Your Strokes: Ted Gregory: One Handed Backhand

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Robert,

Thanks for your comments. I think you make some good points about the return. But in my opinion they apply to very high levels of play. The return on the one-hander is fine in club play--in fact having a great slice return is actually probably better for a player like Ted who plays mainly doubles.

There are excpetions of course, but I have seen even quite skilled players in the 40s try to go from one-hand to two and never achieve explosiveness or fluidity.

I also disagree about the multiple hands. From everything you say you have made it work well for you. But I've never seen a high level player that went back and forth on the backhand much less on both sides. Then again, maybe your approach is the wave of the future!

We can agree to disagree but keep the comments coming.

John Yandell

i think santoro fabricio is the only one who hit with 2 hands and had a successful carreer
if noone else has done it????????????

[John Yandell]

Robert,

Thanks for your comments. I think you make some good points about the return. But in my opinion they apply to very high levels of play. The return on the one-hander is fine in club play--in fact having a great slice return is actually probably better for a player like Ted who plays mainly doubles.

There are excpetions of course, but I have seen even quite skilled players in the 40s try to go from one-hand to two and never achieve explosiveness or fluidity.

I also disagree about the multiple hands. From everything you say you have made it work well for you. But I've never seen a high level player that went back and forth on the backhand much less on both sides. Then again, maybe your approach is the wave of the future!

We can agree to disagree but keep the comments coming.

John Yandell

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john i thought you did a great job.
another pro with a good backhand is james blake who also doesnt use a big loop
as for the above comments
i cant tell the guys age but he looks senior to me
imoroving what he has rather than starting from scratch seems a better approach to me
thinking of the 10000 hour rule of mastery
the odds of him playing heavy topspinners or servers at over 100 mph
id say is low
jmho
icbw

[adallastiger]

Don't really agree with your general idea here...

....John, I will respectfully disagree with you on your general outlook here. I will say that as a rule you can't say that a two hander or a one hander is best for everyone.

But you are probably off in your thinking in this regard: I have often heard it said that the most important stroke in tennis is the serve. The second most important stroke is the RETURN OF SERVE. Not saying that is true, but there is some merit to it.

Let me say that I am a teaching pro and I hit both one hand backhands and two handers. I also hit two hands off my forehand and also hit a one hand forehand. All have their place.

But the problem with hitting a one hand backhand, means you are most likely going to return serve that way, which at the very least, has limitations. Since a two hand return is much better for players (at least up to 4.5 level) then you should probably hit your ground strokes that way. The problem with your lesson and thinking (respectfully) is that you are leaving the service return out of the equation, assuming that all that is involved in tennis is groundstrokes. There are exceptions, but the greater control and stability with two hands on the racket will always mean that a two hand backhand is better for most players, especially at the club level.

The big problem with one hand backhands (compared to two, especially on service returns) is that unless one is extraordinarily skilled, it is hard to put pace on balls high to backhand. Let's see how your student hits with topspin, LOL, when balls aren't exactly in his target zone and are up high! He will probably have to slice, where the two hand player can hit hard, even if racket head is above the wrist.

I also believe grip type should have been stated, do NOT do this stroke with a continental grip. Knuckle of index finger should be on top bevel. Eastern backhand grip is best.

One thing left out...there is no reason to hit with a one hand backhand, or a two hand backhand. Why not have both? More on that at another time.

Warmest Regards,
Robert Hyman
Dallas, Texas

[lobndropshot]

Weird how he suddenly dropped his racket in the back-swing.

I would also like to add that the one-hander for a teen-aged boy should be looked into when starting them off.

[John Yandell]

Love to hear what people thought about "Your Strokes: Ted Gregory: One Handed Backhand"!