Working on my backhand and need help.

Ebard12

New User
I never had a backhand and normally sliced to stay in points. I've been using a ball machine and the backhand is getting better, but I was hoping to get feedback. Please let me know if you have any tips or ideas that could help me out. Thanks.
Backhand
 

Rattler

Hall of Fame
I never had a backhand and normally sliced to stay in points. I've been using a ball machine and the backhand is getting better, but I was hoping to get feedback. Please let me know if you have any tips or ideas that could help me out. Thanks.
Backhand
The url is broken
 

ballmachineguy

Hall of Fame
That short backswing can’t be helping. It can’t be helping spin or power. If you can, you want the racquet to be about parallel to the baseline right before starting the forward swing. And you want to do it as much with the arm and torso as you can. Just turning your hips more won’t be effective. Having to “jerk” the racquet quickly from that short backswing position makes you quickly contract muscles in back and shoulder to get RHS. That will lead to wild inconsistent shots. You want a good stretch in shoulder and upper back to start the racquet forward effortlessly and then feed those muscles in progressively.
 

S&V-not_dead_yet

Talk Tennis Guru
@Ebard12,

A few things I noted:

- Your contact point is consistently knee-height and below. This seems rather low to me. Do you prefer that low of a contact point? If not, you need to move forward a bit to get a higher contact point. Either that or you have to bend your knees and get lower to the ground

- As a result of the low contact point, there's more of a need to lift the ball up to get it over the net. But if you don't have good TS, that's going to be more difficult.

- You maintain your focus on the contact point rather than prematurely pulling your head up to watch the ball. That's great!

Seems like you have some decent mechanics [weight transfer, side turn]. If you study high level 1HBHs, you'll notice they tend to hold the racquet a lot higher on the takeback but that might be a more advanced thing for later.

It's hard to tell how much TS you're generating: is it enough to get good margin over the net? If not, I'd suggest a steeper swing path and putting more vertical force into the ball which means your shot won't travel through the court as fast but you'll get more clearance over the net and enough TS to bring it down.
 

Injured Again

Hall of Fame
I think that's a perfectly fine backhand considering your age (no offense intended as I turn 60 next year) and that you've just started working on it.

Depending on what your goals are, my comments are similar to @S&V-not_dead_yet in that you will need to see how you can hit a chest or shoulder high ball, and how well and with what type of stroke you can make if you have to move several steps to reach the ball.

I personally wouldn't concentrate on hitting any more topspin than you already do. It looks like you get enough ball speed even with your shorter takeback, and you are timing it well so I would suggest concentrating on making it more versatile by being able to hit balls of various heights and when you have to move more to get into position.
 
Not that bad.

Put your thumb behind the grip flat for support.

Take back the racket way above your head for the maximum range of motion. (see any of the great OHBH they ALL do that)--this allows gravity to do the work for you--look at pics of Sampras, RFed, Wawrinka, et al,--all of them back to Don Budge--all the great OHBH's begin with the racket ABOVE the head, as far as the anatomical range of motion allows for--it's also called the kinetic chain. Watch any of them and there will be your proof.

Keep your gaze down at where the ball was a la RFed to watch the ball--don't look up to where you want the ball to go--the hand is quicker then the eye--the court does not move--your eyes will come off the ball contact if you look to where you want it to go--don't look up.

Now wait for the naysayers to nay-say--I've been through this before, the proof is in the watching all the great OHBH's, yours can look like theirs too.
 

ChaelAZ

G.O.A.T.
Please try this link.


Your timing looks good and contact point is forward. You are relying on a lot of arm for the forward motions, which can hit the ball but when you get anything heavy or fast coming at you might feel weak. I'd look to add in more core rotation and a bit of a grip change to add stability and power.
 
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