One Hand Backhands in the top 100

[onehandbh]

How much longer do you think the one hand backhand can survive in pro tennis?

Of the 12 guys in the top 100, only five of them are under the age of 30. Will another onehander ever win a grand slam in singles?

TOP 100
Rank Age Name
06 25 Stefano Tsitsipas
18 21 Lorenzo Musetti
20 32 Grigor Dimitrov
27 33 Dan Evans
31 24 Denis Shapovalov
32 27 Christopher Eubanks
40 38 Stan Wawrinka
40 24 Daniel Altmaier
52 33 Dusan Lajovic
53 29 Christopher O'Connell
65 37 Richard Gasquet
73 30 Dominic Thiem


101 - 200
110 30 Marco Cecchinato
115 25 Aleksander Kovacevic
139 28 Andrea Vavassori

 

[Shaolin]

Surprised there are that many.

I think there will always be a few but probably less than 10%.

 

[Jonesy]

Nah, there will always be a few but not many. Between 5 - 15 in the top 100 is expected. One handed backhand will never die and the proof is the great one handers that always keep appearing every generation.

Some players simply play better with a one hander than 2hander.

 

[James P]

Tsitsipas switch to a 2-hander?

 

[Benf15harp]

Sissy pants the only oHbH realistically capable of winning a slam. I guess Moose has a non zero chance

 

[onehandbh]

Tsitsipas switch to a 2-hander?

Forgot about him! Just added him.

 

[onehandbh]

Sissy pants the only oHbH realistically capable of winning a slam. I guess Moose has a non zero chance

Thiem. (if Djokovic is not in the draw)

 

[eric42]

Fed probably the last to dominate the game with a one-hander. Makes me sad...especially since only about half of these 12 players in the top 100 can even do much damage with their 1HBH. Boggles the mind that Stefano is the top guy with the worst one-hander.

 

[AleYeah]

Sad state of affairs, but not a surprising one.

What % of kids out there that are scholarship material do you reckon are having their 1HBH fine tuned right now? 5% maybe?

 

[junior74]

Not surprising. Alle kids learn the two-handed backhand from day 1.

 

[kkfm_clan_de_cheatah]

Left One Hand Backhands in the top 300​

Rank Age Name
31 24 Denis Shapovalov

 

[nolefam_2024]

It's a relic. Use two hands.

 

[Tranqville]

Tennis meta is evolving, we may witness a renaissance of 1HBH. Djokovic is serve-volleying more, that may as well become a trend, and 1HBH works well with attacking all-court game. A great 1HBH will emerge in the next five years to rival Alcaraz and the company. Maybe just one in the top ten, but strong, like top 3.

 

[nolefam_2024]

Tennis meta is evolving, we may witness a renaissance of 1HBH. Djokovic is serve-volleying more, that may as well become a trend, and 1HBH works well with attacking all-court game. A great 1HBH will emerge in the next five years to rival Alcaraz and the company. Maybe just one in the top ten, but strong, like top 3.

No chance. Musetti got shown the boot when he faced Carlos in Roland Garros. That's the future.

 

[Impressario]

I think it's even worse with women, perhaps zero 1HBH in the top 100

 

[nolefam_2024]

I think it's even worse with women, perhaps zero 1HBH in the top 100

I thought ons jabeur had 1hander. Can't confirm, since I don't watch wta.

 

[ryushen21]

I was watching Dimitrov the other day and he hit an absurd number of slice backhands rather than trying to hit his 1-hander. Sorry, but it's a relic. It's nice to watch and beautiful when properly executed but the 2-hander is king these days for a reason. More consistency, more power, more aggression.

 

[nolefam_2024]

This is power era. You don't bring much with 1hbh.

There can be some very heavy 1hbh but that takes time to unload. No one has time now. Better strings means even skinny guys like Medvedev have enough power to take time away.

If you hit one hander then you are just giving yourself a losing bargain.

 

[80s New Wave]

Honestly don't think that percentage is much different from 10 years ago.

 

[Arak]

The 2HBH is a no brainer at the pro level. The one hander will always continue to dominate on the men’s recreational level. All women pro or not that I know of play with 2HBH.

 

[ibbi]

Tsitsipas will have SOME influence on future generations, and fingers crossed Musetti will do too, so there's some hope.

 

[ryushen21]

The 2HBH is a no brainer at the pro level. The one hander will always continue to dominate on the men’s recreational level. All women pro or not that I know of play with 2HBH.

Very true about the rec level players and the 1HBH. I used to play a 1HBH and then a coach that I was working with forced me to hit the 2HBH. But once I was on it, there was no going back.

 

[Art Tennis]

I associate the OHBH mostly with all courters and especially serve and volleyers... and unfortunately that old school style is pretty much dead now .

 

[nolefam_2024]

I associate the OHBH mostly with all courters and especially serve and volleyers... and unfortunately that old school style is pretty much dead now .

Especially when baseliners are having good enough slice and vollies. There are less pros of 1hander but much more cons. Especially ROS in this era of tall servers is really an issue. We can check Tsitsipas.

 

[Art Tennis]

Especially when baseliners are having good enough slice and vollies. There are less pros of 1hander but much more cons. Especially ROS in this era of tall servers is really an issue. We can check Tsitsipas.

Yes you are right... I just hope they make the conditions as they used to be in the 80s and 90s... so that will bring back variety to this boring one dimensional Era.

 

[Myrko]

The one hander will always continue to dominate on the men’s recreational level.

What makes you say that?

I notice 2HB is also much less prone to errors on the recreational (club) level.

I see all young players playing 2HB in my club. Nobody is learning 1HB any more.
Even players are switching from 1HB to 2HB.

 

[atatu]

What makes you say that?

I notice 2HB is also much less prone to errors on the recreational (club) level.

I see all young players playing 2HB in my club. Nobody is learning 1HB any more.
Even players are switching from 1HB to 2HB.

This is true the 1HB players are aging out of tennis year by year.

 

[Arak]

What makes you say that?

I notice 2HB is also much less prone to errors on the recreational (club) level.

I see all young players playing 2HB in my club. Nobody is learning 1HB any more.
Even players are switching from 1HB to 2HB.

My observation is that children are all forced to use two hands, but adults somehow revert back to one handers. At my club, two handers are like just 1 out of 5 among adult men, while I have only seen one adult woman with one hander.

 

[atatu]

My observation is that children are all forced to use two hands, but adults somehow revert back to one handers. At my club, two handers are like just 1 out of 5 among adult men, while I have only seen one adult woman with one hander.

That's really interesting, in my area I'd say there are and equal number of players using 1HBH over the age of 40 but below that it's mostly 2HBH. Also I don't know what you mean when you say kids are "forced" to use two hands, do you actually mean that or is it just that pros teach the two hander by default ? On my 55 and over team it's and even 6-6 split but on my 18 and over team it's not that close.

 

[jm1980]

I think it's even worse with women, perhaps zero 1HBH in the top 100

Just two in the Top 100, and one right outside of it:

#48 Tatjana Maria
#90 Diane Parry
#107 Viktorija Golubic

 

[TheNachoMan]

Tsitsipas will have SOME influence on future generations, and fingers crossed Musetti will do too, so there's some hope.

Ain‘t no kid looking up to Stefanos. lol

More chance of kids finding Federer highlights on YouTube and being inspired by those.

 

[jmacdaununder2]

Tennis needed to be legislated a long time ago, as sports like baseball and cricket were, to preserve it’s peak appeal; 90” racquets, gut strings, faster, lower bouncing courts & balls and one handers for men would’ve made a huge difference to current watchability by preserving the viability of serve & volley. Instead, tennis jumped the shark a while back & has become largely mono-dimensional, with clay now the only somewhat recognisable variant.

 

[daggerman]

I think one thing you might see in the future are players with hybridized backhands. They'd use a 2HBH for certain purposes e.g., return of serve, handling pace from the baseline, quick redirects, stock cross court rallies, and the 1HBH for other purposes e.g., injecting additional pace and/or imparting additional spin, finding more acute angles cross court, running passing shots, and, as is already the case, slices.

 

[Arak]

That's really interesting, in my area I'd say there are and equal number of players using 1HBH over the age of 40 but below that it's mostly 2HBH. Also I don't know what you mean when you say kids are "forced" to use two hands, do you actually mean that or is it just that pros teach the two hander by default ? On my 55 and over team it's and even 6-6 split but on my 18 and over team it's not that close.

Forced means what the instructors tell them to do. Kids have no preconceived ideas, they just do what the instructors say. My instructor insisted that I use the 2HBH, but I started learning tennis at the age of 28, so I naturally told him that I’m the one paying his fees and I wanted to play one handed BH. I guess the ratios will be different for many reasons but I suspect many switch to the one hander once they realise they’re not going to compete seriously for anything. The one hander is more fun and causes less issues in the long run.

 

[Jonesy]

Ain‘t no kid looking up to Stefanos. lol

More chance of kids finding Federer highlights on YouTube and being inspired by those.

You'd be surprised at the number of kids at the club that use Tsitsipas as a present reference for one handers.

 

[naturalexponent]

You'd be surprised at the number of kids at the club that use Tsitsipas as a present reference for one handers.

And there's this kid: https://www.instagram.com/kosuke.o4o5/

 

[Jonesy]

And there's this kid: https://www.instagram.com/kosuke.o4o5/

Great one hander.

 

[atatu]

You'd be surprised at the number of kids at the club that use Tsitsipas as a present reference for one handers.

Which country are you in, just out of curiousity ?

 

[Chopin]

I think one thing you might see in the future are players with hybridized backhands. They'd use a 2HBH for certain purposes e.g., return of serve, handling pace from the baseline, quick redirects, stock cross court rallies, and the 1HBH for other purposes e.g., injecting additional pace and/or imparting additional spin, finding more acute angles cross court, running passing shots, and, as is already the case, slices.

Very interesting!

I feel certain that the one-handed backhand will be back winning slams though. Federer, Wawrinka, and Thiem. These are all guys that have beaten Nadal and Djokovic (Thiem), who have two of the best two-handers, in slams. It makes it all the more puzzling when you get this sentiment:

The One-Handed Backhand Is on the Way to Extinction

How can something so beautiful to watch, a stroke so etched into tennis history, be so exploitable — and why have a dwindling handful of players remained loyal to it?

www.nytimes.com

"David Nainkin, who leads player development for men for the United States Tennis Association, has advice for any young talent he sees wielding a one-handed backhand — get rid of it. The two-handed backhand is far more stable, he said, and the motion is shorter and simpler."

“It’s almost impossible to make it with a one-handed backhand now,” he said. “I think you’ll see less of it maybe in the next 10 years.”

I really question this person's opinion on the matter. There's no reason it's "Impossible" to make it with a one-hander.