1HBH - do you NEED to fling the non-racket arm back like a bird spreading it's wings?

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passive_aggressive

Banned
You know where as you swing upwards you spread your left back to open the chest?

That seems really unnatural to me, my coach (he's not really a coach - I don't even pay him) told me to do it today and it started f***ing my swing up and I didn't hit another backhand in the court!!

It feels unnatural to me because it doesn't add to the power of the swing because your left arm is moving the opposite direction (backwards) of the racket swing (forwards). I feel it even takes power away, but a lot of pro's do it - is it mainly for balance rather than power?

Guys like Youzhny sort of follow through with the left arm instead of spreading it back which is kind of what I do. Even Federer will leave the left arm just hanging sometimes instead of flinging it backwards.

Do I NEED to do it?
 
passive_aggressive said:
You know where as you swing upwards you spread your left back to open the chest?

That seems really unnatural to me, my coach (he's not really a coach - I don't even pay him) told me to do it today and it started f***ing my swing up and I didn't hit another backhand in the court!!

It feels unnatural to me because it doesn't add to the power of the swing because your left arm is moving the opposite direction (backwards) of the racket swing (forwards). I feel it even takes power away, but a lot of pro's do it - is it mainly for balance rather than power?

Guys like Youzhny sort of follow through with the left arm instead of spreading it back which is kind of what I do. Even Federer will leave the left arm just hanging sometimes instead of flinging it backwards.

Do I NEED to do it?
Click to expand...

It is a balance thing. It does not add power,it just counter balances the racquet arm.
 
Youtube is a wonderful tool.

Look at Fed, Sampras, Lendl, Edberg, and Henin (her grip is a bit extreme - probably because of her height, but the form is just beautiful), maybe Mauresmo for examples.
 
If I remember correctly, (and I may not :-) ) the left arm going back or staying in place acts as a counter balance and prevents you from opening up your shoulders too soon.
 
If it's for balance and not power, should I try to do it if I don't fall over when I don't do it?

At the moment I'm sort of half-following through with my left arm like Youzhny. It just happens. When I try and correct it and spread the arms, things start going wrong. But should I keep trying to correct it?
 
passive_aggressive said:
If it's for balance and not power, should I try to do it if I don't fall over when I don't do it?

At the moment I'm sort of half-following through with my left arm like Youzhny. It just happens. When I try and correct it and spread the arms, things start going wrong. But should I keep trying to correct it?
Click to expand...

Like everything else in tennis, the use of your non-playing arm should come naturally. Don't think about it, it'll just mess up your shot.

If you don't use the non-playing arm than don't use the non-playing arm. It's not in the rule book. If it's not comfortable to you, then forget about it.
 
passive_aggressive said:
You know where as you swing upwards you spread your left back to open the chest?

That seems really unnatural to me, my coach (he's not really a coach - I don't even pay him) told me to do it today and it started f***ing my swing up and I didn't hit another backhand in the court!!

It feels unnatural to me because it doesn't add to the power of the swing because your left arm is moving the opposite direction (backwards) of the racket swing (forwards). I feel it even takes power away, but a lot of pro's do it - is it mainly for balance rather than power?

Guys like Youzhny sort of follow through with the left arm instead of spreading it back which is kind of what I do. Even Federer will leave the left arm just hanging sometimes instead of flinging it backwards.

Do I NEED to do it?
Click to expand...

IMO, you don't need it. In fact, it seems to me that it is just as likely to do more harm than good by inhibiting upper body rotation. Edberg had one of the greatest 1hb's of all time and he didn't do it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpZnZlXWxQw
 
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Its not for balance at all. A real one hander your shoulders stay closed throughout the stroke and finish toward the target. I had a great college coach and thats what he told me about it. The arm goes back to keep your shoulders closed which helps with hitting the ball where you want it to go. Pros do this for control. When you flayal your shoulders open after contact you lose control, you must FINSH toward the target. If throughing your other arm backward is screwing up your shot chances are your flexability is not as good and you trying to through it back to hard into spot your not naturally or physcially capable.
 
Ducker said:
Its not for balance at all. A real one hander your shoulders stay closed throughout the stroke and finish toward the target. I had a great college coach and thats what he told me about it. The arm goes back to keep your shoulders closed which helps with hitting the ball where you want it to go. Pros do this for control. When you flayal your shoulders open after contact you lose control, you must FINSH toward the target. If throughing your other arm backward is screwing up your shot chances are your flexability is not as good and you trying to through it back to hard into spot your not naturally or physcially capable.
Click to expand...

Oy!

A "real" one hander like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=7-VeBIal8TU#t=91s
 
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Ducker said:
Its not for balance at all. A real one hander your shoulders stay closed throughout the stroke and finish toward the target. I had a great college coach and thats what he told me about it. The arm goes back to keep your shoulders closed which helps with hitting the ball where you want it to go. Pros do this for control. When you flayal your shoulders open after contact you lose control, you must FINSH toward the target. If throughing your other arm backward is screwing up your shot chances are your flexability is not as good and you trying to through it back to hard into spot your not naturally or physcially capable.
Click to expand...

QFT

Also, keep your hitting arm loose...important for any swing but essential for 1HBH. Truly relax and fling your rkt towards the ball.
 
I do it on slice, but not 1HBH. Don't try to force it because I attempted to to look like the pros and online instructions, but it robbed me of power.
 
it's likely screwing you up because you're doing it consciously without your body understanding its purpose, which (as has been alluded to by ducker) is to provide a counter rotation to the hitting arm. Instead of self consciously bringing your non hitting arm back, make it a goal to keep your shoulders closed. Your body will naturally figure out how to do this by directing your non hitting arm to swing back naturally. It will figure out the exact timing and force with which to fling it.

If your body doesn't naturally arrive at this solution, then train it by experimenting with the motion and seeing how it prevents your shoulders from opening.
 
Ducker said:
Its not for balance at all. A real one hander your shoulders stay closed throughout the stroke and finish toward the target. I had a great college coach and thats what he told me about it. The arm goes back to keep your shoulders closed which helps with hitting the ball where you want it to go. Pros do this for control. When you flayal your shoulders open after contact you lose control, you must FINSH toward the target. If throughing your other arm backward is screwing up your shot chances are your flexability is not as good and you trying to through it back to hard into spot your not naturally or physcially capable.
Click to expand...

Spot on! If you have access to the Tennis Channel and get a chance to see the Carlos Rodriguez episode of Tennis Channel Academy, Justine Henin demonstrates this (although not as well explained as Ducker just did).
 
One thing you can noodle with for a little self-diagnosis is to try throwing a frisbee good and hard. When you do this, pay attention to what your non-throwing arm does. No, hitting a one-handed backhand isn't exactly the same as throwing a frisbee, but it's also not completely different either.

Some players who use that stroke don't force the non-hitting arm deliberately backward so much as simply leaving it motionless in space as they move away from it with their weight transfer and mild torso rotation. Combine that with the swinging arm moving forward through contact and the final result is that baseball umpire's motion calling a base-runner "safe at second".

If you feel as though the action of forcing your non-hitting arm backward is killing the energy in your swing, well I'd say that you're probably not feeling that for no reason. Keep experimenting and pay attention to your balance throughout your forward swing. Your not crazy if you don't want that off-arm working against you.
 
Youzhny is a bad role model because he is a guy who hits a two-hander who sometimes takes off the left arm and hits with just one hand, but using all the other aspects of a two-handed stroke, particularly opening the shoulders on the shot. It make work for him, but for most people, you will end up hitting across the ball with poor accuracy.
 
Hang on a second, Gasquet's 1hbh is generally regarded as quite good, isn't it?

In this backhand highlight video of his, he leaves his non-racket arm dead (or at least not purposefully swung backwards in the opposite direction to the stroke) for the vast majority, if of not all of his backhands;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGWkwaMWaDk

What gives?

Is the arm backwards thing like the double bend vs straight arm forehand, ie. idiosyncrasies in the stroke rather than outright flaws?
 
passive_aggressive said:
Hang on a second, Gasquet's 1hbh is generally regarded as quite good, isn't it?

In this backhand highlight video of his, he leaves his non-racket arm dead (or at least not purposefully swung backwards in the opposite direction to the stroke) for the vast majority, if of not all of his backhands;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGWkwaMWaDk

What gives?

Is the arm backwards thing like the double bend vs straight arm forehand, ie. idiosyncrasies in the stroke rather than outright flaws?
Click to expand...

Gasquet keeps his left arm very stiff throghout the shot and it works just as well as flingin it back in a more relaxed fashion.
 
It's for staying balanced and closed, which gives you more control at the expense of power.

Sometimes you want to sacrifice control for more power and open up a little - typically on cross-court backhands. Then you just don't do this counter-balancing (or do less counter-balancing), it's that simple.

Don't sweat it, it is not a religious thing (unlike bouncing the ball before serving, which is clearly religious). Just produce the best shot you can and pay attention to whether you are getting enough control / power doing that, and adjust accordingly.
 
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