The One Handed Backhand: Power and Control

[bottle]

Yes, I would certainly like to know more about the wrist curl on the one-hander. I think this is less about fundamentals and more about individual style...

Geez. I give more but it's as if I didn't say anything. Okay, I'll clobber myself with a cat 'o nine tails and loose oak stump for including other elements of natural conversation in post # 12 .

But after that I'm going to be less charitable and accuse people of poor reading skills, English teacher that I am.

In paragraph five: "He (Doug King) talked about a wrist that looked like McEnroe's to start and Justine Henin's to finish...You can go from convex to concave with your wrist but if you turn over your arm at the same time the final concave is going to turn into convex too, just convex in a different direction!"

So there it is, the answer to all questions on this topic, an answer which people then choose to ignore.

You bend the stick one way and then you bend it the other. You do this at the wrist.

You start with racket curled or humped then turn it inside out while rolling the whole arm forward, with the result that frame zings sharply upward while better placing strings on outside of the ball.

The movement does not include radial or ulnar deviation.

It's "wrist flex" and "wrist extension" in the accepted but horrid sport scientist techno-speak that ensures that nobody ever understands anything.

Can someone express the specific wrist movement more simply? Maybe. I'll listen.

But as far as standard, pompous, puritanical copout # 1 in all tennis instruction, "This is less about fundamentals and more about individual style," a pox on all you mavens of basics! You think I, a crew coach, don't care about basics just because I find something interesting enough to emulate?

Well, let me tell you, if I can emulate it, anyone can. So it's a basic, not distant characteristic or "caricaturistic" as the international internet thug Nabrug used to say, so obnoxious he had to be banned from Tennis Player.

Sorry. I ought to cool down. I simply think people need to understand something enough to try it before dismissing it for any reason.

Try it and report back. Then tell me whether it's so restricted to one or two players in the world that no "ordinary person" should try it on their home court.

As far as I am concerned, it either works or it doesn't. And of course the basics have to be in place. But then, I contend, it will work for that person no matter who he or she is.

And one can, for safety, have a more conventional flat backhand that doesn't use shoulders tilt or this special wrist movement at all.

[arturohernandez]

Sorry Bottle. My daughter had a tournament, yesterday was Columbus day and I drove around for four hours doing errands, and today is my wife's birthday. So I haven't been on Tennisplayer for the last few days.

The wrist curl is an interesting thought. I think I feel this too. Kind of like the laid back position on the forehand but in reverse. I used to flick my wrist on purpose and generate a bunch of spin. But it was very unreliable and at times I would shank.

So now I kind of curl my wrist a bit and then just look for clean contact. I use my legs to elevate into the shot and eventually that releases into the wrist and topspin.

But I try to keep the contact point pretty still in my mind. If I am very unsure, for example, playing on clay, then I will really focus on keeping the racket in the contact zone as long as possible.

So the curl I think is like the wiggle on the forehand.

It is really a point of trying to find the best contact with racket almost square on the ball. To do this we have to resist the face opening to much.

Hence, we need a bit of a curl to make sure we don't open the face.

Not sure if that is what you were looking for in terms of an answer.

[arturohernandez]

Now, on to my daughter's backhand.

I like al the suggestions. My daughter can hit a left handed forehand. This would help with finding contact and take her out of having to deal with the weakness of the front shoulder in a 12 year old girl.

I will work on her hitting different backhands and just getting used to finding contact and to using her body.

Thanks Bottle!

But, yesterday, we experimented with just developing her slice.

The interesting part is that she could keep the ball pretty low and that depth was not as crucial.

Her topspin backhand just sits up when hit short.

A slice hit at the service line is very effective. It is not a ball that can be easily attacked unless of course you are Rafa Nadal.

I can see don_budge's idea of using the slice short to setup an attacking forehand.

Aside from Nadal I don't see anyone who can kill that shot very well, even on the pro tour.

The interesting thing is that I was asking her to just slice and slice.

It improved her approach shots tremendously as she could get close the net and just slice it deep wherever she pleased.

But the biggest improvement was on her timing of the topspin backhand.

She was able to improve her timing on that as well.

She even hit some old school flatter slice backhands.

And now I am beginning to see how the slice as a foundation helps to create a base for the more "advanced" topspin backhand.

Thanks everyone!

[bottle]

Sorry Bottle. My daughter had a tournament, yesterday was Columbus day and I drove around for four hours doing errands, and today is my wife's birthday. So I haven't been on Tennisplayer for the last few days.

The wrist curl is an interesting thought. I think I feel this too. Kind of like the laid back position on the forehand but in reverse. I used to flick my wrist on purpose and generate a bunch of spin. But it was very unreliable and at times I would shank.

So now I kind of curl my wrist a bit and then just look for clean contact. I use my legs to elevate into the shot and eventually that releases into the wrist and topspin.

But I try to keep the contact point pretty still in my mind. If I am very unsure, for example, playing on clay, then I will really focus on keeping the racket in the contact zone as long as possible.

So the curl I think is like the wiggle on the forehand.

It is really a point of trying to find the best contact with racket almost square on the ball. To do this we have to resist the face opening to much.

Hence, we need a bit of a curl to make sure we don't open the face.

Not sure if that is what you were looking for in terms of an answer.

No, thanks, and I'm not sure what I was looking for either. I guess I'm developing a bit of bluster from doing substitute teaching. Wow, that can make one so conscious of oneself! Will fight it. I actually like subbing very much. I used to think of it as lion-taming but now see it as theater. Actors don't know the names of their audience either. Communication can happen though if you know how to capture attention. It's a different kind of teaching from real teaching, which I am happy to have done also. In the Cesar Chavez school in Mexicantown, Detroit, where I have worked for the past two days (eighth grade math one day, eighth grade English the other) they never use the term "substitute teacher" but rather "guest teacher." Nice.

I take to heart everything you say about wrist unreliability and possibility both. I might be drawing back a bit from my big wrist revelation on backhand side, because, as I reported, though it started to work fabulously well, it then went sour on me. Kind of bears out what you are saying. But I think enough of the experiment to continue with it albeit on a minor scale.

Basics basics basics are best in tennis and rowing both, but we never should let that turn us into dullards lest we get murdered like the title man in the Hemingway story "The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber." (He was an oarsman too.)

[arturohernandez]

I think you should try to experiment with a loose arm in the windup and focus on acceleration after contact. This will create the best contact point on the backhand. From there you can just add more and more.

My backhand also goes off on me and usually it is because I am not staying still enough at contact. So I will pull it wide or hit it long.

But if I try to stay as still as possible at contact and use my legs to generate the power then the wrist will naturally come later more as a finish than as a cause of the acceleration.

I really like John's idea of contact being crucial and the rest of the stroke being a preparation for excellent contact.

Or maybe I am over interpreting.

It wasn't until I focused a lot on contact and making it the queen of the stroke that I began to lose all the components that make a stroke go bad.

But it is hard to do this as an adult. Kids will have a much easier time since they are smaller and don't worry as much about trying to do everything at once.

I like guest teacher too!

[bottle]

I think you should try to experiment with a loose arm in the windup and focus on acceleration after contact. This will create the best contact point on the backhand. From there you can just add more and more.

My backhand also goes off on me and usually it is because I am not staying still enough at contact. So I will pull it wide or hit it long.

But if I try to stay as still as possible at contact and use my legs to generate the power then the wrist will naturally come later more as a finish than as a cause of the acceleration.

I really like John's idea of contact being crucial and the rest of the stroke being a preparation for excellent contact.

Or maybe I am over interpreting.

It wasn't until I focused a lot on contact and making it the queen of the stroke that I began to lose all the components that make a stroke go bad.

But it is hard to do this as an adult. Kids will have a much easier time since they are smaller and don't worry as much about trying to do everything at once.

I like guest teacher too!

Pretty good advice. I'm looking at it later. Pretty soon I'll be ready for it!