True Alignment:
The Two-Handed Backhand
Kerry Mitchell
The concept of true alignment refers to the angles between the legs and the hips in relation to the line of the shot. In a previous article I looked at True Alignment on the forehand. (Click Here.) Now let's do the same for the two handed backhand.
The combinations of movements that creates true alignment has changed my whole approach to playing and teaching the game. It applies as well to the one-handed backhand, the serve, approach shots, and the volleys—something I will detail in future articles.
Stances
We know that on the two-hander top players set up mainly in semi open stances. They can then hit from the existing open stance, or step into a neutral stance, or step across into a closed stance.
Regardless of stance, we know they push off the ground with the back foot. We also know that the hips and shoulders rotate in conjunction with this push. But what exactly happens to the legs after the initial push, and how does that affect the timing of the rotation of the body?
True alignment describes what I feel are those critical relationships. The hips in all cases rotate less than the shoulders. They remain significantly more closed at contact, rotating at most 30 degrees and are often parallel to the target line or close to parallel at contact.
How?
This alignment of the hips has a profound effect on the players' ability to generate racket speed, ball speed, and spin. How is it created? The alignment of the hips is controlled by the back leg. This is the least understood component in true alignment--although it is clearly visible in Tennisplayer high speed video. So what happens to the back leg in the moments around the contact?
Many teaching pros teach swinging the back legs around as part of the actual stroke—instead of a recovery step that happens after the forward swing is complete. The reality is that instead of going around, the back leg either stays in place or in most cases actually moves in the opposite direction, backwards behind the player. Why is this important?
Because of its impact on the rotation of the hips. Yes the hips rotate. But if the hips rotate too much too soon, they reduce the transfer of power and cause the arms and racket to come across the body too far and too soon.
The movement of the back foot controls the timing of this rotation and the correct timing of this rotation naturally and automatically maximizes the acceleration of the hitting arms and racket.
Let's look at what happens in open stance first. Then we will look at neutral, and then finally closed. Closed stance is much more advanced and not something I teach initially. It's something players can add if they reach higher levels than the majority of players.
How It Starts
To understand true alignment you have to start the footwork because it makes everything else possible. How a player initiates the movement to the ball is crucial. This is one of the main reasons I teach my recreational players to hit more balls open stance. A lot of the players that come to me have been taught to step in on all shots.
Unfortunately, this creates bad tracking to the ball--being too close or too far from the ball. This makes it difficult for the recreational players to create the proper hitting zone consistently. This leads to bad swing patterns.
Trying to step-in on all backhands is one of the main reasons the recreational player never reaches his or her potential. It's why most one-handed backhand recreational players find it difficult to drive the ball with topspin with any kind of consistency.
On the two-handed player, bad tracking to the ball tends to create a weak shot with little directional control. Overall, tracking the ball poorly sets up the bad habit of rotating open with the hips to much too soon, making it hard to reach true alignment at contact.
A lot of teaching pros teach neutral stance hitting first to create good turning habits, then move to the open stance. I do the reverse. I start with proper positioning of the back foot by working on open stance hitting then move to more neutral stance hitting.
The backhand movement is initiated by the rear or outside foot. This is important because the final step into the setup is on the same foot. This final step is often called the "load step". It's called that because a player is loading his weight on that foot to achieve maximum leg drive into the shot.
The load step should land behind the ball in alignment with the player's intended target. This alignment is crucial when the player initiates the closing of the hips. Watch the back leg push but then watch how it then moves back behind the player. This is what controls the position of the hips and the creation of power.
With open stance what happens to the front foot and leg is as important as what happens to the back. It's clear in the high speed videos, but again isn't much recognized or discussed in teaching.
Watch the front leg move forward and across the body as the open stance swing is initiated. I call this "slamming the door." The end result of these twin leg movements is that the come into alignment so a line across the toes is parallel or close to parallel to the shot line. The result is a more linear swing path and the most efficient generation of power.
In effect the legs end up in similar alignment to a neutral stance, with a line across the toes basically parallel to the target line. Proper set up and the use of the back leg is what makes this possible. It wouldn't happen without the proper position of the rear leg or if the leg was swinging around as part of the stroke. Once a player's ball tracking has improved then the player can start to learn how to Slam the door with their legs and hips.
Neutral and Closed
When players step into the shot with neutral stance, the same relationships apply. Watch in both cases how the back foot controls the alignment of the hips, creating the right amount of rotation in the right sequence.
Often on the pro tour, players will take the step in concept to the extreme and step across towards the ball with the front foot. This is closed stance hitting.
This creates a bit more rotation both from the shoulders and the hips which done correctly can create more racket head speed though the ball. I normally don't teach this skill to the club player because it takes tremendous core strength and coordination to maintain true alignment at the point of contact.
But as with the neutral stance look how the pros keep true alignment is by pulling the rear foot back away from the ball. This creates counter balance, again preventing the hips and shoulders from opening too much as the player swings through the shot.
Scissor
The most explosive way of creating power with true alignment is by exploding into the air scissoring the legs. You see this more often on the forehand, but it is starting to be used more on the backhand, especially with the two-handed backhand. It used to be seen as more of a showboating type shot, but it is becoming more mainstream because of the power potential. The players that probably do this the best are Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic.
This type of dynamic shot making is not seen on the recreational level very often because it requires a great deal of athletic ability and coordination. When I do see it at the recreational level the execution is often wrong, usually because the player jumps rotating the hips around in more of a circular motion. This again causes the swing path to come across the body in the direction of the side fence.
Some simple exercises a player can do to start to develop true alignment: have your coach, or a friend hand feed a few balls to your backhand. Start in an open stance position with your weight loaded on the back foot and make sure you make the full turn of the upper body into that stance position. As the swing initiates forward, bring the front foot into a neutral stance position. Make sure the swing starts first.
Also make sure the movement of the front foot is toward the ball. This will give you more of a sense of "slamming the door" as you swing. The other big key is to finish the stroke well, with good extension towards the court.
As you practice, you will start to see improvement in both power and directional control. Your swing path will naturally start to improve producing more racket speed, power and spin. Have a great time working on this!! Have Fun!!
