More on One Handed Backhand Stances

Closed stance dominates on the pro one-handed backhand, but why? In the last article we looked at the technical elements the players share on the one-handed forward swing, and also, some of the differences between the classical and extreme players. (Click Here.) Now let’s take a look at another complex issue: the hitting stances. When we look at the footage it’s quite surprising. The footage, as we would suspect, shows that the top players hit from neutral, open, and closed stances. But what’s surprising is that the predominant stance by far is the closed stance, and quite often an extreme version. It’s similar to what we found with the two-handed backhand, only more so. The players sometimes close the stance by stepping across their bodies a distance of up to 4 or more feet. Top players can step across with a stance several feet wide. This dominance of closed stance hitting goes against virtually every theory of how the one-hander should be taught. But when we look at a few hundred examples from a dozen players in the pro game, the conclusion is inescapable. Grip style seems to be irrelevant. Classical and the extreme players both use the closed stance…