Interactive Forum February 2016: Nathan Blair One-Handed Backhand

[nickw]

One final note, when I looked through some of your youtube videos, I came across “Whip It - The Forehand Whip Motion”. Nathan (and his brother) definitely have a nice SSC (stretch shortening cycle) at the initiation of the forward motion of their forehands, but they also both have a bit of a pause in the racket head where it is pointing straight back at the rear fence. You have to look at it side by side with whatever model you want to choose to see the difference. It is pretty subtle. But it doesn’t matter if it is Federer, Djokovic, Nadal, Murray or myriad others (the vast majority of the ATP men, but not all), the swing is broken down into unit turn and swing even if there is no visible pause between the two parts. There is a running series on Tennis Player right now about the 1-2 Rhythm which goes into this in a lot greater detail. But at least it is understood and pretty generally accepted with high performance coaches that “racket back” is not good preparation. In fact, if you look at any of the clips of the forehands of the players I just cited, you won’t see the obvious if brief pause you see in Nathan’s stroke. What I have found with advanced players with this kind of stroke is that they have a problem getting adequately below the ball. When the racket head comes into the spot where Nathan has that pause, he needs the momentum of the racket head coming from the end of the unit turn somewhere near his right shoulder to drive the head of the racket a little lower. I would only be exaggerating just a little bit if I were to say Nathan has added an extra step in his swing. More importantly for me, he has made it a deliberate left-brained decision as to when he makes his actual accelleration to the contact point; when the racket is moving fluidly from the end of the unit turn, the player might start that part of the swing before the ball bounces (necessary when the ball is very deep) and let his computer just take over and hit the afterburners when the internal computer knows it is necessary.
don

Firstly, what a fantastic thread here! Parent, Coach, and TennisPlayer's best minds, all contributing high quality stuff to help this boy's development.

I had to just quote the above, as I think a great spot on the forehand by chiro, and directly related to what I'm trying to get across with the 1-2 Rhythm concept. The brief pause in the stroke at the end of the backswing (can be seen on this clip too https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ymUJanqDOSc) is creating more like a 1-2-3 rhythm that you don't see at pro level, and could make it harder to achieve great rhythm and timing, and ultimately, reliability of the shot when under pressure.

Best of luck to Nathan, and really look forward to seeing how things develop going forwards.

[stotty]

Leap of faith...

Firstly, I would like to say a great thank you to everyone who has given their time to look at Nathan's development of his one-handed backhand and given such thoughtful and insightful input. I really appreciate it!

This process started awhile back, maybe a year and a half ago when we just weren't happy with his two handed backhand. Simply put, it just wasn't natural. The stance, the grip set, the way he took the racquet back naturally around the body just all was counterproductive to a two hander. After exhausting myself trying to CHANGE everything he naturally did, I took a little leap of faith with encouragement from Nathan's father and decided to explore how a one-hander may serve him in the long run.

Immediately things started clicking together and literally within a week or two we had something that looked natural and was already useable to him in competition. There have continued to be some challenges with his height and size, but our belief system is that we are trying to nurture him for the future not help him survive the challenges of his current and short-lasting age group.

The next chapter for us will include refining the stroke as he grows and gains strength, as well as explaining to him how he may best use his one-hander in today's modern game as he develops.

Our current training topics include:

1) when to slice
2) when to take the ball on the rise/ when to back up
3) creating a little more upward hand/ racquet head speed for more ball rotation
4) exploring different grip sets for effectiveness on the return of serve

I like the idea of having the parent onboard when taking a leap of faith like that. I consider it essential actually. When working with talented juniors with an eye to developing them to a good level, it's essential the parents are clued in to the coaches reasoning and decision-making. I strongly believe parents need to be clued in and given timeframes for success...and that some things may fail.

This is great work going on here. It's lovely to witness. I would like to see what this kid's game looks like a year from now. Speak to John....make it a date.

[michaelbrandon]

Nathan's Blair's coach- Michael Brandon- Thanks Everyone!

Firstly, I would like to say a great thank you to everyone who has given their time to look at Nathan's development of his one-handed backhand and given such thoughtful and insightful input. I really appreciate it!

This process started awhile back, maybe a year and a half ago when we just weren't happy with his two handed backhand. Simply put, it just wasn't natural. The stance, the grip set, the way he took the racquet back naturally around the body just all was counterproductive to a two hander. After exhausting myself trying to CHANGE everything he naturally did, I took a little leap of faith with encouragement from Nathan's father and decided to explore how a one-hander may serve him in the long run.

Immediately things started clicking together and literally within a week or two we had something that looked natural and was already useable to him in competition. There have continued to be some challenges with his height and size, but our belief system is that we are trying to nurture him for the future not help him survive the challenges of his current and short-lasting age group.

The next chapter for us will include refining the stroke as he grows and gains strength, as well as explaining to him how he may best use his one-hander in today's modern game as he develops.

Our current training topics include:

1) when to slice
2) when to take the ball on the rise/ when to back up
3) creating a little more upward hand/ racquet head speed for more ball rotation
4) exploring different grip sets for effectiveness on the return of serve

[don_budge]

Federesque…the word referring to "The Living Proof"

3. Federerian: We loved that word. Never heard the adjectival before! But yes we have used Fed the most as a model with a bit of Warinka and Gasquet thrown in for aloowance of variation so he can develop his own style.

I use the word "Federesque".

Great looking backhand…great looking kid! Great for you…Dad! I'm on the same page with auturohernandez…let him play to his hearts delight. The groundwork has been laid…sound fundamentals. Let him work it out without excessive coaching. In this way it will be "his"…he takes ownership.

Tweeks? It will smooth itself out over time. It is definitely headed in the right direction. Too much coaching…too self-conscious about technique (form)?

Work on his athleticism. Movement. Jumping. Hopping. Skipping. Throwing. Footwork. Piano. Trust in him…provide the opportunities and teach him how to capitalize on them. Reign in your expectations as a tennis parent…he's a kid.

Good start…follow through.

[tennis_chiro]

...

3. Federerian: We loved that word. Never heard the adjectival before! But yes we have used Fed the most as a model with a bit of Warinka and Gasquet thrown in for aloowance of variation so he can develop his own style.

4. The Hitch/Backswing - We also think that is Nathan's way of getting a full slot of the racquet to happen. Could be wrong here but we beleive that kids wing spans are not long enough to create a full long slot of the racquet as it passes the midsection of the player. That's why small appropriate size racquet are so important in the develop of high end young players. This should not be rushed, as has been pointed out ealrier. The ROGY balls play an enourmous part as well in this development, as they allow the player to hit within the strike zone. There is no rush here. Yellow balls and 27" frames do not equal advanced players!

Tennis_Chiro, thanks so much for your insite. We had not noticed the hitch prior to your pointing it out.

5. Wrist/Extension - The wrist in Roger's example above does indeed stay static and does not go into an extension. Nathan has way too much extension after the shot. We will work to correct this. One of the problems we run into with Nathan (it's really a blessing) is his felxability. Sometimes he actually touches his arms together after the 1HBH. He can actually cross his arms behind his back with his palms facing out.

We are not aware of Greg Norman's secret. What is it?

...

7. Children's Inutition a mix of Nature/Nurture - We agree Arturo! Nathan does a lot of what he does by intinct. How we got to the 1HBH, something I wrote to John Yandell, explains it: Nathan started at 4 years of age on the ROGY system. He began with red ball and worked his way up to the green dot in three years, but the orange ball was never a good ball for him. His main coach for most of the past 7 years has been Michael Brandon who taught at IMG. Nathan just turned 11 and had a lot of success in the 10s.

He started the one hander at age 9. He had a great two hander at the time but we were having trouble getting him to hit open stance. It may sound weird but other than the open stance issue, we made the change because he just looked like a one hander. And when we switched, his adaptation was immediate. Within a week he was naturally hitting with one hand and never looked back. The ROGY system, even at age 10, proved to be beneficial to his style. The green ball (out of cans not bags) is a great ball. We can't say enough about it. It has allowed him to hit the ball within his strike zone. The same strike zone we all enjoy as adults. Because we have taken the philosophy that he should see the same kind of ball that you and I see we have not felt the pressure to move him too quickly through ROGY to yellow. This has been critical to his development. The yellow ball does present problems for his one hand. He has been slow to grow and is a little behind kids his age, so trying to reach the high bounce of the yellow continues to vex him. Until then we are feeding him...both balls and food.

8. Written in the Stars - I would caution that Nathan is the exception not the rule. Unlike me and his older brother, both of us are pencil thin, Nathan looks like a body builder and has looked that way from birth. We have no idea where it came from. This makes his incredible flexibility all the stranger. Who knows what the future holds. I keep telling our crew that future success in this sport is written in the stars. So much has to go right over such a long period of time...you just have to enjoy the ride.

...


Brett Blair
The Proud Parent of Two Tennis Juniors!

More here: www.youtube.com/brettcblair

Brett,

I was really impressed with the youtube videos of your boys, especially “Nathan Blair - All Court Game”. It was especially impressive to see the high swinging backhand volley he makes about 18 seconds into that clip. He has figured out that he has to hold the wrist extension through the hitting zone on that stroke, so I imagine he will pretty much figure it out on his own as far as the excessive wrist extension through the hitting zone on his regular backhand that I was pointing out.

As for the Greg Norman Secret, here is a picture. It's probably a little too big for a 10 year old's hand anyway. The white one is a little smaller. These are meant for the right hand. I was able to pick up one left hander which I needed primarily for the 2HBH of a righty. I've had very few leftys.


(first attachment listed below; you'd think I would have learned how to do this by now!)

It is not actually well suited for use with a one-handed backhand. It is a golf device that I came across on the Internet at about a fifth of its original price and it was a nice way to completely imobilize the wrist in someone who is flexing the wrist too much on the forehand. The Wrist Assist from Square Hit Tennis is a better device for restricting the movement of the wrist in one direction. You can put it on in a position to inhibit wrist flexion (forehands) or extension (backhands), but not both at the same time. One of the advantages of the Wrist Assist is it allows movement in the opposite direction; it just limits the movement of the wrist beyond the position it achieves at contact point. Students almost always hate putting these things on, but after they hit just a few balls with the device on, they recognize that they are not hitting the ball as solidly as they could; the difference is usually pretty stark. I’m sure the manufacturer’s want these things to be worn for hours at a time to force a habit change, but I use them really just to give the student the feel of the correct hit and then to try and achieve that feeling without the device on. The third device in the picture below is the Racket Bracket which is very limiting. I tell the students I’m going to get mideival on their … of course the kids don’t know about “Pulp Fiction”, but the adults get it. It’s pretty drastic.

 second document attached

After having seen the All Court Game video, I doubt you really need to use one of those devices. Just get Nathan to try holding onto the ball the way he does on that high swinging backhand volley. This is a tough shot for 18 year-olds to make and he makes it look easy.

As for Federerian, we’ve had a lot of discussion on this forum over the last few years about the differences, advantages and disadvantages of the Federerian slice vs the Rosewallian slice. You could probably search it in the Forum. I hope Nathan and his brother are developing both. I don’t buy the argument that it is too tough to hit the Rosewallian (flatter swing and a more penetrating shot) on the modern topspin ball.

One final note, when I looked through some of your youtube videos, I came across “Whip It - The Forehand Whip Motion”. Nathan (and his brother) definitely have a nice SSC (stretch shortening cycle) at the initiation of the forward motion of their forehands, but they also both have a bit of a pause in the racket head where it is pointing straight back at the rear fence. You have to look at it side by side with whatever model you want to choose to see the difference. It is pretty subtle. But it doesn’t matter if it is Federer, Djokovic, Nadal, Murray or myriad others (the vast majority of the ATP men, but not all), the swing is broken down into unit turn and swing even if there is no visible pause between the two parts. There is a running series on Tennis Player right now about the 1-2 Rhythm which goes into this in a lot greater detail. But at least it is understood and pretty generally accepted with high performance coaches that “racket back” is not good preparation. In fact, if you look at any of the clips of the forehands of the players I just cited, you won’t see the obvious if brief pause you see in Nathan’s stroke. What I have found with advanced players with this kind of stroke is that they have a problem getting adequately below the ball. When the racket head comes into the spot where Nathan has that pause, he needs the momentum of the racket head coming from the end of the unit turn somewhere near his right shoulder to drive the head of the racket a little lower. I would only be exaggerating just a little bit if I were to say Nathan has added an extra step in his swing. More importantly for me, he has made it a deliberate left-brained decision as to when he makes his actual accelleration to the contact point; when the racket is moving fluidly from the end of the unit turn, the player might start that part of the swing before the ball bounces (necessary when the ball is very deep) and let his computer just take over and hit the afterburners when the internal computer knows it is necessary.

A good way to work on this is the Spanish drill of hitting forehands one after the other in the air without time to pause the racket; then the student starts to feel the momentum of the racket head taking them into “the slot” as it makes the loop motion. You can find more on this in my articles in the Classic Lessons section under Don Brosseau. I do it a little differently feeding from the machine where I have another ball in the air before they have hit the last one; my machines are a little different: I fire the balls on command by pressing a button and pick the exact moment I want the next ball to be fired.


I love the fact that you have embraced the ROGY program and Nathan’s strokes are a testament to its effectiveness. I think you are dead on about developing the ability to hit the ball in the strike zone instead of worrying about hitting the yellow ball when it is mostly too high for that, especially in tournament play where they moonball.

Best of luck to you. I hope you will keep us clued in to the progress your boys are making here on the Tennisplayer Forum.

don

[brettcblair]

Thanks everyone who has commented in the first days of this post. We are new to TennisPlayer.net and we look forward to further help and analyses with Nathan's backhand. Now, to answer and respond to few of the comments.

1. Nathan is 10 (and 2 months - Dec 2014) in this video. He had been hitting the 1HBH for about 4 months at this points.

2. We live on the West Coast of Florida not East.

3. Federerian: We loved that word. Never heard the adjectival before! But yes we have used Fed the most as a model with a bit of Warinka and Gasquet thrown in for aloowance of variation so he can develop his own style.

4. The Hitch/Backswing - We also think that is Nathan's way of getting a full slot of the racquet to happen. Could be wrong here but we beleive that kids wing spans are not long enough to create a full long slot of the racquet as it passes the midsection of the player. That's why small appropriate size racquet are so important in the develop of high end young players. This should not be rushed, as has been pointed out ealrier. The ROGY balls play an enourmous part as well in this development, as they allow the player to hit within the strike zone. There is no rush here. Yellow balls and 27" frames do not equal advanced players!

Tennis_Chiro, thanks so much for your insite. We had not noticed the hitch prior to your pointing it out.

5. Wrist/Extension - The wrist in Roger's example above does indeed stay static and does not go into an extension. Nathan has way too much extension after the shot. We will work to correct this. One of the problems we run into with Nathan (it's really a blessing) is his felxability. Sometimes he actually touches his arms together after the 1HBH. He can actually cross his arms behind his back with his palms facing out.

We are not aware of Greg Norman's secret. What is it?

6. Foot Closed - Yes from the beginning he has closed the foot too much. We have worked for more than a year on that. But we want it more open so he can comfortably come forward, NOT to produce more rotation. In our appraoch we think players should learn to gain power and accuracy from the opening of the arms/chest in unison without rotation of the core, much like a bird opens its wings. This is counter to most shots in tennis and is often missed. In the 1HBH the kinetic chain IMHO travels from the center of the chest in two directions, left and right, through the opening of both sholders and arms. The more a player keeps his head down and the arms opening in unison the greater the control and power.

We also teach Nathan forward motion. The center gravity being transfered from between the legs (or even the left leg depending how early one can prepare) to the right leg. That is not to say that he doesn't rotate at times but we want the foundation firm and strong realizing that power comes from the "wing spread" and not core rotation.

7. Children's Inutition a mix of Nature/Nurture - We agree Arturo! Nathan does a lot of what he does by intinct. How we got to the 1HBH, something I wrote to John Yandell, explains it: Nathan started at 4 years of age on the ROGY system. He began with red ball and worked his way up to the green dot in three years, but the orange ball was never a good ball for him. His main coach for most of the past 7 years has been Michael Brandon who taught at IMG. Nathan just turned 11 and had a lot of success in the 10s.

He started the one hander at age 9. He had a great two hander at the time but we were having trouble getting him to hit open stance. It may sound weird but other than the open stance issue, we made the change because he just looked like a one hander. And when we switched, his adaptation was immediate. Within a week he was naturally hitting with one hand and never looked back. The ROGY system, even at age 10, proved to be beneficial to his style. The green ball (out of cans not bags) is a great ball. We can't say enough about it. It has allowed him to hit the ball within his strike zone. The same strike zone we all enjoy as adults. Because we have taken the philosophy that he should see the same kind of ball that you and I see we have not felt the pressure to move him too quickly through ROGY to yellow. This has been critical to his development. The yellow ball does present problems for his one hand. He has been slow to grow and is a little behind kids his age, so trying to reach the high bounce of the yellow continues to vex him. Until then we are feeding him...both balls and food.

8. Written in the Stars - I would caution that Nathan is the exception not the rule. Unlike me and his older brother, both of us are pencil thin, Nathan looks like a body builder and has looked that way from birth. We have no idea where it came from. This makes his incredible flexibility all the stranger. Who knows what the future holds. I keep telling our crew that future success in this sport is written in the stars. So much has to go right over such a long period of time...you just have to enjoy the ride.

Sorry if I missed anyone's comments or miss-interpeted them. Hope this adds to the discussion and doesn't detract. I am after all, just the father. I like to fancy my self the Assistant Coach, but that's giving myself too much credit.

Coach Michael Brandon will respond later with more specificity.

Grace and Peace,

Brett Blair
The Proud Parent of Two Tennis Juniors!

More here: www.youtube.com/brettcblair

[jschaff]

It looks like nature is Nathan's best friend. His body is telling him what he needs to do to get that superior swing at such an early age. Teaching more than just minimal technique would do him no good. He's not athletically intelligent at his age to truly incorporate it.

The little hitch is more visible at his age because he has not the strength to pre load his backswing for the forward motion. That hitch is a delayed preload. And as he starts playing stronger kids and faster shots come at him regularly, and he gets stronger, that hitch will disappear.

The closed stance is his body's way of locking out the angular rotation of his trunk to allow all of that potential energy to translate to the kinetic chain and racket head speed that he has. That's all his little body can do to generate enough to speed to match the ball speed.

If anyone messes with this kid at this stage they would be doing more harm than good.

Keep posting videos each six months so we can see the progression as he gets bigger and stronger.

Just look at Coric and Rublev pictures and videos from last year to this year and see what a difference a year makes from just age 17 to 18.

[arturohernandez]

A natural one hander

I would say that this shows how much children have a sense of what they can do well. My son hits a one-hander and his little sister may one day as well. She naturally takes the racket back with only one hand but then grips it with two as she starts to swing.

I wonder what Raonic or Tsonga would do with such freedom at this age where they were allowed to develop the one hander. My sense is that both would have much better volleys and be much better as attacking players.

I see the hitch and I also see a pretty high racket at the backswing. But I wonder how much that might have to do with strength and height. I think it would be important for him to work on fluidity at this age and not worry so much about hitting one after the other.

Maybe some easy half court backhands just to let him hit more fluidly and freely. Even though he hits what appears to be an adult backhand, he is still a child.

I would make sure not to push him too fast into automating the stroke and let him make sure that he practices fluid hitting without so much speed.

The reason he was able to do this was because of the softer, slower conditions that allowed him to hit more like an adult.

Please don't ruin it by pushing him to fast at an age when his body is nowhere near fully developed.

But it is beautiful to see!

[tima]

Nice arm action. But for the type of balls he is fed, the position of right foot is too closed into the stroke, blocking hip rotation. This is quite typical of very young players with 1HBH though

[tennis_chiro]

Two Suggestions/Questions

That’s a really nice one-handed backhand. I wish I had a kid who was hitting a one-hander like that. Great to see him handling the weight of the racket without any difficulty. The basic action of the hips and shoulders is excellent. It looks to me that it is more of a Federerian model stroke than the heavier Wawrinka version with more body turn and a more extreme grip. I prefer the Federer model.

But if Nathan were my student, there are two elements of his stroke that I would try to change just slightly.

First, the backswing. The grip change is nicely molded into the backswing, but there is just a little bit of a hitch, at least on some of the stokes. At the end of the backswing, some of the time, Nathan initiates the forward swing with a little upward hitch and then he drops beautifully into the “slot”. I’d like to see the racket heat go straight back, that is, have the center of the racket face at the same height on the entire backswing or have it loop a little higher earlier so that the only action left to take place when he initiates his swing at the ball is down and then forward. I see just the slightest hint of an upward hitch after the initial backswing as part of the forward swing that could cause him trouble on very deep or fast balls and especially on return of serve. I really try to get the left hand to dominate that first part of the backswing, pulling the racket back, so all the right hand an arm have to do is swing down and forward. Also, having the left hand in control of the backswing gives the right hand an easier task in finding the top bevel of the grip in the grip change. Time honored phrase: “Turn the hand around the racket; don’t turn the racket in the hand.”

In this clip of Roger, you can see the racket moves upward much earlier in his backswing so that the final action of the racket as he accelerates into the hit is only down and then forward and up through the ball. My assignment of the end of the backswing would come at about 13 seconds where the shaft is vertical and the right hand has reached its most posterior position:

http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/high_speed_archive/phantom/Roger_Federer_HD_HS/index.html?dir=Backhand/RF_BH_Center&stroke=RF%20BH%20Center%20NeutralStance%20Side1%20250fps.mp4

Actually, I would say Nathan does a better job than Roger of keeping his left shoulder back and still as he goes through the shot. As I said, I only saw a little bit of a hint of a hitch in Nathan’s stroke. Michael Brandon would have a better idea as to whether that is an anomaly or it gets magnified when Nathan is under pressure.

Second, the completion of the stroke through the hitting zone. I’ll use a different shot of Roger to demonstrate what I mean. At contact the wrist is bent slightly and there is an angle between the forearm and the shaft of the racket. Some players mistakenly try to add racket head speed by flexing the wrist (I guess it would actually be extending it on the backhand side) through the contact and hitting zone. In fact, IMHO, you want to leave that angle intact until you are well beyond the contact point. You’ll see that by the time Nathan’s right arm reaches the level of his shoulder and is in line with his shoulders, the shaft of the racket is also lined up with the forearm. That’s the way I taught the backhand at first until I went to work for Vic Braden 46 years ago and he showed me something a little different.

Look at this clip of Federer’s backhand from the rear and you can see that the wrist is still laid back well beyond the contact zone. (I tell my students they have to see the target under the racket.) Shortly thereafter in the completion of the followthrough, the wrist does extend and release, but holding that wrist back will provide a solider, more consistent shot. Eventually, Nathan will learn to swing the racket head up with the wrist for more spin in a wiper kind of action, but the wrist will still maintain that bent position through the hitting zone. Here’s the Federer clip; 27 to 30 clicks past contact, Roger’s arm is at shoulder height and his right arm is extended towards the netstrap, but his racket shaft is still pointed off to the deuce corner of the court on the opposite side; over the next 15 clicks, you can see the shaft extended to align with his forearm. In Nathan’s case, this is happening as part of the hit and it may give him a little extra power right now, but I think it is a recipe for inconsistency in the long run.

http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/high_speed_archive/phantom/Roger_Federer_Court_Level_HD_HS/index.html?dir=Backhand/RF_BH_Center&stroke=BH%20Center%20ClosedStance%20CourtLevelRear1%20500fps.mp4

A great way to train out of that is the Wrist Assist. I also use Greg Norman’s Secret and the Racket Bracket, but usually only briefly to give the student the feel of what it is like to hit the ball without that wrist flexion/extension through the hitting zone. It works crosscourt and down the line, but it really feels good taking the passing shot down the line. You get the kind of laser control Novak was displaying so beautifully last night. Certainly, he was hitting a two-handed backhand, but the same principle applies.

I’ll be very curious to hear Michael’s response. He’s done a great job so far and he would have the best idea of what is appropriate for Nathan at this time.


don

[stotty]

How does he keep hold of his follow through so well like that...such firm control of the racket? There is a firmness about the shot you don't often see in someone so young.

I love the way he keeps his head fixed in position until the ball has gone.

Is he just 9...nearly 10...or somewhere in-between?

What tennis_chiro pointed out below is very valid; the uplifting of the racket at the end of the backswing. That will steal time away when balls come in quick. Otherwise it's tough to criticise. His backhand is better than most older kids who use one-handers. I would love to see him hit a few sliced backhands....to see what it is like.

[klacr]

I love his feet. He is active, engaged and you can tell he just loves hitting that shot. He keeps his head still and his eyes on the contact point well past the finish.

I really like that deep shoulder turn, he does a good job not letting that left arm flail away behind him, keeps it near by. What a great looking shot. Cant get a close enough view of that grip but it looks like it's right on the edge of a 1/1 and 2.

Wish this kid was closer to me in the sunshine state, but he's on the other coast in Ft. Myers. Wishing Nathan and his coach Michael well. Keep up the great work. Kudos to Nathan for working hard on his beautiful backhand. Would love to see the rest of his game.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

[johnyandell]

Quicktime version

Nathan Blair: One-Handed Backhand

[johnyandell]

Nathan Blair: One-Handed Backhand

Is the one-hander impossible in junior tennis? How about for a 9 year old? That’s when Nathan Blair started hitting his. Who wouldn’t want a one hander this good? How did Nathan develop?

He worked his way up through the ROGY ball progression—red, orange, green, yellow. According to his dad he has had a lot of success in the shark pit of Florida junior tennis. But the one-hander wasn’t some dogmatic statement made by his dad or his coach. Nathan liked it.

You can see that in this video and isn’t that what matters? So let’s hear what everyone thinks from the grip to the preparation to the stance to the contact to the finish. Nathan’s coach Michael Brandon taught this incredible technical stroke to him. Hoping he is going to enlighten all of us here!