Re. 2-handed Backhand Article by John Yandell

[makhan67]

First of all let me express my feelings that this site and its creator, Mr. John Yandell, amaze me to a great extent. This is the best learning source, period.

I have a comment or two (don't worry these are good comments) about your August article re. 2-handed backhand:

-- The WTA players' right hand wrist generally droops out which indicates that their bottom grip is somewhat Eastern forehand (obviously, the left arm is already in a version of a forehand grip!). This also means that in their case major power source is their left arm because with a weaker right hand grip, the right hand is generally there for a ride! My question is: who taught them to hold the grip this way? Coaches? Parents? Players themselves?

-- You stated in your article, "when the hands and arms rotate backwards, the angle of the racket naturally changes, tilting downward pointing at the court at an angle", and you stated that this results in increased racket head speed, etc. You also rightly stated that it's perhaps a mistake if the racket head (stringsbed) points completely at the ground! And you discovered that some of the best 2-handers do not do that (Safin, J Johansson) or don't do it to that extreme! When the right hand is in an eastern BH or continental grip, and the left hand is in a forehand grip, this rotation of hands and arms and the resultant 60 degree tilt to the ground will occur naturally, yes. My question is: Is this automatic? Is this taught by the coaches? Or is it learned/discovered by the players themselves? If all these things are learned by the players themselves and we the coaches are learning from them, should they (the players) fire their coaches and just keep managers to handle their schedules/tours?

I know these are tough questions but I am sure you are the father of all answers! Keep it up, John.

Mahboob Khan, Tennis Program Director
Head Coach,
Mahboob Khan's Tennis Coaching Center
Islamabad Club,
Islamabad, Pakistan
email: makhan67@hotmail.com
mobile: 00 92 300 8568403

[johnyandell]

These are pretty much exactly my questions...On the women's side you can see that Lindsay and Sharapova have mild backhand or continental grips with the right hand--still they are appearing to hit the same left handed forehand version as the other women with weaker grips. And both of them do rotate the arms back at times. I'm just not sure the that there is a relationship between grip structure, hitting arm combinations and arm rotation. Agassi rotates back as much as anyone and he has a continental and an eastern that borders on a continental. I think it's probably an independent factor.


Is it taught? I don't think so. What I see "taught" is the closed face similar to that poor junior girl in the article. I'd never heard of or seen this factor described--I had to figure it out for myself by puzzling over and making sense of the footage. But as you astutely note--the players apparently know it! They figure it out by feel or watching each other more perceptively than the coaches--not sure which or how it happens exactly, but obviously it does. But it will be progress if teaching theory can catch up and make what they do automatically and maybe unconsciously more explicit and clear. At least then we won't be giving wrong and counterproductive advice so much...

Thanks for your thoughts, MK.