One-handed Backhand!!!!???!!

[mjcn121789]

I've just started to hit a one-handed backhand. I used to do a two-handed backhand, but i never got any real power behind my shots. So, I decided to convert to the one-hander. My problem is my one-handed backhand is inconsistent. Sometimes, I launch the balls out. I do not know what I'm doing wrong. If I don't launch the ball 50 feet in the air, I hit the ball nice and low. However, most of the time it goes out because it has little to no topspin. The hardest part of the one-handed backhand is when the ball is "shoulder height." Can someone explain to me what the right technique is to a one-handed backhand????

 

[asknowbuylater]

Get a coach. One handed takes that much time to develop.

 

[Loco4Tennis]

there are some threads on 1h high backhand balls and what people try to do with them, i usually dont want to slice, so i slap the ball back into play with like a winshield side spin swing while on a semi open stance, that way i get more pace then the slice, like i said before though, there are threads o this subject and a couple of different things you can try to do with it
good luck

 

[In D Zone]

I've just started to hit a one-handed backhand. I used to do a two-handed backhand, but i never got any real power behind my shots. So, I decided to convert to the one-hander. My problem is my one-handed backhand is inconsistent. Sometimes, I launch the balls out. I do not know what I'm doing wrong. If I don't launch the ball 50 feet in the air, I hit the ball nice and low. However, most of the time it goes out because it has little to no topspin. The hardest part of the one-handed backhand is when the ball is "shoulder height." Can someone explain to me what the right technique is to a one-handed backhand????

Grip, stance, footwork and stroke...

One of the best onehanded intructional video I came across - very detailed (covers footwork and what not to do). I recommend that you bookmarking the links - trust me, you will be referring to it time and time again ( I still do). One Handed Back hand involves a lot subtle movement.

Try these videos....
http://youtube.com/watch?v=yX37c7_svqs&mode=user&search

http://youtube.com/watch?v=hyjVnG6CAGI

Hope this help!

 

[Rickson]

Grip, stance, footwork and stroke...

One of the best onehanded intructional video I came across - very detailed (covers footwork and what not to do). I recommend that you bookmarking the links - trust me, you will be referring to it time and time again ( I still do). One Handed Back hand involves a lot subtle movement.

Try these videos....
http://youtube.com/watch?v=yX37c7_svqs&mode=user&search

http://youtube.com/watch?v=hyjVnG6CAGI

Hope this help!

Justine doesn't make that stupid little wrinkle when she does her backhand.

 

[In D Zone]

Justine doesn't make that stupid little wrinkle when she does her backhand.

NO point in arguing about the wrinkle or nick pick about every single detail if one cannot even hit the ball!

 

[PackardDell]

I do not know what the right technique is but the way I do it is as follows: I have a hard flat 1h backhand and I change the angle of the head during my motion. I say it changes about 60-5 degres.

 

[PackardDell]

Proudly to say I got a natural one handed backhand. It feels so great to hit, i didn not trained it at all, it goes so naturally. Maybe I should put it on youtube

 

[jstr]

It's going to take some time ... years in fact.
Go through a few coaches. Each coach will have a little item that will stick with you.
Record TV matches on a VCR and watch one handers during rallies over and over, preferably from court level...USA network does a good job of this during the US open.
Work with a ball machine and hit thousands of balls. Hit them on the rise,
backpedalling, running sideways, shoulder height, low, slice etc...

Bungalo Bill has good insight to the one hander ...

 

[Rickson]

NO point in arguing about the wrinkle or nick pick about every single detail if one cannot even hit the ball!

I wasn't coming down on you, but I'm not a big fan of that bald guy's tips. I believe that bald man is a natural 2 hander.

 

[Bottle Rocket]

I've just started to hit a one-handed backhand. I used to do a two-handed backhand, but i never got any real power behind my shots. So, I decided to convert to the one-hander.

If you never got any power behind your two-hander, it is not because it is a two-hander versus a one-hander. There was obviously a flaw, if not many, in your technique. The problem was not the stroke itself.

Just as you had problem with the two-hander, switching to the one-hander has its own problems. For you at least it seems the problems you're having now are a lot more severe than you had with the two-hander. Pace is an easier thing to fix than a lack of consistency. It sounds like you had the fundamentals with the two-hander, but you don't for the one-hander.

You're asking for advice, but you're not really giving much information about your own stroke. The most important question of all for someone switching to a one-hander is, what grip are you using?

Chances are you're using the wrong grip. I would imagine the rest of your problems are caused by the same thing that caused the issues with your 2-hander and that's the shoulder turn, keeping your head still, and the proper footwork.

Not being able to handle balls near your shoulder is first and foremost a footwork problem. You have to move your feet to get that ball in your strike zone, just as you do on a forehand. You can't hit every ball from the same position on the court, you can't just let the ball come to you and hit it wherever it ends up. You have to be proactive and put that ball in your strike size. That means either taking the ball on the rise or after it balls (probably far behind the baseline). This is why it takes so much time and practice to to hit the one-hander well, many people never quite figure this out. I think you're expecting too much too soon and jstr sort of touched on this. Learn the fundamentals first.

Do a search on the one-handed backhand. There might be more threads on that in this forum than any other topic. Hell, you've already started two.

 

[Mountain Ghost]

High 1HBH’s

When I hear people talk about using footwork to get the ball into the correct strike zone on a high one-handed backhand, they usually talk only about moving up (toward the net) to hit the ball on the rise OR moving back (toward the back fence) so the ball can drop a bit. While I’m all for focusing on better footwork all the way around, focusing on these two workable “solutions” to high backhands does not help ANYONE learn to hit high backhands . . . only to avoid them!

On a high backhand, keep your shoulders up and AWAY from the ball, make sure to take your racquet head back down LOW and, most of all, expect to make contact just BARELY in front of your leading shoulder. Since you won’t be hitting as far out front, the length of your stroke path will be shorter than on a normal-height ball, so there’s no space (or time) to start with a high backswing, let the racquet head drop and then bring it back up in time.

Aside from taking the racquet head back too high, the most common problem I see on high backhands is that the shoulders are leaning forward and are too close to the line of the approaching ball, which forces the player to hit too far out front. Use your balance and your footwork to keep your shoulders away from the ball

MG

 

[mjcn121789]

If you never got any power behind your two-hander, it is not because it is a two-hander versus a one-hander. There was obviously a flaw, if not many, in your technique. The problem was not the stroke itself.

Just as you had problem with the two-hander, switching to the one-hander has its own problems. For you at least it seems the problems you're having now are a lot more severe than you had with the two-hander. Pace is an easier thing to fix than a lack of consistency. It sounds like you had the fundamentals with the two-hander, but you don't for the one-hander.

You're asking for advice, but you're not really giving much information about your own stroke. The most important question of all for someone switching to a one-hander is, what grip are you using?

Chances are you're using the wrong grip. I would imagine the rest of your problems are caused by the same thing that caused the issues with your 2-hander and that's the shoulder turn, keeping your head still, and the proper footwork.

Not being able to handle balls near your shoulder is first and foremost a footwork problem. You have to move your feet to get that ball in your strike zone, just as you do on a forehand. You can't hit every ball from the same position on the court, you can't just let the ball come to you and hit it wherever it ends up. You have to be proactive and put that ball in your strike size. That means either taking the ball on the rise or after it balls (probably far behind the baseline). This is why it takes so much time and practice to to hit the one-hander well, many people never quite figure this out. I think you're expecting too much too soon and jstr sort of touched on this. Learn the fundamentals first.

Do a search on the one-handed backhand. There might be more threads on that in this forum than any other topic. Hell, you've already started two.

I'm using a eastern backhand grip....and wow you seem a little irritated. Chill out!!!

 

[Shashwat]

I don't think this will help you but just my general view.

The EXACT same thing happend to me over the past couple of months and my backhand has been sucking realllllllly bad. I switched to 1 hand for about a month, and now im back to 2 hand. I find a ton of power and consistency. I really wouldn't reccomend switching to a 1 hand for more power. But that's just me and everyone is different.

What i would reccomend is getting a lesson from a local teaching pro, just one hour and just ask him/her to work on your backhand technique. Fix your technique and it does wonders, i have been through this.