Scott Murphy One-Handed Backhand Completion

Mark Philippoussis shows the ball who is boss-with beautiful classical form. With good technical elements, the one handed backhand drive is a beautiful, dependable stroke. There is absolutely no reason you can't develop this classic shot-even if you've secretly feared your backhand for years. In the last article we examined the preparation phase. (See Part 1). Now let's take the one hander from the preparation through the hit, again using some the world's best one players to illustrate how it's done. The first point to note is mental. Hitting the one-handed backhand is in large part a matter of the right attitude. Players who have the elements correct, may still not crack the ball convincingly unless they are mentally determined to "lean on the ball." This doesn't mean tilting your body, it means showing the ball who's the boss! Pete Sampras makes contact further in front of his body and front leg than any player in the game. I see many players do this well on their forehands but the mental conviction just isn't the same on the backhand. Once an understanding of the backhand model has been attained it's then very important to approach the shot like you mean...