Hi guys Nick here from Intuitive Tennis. Do you want to learn how to hit the
perfect one-handed backhand? Then this video is perfect for you. Let's check it out.
So let's start off with the grip. The one-handed backhand grip is going to be
different than any other grip in tennis and if you take a look at the
two-handed backhand for example, we see that both of the index fingers are
spread from the middle fingers and then we look at the forehand for example I'm
also going to have the index finger spread from the middle finger. The same
thing on the serve. I'm gonna have this position. On the one-handed backhand
however these fingers are going to be closer to each other like this and the
reason for this is, if we take a look at the contact on the one-handed backhand.
You can see that as the ball meets the racket here there's really nothing
supporting the racket back here and see on the forehand when we hit the ball the
hand is behind the racket and the hand is supporting the racket so we can hold
it looser. The same on the serve the hand is behind the racket and we can support
it, however on the one-handed backhand since the hand is right on top of the
racquet and the fingers are in front. We're gonna have to hold it tighter so
we have stability as the ball hits the racket. So the best one-handed backhand
grip is going to be an Eastern grip, bevel number one right on top of the
racquet. This is what Federer uses Dimitrov, most of the best backhands of
all-time use this grip. You can also go to a western one-handed backhand grip and
it's an extreme grip you might have a difficulty getting length on the ball
with this grip and so I recommend a Eastern backhand grip for the one-hander.
The first step on the one-handed backhand is going to be same as any
other shot we're gonna make a slight turn to our backhand side like this and now we
start to set up the backhand and what needs to happen is we need to make
a large lateral step even when the ball is in the middle of the court we have to
make sure that the right leg is way across the body like this and what that
gives us is an automatic shoulder turn and the wider the feet are apart the more stability you have.
And you can see with Federer. when you watch Federer's practice
videos when he's warming up during the tournament. He's really not trying that
hard and he's very relaxed and he might hit some backhands like this.
You know, very loose and he doesn't turn that much but when he plays points
or he plays a match. That same shot to the middle of a court, he's going to
set it up something like this.
Okay so now I have my wide lateral set up on the
backhand, therefore I have my shoulder facing the other side of
court. I'm still holding the racquet with both hands, I can have my racket a little
bit higher it's gonna give me more rhythm and now I start the forward part
of the swing and when does this happen? It happens just like any other shot from
the baseline and when the ball has bounced on your side or is about to
bounce. I start the forward part of the swing and again this is something that's
very intuitive. We're just gonna be focused solely on the ball and we're not
gonna think about pulling the butt cap towards the ball and all this stuff
that's gonna happen naturally all we're doing is focusing on the contact being in front.
So let's now talk about the contact on the one-handed backhand. So
the contact is going to be different from any other shot in tennis and you
can see that when I make contact on my one-handed backhand you can see that the
arm is rather close to the body when we're talking about lateral spacing so
of course it's going to be way out front when we talk about forward-backward
spacing and we talk about lateral spacing. Meaning this way and this way
and the hand is rather going to be close to the body and the reason for this is
is that this is the weaker side of the arm and see to get power on this side we
cannot contract the arm backwards so we're gonna have to use a little bit
more of our back muscles and to get acceleration. If you compare this to for
example to a left-handed forehand. You can see that there's a lot more space
for me here and it's much easier for me to contract the arm from the outside and
so remember to position yourself a little bit closer to the ball laterally on the one-handed backhand.
So when it comes to the finish on the one-handed
backhand there's basically two style of finishes. So let's start off with the
Federer slash Dimitrov finish and what that is is basically a more sideways
finish and the shoulders are going to be more sideways with very little rotation
and you can see that Federer and when he hits his backhand the racquet goes up
right away like this and then he it whips back and then the momentum of the racket
would actually push Federer on his back leg like this on the majority of
his backhands and that's how he gets the racquet to accelerate the more he starts
it very early on the finish he starts transferring the weight onto his back
foot. You can see his front foot straightening like this and then as
the racquet hits the spot he actually transfers onto the back foot
and he gets tremendous acceleration from this.
Federer also gets tremendous topspin on his backhand because the racket path is
very vertical. It goes very steeply up and then the whips back so he get's topspin
and power like this and because he's not rotating and the racket doesn't have
a lot of room to go across this way so he goes right away up and back like this
so he gets power and spin at the same time.
The second style of finish on the one-handed backhand is the Wawrinka,
Dominik Thiem style of finish and this finish has a lot more rotation in it so
and when you look at Wawrinka for example, he will hit the ball further
across than Federer so he goes across right away but he doesn't quite go up
and so he goes across this way and the racket hits here and he gets a full
upper body rotation something like this. You can see that his back leg will not
go back like Federer's and it will mostly go to the side and Dominic Thiem
hits the backhand exactly the same way. So they hit it further across and then
the leg comes on the outside like this and this is a backhand that's more flat
because the racquet is not initially going up and it has probably a little bit more
power, but there's an argument that maybe for some players this style can produce
more mistakes also.
For recreational players for adults or juniors I recommend rotating a little
bit I find that a lot of players have limitations when it comes to finishing
the Federer style and the shoulder for some players would simply not go higher
than this and many players are stopped here because they're not as flexible and
so what I find is that when we rotate the upper body we get a little bit more
help from the entire body to get power and we can finish like this, however if
you are flexible enough and you can hit the Federer backhand like this and then
go ahead and do so.
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