Hey guys the question i get very frequently from my viewers is whether it's a good idea to
switch from a one-handed backhand to a two-handed backhand and i'm not gonna make you wait until the
end of the video to find out i'll tell you right away it's not a good idea and here's the reason
why i say this see on tour you see predominantly two-handed backhands being struck nowadays and
this is why a lot of recreational players want to switch to a two-handed backhand maybe there's
going to be some advantages for example on the return of serve however my research has shown
that adult tennis players who started playing tennis in their adulthood have a far easier
time hitting a one-handed backhand compared to a two-handed backhand and there's a reason why this
is the case when kids learn a two-handed backhand they learn it in a more intuitive way and have
a far easier time adapting to this shot on the other hand adults who try to learn the two-handed
backhand they find it far more difficult compared to learning a one-hander so if you are
a recreational player who started playing tennis later on in life there's a reason why you have a
one-handed backhand because it's the far easier shot and here's why when you hit a one-handed
backhand there's less torso rotation and it's a far more simple shot you basically have to start
with the loop then you drop the racket and you just swing the hand around the shoulder this is a much
easier movement than the two-handed backhand that needs to have torso rotation so on the two-handed
backhand we have to rotate the torso and come all the way around until the chest is pointing
towards the side fence and it's not only that the two-handed backhand can be hit with many different
arm structures so it can be hit with both of the arms bent it can also be hit with both arms
straight and it can be hit with a hybrid where one arm is straightening in the back and then into
the contact with one arm slightly bent and one arm straight on the other hand the one-handed backhand
is always struck with a fully extended arm and also the timing on the two-handed backhand is
unlike any other shot in tennis. so it's not so much like a lefty forehand if you were right-handed
because on a lefty forehand you would have your dominant shoulder get ahead of the non-dominant
shoulder now on the two-handed backhand you always are going to have the dominant shoulder in front
of the non-dominant shoulder so it's much more like a one-handed backhand than it is like a
non-dominant forehand so the rotation on the two in the backhand is led by the dominant side and
it's also a delayed rotation so many recreational players will rotate too early they will kind of spin
around their own body and the radius of the stroke gets reduced from that so what needs
to happen on a two-handed backhand there needs to be a slight delay in the rotation so that the
non-dominant shoulder never gets ahead of the dominant shoulder so these technical facts make
the two-handed backhand a far more complex shot compared to the one-hander and this is the reason
why it's very difficult to adapt from a one-handed backhand to a two-handed backhand now what about
all the advantages you can get from a two-handed backhand for example on the return of serve in
my opinion it evens out so while yes you have more advantages on the return of serve there's
more stability there you can deflect the ball much better with two hands i feel you do lose
a little bit of power with two hands because there's less range of motion and this is why
this shot involves torso rotation we would not be able to get enough power if we weren't rotating
the torso the onehanded backhand on the other hand has a lot more swing momentum and there's
a lot more power that's generated from the arm action alone so i feel at the recreational level
since players sometimes have a hard time utilizing the body they can get a lot more
power out of their arm alone by using a one-handed backhand another question i
get very frequently is whether someone can have both backhands so maybe hit a one-handed backhand
during the rallies and then have a two-handed backhand on the return and the answer is no
you cannot you need to have one backhand and stick to it and the reason why this is the case
is very simple you cannot put enough practice into both shots and have enough muscle memory
so that both of these strokes are going to be dependable enough in a match and this is why
you don't see players at the elite level who have a one-handed backhand and a two-handed backhand
i'm gonna use myself as an example to explain why this is the case so people often ask me do
you have a one-handed backhand or a two-handed backhand and i have a two-handed backhand but
i teach tennis with a one-handed backhand because often i will hold balls in my left hand and i've
actually learned to hit a one-handed backhand and it's pretty decent and you can take a look here
so you can see there it looks okay but i can tell you that i would never be able to
use it in a high level match because it would break down on me it's not
good enough for it to be sustainable in a match of that quality
and why is this the case because i adapted my one-handed backhand later on in my life and
there's just simply not enough muscle memory there for the shot to become good enough and another
example is juan martin del potro when he injured his left wrist people were asking him why don't
you just play and hit a one-handed backhand and del potro said there's no way i can do a one-handed
backhand in matches it's just simply not good enough so my advice to you is to simply try the
two-handed backhand there's going to be a small percentage of players who will be able to adapt
to a two-handed backhand and if you're one of them you're gonna find out quickly but what most
players will experience when they try a two-handed backhand is that it's going to feel awkward
it's going to feel like there's not a lot of range of motion it's going to feel cramped and stiff
and if this is the case forget about it you're much better off playing a one-handed backhand