The Two Hander

[paul pearce]

Is aggassi perceived to have/had the best two hander in the history of the game.

If so, do you believe that in part this is to do with his straight/ straight combo.

Is this arm combination very close to an effective one hander?

It strikes me that it is not a natural way to hit the ball and that somebody must have advocated the structure at some point and thereafter it was grooved.

It also strikes me that a lot of the pros play with two handers - most likely because they start the game at a very young age and are then invoved in the battle to win every game they play. To transfer to a one hander later in the day as per Sampras is too brave a move and therfore it is natural that there will be more two than one handers on the tour.

Given the differences that you have identified one presumes that a lot of the combos are to do with natural comfort, and have accordingly evolved.

If you were teaching children today would you advocate that the go for the combo that feels comfortable to them or guide them to say The Aggassi combo?

On a seperate note could you let me know what the correct hand position on the backhand is that is the equivalent to an eastern/ semi western forehand? A very basic question I appreciate but your help would be appreciated as I would like my kids to hold the raquet in a manner which will help them generate maximum power as per say A federer/ Aggassi forehand. I say basic question and yet the perceived gurus throughout the US allowed Roddicks Grip to evove in the way it did.

I am effectively looking to see how you would advocate teaching newcomers to the game as opposed to simply letting things happen by chance. It seems to me that where their are options, it follows that some are better than others - hence the leading question with Aggassi.

On a seperate note whether its worth saying or not I genuinely believe your site goes from strength to strength and due to the power of the internet is helping to empower tennis enthusiasts such as myself and prevent us from being hoodwinked by so called 'tennis coaches'

[johnyandell]

Agassi might have one of the greatest two-handers but it's hard to say that is because of the hitting arm combo. Probably more because it is Andre Agassi.

I think it looks pretty darn natural when he does it. Nadal does it often as well as did some other great players like Kafelnikov.

I'd start by teaching a backhand grip shift. Showing them the full turn and the finish, and then let them swing and observe and film. I'd have them hit a lot of one-handed backhands on slow balls no matter how bad they seemed. Just to feel using the front arm. Eventually their personal preference would emerge. I don't think you can force players into one mode--and you probably can't say one or the other is clearly superior either--although I tend to think that is almost irrelevant to the process. It's going to be an individual thing. So no, I wouldn't guide them. To hit the Agassi variation well you better be able to hit the ball on the rise. If a kid can do that easily and naturally, then you could add the Agassi variation as an experiment and just see.

On the forehand grip, I still hold out for the modern eastern a la Pete Sampras. I don't think the idea is to teach kids the grips that will give them the most "power." 95% of all players I have ever seen will do better with this grip. If they progress in junior tennis and pace and spin become real factors, then, yeah, moving a little toward semi-western is probably good. The problem is winning in junior tennis with this grip...but the conservative grips are the grips for life.

Thanks for the great feedback about the site! Hopefully we are providing a resource that is helping coaches as well, not just saving students from them!

[paul pearce]

John

Thank you very much for your comments which are appreciated. On the backhand grip shift could you explain this to me in a little more detail and the logic behind it.

Your phraseolgy in terms of use of the base of the knuckles and the bevels was what opened my eyes to the forehand grips. Im in total agreement with you on the forehand grip ( largely because of the info on your web site) and we are trying to educate the children in this way to the point of flipping between low pressure balls and normal balls.

Unfortunately however and please forgive my ignorance I am simply not sure of the correct knuckle/bevel positions for the one and two handed backhand. Any help you can give would be much appreciated.

[johnyandell]

Think the new article on the two-hander will help when it goes up today. Basically the rationale for changing grips for the two-hander is that you hit it with two hands. For the bottom hand to be effective it has to have some version of a backhand grip. Heel pad needs to be at least partially (halfway)on bevel one. Index knuckle on bevel 2 or higher. That would be the same for the one-hander--although really you'd want to push it a little further in most cases.

Different for slice--now go in the opposite direction. Knuckle on the edge between 2 and 3--part of heedl pad on top.