A question about the wrist position in the one-handed backhand

[amral]

Hello

Kerry Mitchell, in his article "Understanding The Backhand Grips", suggests having a mental image of the racquet face being partly closed at contact : "As I discussed with the forehand grips, this image counteracts the natural tendency for players to open their palms toward the sky. [..] Another way to develop this position is with the image of the knuckles pointing somewhat towards the ground."

However, Chris Lewit, in his article "Building A World Class One Hander: Preparation", advises that in the preparation, the wrist should be cocked up, creating wrinkles in the skin of the racket hand. Looking at the archive footage of players like Federer and Gasquet, it's clear that they cock the wrist in this way, in preparation for the forward swing.

However, doesn't cocking the wrist work against Kerry's suggestion as it will tend to open up the racquet face ? And, when cocking the wrist, should it remain cocked all the way through to contact? I haven't been able to find the answer to this from reading various articles on the one-handed backhand, including Chris' Technique Bible book. (From the footage, it looks like maybe it does remain cocked, but not as extremely as it was at preparation for the forward swing?).

My instinct is to play the way Kerry suggests. I have tried recently hitting with a cocked wrist, and it feels like a completely different stroke, but one with a lot of potential. However I feel like I'm in danger of injuring my wrist by keeping it cocked at contact, were I to mis-hit a high-velocity shot. My coach at my club agrees, and generally advises me to play with no 'kinks' in the setup of the wrist at contact. However, his coaching colleague teaches that the wrist should be cocked at contact (as if revving a motorcycle throttle, is how he describes it).

So - should the wrist be cocked at contact ..? I'd be very grateful for thoughts on this.

[stotty]

As is often the case the answer is in the archive:

https://www.tennisplayer.net/members...LevelSide1.mov

https://www.tennisplayer.net/members...LevelSide1.mov

The wrist is cocked at the end of the backswing but lowers significant thereafter. The racket face starts to close upon the forward swing.

Stotty

[tupelodanger]

It'll depend on a variety of factors, the foremost of which is the grip you use. All other things being equal, a cocked wrist will *tend* to put the face in a proper striking angle with a more extreme grip, over toward the Henin/Guga-ish SW, coupled with a forward contact point. And a straighter wrist, such as you would use to throw a punch, will *tend* to put the face in a proper striking angle with a more conservative grip, with the knuckles even pointing a bit downward at contact for many backhands for guys like Haas or Lendl (or almost anyone using continental), and a later contact point.

But this is not absolute. The wrist has an annoying tendency to be unstable, since it's a complex and multi-directional joint. The level of wrist-cock needed to get in a reliable hitting position can vary depending on where in that range of movement your particular wrist feels the most stable, together with contact point, swing path, angle of hand (spread out vs "hammer"), etc. All of which makes it best to analyze on a player-by-player basis.

As one particularly extreme example, take Dominic Thiem. If you just sort of watched from afar, you'd be almost sure to guess he hit his backhands an awful lot like Kuerten did. But Thiem has a very conservative grip. Yet, he also has a stable, fully-cocked wrist on most BH's. He uses a combo of eastern-verging-on-conti grip structure, a hammer style grip, and a frequently open chest to alter the contact point such that he can use his BH that way. It's an odd stroke, but it obviously works quite well for him.

I'd suggest getting out on the court and spending a day REALLY concentrating on keeping your wrist rock-stable through contact, just for the sake of seeing where it feels most natural to you. (Don't worry right now about whether this compromises the effectiveness of the stroke -- it's about finding stability first, then improving micro-mechanics later.) Take a continental grip, point those knuckles slightly down, and try some full swings while making sure -- first and foremost -- to keep the wrist locked in that position through the motion. Then take an eastern, hold it like you're going to punch through a board, and do the same. Move over into a hammer gripped eastern, cock a little, and see. Then over into a full SW. Chances are that ONE of them will feel most stable to you. I've found with students that taking the time to do this before drilling the OHBH ultimately makes them more effective and happier backhanders down the line.

Your wrist probably WANTS you to be a natural at one kind of backhand. Find out what it is.

[amral]

Stotty, thank you. yes I did see that. Unfortunately, as is usual when I'm trying to learn by watching footage, due to my lack of experience and knowledge, I'm never quite sure whether what I'm seeing is good technique, or incidental to it, or an idiosyncrasy of the player (or of the technique). With respect the wrist position shown in the footage, I'm left wondering why the wrist is cocked to what looks like an extreme position, only to be partly undone during the forward swing.


Tupelo D,

Thank you very much for the detailed response! That makes a lot of sense to me - I'm going to try what you suggest. I came across this interesting article about Dominic Thiem's backhand btw :
http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-tenn...ble-1467228669