Originally posted by bdole
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The two-hander is truly a great tool for returning serve. I cannot think of one one-hander that can compete with the players you mention. Once in the rally it's a pretty even contest. I guess the one-hander generally offers more variety and usually, nearly always actually, better execution of slice.
The biggest mystery in tennis is why so few players used a two-hander prior to the seventies. Rackets were far heavier and junior rackets did not exist. The urge to use two hands could never have been greater. So why didn't young children adopt the two-hander? My theory is that the game initially was game for adults and the games' earliest great players, by coincidence or otherwise, emerged one-handed. From that point it may have quickly became instilled as the best way to do it. Youngsters who subsequently came to the game may have had their impulses to use two hands coached out of them by older more experienced players who had succeeded with the one-hander. All theory on my part, but I would love to know for sure.
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