high backswing helps create the fluidity in my opinion.

6. I also think that the high follow-through and straighter arm is partly related to the extreme grip. Experiment with going to the extreme grip and I think you will find your arm straightening automatically.

7.The extreme grip also allows him to drive the ball from shoulder height which is a big advantage in the modern game at the pro level. What's interesting is that he seems to be able to hit the low ball well even on hard courts (saw him at the US Open this year against Stepenik - hard to believe the latter would clinch the Davis Cup over Almagro).

[johnyandell]

Great posts guys. Lot's of accurate and valuable analysis...

[stotty]

Good Analysis

1. The shift of grip at the end of the backswing: Almagro makes an early grip change with the unit turn. He seems to relax his grip at that point and the finger movement seems to be a firming up of the grip; there does not seem to be any substantive change in the grip itself although it might be possible that he has a subtle difference between his grip going down the line than crosscourt. Generally, I agree that re-gripping is usually not good because it is a sign of changing from a new, uncomfortable grip particularly when learning something new (commonly seen on learning the continental grip on the serve).

2. It seems to me that Federer keeps his head on the ball longer and hits the ball slightly further in front on the backhand which would seem to be advantages, however...

3. It seems to me that Almagro's using less movement at the elbow and more from the shoulder simplifies the shot and allows him to finish through the ball more while still imparting a lot of top; his more extreme grip facilitates the top. Federer seems to have more movement at the elbow on the follow-through when imparting topspin.

4. Nadal poses the best question for the efficacy of a one-handed backhand in my opinion. His high bounding forehand to Fed's backhand has given (arguably) him five French titles. I have no idea how hard it would be to try and hit a one hander from Nadal's crosscourt forehand nevertheless I have the temerity to suggest that Almagro's straighter arm on the shot may allow for the timing to drive the ball off the heavy top. If he does hit the lower with even shorter follow-through, flattening and stinging the ball up the line, can he at times take Nadal out when Nadal's forehand lands about six feet behind the service line (the shot that Fed could not take advantage of)? It would be necessary to take these balls on the rise of course.

5. I think the fluidity of Almagro's shot allow him to not get tired in the shoulder area. The high backswing helps create the fluidity in my opinion.

6. I also think that the high follow-through and straighter arm is partly related to the extreme grip. Experiment with going to the extreme grip and I think you will find your arm straightening automatically.

7.The extreme grip also allows him to drive the ball from shoulder height which is a big advantage in the modern game at the pro level. What's interesting is that he seems to be able to hit the low ball well even on hard courts (saw him at the US Open this year against Stepenik - hard to believe the latter would clinch the Davis Cup over Almagro).

Great analysis.

I agree Nadal's forehand is the benchmark test for how good a one-handed backhand is in world-class tennis. Sadly, no one's one-handed backhand has yet stood up to such a barrage which leads one to believe that the two-hander is, on balance, superior to the one-hander...certainly in terms of the drive...and even Federer's effective sliced backhand cannot tip the balance.

[johnyandell]

Damn that lefty reverse forehand... If Fed would only hit 5 bhs dthel and/or
up the middle but that's not him...

[florian80]

Did you mean "around contact than"
instead of "around contact then" ?

yes i did

[don_budge]

Jerzy vs. Nicolas...Australian Open 2013

Observe what tactical decisions Jerzy makes with regards to play on the Almagro backhand if you get a chance to watch this match. See how it relates to the overall game plan. We will see what kind of tactical player Jerzy is and what his potential for the future is. Will he drop shot to the backhand side or the forehand side? Then we will have some meaningful discussion about the relative merits of the Almagro technique as it is related to tactics...or winning and losing as it is. His failure at the finals in the Davis Cup may have given us a little insight into his internal makeup and how it relates to technical deficiencies in his game and particularly the backhand side. It looks beautiful...but does it survive the acid test? It is a question of substance...when you are playing the big show.

Astute comments btw...cburr. My question is about the slice...what factor will this play in the upcoming match. I have seen Almagro dismantle the Swedish Tree Robin Söderling in person on red clay. Robin wept after the match prompting me to write a letter to his father. They are practically neighbors here. I never heard back from him. Be that as it may...Almagro has a tough determined attitude about him when he is on a clay court. He looks slightly less formidable on hard courts.

This could be a coming of age match for Jerzy Janowicz...I hope very much that it is. He has announced to the world..."I am mad as hell and I am not going to take it any more". He's a little wild somewhere deep on the inside...in his soul. Recognize that line all of you movie buffs out there?