A New Teaching System: One Handed Backhand: Preparation

[johnyandell]

Would love to get your thoughts on my latest article, "A New Teaching System: One Handed Backhand: Preparation"

[ten1050]

Hello John,

Do you believe that practicing a two handed backhand might improve a person's one handed backhand? I know that Don Budge and Pete Sampras both hit two handed backhands as youngsters before they developed their one handed backhands. Is it possible that a two handed backhand might make the unit turn more efficient?

Norman Ashbrooke

[johnyandell]

As John McEnroe likes to say, anything is possible, but I think it's unlikely. Didn't know about Budge, but in the case of Sampras the elbow lead that got worse on his one-hander as time went on may have been a remnant of the two-hander. The biggest dissimilarity though is the rotational pattern of the torso.

[ten1050]

As a youngster, Budge played baseball before he took up tennis. He would bat left handed as a kid, however he played tennis right handed and used his baseball swing for his two handed backhand. He of course changed to a one hander, however he always maintained that his baseball swing was the foundation for his backhand. I had the pleasure of playing doubles with Budge in the early 70's. His backhand was truly legendary.

Norman Ashbrooke

[ajchabria]

Masterfully explained, John. Just loved this video article on the backhand prep. Excellent clips, too.
I am enjoying re-watching the clips for my own visual training. Thank you!