I don't have anything against two-handed backhands, but I notice that the range of different styles of hitting a two-handed backhand is much smaller than that of a one-handed backhand.
On the one-handed backhand side, Youzhny, Gasquet, Almagro, Wawrinka and Haas, to name a few, all have very different and immediately identifiable strokes.
By contrast, the vast majority of backhands are hit in the same 'conventional' way. By 'conventional' I am mainly referring to the Djokovic-type backhand. Most pro's hit this way with a loop take-back, bent dominant arm and straight(ish) non-dominant arm at contact, non-windshield-wiper follow-through, and high, over-the-shoulder finish.
Tipsarevic, Nalbandian, Gulbis, Nishikori, Ferrer, Berdych, Cilic and Del-Potro all have backhands that appear to look very similar in form. Even players who are said to have 'unconventional groundstrokes' such as Tomic and Dolgopolov, only have unconventional forehands. They still follow this Djokovic-style textbook two-handed backhand to a 'T'.
Unconventional two-handed backhands;
Murray has no loop in take-back, and sometimes has a very low finish, and, consequently, looks to hit a very flat shot. I am surprised his backhand is as consistent as it is. I think Tsonga has a very similar-looking backhand to Murray's except both arms are straight at contact and he probably gets slightly more spin.
Simon has a very WTA-type backhand, with very strong non-dominant arm contribution as both arms are bent at contact, and the contact point is a little later and closer to the body as a result.
Nadal hits with both arms straight at contact, and has a stronger backhand grip on the dominant hand and a stronger forehand grip on the non-dominant hand. Probably because of this, he often uses a windshield-wiper follow-through on his backhand, and he is the only pro I see doing this on a two-handed backhand.
Do you agree with this analysis, and are there other unconventional two-handed backhands out there on the tour?
On the one-handed backhand side, Youzhny, Gasquet, Almagro, Wawrinka and Haas, to name a few, all have very different and immediately identifiable strokes.
By contrast, the vast majority of backhands are hit in the same 'conventional' way. By 'conventional' I am mainly referring to the Djokovic-type backhand. Most pro's hit this way with a loop take-back, bent dominant arm and straight(ish) non-dominant arm at contact, non-windshield-wiper follow-through, and high, over-the-shoulder finish.
Tipsarevic, Nalbandian, Gulbis, Nishikori, Ferrer, Berdych, Cilic and Del-Potro all have backhands that appear to look very similar in form. Even players who are said to have 'unconventional groundstrokes' such as Tomic and Dolgopolov, only have unconventional forehands. They still follow this Djokovic-style textbook two-handed backhand to a 'T'.
Unconventional two-handed backhands;
Murray has no loop in take-back, and sometimes has a very low finish, and, consequently, looks to hit a very flat shot. I am surprised his backhand is as consistent as it is. I think Tsonga has a very similar-looking backhand to Murray's except both arms are straight at contact and he probably gets slightly more spin.
Simon has a very WTA-type backhand, with very strong non-dominant arm contribution as both arms are bent at contact, and the contact point is a little later and closer to the body as a result.
Nadal hits with both arms straight at contact, and has a stronger backhand grip on the dominant hand and a stronger forehand grip on the non-dominant hand. Probably because of this, he often uses a windshield-wiper follow-through on his backhand, and he is the only pro I see doing this on a two-handed backhand.
Do you agree with this analysis, and are there other unconventional two-handed backhands out there on the tour?
