tennis_hack
Banned
As you know, 8 out of the 16 R4 players left in the men's draw are 1hbh's. To put that into perspective, there were not much more than 8 1hbh's in the draw to start with. There are not much than 8 1hbh's in the ATP top 100.
So nearly all those using the 1hbh have made it to the last 16. Statistically speaking, this suggests that if you are one of the few using a 1hbh you actually have an increased chance of making the last 16 of Roland Garros vs if you were one of the many with a 2hbh. Of course we can't go by stats, but still - food for thought.
And, obviously the French Open is played on clay and is best of 5 sets, so the bounce is high, most points are played from the baseline, and groundstroke reliability is critical. Much of the dogma around the 1hbh - that all 1hbh's are 'fragile', 'weak to high bounce', 'inconsistent' and 'prone to breaking down' has been proven untrue. What's more - it's been proven untrue by mostly older guys whose footwork must have declined. Of the 1hbh's in R16;
Almagro, Kohlschreiber, Wawrinka, Federer, Haas, Youzhny, Robredo and Gasquet...
...most of them are in their late 20's to mid 30's. Their footwork must have declined to some extent. Imagine how viable the 1hbh must be if even these old players with declining footwork can still beat a field of young, agile and peaking guys with 2hbh's?
The 1hbh seems to do best on clay. To contrast, last year's Wimbledon, only 4 1hbh's made the R16 - half the number here. Even on the women's side the trend holds true although there are much less 1hbh's on the women's side in general. 3 out of the 16 left in the draw at Roland Garros this year use 1hbh's, whereas it is usual for there to be 0 out of 16 left in the draw with 1hbh's at R16 of most women's Wimbledon's.
To summarize: there are only a handful of 1hbh's left on the tour, and most belong to aging, declining old men. Yet this same handful of aging, declining men have beaten most of the young, prime guys with 2hbh's in a best of 5 format in the highest-bouncing, most baseline-orientated surface there is - where the reliability of your backhand is placed on a premium.
The message has been sent out: the 1hbh still has a place in modern tennis.
Will coaches listen?
So nearly all those using the 1hbh have made it to the last 16. Statistically speaking, this suggests that if you are one of the few using a 1hbh you actually have an increased chance of making the last 16 of Roland Garros vs if you were one of the many with a 2hbh. Of course we can't go by stats, but still - food for thought.
And, obviously the French Open is played on clay and is best of 5 sets, so the bounce is high, most points are played from the baseline, and groundstroke reliability is critical. Much of the dogma around the 1hbh - that all 1hbh's are 'fragile', 'weak to high bounce', 'inconsistent' and 'prone to breaking down' has been proven untrue. What's more - it's been proven untrue by mostly older guys whose footwork must have declined. Of the 1hbh's in R16;
Almagro, Kohlschreiber, Wawrinka, Federer, Haas, Youzhny, Robredo and Gasquet...
...most of them are in their late 20's to mid 30's. Their footwork must have declined to some extent. Imagine how viable the 1hbh must be if even these old players with declining footwork can still beat a field of young, agile and peaking guys with 2hbh's?
The 1hbh seems to do best on clay. To contrast, last year's Wimbledon, only 4 1hbh's made the R16 - half the number here. Even on the women's side the trend holds true although there are much less 1hbh's on the women's side in general. 3 out of the 16 left in the draw at Roland Garros this year use 1hbh's, whereas it is usual for there to be 0 out of 16 left in the draw with 1hbh's at R16 of most women's Wimbledon's.
To summarize: there are only a handful of 1hbh's left on the tour, and most belong to aging, declining old men. Yet this same handful of aging, declining men have beaten most of the young, prime guys with 2hbh's in a best of 5 format in the highest-bouncing, most baseline-orientated surface there is - where the reliability of your backhand is placed on a premium.
The message has been sent out: the 1hbh still has a place in modern tennis.
Will coaches listen?
Last edited:
But yea the one handed is cool to watch but not effective in the long run in this modern day. No one shanks two handers like one handers. I think some of those shanks from Fed, and Haas are still in orbit.
