This is why I keep returning to OHB

[acintya]

When I play OHB my legs and game feel way more connected.. there is this easy feeling, you feel like dancing on the court. Why is that so? Maybe because I played Table Tennis as a young kid? OR because one hand is free? Playing 2HBH is much more rational to me - its more stable but it also feels a lot more disconnected.

 

[Friedman Whip]

Are you hitting a topspin OHB, slice or both?

 

[chic]

To each their own, but I never feel better contact than when ripping a 2hbh that bounces above net height from the baseline. Just T-ing off on the ball with your whole body coil; legs, torso, shoulder drop and a nice clean connect

 

[acintya]

To each their own, but I never feel better contact than when ripping a 2hbh that bounces above net height from the baseline. Just T-ing off on the ball with your whole body coil; legs, torso, shoulder drop and a nice clean connect

yeah,i get you,its a another world - i like it too,but i just feel the legs and preparation more with OHB

 

[mad dog1]

yeah,i get you,its a another world - i like it too,but i just feel the legs and preparation more with OHB

Just means you are hitting the 2hbh incorrectly.

 

[chic]

I did switch to ohbh at one point for a few months, feeling the full body uncoil on a shot in the strike zone is really nice.

But, mannnn just smashing through a slightly high resolution hander is my thing

 

[Cashman]

Just means you are hitting the 2hbh incorrectly.

I don’t think a two handed backhand will ever feel as good as a perfectly hit one handed backhand. The latter is just far more natural a movement.

 

[acintya]

Just means you are hitting the 2hbh incorrectly.

oh thats far from the truth - i can hit a pretty good 2 hander but im just saying that OHB is more "liquid" feeling and i dont know why - and the body feels more like a unit. Maybe you are right and i dont have enough mileage on my two hander.. but i guess there is something in OHB why people stay with it,its definitely more artistic..

 

[tonylg]

The one handed backhand is a natural, flowing shot. Your dominant racquet arm is not limited in its range of motion by your other arm. It's harder to do and harder to be consistent, but done well nothing else compares.

If it did, everyone would be trying to hit beautiful two handed forehands.

 

[acintya]

I don’t think a two handed backhand will ever feel as good as a perfectly hit one handed backhand. The latter is just far more natural a movement.

yeah this is what i was thinking..thanks

 

[mad dog1]

I don’t think a two handed backhand will ever feel as good as a perfectly hit one handed backhand. The latter is just far more natural a movement.

You may not get the same sensation hitting a 2hbh as you do hitting a 1hbh, but if you’re not feeling the legs as involved in the 2hbh as the OP stated, it’s not being done correctly.

 

[acintya]

You may not get the same sensation hitting a 2hbh as you do hitting a 1hbh, but if you’re not feeling the legs as involved in the 2hbh as the OP stated, it’s not being done correctly.

if feel the legs but they are not so lively as in OHB. I cant explain exactly. the sense of correct positioning is far great when i hit a one hander.

 

[mad dog1]

oh thats far from the truth - i can hit a pretty good 2 hander but im just saying that OHB is more "liquid" feeling and i dont know why - and the body feels more like a unit. Maybe you are right and i dont have enough mileage on my two hander.. but i guess there is something in OHB why people stay with it,its definitely more artistic..

Pretty good at the 3.5 level gets abused at the 4.5 level. Pretty good at the 4.0 level gets abused at the 5.0 level. Pretty good at the 5.0 level gets thrashed at the 5.5+ level.

 

[chic]

I don’t think a two handed backhand will ever feel as good as a perfectly hit one handed backhand. The latter is just far more natural a movement.

Different strokes for different folks

 

[mad dog1]

if feel the legs but they are not so lively as in OHB. I cant explain exactly. the sense of correct positioning is far great when i hit a one hander.

Ball spacing and contact point are not the same for the 2hbh vs 1hbh. If you are spacing the 2hbh the same way using the same contact point as the 1hbh, yes, the 1hbh will feel more “natural”.

 

[Cashman]

Different strokes for different folks

Not in this case, I don’t think. The one hander is just better from a biomechanics perspective.

 

[Deleted member 766172]

I find the hardest thing to learn with the 2hbh is the lag that comes naturally with a forehand. That said, I also switched to ohbh because of Federer.

 

[chic]

Not in this case, I don’t think. The one hander is just better from a biomechanics perspective.

I agree that you can't uncoil on a 2h for that class rip you can with a 1h, which is a great feeling.

But I think you're underestimating how nice it is to absolutely demolish a high bouncing ball from the baseline with the 2h. A different feeling, but I enjoy it just as much

 

[movdqa]

yeah,i get you,its a another world - i like it too,but i just feel the legs and preparation more with OHB

Maybe because you have to do the fast prep before a 1HBH. 2-hander, you can hit in a variety of stances.

Table tennis footwork is a lot different because you don't need the big steps. You can also hit open or semi-open stance with table tennis. I think that the analogous in table tennis is penholder vs shake hands.

 

[ChaelAZ]

I can hit both a 2HBH and 1HBH, but my natural stroke has always been 1HBH. I get the feeling that a 1HBH feels more fluid and free, where for me a 2HBH feels limited in ROM. That might come a bit more if I did practice the 2HBH more often, but it doesn't have the same ROM even with better fluidity.

 

[acintya]

Maybe because you have to do the fast prep before a 1HBH. 2-hander, you can hit in a variety of stances.

Table tennis footwork is a lot different because you don't need the big steps. You can also hit open or semi-open stance with table tennis. I think that the analogous in table tennis is penholder vs shake hands.

you nailed it!!! now i know why i like the OHB more:


It is because I like fast preparations, I like First Person Shooter games,you need very quick preparation.
I just cant stand slower preparations..with two handers you have much more room and time and also you cant block some balls that are to fast..sometimes I feel like I have too much time on the two hander,but when i play onehander everything just seem so fast.

 

[TheIntrovert]

I was always taught a two hander. Then switched to a one hander for two reasons. Primarily because federer used it, but I always felt it was a much more natural shot and could far easily generate the power and depth. Then I stopped playing for 5 years, came back this past August and started competing. And the one hander simply wasn’t holding up at all. The time wasn’t there. Consistency wasn’t either. So Ive switched back to the two hander. Yes power is harder but I have much more control stretched out on the run with me being able to use the left hand in an open stance, a la Djokovic. One negative is that with it being such a stable shot, I’ve grown to use it practically all the time and never slice, although im trying to incorporate it again now. I do pull the one hander out every now and then when I feel I have enough time or if I get pulled out really far wide. Maybe twice a match

 

[movdqa]

you nailed it!!! now i know why i like the OHB more:


It is because I like fast preparations, I like First Person Shooter games,you need very quick preparation.
I just cant stand slower preparations..with two handers you have much more room and time and also you cant block some balls that are to fast..sometimes I feel like I have too much time on the two hander,but when i play onehander everything just seem so fast.

You probably enjoy how fast Wawrinka whips his legs around when he sets up for a monster backhand.

 

[ubercat]

Fed said if he was starting again he would have a two hander for consistency. I ain't going to argue with Fed.

Back down in the muck if you are sticking with the 1 handa you have to accept it for what it is.

I find if I just concentrate on hitting competent back hands without going for too much I often draw UEs. it's like they expect the reply to be weak and it's got just a little bit more then they allowed for.

but when my backhand is under pressure I am going to go to the slice everytime unless I'm completely off the court and just have to Hulk out and go for the hero shot.

 

[ubercat]

BTW I think the converse is true as well a lot of people with double handers struggle on low balls.

I lost last week to my lady doubles partner. Kept kept hitting high loop shots to her backhand. And she was producing deadly fast angle shots back. Me being ******** yet again I should have sliced sliced and more slice.

 

[acintya]

Fed said if he was starting again he would have a two hander for consistency. I ain't going to argue with Fed.

Back down in the muck if you are sticking with the 1 handa you have to accept it for what it is.

I find if I just concentrate on hitting competent back hands without going for too much I often draw UEs. it's like they expect the reply to be weak and it's got just a little bit more then they allowed for.

but when my backhand is under pressure I am going to go to the slice everytime unless I'm completely off the court and just have to Hulk out and go for the hero shot.

fed probably would never be so developed if he had a two hander. his one hander was his way of tennis and he probably never would have one of the best slices if not the best one if he played a two hander. but maybe im wrong - maybe he would be a even deadlier player. Like Dolgopolov on dope. Not Tsitsipas but Dolgopov is the guy with a two hander who reminds me the most of Federer!

i will answer your other question tommorow - in your thread

 

[Shroud]

To each their own, but I never feel better contact than when ripping a 2hbh that bounces above net height from the baseline. Just T-ing off on the ball with your whole body coil; legs, torso, shoulder drop and a nice clean connect

You can do that with a one hander too

 

[Kevo]

I think people naturally gravitate towards one or the other. I started as a kid with a two hander and switched to the one hander after a year. I knew immediately the one hander was better for me. I felt like I could really swing easier and more comfortably on that stroke and the pace and spin I could get with it was much closer to my forehand than my two hander was. Also, I had played baseball for many years before that so swinging with two hands was not foreign to me.

When I teach kids I always have them try both. Most of them don't react to the one handed backhand the way I did. Most of the time they immediately go back to two hands. However, there are some kids that know immediately they want to go one handed, and a very small percentage that play around with both types for a while before they pick. As a coach I don't particularly care which they pick, but I want them to have a clear decision in their own mind which one is for them so they can stick with one and get good at it.

I can still hit a passable two hander, but it's not nearly as good as my one hander. I can hit a better two handed forehand than my two handed backhand, and I never really practice that one at all. Sometimes I will hit two hands on both sides just to see if anyone is paying attention.

 

[ByeByePoly]

1hbh ... free flowing prettiest shot in tennis
2hbh ... best feel at contact of any stroke to me

One thing I notice with 2hbh is that my shoulders, arms and hands seem even more relaxed swinging into contact than the 1hbh ... "feel".

 

[Enga]

I think the 2hbh can achieve the same thing depending on technique. For example, the "Borg"-like technique, where the dominant hand is mostly in control but the other is just along for the ride. Borg of course does it to an extent that no one else does it, where he lets go of the racket from his left hand during the follow through.

I've heard people describe the 2hbh as a left handed forehand with the right hand there to guide it, but to me that was the least fluid. I liked it much better when the right hand was the main force behind the shot, and the left hand was just along for stability. That to me gave comparable smoothness to what I feel like with a 1 handed backhand.

 

[Searah]

i feel i always need to be somewhat on point with ohbh.

when if i go double handed.. then even on bad day it still somewhat works.

so basically i am saying i feel 2hbh is more consistent.

but opinions differ.

 

[ByeByePoly]

i feel i always need to be somewhat on point with ohbh.

when if i go double handed.. then even on bad day it still somewhat works.

so basically i am saying i feel 2hbh is more consistent.

but opinions differ.

Yep ... stance (closed for most of us) and spacing and timing have to be good to hit a decent shot. With 2hbh ... all stances good ... strength/stability of two arms/hands to improvise when less than perfect. That said ... I still can't hit any kind of decent "armed 2hbh" when you get stuck without some shoulder turn. With a 1hbh ... I can ... often block/slice.

 

[Kevo]

I just love to hit the 1HBH. It's just fun. I have for some time thought about how running around the forehand and hitting a 1HBH would make sense in certain situations just like running around the backhand and hitting a forehand does. I've done it in practice every now and then just to test the waters but never tried it in a match.

Well this weekend playing doubles I ran around my forehand on the deuce side and hit a 1 hander down the alley past the netman for a winner. It was pretty sweet. It really did feel like a more sure shot for me than ripping a forehand down the line since I was hitting across my body with the backhand, but I would have been hitting away from my body with the forehand. I think I'm going to look for more opportunities to try that out again and see how it develops.

 

[nicklane1]

I just love to hit the 1HBH. It's just fun. I have for some time thought about how running around the forehand and hitting a 1HBH would make sense in certain situations just like running around the backhand and hitting a forehand does. I've done it in practice every now and then just to test the waters but never tried it in a match.

Well this weekend playing doubles I ran around my forehand on the deuce side and hit a 1 hander down the alley past the netman for a winner. It was pretty sweet. It really did feel like a more sure shot for me than ripping a forehand down the line since I was hitting across my body with the backhand, but I would have been hitting away from my body with the forehand. I think I'm going to look for more opportunities to try that out again and see how it develops.

On occasions I do the same with my 1 one hander in singles. But I have to be really feeling it. It takes a lot of confidence to hit such a low percentage shot.