Head Position in Pro Tennis:
The Backhands

John Yandell

Last month we looked at the controversial issue of head position on the forehand. We found a variety of different positions at contact--from radically sideways like Roger Federer to facing mostly frontways like Jannick Sinner to half way in between the extremes. (Click Here.)

But, despite the differences, there was one commonality. All the players got their head still a fraction of a second before contact and held this position at contact and for about 1/10 of a second after.

But what about the backhands? Same or different? And what about any differences between one hand and two hands?

What the high speed videos shows is that like the forehands, there is a range of actual head positions at contact for both backhand versions BUT that the duration of those positions is similar to the forehands.

That might seem reasonable and predictable but who knows who out there is teaching what to whom? You never really know what reality really is until you look at the high speed video.