firstserve
Rookie
What are the top 20 one handed backhands in the juniors?
One- handed backhand juniors
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chalkflewup
Hall of Fame
While the 1-handed backhand may look smooth, I suspect the best backhands in junior tennis belong to two-handers.
Kick Serve 14
Professional
Not necessarily true...
chalkflewup
Hall of Fame
How many of the top 10 players on the tour have two handed backhands?
Falloutjr
Banned
I believe only one, but you have to consider the fact that their coaches were most likely taught two-handed backhands, and coaches teach what they know and THEIR philosophy. Also, I believe we've transitioned from an all-court game to a power game with the technology to hit the ball 80+ mph and the belief is that you can't control those kinds of balls with one hand, but it's possible IMO.
pyrokid
Hall of Fame
Honestly, in juniors, a 2HBH is kind of a necessity at first, because it takes so much time to get the 1HBH on par with the 2HBH. (I think)
I don't know more that twenty juniors who use a one hander, and I know two who use it on par with other's two handers. With the rest, it's a liability, and very likely to give you easy points.
I don't know more that twenty juniors who use a one hander, and I know two who use it on par with other's two handers. With the rest, it's a liability, and very likely to give you easy points.
Kick Serve 14
Professional
NW Ohio isn't exactly a tennis hot-bed, but nearly all of the top juniors in my area use a One Handed backhand. This could be, at least in part, due to the fact that many of the top players, juniors and adults favor a serve and volley style of play...
Falloutjr
Banned
It's really not. I'm from NE Ohio which i assume is better than a lot of other areas in Ohio just because of the schools with strong tennis tradition here (Firestone, St. V, Hoban, etc.) but I use 1h and honestly, I think my BH is better than any player I've played so far, and I very rarely S&V, I'm more of a power baseliner. Granted, like we said, it's northern Ohio, but at first singles, you don't often get guys who can't play competent tennis. But the majority of players here use 2hbh.
But in reality, using 1hbh is useful for high school because some players lack depth and control on every shot, so that extra reach can be useful if they hit a short ball or something along those lines. From what I've seen of pro matches, college matches, and HS matches, footwork is most important in HS. If your footwork is lacking, 2hbh in HS can be a liability.
No wonder we can't get any more Americans in the top 10. Do you really think developing one handed BH juniors is going to help our Tennis?
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chalkflewup
Hall of Fame
Agreed PMERK -- finally the voice of reason kicks in! There was nothing better than watching Agassi go BH crosscourt with his 2 hander.
pyrokid
Hall of Fame
hmm, so we had two meets today, and the #1 guy on one team had a great one hander. Some other guys on his team had one handers, but they were, well, fairly lame.
But I just think that the ease of power generation that a 2HBH gives you is very helpful in juniors.
I can hit both a one hander and a two hander, and I use both for different situations, but for basic rallying, it's the two hander. And because that's what most juniors do, well, it think it's more beneficial.
But when they get a good one hander down, it does seem to work very well.
But I just think that the ease of power generation that a 2HBH gives you is very helpful in juniors.
I can hit both a one hander and a two hander, and I use both for different situations, but for basic rallying, it's the two hander. And because that's what most juniors do, well, it think it's more beneficial.
But when they get a good one hander down, it does seem to work very well.
tennis-silver
Banned
The problem is that it takes alot longer to develop a one hander and our juniors are pushed for "wins". Its hard to win at a young age with a one handed bh.
borg number one
Legend
Honestly, I haven't seen many one handed backhands that could not be attacked by a real good two handed backhand. I think the two handed backhand, with the ability to hit with one handed slice shots is the best of both worlds in terms of overall effectiveness. The high ball with topspin to the one handed backhand is an inherently tricky/problem shot for one with a one handed backhand.
Judging by the number of one handers present in the top 100 it's hard to win at the highest level with a one hander.
Gasquet and Guga's backhands were so much better than Agassi's 2-hander. Only Fed seems to have a problem with the high kicker to his bh, other one-hand guys don't have a problem with it.
chalkflewup
Hall of Fame
PennAlum said:
And Agassi's Slams are so much better than Guga's and Gasquet's.
What are you basing this on? Agassi's two handed bh return of serve is one of the best shots in the history of tennis
autumn_leaf
Hall of Fame
. . . i .. . .
the fact that a former #1 have problems with a stroke means that most people will have a problem with it.
as for the 2hbh. the common argument is that kids learn what they are taught, and if you start young you usually start with a 2hbh because it's
a. easier, at least in terms of getting the ball back and not shanking
b. it's what the coaches teach them to produce more wins because of reason "a" and cause if the kid keeps losing the coach will get fired.
comparing pros is bad enough. given the fact that they are pros they are considered outliers of the general population.
and firstserve, why are you asking this in the first place? information is meaningless without context.
My friend thats a junior and has just started high school hits a one hander and made huge improvement in the last year. I used to kill him bc of it but now he can really rip it and hits tons of winners on me with it. It doesn't have any notable weakness but does generally produce more errors than his forehand side
Why does everyone imply that if juniors were taught 1 handed BH, they would lose initially but become great later? Any evidence for it other than Sampras, who is not your average pro? Apart from his inability to win all the Slams, his direct descendant, Federer, is not known for his backhand stability. What if the 2 handed BH was better AND even better if taught from a young age?
Because most of the posters here (myself included) use a 1 hander and take personal offense (myself not included) when people suggest a 2HB is better suited to the current pro game. When you look at the top 10 and who is knocking on the door they almost all of them use two handers.
No one cares about how you became better or your clubs best player or your college's best players rips one handed winners from above his head. We are talking about juniors becoming pros and all the best junior's and pros, save a few, use two handers.
Your (meaning board members)1 hander is the best because the balls you are putting back in play are not hit with the same speed, spin, velocity and variety that a pro would throw at you all match. Your one hander does not require the same strength, timing and consistency to be successful at the pro level.
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Jonny S&V
Hall of Fame
I agree that the two-hander is more suited to the modern game. But when you look at the one-handers that are in the top one-hundred, almost all of them are better than the average top 100 backhand. I count 26 one-handers in the top 100, not a small number by any means.
No matter how much people bash on Federer's backhand, it's still a better backhand (by far) than Roddick's, Querrey's, Verdasco's, and heck, even Melzer's. If Nadal never existed on tour, we would most likely never know that Federer's backhand is weak to extremely heavy topspin.
How many did you count among the women? The thread is not only about males.
Keep in mind for decades that number would have been reversed
Jonny S&V
Hall of Fame
I only counted the males because in today's game, it is true for the most part that one-handers are gone on the women's tour due to the less muscle mass that is missing that you need in-order to hit a one-hander at the top level.
I only counted three women that hit one-handers off the top of my head (Schiavone, Vinci, and Navarro), but once again, all 4 of those women have better-than-average backhands compared to a standard top 100 backhand (and on the WTA tour, the backhand is more often better than the forehand).
Jonny S&V
Hall of Fame
Different game. You (amongst others) make it sound like the one-hander is dead in today's game, and that the high bouncing balls will hurt the one-hander (idk if you've made the last statement, but many have, so don't take the last one personally). If you look at a lot of clay-specialists, there are actually a high percentage of one-handers (which is probably due to A) The added time to set up and B) The access to easier power/spin with the one-hander).
So the %tage is down from 26 to (26+3)/2 = 15 when you include the women. And with Henin retired, only 1 (Schiavone) has won a Slam (but has never been #1). And also apart from Federer, no 1 hander has recently won a Slam on the men's side. And among the men who have completed the Golden Career Slam, both are 2 handers.
Now these are the current pros. Working down the pipeline, what %tage of boys and girls in the juniors have a 1 hander?
Jonny S&V
Hall of Fame
I unfortunately don't have the time to look them up (very few people follow juniors as pros I find), but you're more than welcome to. With 15,000+ posts, you surely can afford to. ;-)
That being said, I can make having two-hands on both sides sound like it is the best type of play for everyone. Heck, when you can win 3 consecutive Aussies and Frenches, it MUST be the best type of stroke for everyone. :roll:
Here is a list of junior players who use one hand on the back-hand and are doing well at the challangers level..
https://onehbh.wordpress.com/
https://onehbh.wordpress.com/
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