One handed backhand video. Critique please!

[ciocc]

Hello, a few weeks ago I posted some videos here and received lots of good comments. Thank you all of you.

Here are two videos of my latest form and I hope I have a good foundation to build upon. I don't want to be good at bad. Therefore, please point out any bad technique I have.

Thank you.

One-handed topspin backhand:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmtLE11vUBg&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Slice backhand:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rhwba568_E8&feature=youtube_gdata_player

 

[bad_call]

what racquet is that? looks like it loses control here and there so curious.

 

[ciocc]

Haha ... it's not the racquet. It's me. Once in few swings I opened up the face of the racquet and had bad timings at the contact point.

I used a 4D 300 Tour weighted up to 12oz.

 

[UCSF2012]

Your slices are sailing long. Too much net clearance for a slice. There's a problem with either your racket face being too open and/or your swing path being too forward. Regarding your racket face, you can close it a bit, making it more perpendicular to the ground (but it being slightly angled towards the sky, if that makes any sense). Regarding your swing path, it should be more up/down, rather than backwards/forwards.

Your topspin backhand are also sailing long. For the time being, you should practice hitting it flat. If you can't hit flat, you can't hit topspin. It's a learning progression. Hit it flat IN THE COURT RELIABLY first. Also, the reason why your shots are sailing wrong is likely that the racket face is too open, thus you're deflecting the ball up into the air.

 

[Cheetah]

some good things i see but...

1) I think you open up too much
2) You need to 'use' your left hand more on your topspin bh. It kind of just flops out there. Use it to control your shoulders from opening up too much and for better balance.
3) I dont think you get enough weight into the ball or follow through enough. perhap from opening up too much. When you hit the ball it's almost like a slap. You need to drive through it more. Lean in more and get your weight into it more. Sounds weak when you hit it. It should pop more which would happen automatically w/ more weight behind it.

ok.. i've just watched a second time..
you open up less than i originally thought but it's deceptive because of that left arm. Still need to get the body mass INTO that ball. I see u have a little bit of weight transfer because you strand up when hitting but u gotta lean more into it.

here's roger putting 100% into it
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zC7Hld2zBtQ&feature=related

 

[Ryoma]

My advice is forget what you have learnt. I mean, parting the hand, brushing up the back of the ball. You did exactly what a bad coach would teach you and you did you perfectly well. Now you might ask why the hell doesn't it looks like Federer's?

I am going to write up a one handed backhand lesson on my site on the next issue. Check it out.

 

[Jonny S&V]

I'm going to be extremely closed-minded here, because I feel it's what you need:

Topspin Backhand: Drop the racquet head, keep your self sideways (swing from the shoulder), don't open up into the ball.

Slice Backhand: Shift grip over to continental, flatten it out, keep yourself sideways, follow-thru forward, throw your left arm back as your right arm is going forward.

Appearance: Drop the capris/cutoffs/whatever they are, wear real socks... Well, you don't have to worry about this section as much (although you have eclectic taste for sure...).

Hope this helps

 

[rufusbgood]

If I was the guy on the adjacent court I would be pretty miffed at you. If you are going to insist on having more than 3 balls on your court, you could at least demonstrate some courtesy and drive your shots into the corner where they are less likely to roll underfoot and cause someone an injury. Not the sort of advice you were hoping for I suppose but there it is.

 

[Limpinhitter]

Hello, a few weeks ago I posted some videos here and received lots of good comments. Thank you all of you.

Here are two videos of my latest form and I hope I have a good foundation to build upon. I don't want to be good at bad. Therefore, please point out any bad technique I have.

Thank you.

One-handed topspin backhand:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmtLE11vUBg&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Slice backhand:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rhwba568_E8&feature=youtube_gdata_player

I think Roger Federer has ruined more 1hb's than tennis elbow. Why does everyone try to imitate Federer's flawed bh technique? UGGH!

You want advice, here's what I think: The swing path on a 1hb (top and slice) has 3 components: (1) upper body rotation, (2) arm swing from the shoulder, and (3) forearm suppination.

DO NOT SWING FROM THE ELBOW!!! DO NOT STRAIGHTEN THE ELBOW AS PART OF YOUR FORWARD SWING!!! DO NOT DO THAT!!! BAD DOG!!!

Rather, turn your back to the target far enough so that your opponent could read your name if it were written across your shoulder blades, take the racquet back either with your elbow already straight, or straighten you elbow BEFORE you begin your forward swing. Then rotate your upper body until your chest faces the target, and swing your arm FROM THE SHOULDER WITH A STRAIGHT ELBOW, and suppinate your forearm accelerating the racquet head in to the ball, and finish with your racquet head high (topspin or slice), at about 2:00 O'clock!

Topspin vs. slice. The primary difference between a 1hb slice and topspin is the direction the racquet head approaches the ball from before contact. For topspin, get the racquet head below the ball and swing up to and beyond contact. For slice, get your hand above the level of the ball and above the racquet head, and swing down on the ball, across and then back up on the follow through. In both cases, you use a combination of UBR, arm swing from the shoulder and forearm suppination.

Hope that helps!

 

[ciocc]

If I was the guy on the adjacent court I would be pretty miffed at you. If you are going to insist on having more than 3 balls on your court, you could at least demonstrate some courtesy and drive your shots into the corner where they are less likely to roll underfoot and cause someone an injury. Not the sort of advice you were hoping for I suppose but there it is.

To be fair to me, I had been on the court for 2 hours before they showed up and there were plenty of open courts available. They chose to play adjacent to me, and that was fine. In addition, I drove 2 balls to their court in total and if you have also noticed, there is a short fence at the corner to prevent balls from rolling over to the other court.

I do appreciate your concern about getting people injured, so it's something I'll play attention to next time I'm on a public court.

 

[ciocc]

Thank you everyone for your advise, including my tennis attire. :mrgreen:

 

[Bagumbawalla]

First of all, the videos were clear, well positioned and steady. Thank you for that.

Overall, your form is not bad. There were a few times when everything came together, you looked good and the ball seemed under control.

Obviously, however, you have things to work on (as do we all).

Consistancy- Continue to work on getting set up in the right position so you can stroke through the ball (as much as possible) exactly the same way each time. I see that you are trying to do this- continue to do so.

Drive through the ball- you seem to be (its hard to tell) flicking your wrist at the ball (like a table tennis player) to generate topspin on the forehand. Concentrate on simply driving through the ball from low to high. Follow through in the direction you want the ball to go with a firmer (but not stiff) wrist.

The slice was not bad- and there were 2 or 3 good ones, but most looked high, loopy and weak. Close the face of the racket a bit more and hit through the ball- high to low, but with less angle- less "chop" and more extention.

 

[rufusbgood]

To be fair to me, I had been on the court for 2 hours before they showed up and there were plenty of open courts available. They chose to play adjacent to me, and that was fine. In addition, I drove 2 balls to their court in total and if you have also noticed, there is a short fence at the corner to prevent balls from rolling over to the other court.

I do appreciate your concern about getting people injured, so it's something I'll play attention to next time I'm on a public court.

My apologies. I did not see the fence and have never seen anything like it before on a public court. At my local park, there are huge signs on the gates that say "No ball hoppers allowed" that get ignored on a regular basis. I've come to be really resentful about it. Sorry for taking it out on you.

 

[ciocc]

More questions about my backhand mechanic -- Slow Motion Vid

Made a slow motion vid to show my backhand mechanic:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-TDHbzkLXg

Some of you have different perspectives on executing a OHBH. Most of you have recommended me to do the followings:
1. Use left hand to keep my chest from opening up too soon & to stay sideway
2. Drop my racquet head/swing more low-to-high
3. More upper body coil (show my back to my opponent) to get more rotational power
4. Drive thru the ball more/lean into the shot

After reviewing my mechanic from the slow motion vid, I think I did #1 correctly. But since I was driving the ball cross court, staying sideway means my front shoulder would be pointing towards the cross court corner. Am I right?

BTW, I was letting the racquet did most of the work and swinging the racquet from my upper body rotation and leg drive. I managed to keep my arm loose during the swing while maintaining my wrist firm during contact. I think my elbow was not straight during the swing but I was pretty sure it was straight right before the contact and afterwards. I also supinated on the follow thru and that's why it gave an illusion that I was flicking the wrist, I think. Is it a right technique?

 

[ciocc]

It's cool, rufusbgood. Over here, most courts don't have that kind of sign. But when there are no fence to separate adjacent courts, I always pick the first or last court so that I can drive the balls to the fenced corner.

 

[fuzz nation]

Let's not get hung up on "hopper etiquette" here. I think we all CAN get along as far as that's concerned.

That topspin backhand seems to be coming along okay. I really love the cue where the hitter is encouraged to show their shoulder blade to the ball on the back swing - for a righty, that's the right shoulder blade. With that move in mind, it becomes a lot easier to complete a proper windup in my opinion.

The first backhand I probably ever learned in my grass court upbringing was a slice, so it holds a special place in my heart. Even though the point of view in your video doesn't reveal everything that's going on, I'll try to offer a couple of thoughts.

Your grip for that slice bh doesn't look like a true continental. To hit this shot well, I encourage you to better employ that grip along with an upturned wrist sort of like the way the wrist turns up if you throttle a motorcycle. This ought to give you better orientation for contacting the ball further back beside you than where you seem to be catching it now.

While the ideal contact point for a topspin bh stroke is way out ahead of you, the slice is sort of counter-intuitive. The ball needs to be struck much later (not out ahead of you) to be struck well. Even though contact comes relatively early in the forward swing with the slice, it's vital for proper contact with the ball. Take a slow-motion practice slice and you'll see how your racquet face opens up more and more as the racquet travels forward. Catch the ball too far in front and the racquet face slides under the ball too much to leave you with too much of a floater.

Use those feet!!! See how you tentatively move through the slice at 0:15 and 0:19 and your left foot comes forward after the shot? You have plenty of room to do that even more deliberately to really fuel the "bite" in your slice. Many of your other slices show you staying sideways, but that leaves your weight transfer sort of stuck. Use your forward weight transfer to make that slice really "go". Your topspin stroke only needs your weight onto your forward foot before you swing, but the slice will thrive with a weight transfer through the shot, more like with a deliberate volley.

While we can technically agree that a slice needs a downward stroke through contact, I don't like that image for producing the best shot. Instead, I like to offer starting the racquet above the ball, but swinging through it. That idea seems to help with avoiding too much high-to-low. It's a descending blow, but it's a forward descending blow.

You can also clean up your technique where you maintain a solid "L" between your forearm and your racquet throughout the stroke. Right now your wrist looks a little more loose than you want it to be. Swing to a full finish where the tip of your racquet is pointed in the general direction of your target - the hand leads the racquet all the way. That should help with overall control.

 

[rkelley]

Here's a great youtube video that teaches a modern slice: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=II7Wo0y6fC8

Some folks here take great issue with this form, but it is the form currently used by just about every top pro. It produces a shot that stays incredible low after the bounce, has great penetration, and can have a nasty side ways slicing action depending upon the contact point (the lower it's hit, the more it slices to the side).

I've implemented the suggestions in this video into my bh slice. I've been able to add pace, consistency, and more spin to my bh slice. I'm more agressive with the shot than I had been.

One of the keys is that you need to set the racquet plane at the beginning of the forward stroke and then maintain that plane through the swing. Do not open or change the racquet face's angle at or after contact. Another key is that you allow your arm to naturally pivot around your shoulder. Higher balls will be mostly backspin. Lower balls will have a lot of side spin.

Your slices need to be pretty close to the top of the net to be effective - say around 1 foot. I agree with the folks that have said that you're looping them over and they're landing long. Even if they didn't land long, with that much net clearance they won't have any bite. They're just going to sit up in the court and a good player will punish them.

One thing that gets de-emphasized with this form a bit but is still important is that you still have to have hit through the ball to some degree. The shot is not a floater. It has as much pace as is possible and still have the ball land inside the baseline. When the shot's hit correctly it clears the net by less than a foot, lands about a foot or two inside the baseline, bounces up less than foot, and has some degree of side slice action along with the backspin. As you're watching this shot come toward you and you're moving to it, it's really difficult to know exactly when the ball will touch down so it makes it really difficult to time your stroke to hit it. All the while it's also slicing into your backhand (or away from your forehand), so you have to allow for that too.

Again, I'll acknowledge that some folks think that this current form is really a bad thing, but it is the form used by most pros and I've personally found it be highly effective.

 

[ciocc]

fuzz nation: Good eyes. I was using a continental grip with a eastern backhand flavor. I think that made me hit the ball a bit further away from my body. Your analysis is very detail and has given me good instructions to follow. Thank you for that.

rkelley: I see your point and I actually used this technique when the ball is low and coming fast right at me. Personally, I think there is more than one way to hit a slice backhand. So I'll try both the traditional and this approach and see which one comes more natural for me. Thanks for your input.

 

[DeShaun]

Looks good to me bro. Only concern I have is your racquet drop, when you release, which looks to be free-floating perhaps a split second too long and could result in timing issues with faster higher balls. But then again, Guga's release and drop are somewhat similar looking to yours (even though, in reality, he holds on to the throat of his racquet behind him for longer before starting his forward swing), although he was incredibly nimble if not also fast, and he stood 6'2."

 

[0d1n]

I think much of the impression of you having a "floppy" wrist and/or slapping at the ball comes from a single thing which is easily corrected.
I think part of the problem with the racquet head not going under the ball enough is also caused by this issue...
You are releasing the throat of the racquet from your left hand on your topspin backhand WAY WAY too early and I think this causes loss of stability and the "floppy"/not low enough racquet head.
The release should happen somewhere around your left hip...and you're releasing the racquet from your left hand somewhere near your shoulder/chest...and let your right hand take over from that stage. Again...this is IMO WAY too early and is causing many of your control problems.

 

[0d1n]

Looks good to me bro. Only concern I have is your racquet drop, when you release, which looks to be free-floating perhaps a split second too long and could result in timing issues with faster higher balls. But then again, Guga's release and drop are somewhat similar looking to yours (even though, in reality, he holds on to the throat of his racquet behind him for longer before starting his forward swing), although he was incredibly nimble if not also fast, and he stood 6'2."

Yeh...MUCH longer.
I also don't really see the similarity with Guga's backhand.
The op's setup is closer to the Fed's/Wawrinka's of this world with the racquet head pointing straight up instead of the Guga/Pioline/Mauresmo type backhand where the racquet head was more "aligned" with the hand/fist during the takeback/setup.

 

[ciocc]

Thank for your comments, DeShaun and 0d1n.

That has been the area I need to work on. As some other posters have suggested before, I need to get the racquet head more under the ball.

I started shadowing the motion and will see how it goes.

 

[snvplayer]

Overall, it looks pretty good.
I also think you need to keep your left hand longer on the racket. It's ok if it flies backward like Sampras or Guga, but the left hand definitely needs to stay longer. Youtube Youzney's backhand, and it will be more obvious.

I don't think you are opening up too soon - you are not swinging across or your chest is not opening up. But, I think you could use more shoulder turn, but I would be cautious not to exaggerate backswing and try to keep it compact.

Oh, you want to turn your shoulder and hip quicker to prepare.

For slice backhand,
The same thing - keep your left hand longer.
And, you want to swing through the ball more. There were a few that were really good, but a lot of them popped up. You want to think "finish as high as you started".

One good tip that I learned was to keep your chin down throughout the swing, to keep your slice down.

 

[ciocc]

Good advice junbumkim. I think I need to turn my shoulder and hip quicker to prepare for both my FH and BH.