One-Handed Backhand Fading Away from Tennis
I have played tennis since I was 12. I played tennis at a very high level and travelled all over the world. I use a two-handed backhand (because I'm a shorter guy (5'7ft) and using two hands gave me more power when having to hit higher balls). However it pains me to see that the one-handed backhand is falling out of fashion in professional tennis.
French Open 2024:
5 women have a one-handed backhand in the 128 draw
12 men have a one-handed backhand in the 128 draw
The one handed backhand looks more artistic and it is seen as the romantic emblem of tennis, because when done at a very high level it just looks a lot more fluid.
Roger Federer, Dominic Thiem, Richard Gasquet, Stan Wawrinka - some of the best one-handed backhands over the last 10 years.
I hope we don’t see them fade away completely as they still have some advantages over the two-handed counterparts.
It's great to hear from someone with high-level experience. Do you think the trend towards two-handed backhands is more about coaching or player preference? Would love your thoughts on how we might encourage more diverse playing styles.
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5moDefinitely sad to see the beautiful one-handed backhand disappearing, we once again have no such player in the semi-finals of a grand slam ...