Hi! Great to see that the one-handed backhand is still alive and well in tennis! I was beginning to have my doubts. I'm new to this and actually wanted to know if anyone could advise me! My 8 year old daughter had a one-hander until a couple of months ago, when in her performance squad the coach said that women should use two-handers if they want to reach a high level (I didn't like to mention that fact that they're only ever taught the two-hander since most of them start at 3 months old now, especially the Russian/Eastern European Machine Ladies). Now, as a long-time lover of the one-hander I was, needless to say, slightly alarmed by this (thoughts of Justine, Steffi, Carla, not to mention Martina and Billy-Jean sprang to mind). I went along with it (I'm happy to admit that the two-hander has it's advantages) but now am having my doubts. My daughter's confused and I want to get it sorted out now! I do however have a couple of concerns re the one-hander and wondered if they were valid:
1. It can be difficult to sustain under constant pressure from a two-hander (this was evident in the Suarez-Navarro v Dementieva QF at the AO), and also to a lesser extent in the final set of Federer/Nadal.
2. It can cause some curvature of the spine unless corrective exercises are done. (The really worries me- has anyone else heard this).
3. Slightly more trivial this one, are there any other parents out there of a one-handed player - if so do they feel alienated by the other children because they are perceived to be "different".
Can anyone advise please?
Hopefully I'm not coming across as the typical, horrendous pushy mum; I'm not! I have even tried to hold my daughter back from playing too much at a young age (despite the advise of coaches) as I worry about the effects on a young body playing too much on hard courts and I want her to enjoy her young life and do other activities. I encourage her to have other hobbies and passions (hence the strange noises emanating from newly-acquired trumpet and hours sitting through sleep-inducing ballet lessons).
On a final note, I think the day that I truly despaired for the state of tennis at the moment was a few weeks ago at my daughter's squad. A little boy turned up with a one-hander; another little boy (at the mighty age of six) watched him open-mouthed and, no longer able to contain his horror, approached the other boy and declared "You are SO not allowed to do that". I had to stifle a laugh but I think it spoke volumes about the way tennis is taught today.
