I first picked up the game of tennis as thirteen year old by wanting to do what Borg and McEnroe did. After getting a wooden Wilson Jack Kramer Pro Staff, and checking out Vic Braden's Tennis for the Future from the local library for a month, I was hitting against the local backboard. Braden's instructional philosophy is fairly old school: he coaches students to model their game after Laver. Groundstrokes should be topspin with an Eastern grip, hit slice to charge the net, and pressure your opponent from the net. He was fairly progressive way back in the late 70s in his emphasis on slow motion video and scientifically studying a great stroke. So unbelievably, I learned to hack tennis from a book. I enjoyed the game but never played it regularly enough to be no better than an advanced beginner.
Like many, I took a fair bit of time off from playing tennis (15 years), before deciding to play it regularly again. Hitting balls was so much more fun than merely going to the gym. After coming back, I noticed that the game had changed significantly even at the level of tennis nuts who regularly hack at the park. It's much harder to be a netrusher, and baseline skills are at a premium. The one-handed backhand I learned as a child wasn't quite cutting it against high heavy topspin. On flat balls with tons of pace, I would meet the ball late and the ball would sail wide. So I switched to a two handed backhand. None other than Martina Navaratilova said this:
But really, if I were teaching someone to play today, I would teach the two-handed backhand and one-handed slice and one-handed volley. The two-hander is just a more secure ball.
This made a lot of sense to me (as it does to many observers of professional tennis), and I started to dabble with a two handed backhand. In the middle of one hitting session last summer where I just kept missing my one hander, I switched completely.
One thing that had changed significantly since I first picked up tennis (besides strings and the racquets) is You Tube. There are hours of video of professional players hitting balls, and an obssessive-compulsive nut like me has plenty of raw material to study. In developing my two hander, I understood that it was really a forehand with the non-dominant hand assisted by your dominant hand. Indeed when I did hit the two handed backhand, flatter shots would surprise my opponents. High balls to the backhand didn't provoke a moment of anxiety as I knew I could execute it.
But consistent execution was the problem. Too frequently my swing would be too big, and I'd hit a line drive through the fence. On approach shots I would still feel funny hitting with both hands holding the racquet. While anticipating the shot I felt like I was had to think about whether I wanted to hit a two hander, to slice it with one hand or to hit an inside-out forehand. Put me on the run, I'd revert to a slice or even my one hander. If my opponent took the net, I'd sometimes try to hit the pass or topspin lob with one hand.
At some point, it dawned on me that my footwork and my weight transfer needed much more attention. It's easy to hit the perfect stroke when the ball is hit directly into your strike zone. Notice how this man pivots off his front foot at 0:11, 0:50, 1:47 to his hip rotation to put more weight in the shot.
Watching the groundies of professional players, you'll notice the same pivot moves off of both wings, and using either foot. Out of curiosity, I wondered what a professional one hander does. Notice how the footwork and weight transfer of this fella who isn't too shabby.
At 0:10 in a neutral stance, he steps forward but with a very subtle front pivot. A very pronounced pivot in the closed position at 1:14.
After noticing the pivot, I tried it out with both backhands the next time I went to hit. Both of them became heavier shots with more pace and spin. However, I noticed with my one handed backhand that I was able to land a fairly consistent rally shot deep crosscourt, drive a flat ball in both directions when I wanted, and hit a sharp angle ball that landed in the corner of the service box. With the two handed backhand, I wondered how much I'd have to shorten my backswing. So I committed myself back to hitting the one hander.
My rally partner noticed I kept switching back and forth and asked me why I switched I was finally able to articulate my problem.
You know, for me, it isn't a physical problem. I can clearly hit both shots. It's mental. Probably in my heart of hearts, I'm a one-hander.
Besides the stroke mechanics I noticed a lot of my instincts are grooved to the one handed backhand:
- How to position the distance of my body to the ball and which stance to take (closed or neutral)
- How big of a swing to take
- Reacting quickly to a body shot
- Whether to go for a safe rally ball, hit a short sharp angle, drive cross court, or go down the line
- Whether to chip an approach or to drive the topspin approach
None of these problems are fundamentally technical. They are mental, and undoubtedly developed due to hours of my hitting against a backboard like my parent's garage door (and breaking more than a few lights in the process). For someone who really owns a shot, you don't just know the basics. You know umpteen variations on the same theme and have a feel for what it takes to execute those variations. With the two hander, I knew it would take a few years to develop that instinctive feel. With the one hander, I already had the feel. I just needed to practice.
None of this is to say my one hander has become a weapon that my fellow hackers ought to fear. I still struggle with handling pace (usually over 70 mph), and with high kickers (usually at shoulder height). I've returned to the one hander and been putting in lots of sessions against a ball machine.
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