A New Teaching System: One Handed Backhand: Forward Swing

[ten1050]

Hello John,
Great article on the forward swing on the one handed backhand. The kick back of the rear leg is incredibly helpful. And the swing of the arm and racket as one unit is very important. Watching these great players hit their backhands, I always get the impression that they sometimes fall backward as they swing. I see this clearly watching Henin and Gasquet hit their backhands. I remember years ago watching Eliot Teltcher hit his backhand, and he always seemed to be falling backwards. Eliot had a tremendous backhand and was a top ten ATP player back in the 80's. Do you believe that this concept might help a player improve his backhand?

Norman Ashbrooke

[stroke]

John -

Once again, an excellent video. I found it particularly interesting how late Federer and Dimitrov straighten their hitting arm before contact and Sampras with his leading elbow and the breakdown of his backhand. Another excellent topic is the role of the opposite arm, rear leg kick back and arm extension to prevent over rotation of hips and shoulders. Plenty of teaching nuggets to ponder, thanks.

Sean

I have always thought the reason Fed and Grigor straighten their arm so late in the swing is their weaker grip(close to continental). Their heel pad is on top the racquet, where the players like Stan, Gasquet, Kohl, Robredo, Thiem, Guga, have their heel pad more behind the grip. To me, with their grip, Fed and Grigor with have kinda a frisbee throwing type motion where the elbow would straighten out late. These players with the stronger grip tend to straighten there arm out very early, Stan and Robredo seem to be the prototype.

[seano]

John -

Once again, an excellent video. I found it particularly interesting how late Federer and Dimitrov straighten their hitting arm before contact and Sampras with his leading elbow and the breakdown of his backhand. Another excellent topic is the role of the opposite arm, rear leg kick back and arm extension to prevent over rotation of hips and shoulders. Plenty of teaching nuggets to ponder, thanks.

Sean

[johnyandell]

Would love to hear your thoughts my article, "A New Teaching System: One Handed Backhand: Forward Swing"