Ken Rosewall: slow motion slice backhand

[gzhpcu]

The great Ken Rosewall's famous slice backhand...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rws3xyYbthI

and this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2aUnSCp64S0

and...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZSUgx1z9iI

[johnyandell]

Those are awesome--love the first two especially.

[klacr]

Phil,

Great stuff. Nice find. I love the second video when Rosewall goes for a backhand and slides into the side fencing. Smooth strokes. Really gets a nice should turn and lets that racquet head move through that ball. Love watching that stuff. Thanks!

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

[gzhpcu]

It's incredible how these old clips are slowly showing up in YouTube...

[don_budge]

Back to your old self...

It's incredible how these old clips are slowly showing up in YouTube...

So good to have you back gzhpcu...aka Phil. You always did have a knack for digging out these nuggets on the internet. Slow down a bit or not...it is difficult to keep up with them...some of us like to write about our thoughts which tend to get rather involved when dealing with such fascinating subjects such as these. Thanks for your efforts!

[worldsbesttenniscoach]

Yes, thank u for sharing the videos. Third video makes players look as small as ants, so I could not accurately analyze the strokes.

In the first 2 videos, Rosewall uses different types of backhand slices, depending on the situation. But notice that Rosewall makes sure that there is a strong THUD sound when his strings strike the ball from his slice backhand. He does not try to skim the ball & flutter under the ball as much as today's pros do.

When Rosewall wants to plaster the ball with his backhand slice, it is as though he uses a somewhat compact topspin backhand motion but his continental grip forces the ball to be hit not with topspin but with a flat underspin that is very powerful.

I was also lucky to see Rosewall play doubles as well as singles. No one put away backhand volleys more powerfully than did Muscles Rosewall.