The One Handed Backhand: The Essential Non-Dominant Hand

[johncraig]

A lot of tennis instruction has to be about how well one says something and is more a matter of perspective than anything else. I love the part here about how the left hand does considerably more than the right hand.

Thank you for the positive comment! Kindly, John

[johncraig]

John Craig makes a great point about the importance of the non-dominant hand in the one-handed backhand. It has to play a major role. There are a couple of additional points I would make that further specify “ideal” technique on that stroke and I think they would be applicable to your son’s backhand.

For a one-handed backhand to “work”, it has to work on return of serve on big serves. There can be no additional time to change grips; the grip change has to be an integral part of the backswing. Furthermore, it has to happen as the non-dominant hand begins the backswing; then there is no additional time required to achieve the grip change. For that to work, the non-dominant hand has to “know” exactly where the face of the racket head is (and accordingly the position of the grip). Obviously, there are many ways to take the racket back, but it is clear that the opposite hand has to play an important role.

For my students (and for your son’s backhand), I insist that the grip change happens with the very first “realization’ that the stroke will be a backhand. So not only the feet begin to move to that side, but simultaneously, the grip change is accomplished and led by the non-dominant hand pulling the racquet “back’. I put that “back” in quotes because I don’t want that first move to be pulling the racket back, but I do want it to be moved slightly to the side moving the racket shaft parallel to the shoulders. If you look carefully at the video of your son’t backhand, you will see first of all that he actually changes the grip before the he actually moves the racket to the side; that’s an additional step for which there is not adequate time on a return of serve. Second, when he makes that first move (somewhat analogous to the unit turn in the forehand, but with the grip change), instead of getting the racket to parallel to his shoulders, he takes it to a point where it points off about 45 degrees short of parallel to his shoulders. He will have to move that racket that last 45 or more degrees later in the stroke and this is fine when there is lots of time, but a problem when pressure comes and time is at a premium. In addition, your son does not generate quite enough of an inside-out stroke, and he is unable to generate the full power of his shoulders into and through the stroke (think Denis Shapovalov). He's swinging just a little bit across the ball. When he gets fully to the inside-out stoke, he will discover a sense of both power and control that feels really terrific and is also very effective.

I go one step further with my students who don’t already have a grip change established. I put the left hand in an opposite hand Eastern forehand grip holding the racket face in a perfectly vertical position so the right hand can be secure in its knowledge of the position of the racket face and the associated bevels of the grip as that right hand rotates around the ‘vertically held’ grip. Obviously not necessary as many players do something very different, but I think it is the simplest way for the new student to ‘find’ the position of the racket handle as the left hand pulls the racket to the side where it is parallel to the shoulders. I also ask for this non-dominant hand grip for the two-hander, because that’s how the player can most easily know the position of the racket face. If the racket is just cradled lightly on the fingers, this is a little too flimsy for people learning the stroke. I want them 'connected' to the face of the racket by the palm of the non-dominant hand - thus, the Eastern opposite hand forehand grip.

When the racket is moved to this position as part of the backhand unit turn, it is much easier to execute an ‘inside-out’ stroke with full power. John Craig demonstrates something similar to what I am talking about on his actual demonstration of the dry strokes in his video here, but when he hits his initial stroke in introducing the video, he ends up getting a little ‘outside’ and his followthrough comes through a little across with his body ending up facing the net much more than it does in the strokes he nicely demonstrates in the body of the video. I make a big deal about keeping those shoulders perpendicular to the net as the stroke is completed, at least on a normal drive.

don

Hi Don,

Thanks for your contribution to the article. All good ideas to further elaborate on the subject. Kindly, John

[arturohernandez]

My son, a two-hander by trade, decided he would like to give a one-hander a go. We had a little trouble splitting the left arm away at first but sort of got there in the end. His grip is continental so he would need to tweak that a little if he wanted to try the shot on a more permanent basis.

I thought I would stick this clip up in John Craig's thread, but am more than happy to start an independent thread should anyone be interested to see his current two-hander and sliced backhand also.

Any comments or thoughts welcome. John Craig, how's the non-dominant hand doing?

The clip was shot just yesterday.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x60w11x

A slomo clip.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x60w6j5

I agree with all the other comments people have made. The main thing I see here is a big difference between how the two hander and one hander finish the stroke after contact.

Right now it is almost as if your son is hitting a two hander with a one handed finish at the end.

I used to do a similar thing with my finish. The problem is the timing has to be perfect.

If your son is just a bit too much to the right or left at contact the ball will go in an unintended direction.

There are some really nice videos of Wegner (sorry John!) having people just practice the up and down motion of the one handed backhand.

To me this is really important for the one hander. Basically, to try and stay in the line of the shot as long as possible.

This would create a more upward movement that will lead to the high finish that is characteristic of the one hander.

You could just ask him to finish up above his head more in order to exaggerate the motion.

Right now he is coming around the ball. The real test would be to have him hit this stroke on a clay court after an hour of play.

On clay in the club world (not the pro world) the ball can have all kind of irregular bounces.

I used to miss my backhand on clay all the time.

I had to learn to really stay in the line of the shot as much as possible.

This, in turn, improved my backhand on hard courts.

Hope that is clear and no too repetitive.

[stotty]

I agree with all the other comments people have made. The main thing I see here is a big difference between how the two hander and one hander finish the stroke after contact.

Right now it is almost as if your son is hitting a two hander with a one handed finish at the end.

I used to do a similar thing with my finish. The problem is the timing has to be perfect.

If your son is just a bit too much to the right or left at contact the ball will go in an unintended direction.

There are some really nice videos of Wegner (sorry John!) having people just practice the up and down motion of the one handed backhand.

To me this is really important for the one hander. Basically, to try and stay in the line of the shot as long as possible.

This would create a more upward movement that will lead to the high finish that is characteristic of the one hander.

You could just ask him to finish up above his head more in order to exaggerate the motion.

Right now he is coming around the ball. The real test would be to have him hit this stroke on a clay court after an hour of play.

On clay in the club world (not the pro world) the ball can have all kind of irregular bounces.

I used to miss my backhand on clay all the time.

I had to learn to really stay in the line of the shot as much as possible.

This, in turn, improved my backhand on hard courts.

Hope that is clear and no too repetitive.

Great post...thanks so much. You have some great points there.

My son is in love with the idea of a one-hander. He isn't doing too badly at his first attempt. The problem is, is his two-hander is so secure that I doubt when it comes to matches, he would truly want to make the switch. But it is certainly fun to try, to experiment....ask bottle.

Actually he tends to hit across the face of the ball more than around it (some of those backhands have an inside-out spin on which is tough to detect in the clips), and he really doesn't get the racket beneath the ball enough to produce adequate topspin. But his two-hander is a little the same. Rather like Tomic, my son doesn't lower the racket too much and tends to hit quite flat, which is terrific if you have ball control good enough to do that.

Clay would certainly be the ideal surface to develop a one-hander, or any ground stroke come to that.

I think John Craig had some good advice about the footwork for a one-hander. I dug out his 7 minute video article on that one. It's good.

[arturohernandez]

Interesting! Why don't you post a video of his two hander. The only tricky thing is timing. I realize that people can get away with all kinds of things. But it seems that there is always a reckoning with some opponent or condition that exploits the even the tiniest of flaws.

Then again hitting a different ball is also helpful in that people don't know how to deal with it.

In any case, it would be cool to see the two hander and then to see the one and two hander side by side and synched if possible.

[stotty]

Interesting! Why don't you post a video of his two hander. The only tricky thing is timing. I realize that people can get away with all kinds of things. But it seems that there is always a reckoning with some opponent or condition that exploits the even the tiniest of flaws.

Then again hitting a different ball is also helpful in that people don't know how to deal with it.

In any case, it would be cool to see the two hander and then to see the one and two hander side by side and synched if possible.

That would be a wonderful idea. I am away today and tomorrow , taking my son back to university. But when I get home, if I can figure out how to do a side to side video of his one-hander versus his two-hander, I will certainly do it.

[doctorhl]

Thoughts anyone about increasing speed on grip change to one handed backhand? Are both hands equally involved in grip change as a rule? Do any pros with a semi or Western turn the racket in the other direction for grip change(hitting same side of racket for fh & bh). What about practicing one hand grip changes for those instances in which you are delayed in getting the non dominant hand on the racket?

[stotty]

Thoughts anyone about increasing speed on grip change to one handed backhand? Are both hands equally involved in grip change as a rule? Do any pros with a semi or Western turn the racket in the other direction for grip change(hitting same side of racket for fh & bh). What about practicing one hand grip changes for those instances in which you are delayed in getting the non dominant hand on the racket?

I think tennis_chiro's advice that the grip change should be an integral part of the backswing is a real nugget for aspiring one-handers. I am a one-hander myself and I change the grip by twisting the racket at the throat and turning the hand. I think this is what learning the ready position is all about. In my school of tennis, tennis starts with the grip and the ready position.

Alberto Berasategui used the same face of the racket for both forehand and backhand. A guy at my tennis club does too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EbV6Ye6LIwE

I have never seen a player do a one-handed grip change though I am sure many have done it in emergency situations. In this scenario my solution works best. I use a continental grip and don't change my grip one iota for any shot I play.

[bottle]

Flying Grip Change

No, you really just loosen the fingers of your hitting hand and pull with your other hand as part of your initial move. But you've taught yourself to recognize the grip you want. I use hitting thumb for my reference. Do you turn the racket? If so, a minuscule amount and it's unconscious. And you keep on using the left hand more even than the right hand as has been pointed out. Very quick and efficient freeing you up to do other things. From an extreme forehand grip I guess you'd have to turn something in addition to pulling back. The less of a change required the better, and I agree with Stotty that no change at all is best, but I need a strong eastern backhand grip for the topspin drives I want. The next question is how much thumb behind the handle (or lack thereof) is best, and everybody is all over the map on that one.

[stotty]

Flying Grip Change

No, you really just loosen the fingers of your hitting hand and pull with your other hand as part of your initial move. But you've taught yourself to recognize the grip you want. I use hitting thumb for my reference. Do you turn the racket? If so, a minuscule amount and it's unconscious. And you keep on using the left hand more even than the right hand as has been pointed out. Very quick and efficient freeing you up to do other things. From an extreme forehand grip I guess you'd have to turn something in addition to pulling back. The less of a change required the better, and I agree with Stotty that no change at all is best, but I need a strong eastern backhand grip for the topspin drives I want. The next question is how much thumb behind the handle (or lack thereof) is best, and everybody is all over the map on that one.

bottle, you're right. You've studied the procedure carefully.

[tennis_chiro]

I have one other "theory" about the 1hbh grip change. Assume a right hander: if the right hand and arm push the racket back in the grip change and initial backswing, then momentum of the right arm and racket are generated away from the ball and will have to be overcome to reverse the motion and swing the racket forward. Under the time stress of returning a big serve, this can be a problem. My "theory" is that when you pull the racket back with the left hand, as the grip change is accomplished and the right hand is pulled into an "inside" position, the right shoulder and arm can reverse the direction of the swing without having to overcome the momentum of the right arm which makes it possible to return big serves with a backhand drive as opposed to only a chip. I wasn't quick enough or good enough to pull this off very often on first serves, but partly because of this technique, I was able to be relatively devastating returning kick serves while moving forward in doubles play. I particularly liked playing the inside-out backhand return from the deuce court in doubles and if I so chose, I could eviscerate the poor netman in front of me as well. But I couldn't have done it without the use of the left hand to pull the racket back as the grip change was accomplished. In addition, this movement creates a little bit of an SSC in the right shoulder that i think is critical to generating maximum effortless power on the 1hbh. I don't like the model that Gordon has postulated to be a mirror stroke to his ATP-type forehand with the racket head waving around from the wrist - it's too complicated and wristy. You get a much better and effective SSC from the back of the right shoulder.

don

[stotty]

I have one other "theory" about the 1hbh grip change. Assume a right hander: if the right hand and arm push the racket back in the grip change and initial backswing, then momentum of the right arm and racket are generated away from the ball and will have to be overcome to reverse the motion and swing the racket forward. Under the time stress of returning a big serve, this can be a problem. My "theory" is that when you pull the racket back with the left hand, as the grip change is accomplished and the right hand is pulled into an "inside" position, the right shoulder and arm can reverse the direction of the swing without having to overcome the momentum of the right arm which makes it possible to return big serves with a backhand drive as opposed to only a chip. I wasn't quick enough or good enough to pull this off very often on first serves, but partly because of this technique, I was able to be relatively devastating returning kick serves while moving forward in doubles play. I particularly liked playing the inside-out backhand return from the deuce court in doubles and if I so chose, I could eviscerate the poor netman in front of me as well. But I couldn't have done it without the use of the left hand to pull the racket back as the grip change was accomplished. In addition, this movement creates a little bit of an SSC in the right shoulder that i think is critical to generating maximum effortless power on the 1hbh. I don't like the model that Gordon has postulated to be a mirror stroke to his ATP-type forehand with the racket head waving around from the wrist - it's too complicated and wristy. You get a much better and effective SSC from the back of the right shoulder.

don

Yes I think remember you talking about getting SSC on the backhand return on the forum once before, and getting a 'spring loaded' effect returning high, kicking serves. Oddly enough, I tried to find that post some time ago but couldn't locate it. I seem to remember you talked about creating a delay, deliberately leaving the ball late, which helped create the spring loaded effect. Do you remember writing post like that or did I dream about it in my sleep?

[tennis_chiro]

Yes I think remember you talking about getting SSC on the backhand return on the forum once before, and getting a 'spring loaded' effect returning high, kicking serves. Oddly enough, I tried to find that post some time ago but couldn't locate it. I seem to remember you talked about creating a delay, deliberately leaving the ball late, which helped create the spring loaded effect. Do you remember writing post like that or did I dream about it in my sleep?

Sorry, Stotty. I'm getting too old. Don't remember that one.

don

[stotty]

Sorry, Stotty. I'm getting too old. Don't remember that one.

don

It may have been this one, but there is another one out there, too. If not you, maybe someone else.

Can't tell you how great it is to see Bottle understood exactly what I was trying to say. I would say one more thing about the quick return of serve.

With the Flying Grip Change, you can almost start pulling forward with the right hand before the left hand has finished pulling back; this makes the return seem almost spring loaded. But the habit has to be really strong to be able to do that returning first serves effectively. But if the habit is put in early enough that it is instinctive, even a lower level player can return serve with a grip change. It doesn't take more time to change the grip if it happens while the left hand is pulling the racket back. On top of that, the pull of the left side on the right shoulder creates a minor SSC on the muscles of that right shoulder that makes you a little stronger in the backhand swing. It's not really an SSC, but it has a similar effect.

don

[bottle]

A Simple Idea Can Be A Good Idea

Tennis requires a lot of physical attributes but also the ability to assimilate a bunch of different ideas.

And the best idea often is the simplest one. Sometime the idea is just a suggestion-- take it or leave it.

That's what I feel about tennis_chiro's notion of starting forward action of one's one hander while flying grip change is still carrying racket head momentum backward.

Some people no doubt think in terms of getting "very collected" between going backward and the going forward-- the perfect audience for tennis_chiro's suggestion to try something a bit different.

Anyway, I may have tried this before but will try it again.