Bryan Yeager:
One Handed Backhand

Analyzed by John Yandell

This month we look at Bryan Yeager's backhand in Your Strokes, which is back by popular demand. I've cut down on the frequency of Your Strokes recently, because I thought it was getting repetitive. Basically we were seeing the same basic technical problems over and over, and frankly it was getting boring--at least for me...But since the requests keep coming in, here we go with another addition.

Bryan's one-handed backhand is actually a different kind of case, because the fundamentals of his stroke seem quite sound. But when it comes to his movement around the court, he appears to be suffering from what I call "advanced footwork training syndrome." And this is definitely doing him more harm than good.

By "advanced footwork training syndrome" I mean he seems to have modeled his step patterns on his perception of things that happen in pro movement, or possibly, on a coach's perception. But, as often happens at the club level, Bryan has exaggerated or misperceived what is actually happening and/or the sequence.

Let's start by looking at his basic motion. Then let's see how it gets off track when he starts to move around the court. Then let's see what the top players are actually doing and what part of that applies to Bryan.

If you look at his basic backhand around the center of the court, Bryan's stroke has great technical elements. He has a strong, fast unit turn. He gets his shoulders 90 degrees to the net or a little more, with good posture and his chin turned over his shoulder. Notice he is there when the ball bounces on the court or before. That's very important.

He has a compact backswing with the hand staying low on his right side and the racket tip going back to about his shoulder level or a little higher. From here his arm drops down into the straight arm hitting position. That's good.

His hitting arm stays in this position all the way through the forward swing, with his hand finishing at around eye level. That's very good as well.

Watch also how he keeps his torso almost completely sideways. Another great element. Part of the reason for this is the strong backward movement or opposition of the left arm.

This backhand is on a ball in the center of the court, and Bryan's stance is great for this ball, as well. He steps forward into the shot with a basically neutral stance.

The only minor criticism I have is the direction of his foot at the step to the ball. Look at the toes of his front foot when he steps. They don't point across on a natural diagonal. Instead he steps somewhat on point with the toes facing more toward the net. Because of this he can rotate off the front foot somewhat prematurely. But still, it's a good looking stroke.

Closed Stance

Now let's see what happens when he starts to move. There are actually three different scenarios to address. In our analysis of pro one-handed backhands, we noted that when players are wide in the court they tend to hit with a closed stance, stepping across to the ball. For elite players, this seems to increase the amount of shoulder turn, and therefore the player's overall leverage on the ball.

But this is an advanced variation. Notice two things when Bryan tries it. First his step is almost directly sideways. The top players close the stance in a major way, but the step is also somewhat forward, usually on a 30 to 45 degree diagonal. They make this extreme stance look natural and athletic. Bryan's looks artificial and forced.

Notice also what happens to his hitting arm. When you hit from an extreme closed stance, it takes tremendous strength and flexibility in the shoulder to maintain the straight hitting arm position and extend the swing fully. Watch how Bryan's hitting arm breaks down. Instead of keeping it straight all the way through until he eye reaches eye level, he has to bail out and bend at the elbow. So this is probably costing him power, spin, and especially, consistency.

What I have seen is that for most club players, even up to successful 4.5 and 5.0 tournament players, it's better to get aligned behind the wide balls and step in with a more neutral step. And in fact you see that the pros will at times do this themselves.

Recovery Steps

Recovery steps are another very trendy topic in coaching. With the speed of the pro game, there is no doubt that the top players are swinging the opposite, rear foot around, and then pushing off to begin the recovery to the center. The question is when?

Watch what happens when Bryan tries this. Again, the movement doesn't really look natural. It looks as if he's trying to mechanically execute a particular step pattern. That's not how or why the top players do it. When a pro player is on the run, there is usually no way to slow and control the momentum sufficiently to reallyy stop and set up, getting still at the hit. If players tried to do that, they wouldn't reach the ball--or the one after.

So since they are still moving, their momentum carries them outside the shot and into a recovery step. It's not that there is some inherent advantage to this additional step--in fact probably the opposite. But the fact is that there is no other way for the players to reach the ball, hit the shot, and then head back the other way at the speed they are moving.

The most interesting thing about the pro movement patterns is how, even with extreme recovery steps, the top players still execute the key technical elements perfectly. Watch the wide Federer backhand in regular speed and see that big swing around recovery step. But now watch in slow motion and see how that step actually happens.

Look at where Roger's back foot is when he reaches the extension of the stroke, with the hitting arm straight and pointing almost square ahead, and the wrist at about the top of his head level. The back foot at this point is still behind the front foot! Notice also how sideways Roger has stayed with his torso position. You don't necessarily think this is the way it happens when you see it in real time. And this is where the perception problems set in.

Compare this to Bryan and look at how the extra step affects his stroke pattern. The timing of the step is completely different. When he reaches a similar extension point, his rear foot has not only crossed over behind him, he has actually already landed the recovery step. This affects the torso rotation pattern, leading to loss of power and inconsistency. Again, the whole pattern looks mechanical and artificial, instead of a natural response to the flow of the movement.

The Alleged Carioca Step

Another big buzz phrase in advanced footwork is the "carioca step," named after a dance move from the Samba, in which the back slides in front of the front foot and leads the way forward to the net.

Again, we can see Bryan demonstrating this on a short topspin backhand. There are a couple of problems here as well. As with the other advanced steps it looks forced. Second, no top players actually take this step when they hit a one-handed backhand drive. (I believe I looked at every short one-handed backhand and drive approach sequence in the Stroke Archive, without finding one example, but please correct me if you can find one--and email me the url.)

The carioca step is used frequently, though not always, on the one-handed slice approaches. Not the topspin drives. I do believe that some players can work to consciously develop the feel of this step on the slice, but when it comes to actual play, it has to just flow. The step can be taken with the back foot on either side of the player and just happens with aggressive forward movement.

On the short backhand drives, you see the top players do something completely different. They actually kick the rear leg back behind them. Try this--it's a great key for keeping your torso sideways. If they have a lot of momentum, this motion will be combined with what David Bailey calls the Front Foot Hop (Click Here) in which the player hops forward and lands on the front foot--again without the back foot coming around.

So compare that to what happens to Bryan. As he takes that pronounced step forward with his rear foot, look what happens to his torso. That beautiful sideways torso position we saw in his basic stroke is completely lost.

Once again, let's compare where he is at the point of maximum extension with the hand and racket. His wrist still reaches eye level with the hitting arm straight and the back arm is opposing well.

But his hips and shoulders have rotated an extra 45 degrees or so past the ideal nearly sideways position. Again this can't help anything about the stroke, power, the ability to control the racket head and the shot location, or the amount of spin at the critical moment of the contact.

So is "advanced" really advanced?Even if you do get the pro moves right, Is "advanced" actually better or even good? How much should the average player train these elements? The first point is you have to look at what the top players actually do when. If you are going to model something, make sure you understand the model correctly before you start.

The second point brings us to a recurring theme both in teaching and in articles on the site. What is cause and what is effect? Maybe the top players are aware of the sequence or pattern of these more complicated step patterns.

Or maybe they feel how they want to hit the ball, do that as nearly as possible, and let the feet and subsequent movement patterns adjust naturally to the strokes. Or maybe both.

For Bryan, my advice would be to work as hard as possible to get into position to hit the best possible technical backhand, no matter the given ball. This means setting up behind the ball, staying sideways and keeping the back foot in position behind the front through the extension of the swing.

This also means stepping forward as much as possible with a neutral stance, on as many balls as possible. As i said, you see many top pros hit with neutral stance, or something very close to neutral stance, even on wide balls where they have to move to set up. There's absolutely nothing wrong technically with a neutral stance anywhere on the court with the one-hander. The top pros may make other choices on certain balls, but that doesn't mean you have to, or should.

The only way to see how you are really doing with all these issues is to video yourself. See if you can get aligned behind the ball and hit with all the key swing elements in the neutral stance. See if the recovery steps happen naturally in the right order. Make sure they don't bend the core positions in the stroke. Only then should you experiment with some of the more advanced elements and step patterns. But to really be an advantage these have to flow naturally in your game.