Weaponize Your One Handed Backhand

Weaponizing your one-handed backhand: a physical and mental event. I did not hit any topspin back hands for my first 12 years of tennis. My father, who was just a hacker, never hit a single topspin back hand in his life. As a child I was a fan of Ken Rosewall. My dad taught me that slice at the age of 10-11. A lack of topspin didn't stop Rosewall from winning 8 grand slams and making the US Open final at age 39. But one day, after watching Bjorn Borg play John McEnroe, and seeing Big Mac hit one-handed topspin shots, I decided to learn how to hit it myself. I had no idea what I was doing, so I just grabbed the frame in a full eastern backhand grip. Immediately I hit the next three balls directly down into the dirt. Eventually, I switched to a "Uni Grip." That means that, instead of shifting grips I turned the racket over and hit the ball with the same side of the strings on both sides. My Uni Grip gave me a strong semi-western grip on both the forehand and the backhand sides, ideal grips for heavy spin. With this change,...