Does my pickleball experience mean I should switch to a one handed backhand?

[HunterST]

Sometimes I wonder if I am a natural one handed backhand player who happened to learn a 2hbh.

One recent experience that got me thinking about this was when I went to play pickleball. The game is obviously very different from tennis, but it’s still a hitting/rallying sport. I found that I had to hit a much flatter old school type forehand, but the biggest thing was that I could not hit a two handed bh AT ALL. I switched to a topspin 1hbh technique and it actually worked well.

A kind of similar story: I once played in a beginner fun cardio class on a whim. They used orange dot balls. Again, the two handed felt awkward and the 1handed is what worked.

Now, in real play my one handed would break down considering I’ve only hit maybe 40 of them ever. Still, I sometimes wonder if these experiences suggest I should have started with a 1h.

 

[OjoLOCO]

No, it means you should stay out of the kitchen. Pickleball has nothing to do with tennis. A plastic ball on which the player can impart near zero spin doesn't tell the player about tennis stroke potential. The better one becomes at tennis, the less he needs pickleball to guide strokes. If you can, I would suggest posting videos of your two tennis backhands. There are teaching pros on this forum that will give free advice to improve the respective backhands. Unfortunately, you cannot go backwards to "re-start."

 

[Fairhit]

I used to play squash so the 1 hander felt more natural, it worked for me but not because squash and tennis are similar, it just happened to be the best technique for me.

I'd suggest you try the 1 hander in tennis and just trust your body to tell you if it is a better fit for you and your game, don't do it because it felt nicer in an almost unrelated sport, is like throwing with your left in basketball even if you're a righty because you made a great shot of a ball of paper into the trashcan with your left once in the office. Just try it in tennis.

 

[blablavla]

Sometimes I wonder if I am a natural one handed backhand player who happened to learn a 2hbh.

One recent experience that got me thinking about this was when I went to play pickleball. The game is obviously very different from tennis, but it’s still a hitting/rallying sport. I found that I had to hit a much flatter old school type forehand, but the biggest thing was that I could not hit a two handed bh AT ALL. I switched to a topspin 1hbh technique and it actually worked well.

A kind of similar story: I once played in a beginner fun cardio class on a whim. They used orange dot balls. Again, the two handed felt awkward and the 1handed is what worked.

Now, in real play my one handed would break down considering I’ve only hit maybe 40 of them ever. Still, I sometimes wonder if these experiences suggest I should have started with a 1h.

1. 40 shots is close to nothing. Let me guess that after you hit your first 40 forehands, it was a very unreliable shot.
2. in the same logic, if I play 1hbh in table tennis, shall I play 1hbh in tennis?
3. how is you 2hbh?
4. which one feels more natural to you? timing? swing? footwork?

p.s. when I was a kid, I could switch easily between 2hbh and 1hbh, often winning points by surprizing opponents.
yet my 1hbh was in general weaker than 2hbh.
now, switching is quite difficult, the gap is huge.
as my 2hbh is very solid, I don't have to ask myself if 2hbh or 1hbh is the way to go. but it became so because the 2hbh felt natural to me, and quite some years of training + playing as well helped

 

[Dou]

try it but be ready to go thru iterations, because the 1hbh can easily go wrong if you have any technique issue... in other words don't 'give up' if it doesn't work initially

 

[2nd Serve Ace]

2hbh for pickleball is extremely suboptimum. Do you ever see a 2hbh in pingpong! Much closer comparison.

For tennis 2hbh can be great.

 

[TennisDawg]

There is very little in pickleball that can be carried over to tennis. Pickle isn’t a hitting/rallying game. You basically want to dump the ball into the kitchen, right? Then it’s dink dink dink, there’s no rallying in that. Probably the reason your 1hbh is better in pickle is because of the slowness of the wiffle ball.

 

[blablavla]

if I have good 2hbh in tennis, does it mean I shall try 2hbh in ping pong, squash, pickle ball?

 

[hurworld]

if I have good 2hbh in tennis, does it mean I shall try 2hbh in ping pong, squash, pickle ball?

Sure, but only if you lead up your ping pong bat to 300+ swing weight...

 

[Shroud]

Sure, but only if you lead up your ping pong bat to 300+ swing weight...

Where would I put the lead? Underneath the rubber pads??

 

[Dragy]

Where would I put the lead? Underneath the rubber pads??

In your pocket.

 

[Fairhit]

In your pocket.

In the wrist, to make a nice lead wristband.

 

[blablavla]

Sure, but only if you lead up your ping pong bat to 300+ swing weight...

if I replace the ping pong ball with a metallic sphere, would that be a legit alternative to justify a double handed backhand?

 

[2nd Serve Ace]

Off topic, I see PB lines on courts but of different lengths. Most stop just past the service line but others go a few feet further back. Is that a different game?

Just found out the bigger court is for something called "pop tennis." Lol

 

[Traffic]

I hit a OHBH in table tennis. Means nothing for real tennis.
BOTOH, my son hits a 2HBH in table tennis. And he rocks it...

 

[TripleB]

In tennis I use a two-handed backhand unless I need some deft touch at the net...basically the same thing for pickleball.

For the 3rd shot drop (or almost any shot drop from the baseline) and when at the net I use a one-handed backhand. To drive the ball from the baseline or to put away the ball (at the net and overheads) I use a two handed backhand. I found the longest handled paddle available (PaddleTek Sabre Pro) and it has worked out really well.

And for those that mentioned the following: yes, you can impart spin on a pickleball...the two hand backhand slice return helped my partner and I win a tourney and yes, sometimes I even hit a two handed backhand in table tennis

TripleB

 

[Slowtwitcher]

Is a 1HBH a natural motion? I don't think so. If you grab a stick to hit something, you're not going to do a one hand backhand motion.

 

[travlerajm]

In ping pong, my 1hb is better than my forehand. But I still find a 1hb difficult in tennis. Of course, in tennis my 2hb is better than my forehand too, so maybe my experience has more to do with how bad my forehand is in general than about the thread topic.

 

[GuyClinch]

I wouldn't switch from a 2hbh to a one hander because of pickleball. That makes little sense. Almost everyone who can hit a OHBH could hit a very good 2HBH. 2HBH is an easier and more reliable shot, IMHO. Even people with a 2HBH will have a slice shot which is more then enough for pickleball groundstrokes. So of course you can pick it up fast..

But there is tons of crossover between pickleball and tennis. It's just a flat out lie they have nothing in common. A decent tennis player can be good at pickleball from day 1. Almost all the top pickleball players are former 5.0+ tennis players.
Watch intuitive tennis guy play pickleball - much better then most on day 1, IMHO.

 

[SystemicAnomaly]

Off topic, I see PB lines on courts but of different lengths. Most stop just past the service line but others go a few feet further back. Is that a different game?

Just found out the bigger court is for something called "pop tennis." Lol

Pop tennis is something I've not heard of before this. QST60 (orange ball) dimensions? Have you seen it played?

Pickleball uses badminton court dimensions. The kitchen line is the short service line for badminton. It also used as a short service line for pickleball? That is, is it permissible to serve into the kitchen?

Indoor pickleball courts double often as badminton courts so all the badminton lines are intact (but not are all used for pickleball). I noticed that outdoor pickleball courts I've seen don't have the singles badminton sidelines or the doubles service back line.

 

[SystemicAnomaly]

@blablavla

Do you ever see a 2hbh in pingpong!

Guess you've never seen me playing ping pong. Even though I play primarily left-handed, my right-handed game is nearly as good. High intermediate level. Will sometimes hit 2h BHs when fooling around. Every once in a while I'll see other tennis players doing the same thing when playing PP.

 

[nyta2]

@blablavla

Guess you've never seen me playing ping pong. Even though I play primarily left-handed, my right-handed game is nearly as good. High intermediate level. Will sometimes hit 2h BHs when fooling around. Every once in a while I'll see other tennis players doing the same thing when playing PP.

what's your rating? high intermediate is like 1600, which is like a 4.0-4.5 tennis player.
no one above a 1000 rating will play with a 2hbh.
i mean i can hit one goofing around, but table tennis is too fast (pace-wise, reading/hitting/reacting to spin, etc...)

 

[SystemicAnomaly]

what's your rating? high intermediate is like 1600, which is like a 4.0-4.5 tennis player.
no one above a 1000 rating will play with a 2hbh.
i mean i can hit one goofing around, but table tennis is too fast (pace-wise, reading/hitting/reacting to spin, etc...)

Wasn't suggesting that anyone would seriously play with a 2hBh in PP or TT. Posters said they've never seen it. Just saying it can be done.

Never played TT competitively so I don't have an actual rating. If I had to guess, it would be close to the range you suggest. My tennis & badminton levels were higher than my TT level.

 

[nyta2]

Wasn't suggesting that anyone would seriously play with a 2hBh in PP or TT. Posters said they've never seen it. Just saying it can be done.

Never played TT competitively so I don't have an actual rating. If I had to guess, it would be close to the range you suggest. My tennis & badminton levels were higher than my TT level.

ah, yeah, understood. definitely can hit a 2hhb in table tennis... for fun anyway

hehe, funny story, very similar to tennis...
i thought i was a intermediate (eg. i could bash table tennis topspin shots with another also-tennis buddy for long rallies)
then i joined a table tennis club one winter, years ago, and told them i'm an intermediate... "you mean like 1500? what's your rating?" (i didn't know)
so they set up me with this old guy who actively competed... but was probably about a 1300 (ie. like a 4.0 who actually plays tournaments and leagues so therefore knows exactly where he ranked with other competitive players)
he cleaned my clock. like not even close.
turns out, according to him, i was about an 1100... barely above beginner while i had the "strokes" there were so many intangibles that went into playing competitively, but there were things i didn't know that i didn't know.
was a humbling experience, that reminds me of some of the "what's your rating" conversations i see on here