Revival of single handed backhand

[LeeD]

Can YOU volley with a 90 degree angle between forearm and racket? That's a right angle. You cannot even hold a racket like that, not comfortably.
Notice on Hanks first forehand volley, his forearm is pointed downward, his racket slightly upwards, for a total of around 45 degrees.

 

[LeeD]

Some would say your examples of laid back forehands show a wrist angle of 0, meaning the racket is aligned with the forearm when the wrist isn't laid back. That's the sign of a strong forehand grip.
A conti forehand, OTOH, hit with topspin, does need an extreme angle between forearm and racket, like some first serves (not McEnroes), to get the rackethead thru and past the hand before impact.

 

[Tight Lines]

Can YOU volley with a 90 degree angle between forearm and racket? That's a right angle. You cannot even hold a racket like that, not comfortably.
Notice on Hanks first forehand volley, his forearm is pointed downward, his racket slightly upwards, for a total of around 45 degrees.

Yes sir, I can. Just use a 2-1 grip. That will give you close to 90.

Harry

 

[LeeD]

Harry.... serious now.
YOU cannot hold a racket at 90 degrees. Your wrist would be bent to uncomfortable, fully loaded and strained.
The only way you can, is to hold like hammering a nail, not a grip you use for tennis.
You CAN hold 45 degrees, and even up to 60 degrees, with comfort, solidity, control. But that's about all.
Look t the pic in your avatar. The wrist is cocked back from the device, not a natural pose. You don't hold the racket like that at all.

 

[Fintft]

LeeD don't you dare ever leave!

 

[ARKustom93]

Okay, I can comment on that since no product is mentioned. I will disagree with you on the angle. Most strokes with the exception of serves (about 30 degrees) have an angle between the racket and arm of closer to 90 degrees than 45. For example, take a look at the following youtube video. At the frozen images, is the maximum lag angle on those FHs closer to 90 or 45?

Harry

FIFY ... Now, let's talk about wrist angle at contact

 

[oserver]

Here is an amazing 1HBH topspin shot made by Richard Gasquet in this year Wimbledon match. This is a very short video filmed just one point. The first shot he made is a return of serve that is an open stance topspin shot. The amazing part is his footwork: he did a split step with his right foot at the extension of single sideline (0:13); from there he loaded and exploded sideway to hist left side; then he crossed his right leg to land with it (0:14). Look how far this jump is. Also the shot was hit while he danced in the air. I guess this shot will be in text book someday so people would remember what happened this year about him and 1HBH players.

The last shot he did is a well executed open stance half volley winner inside service line, finishing a nice point worth remembering -

 

[mbmazzz]

I play like caveman then That's why I run around my backhand to hit a forehand so often, to hide this esthetic insult of a shot from the world.

Clearly you are not playing at a high level... You either have a backhand or you don't.

 

[Shroud]

Here is an amazing 1HBH topspin shot made by Richard Gasquet in this year Wimbledon match. This is a very short video filmed just one point. The first shot he made is a return of serve that is an open stance topspin shot. The amazing part is his footwork: he did a split step with his right foot at the extension of single sideline (0:13); from there he loaded and exploded sideway to hist left side; then he crossed his right leg to land with it (0:14). Look how far this jump is. Also the shot was hit while he danced in the air. I guess this shot will be in text book someday so people would remember what happened this year about him and 1HBH players.

The last shot he did is a well executed open stance half volley winner inside service line, finishing a nice point worth remembering -

Not sure what you are seeing but this looks very closed to me:

FWIW I have a vid of me hitting openstance one handers. Like your open serve, it can work but dude a closed bh is sooo much better, just like a proper serve is way better than an open one. The kinetic chain is just better....

The exception IMHO is on the serve return where there is enough pace that the kinetic chain is not that important....

 

[mbmazzz]

I used a 2 hander in high school, but idolizing pete and wanting to S&V I switched to a 1 hander. I probably lost a lot of matches because of it, but it eventually became stronger than my 2 hander ever was, and my slice and volley improved because of it. If you have a solid 1 handed backhand you can direct, drive, dip, and junk balls with more versatility than your forehand.

Well put

 

[Shroud]

here is a much better vid for open one handed service returns:

 

[oserver]

Not sure what you are seeing but this looks very closed to me:

Not sure what you are seeing but this looks very closed to me:

So you must determine whether a shot is open stance or closed stance by landing stage (or both feet are in the air), as another post who argued with me in earlier replies. If you read my post and watch the video closely, the moment to determine the stance is at loading/exploding stage (at beginning of shot just before both feet are leaping into the air, not at the end of shot while ball contact is already made) which is at 0:13, not 0:14 (what your picture shows after the contact point). All this happen in a split second (1/100th of second to be exact), it's not easy to catch it if you are a two hander.

Another point I like to make is that all shots made by Gasquet in that point were 1HBH shots, with the opening and ending shot (winner) by him using open stance while other shots in between using closed stance. This shows the maturity of 1HBH form. 2015 maybe remembered as the year of tide change, to the disappointment of people who predicted that there would be no future of 1HBH as an effective tennis form at top level.

 

[Tight Lines]

FIFY ... Now, let's talk about wrist angle at contact

Oh not that topic again.... let's just say that the wrist angle at contact is a result of a loose wrist with a combination of a forearm roll and ISR to maintain the racket face at vertical throughout the contact zone (what people call a wind shield wiper motion). Just try to maintain vertical racket face. The rest will take care of themselves. I think it's not productive to consciously think about the degree of release.

Harry

 

[Tight Lines]

Double post.

 

[ARKustom93]

Oh not that topic again.... let's just say that the wrist angle at contact is a result of a loose wrist with a combination of a forearm roll and ISR to maintain the racket face at vertical throughout the contact zone (what people call a wind shield wiper motion). Just try to maintain vertical racket face. The rest will take care of themselves. I think it's not productive to consciously think about the degree of release.

Harry

Umm, ... just pointed out that the freeze frames you referred to, are depicting max lag, going into the FW swing.

And FWIW, "vertical throughout the contact zone?" ... BS ...

 

[Tight Lines]

Umm, ... just pointed out that the freeze frames you referred to, are depicting max lag, going into the FW swing.

And FWIW, "vertical throughout the contact zone?" ... BS ...

Well, I suppose you are entitled to your BS opinion then.

Harry

 

[oserver]

This video has a title - "The Best One Handed Backhand - Federer, Wawrinka, or Gasquet?". Very entertaining and interesting question to answer.

 

[oserver]

Just did a update of my article "Tennis - Revival of Single Handed Backhand" to incorporate many of my posts on this thread -

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/tennis-revival-single-handed-backhand-gary-lou

 

[LeeD]

What's the best? Since ATP picks on the backhand side, the highest rated player would stand to reason to have the "best" backhand.

 

[oserver]

The old conclusion was 1HBH was dead. The current question to the conclusion is "really?". The future question or answer maybe is "who knows?". Not even Djokovic, after having two tie breakers to beat elder Federer in four sets at Wimbledon 2015.

 

[torpantennis]

1HBH is better at imparting topspin and pace on the ball, 2HBH is better at handling incoming pace and counterpunching the incoming ball into the open court. Neither is "better", they're just different.