Hi guys Nick here from intuitive tennis. This is part 2 of our role of the wrist
video series and in today's video we're going to discuss the role of the wrist
on both the one-handed backhand and the two-handed backhand.
Let's start off with the one-handed backhand. So on the one-handed backhand
if we have an Eastern grip and we take Roger Federer's backhand as an example,
which is arguably one of the best one-handed backhands in the history of the
game, you can see that Federer has wrist extension through the entirety of
the stroke and it starts off in the preparation phase. Federer will
extend his wrist into a slight L shape when he takes his racquet back. You can
see that the the strings are slightly open as Federer initiates his backswing
prior to the racket drop. Once Federer drops the racquet the strings will
continue to stay slightly open and then as he initiates the forward phase of the
swing the wrist will remain extended and when he makes his contact there will
be a slight extension of the wrist. When it comes to the contact on the one-handed
backhand we should absolutely not use the wrist, whether it be radial
deviation or flexion, we would immediately lose control the ball. So
the wrist must remain passive, it must remain set in a slightly extended position as
we begin our up, across, and back phase. And the parts of the body they're going
to help us achieve this up, across, and back swing path it's going
to be our back muscles and also if we come from a bent position if we raise
that front leg this can even help us generate this swing path and the wrist
will be supported through these actions and this is why you must always try to
use your entire body when you execute these strokes and because then these
actions will protect the wrist. When it comes to the finish on the one-handed
backhand there's quite a bit of a wrist action involved and if you take a look
at some of the better backhands on tour, Roger Federer and Grigor Dimitrov, you
can see there is a further wrist extension once the racket hits this
phase. You can see that Federer and Dimitrov, they bend the wrist further
down which is wrist extension and this helps them achieve a certain swing path
which in their case is more of a topspin backhand. I however find it very
difficult because I'm not flexible enough I
have a two-hander, my one-handed backhand is something I use rarely and
so I have a hard time going to about here and any further from there I can't
have my wrist extend anymore. I'm simply not flexible enough and what I
find that many players have the same problem they're simply not flexible
enough to have this further wrist extension.
The two-handed backhand has quite a bit of wrist action on both the preparation
phase and the finish. So what happens on the majority of the two-handed backhands
is a wrist flexion on the dominant wrist and wrist extension on the
non-dominant wrist. So this is what will happen, the racquet with most players
will start up like this and then as they initiate the forward phase of the swing
the racket will drop down and you can see that my right wrist is flexed while
my non-dominant wrist, the left wrist is extended and now what happens as we
rotate into the contact you can see that the right wrist will somewhat straighten
out but not completely it will still be in a slight flexion while the
left wrist, the non-dominant wrist is extended. The majority of the two-handed
backhands on tour including some of the best two-handers such as Djokovic and
Zverev will actually have the tip of the racket going and towards the target
like this as they start their rotational across the body swing. You can see
that there's very little wrist action in this phase and there might be a little
bit of a straightening of the right wrist but it's minimal and as we go into
the finish now the racket will whip back across the shoulder like this and you
can see that now both wrists will be in a slight extended phase. So the right
wrist has quite a bit of wrist action. We could start from the beginning we can
see that there's wrist flexion in the racquet drop and then into the contact
there is still slight wrist flexion and as we go into the finish the wrist goes
from a flexed state into a neutral state and now as the racket goes across the
shoulder the right wrist will actually go into an extended position.
When it comes to the two-hander this is not something that you have to spend a lot
of time thinking about. What's most important is that you have the correct
grip which is a continental grip with your dominant hand and between a eastern
and a semi-western grip on the non-dominant hand. The most popular way
to hold the two-hander is with a semi-western grip on the non-dominant hand.
So what happens is as you rotate and accelerate the racquet what most players
will achieve a racquet drop without even trying. So this is not something
that you have to manufacture. If you accelerate the racquet properly the
racquet will drop into the contact point and so now as we drop the racket and
this happens intuitively and we go into the contact we are naturally going to
straighten the racket out because we're not going to hit the ball like this. This
would be a very unnatural and counterintuitive position. And then as we
make contact we really don't have to think about the wrist because naturally
the wrist is going to go into an extended position if we help the stroke
with upper body rotation. The key on the two-hander is using the core and the
torso rotation and if you don't use your body's rotation you will end up with a
very wristy shot and I see at this type of backhand on the recreational level
with very limited torso rotation the player will use the wrist to finish like
this and this is a backhand that's very inferior, because now you're generating
power with a weak part of your body which is your wrist. So you must learn to
have the wrist move intuitively into the stroke and the major source of power on
the two-handed backhand is the upper body rotation.
The backhand slice can have quite a complex series of wrist movements
depending on what style of slice you have. If we take Roger Federer's slice as
an example. Roger Federer would start with wrist extension on his take back. As
Federer initiates the forward phase of the slice and makes contact, now
Federer will do ulner deviation with the tip of the racket going down towards
the ground. Other players such as Nadal and Djokovic will have less of the
ulnar deviation at contact. Their racquet tip will not drop down, but it will
remain more in a extended position before contact, at contact, and after
contact. Something like this. A slight wrist extension on the take-back. Slight
wrist extension on the contact and then no ulner deviation but a fixed wrist
position on the finish.
I'm going to demonstrate a few backhands and let's
start off with the one-hander in an eastern backhand grip with the wrist
extension through the entirety of the stroke and I'm gonna remind you guys
that I don't have a one-hander so I have a hard time finishing the way Federer
and Dimitrov finish. So I'm doing my best but it's very advantageous to keep
a steady wrist position on the one-hander through
the entirety of the stroke. So now let me try my two-handed backhand and here
there's a more complex series of movements and I don't really have to
think about it. If I use my upper body rotation these wrist movements are going to come
very intuitively and now let me try a few slices.
Now I don't use the Federer
slice too often because I have a hard time getting the ball over the net so I
just basically have to deal with wrist extension. Let me try one Federer slice
with a little bit of ulner deviation. I'm having a hard time getting it over the net so
I'll go back to using more wrist extension and right away I can gain more height.
Join me two weeks from now where I discuss the role of the wrist on
the volley. As for now I want to thank you for watching this video, please hit
that like button, subscribe if you haven't already and I'll see you next time.