Hi guys Nick here from Intuitive Tennis. So what's better a one-handed backhand
or a two-handed backhand? Which one has more potential for topspin? Which one has
more potential power? Check out today's video and find out. The one-handed
backhand has unfortunately been on a steady decline on the professional tours.
I counted the number of one-handed backhands on the WTA and ATP top 100
rankings and the numbers were very surprising. So on the WTA rankings in the
top hundred there are only two players using a one-handed backhand on the men
there was seventeen. Ten years ago on the women's there was only two using a
one-handed backhand on the men there was almost double as many thirty one. Twenty
years ago very surprising on the women top hundred there were 26 women using a
one-handed backhand on the men's side it was 36. I want to add a little note to
the number 26 20 years ago on the WTA Tour. If I remember correctly many of the
women players back in those days had a slice one-handed backhand. One of the
greatest of all time if not the greatest next to Serena, Steffi Graf hardly would
drive her backhand she would hit the slice majority of the times other
players like Jana Novotná or Pam Shriver also did not possess a
drive backhand. In matches anyway I'm sure they could hit it in practice but
they would in matches often stick with the slice backhand. So that's something
that is very difficult to do nowadays on the women's tour. Roberta Vinci is the
last player to have this style of only slicing the backhand. She unfortunately
retired this year at the tournament in Rome so now it's a pure power game on
the women's tour dominated by the power two-handed backhand.
So why is this happening to this beautiful one-hander why is it going
away? Because we all love it so much it looks beautiful when Federer hits it or
Wawrinka or Dominic Thiem, Richard Gasquet or Carla Suarez Navarro when
they hit the one-hander it's just a beauty to look at. But I think the main
reason is these professional players of course start playing at a very young age
and yes absolutely it is easier to start playing tennis with two hands because
many kids they try to hit a one hander they're
simply not strong enough and to have stability at contact so when they try to
make contact with one hand the racquet basically kind of collapses underneath
the arm and they're unable to hit the ball properly. Where with two hands this
is not a problem at all they have two hands on the racquet and
they can generate power pretty early on. However, there are always some kids that
are strong enough to hit a one hander and we have to encourage them to
continue hitting one handers other players might start with two hands and
then if they feel stronger with one arm they can switch to a one hander later on
and their junior development. How about adults recreational players that
started playing tennis at a later age? Well this might surprise you, I actually
think it's much easier for adults who started later to have a one-handed
backhand, because it's much easier for them to have stability at contact.
They're stronger of course and the one-handed backhand can be hit with little
rotation and that's often easier for adults. In my experience I've found that
adults have a hard time with the rotation of the two-handed backhand.
Whether it might be a lack of flexibility, whether there might be some
limitations on on how much they can turn with the upper body, whether it's the
timing? It's definitely a more complex shot to execute at the adult level and
it's definitely easier for them to hit a one-handed backhand. What are the
technical differences between a one-handed backhand a two-handed
backhand? As far as power, while it's easier to generate power as a kid and let's
compare professional players that have one-handed backhands and two-handed backhands, I really don't think
there's much difference in power. Somebody like Wawrinka has a
rotation on his backhand, he can hit the ball as hard as any two hander and the same goes
for Federer he doesn't rotate as much but he can hit the ball extremely fast so I
do not think there's a difference of power at the high level however of
course a difference in power when kids start playing tennis and they can
generate power easier with two hands. How about topspin what's easier for topspin?
I think actually the one-handed backhand is much easier for topspin because we
have the freedom of the one hand at going in a vertical fashion on the
finish. So remember topspin is created by the
racket tip going to the outside before it goes back so with the one handed
backhand we have the freedom of the one hand to to do that and we can generate a
lot more topspin. When it comes to the two-handed backhand it is a little bit
more difficult because when we try to go up the hands are kind of fighting each
other and so it is possible to do. However, you see most professional
players have this technique when the tip goes up and across this way and that is more of a
flat backhand. So I'm going to try to do it with topspin and yeah it's definitely
the hands are in the way my finish gets kind of cut short and I can't really
generate enough power this way. Another possible advantage of having a
one-handed backhand is a easier transition for one-handed shots so
somebody who's a very used to hitting one-handed might transition easier into a slice backhand
or backhand volley because they're used to having only one hand at the racquet at
contact. So the two handers they have to develop early on proper mechanics on the
one-handed volley and on the one-handed backhand slice to develop a
little bit more stability in the forearm.
Thank you guys for watching this video. I
hope you enjoyed it. Please leave a comment in the section below I'll make
sure to answer. Like the video and subscribe if you haven't already. I'll
see you next time.