There is nothing more poetic and more graceful on a tennis court than a one-handed backhand executed to perfection. However, like pinsetters, one-handed backhand players have almost completely disappeared. A phenomenon easy to explain, but more difficult to accept.
In 1994, there were 4 players in the top 10 to hit their backhand with one hand. In 2004, there were three of them. In 2014, there were only two left. And thanks to his final in Miami last week, Grigor Dimitrov saved the honor of his peers by reintroducing himself into the top 10. There hadn’t been a single one in the previous weeks.
They are now only 11 in the top 100 of the ATP rankings. Among them, Dimitrov, Stan Wawrinka and Dominic Thiem are on the verge of retirement. One-handed backhand players are an endangered species. Among the survivors is Canadian Denis Shapovalov. This signature move has become his trademark. The one that the news broadcasts used on numerous occasions to illustrate the highlights of his matches.
The 24-year-old describes the survivors of this trend much like he would explain natural selection or the theory of evolution: only the strongest survive.
I think the game has just evolved greatly. Players hit harder, they’re bigger, it’s just more complicated to work with a one-handed backhand.
Denis Shapovalov
The 121e world player refuses to believe in the complete disappearance of players of his species. “It will be rarer,” he admits from Houston on the phone, but it will always be a question of preference. “People who play one-handed are because they are more natural. »
Robby Ménard, certified coach, expert in advanced statistics and analyst who has worked with some of the best players in the world, cites biometric reasons to explain the decline of one-handed backhands.
The comfort zone for athletes using a two-handed backhand is between the shoulder and hip. While that for players with a one-handed backhand is located between the pectoral and the hip.
“There is therefore a loss of four to six inches for players favoring the one-handed backhand. And that’s an important difference considering the strength of the players today,” he explains.
In his opinion, the absence of role models like Roger Federer or Pete Sampras will harm the prosperity of this masterful stroke in the long term.
PHOTO BENOIT TESSIER, REUTERS ARCHIVES
The one-handed backhand of Roger Federer, now retired, was a model of its kind.
Education
Coaches also have a role to play in the survival of the one-handed backhand. In all sports, not just tennis, instructors try to format young athletes as much as possible to develop them as quickly as possible.
By paying attention to the details, we realize that with the exception of a few cases, all young hockey players skate the same way, all golfers swing the same way and all tennis players hit the same way. the same way.
“We live in an impatient society,” says Ménard. To achieve success sooner, players are trained with two-handed backhands. »
However, there are a ton of things that few people take the time to look into that could make a young person feel more comfortable with a one-handed backhand.
First, the dominant eye. “If it’s the front eye, it favors a one-handed backhand. If it’s the back eye, it favors a two-handed backhand,” specifies the expert.
Then he mentions “natural timing”. The key, according to him, to achieving a quality backhand like that of Wawrinka, “the best backhand in the world”.
PHOTO JAYNE KAMIN-ONCEA, USA TODAY SPORTS ARCHIVES
Stanislas Wawrinka
Then, the personality of the player. “The back has to come with a personality. Before teaching the one-handed backhand to a player, I look at how they are as a person. He must like to take risks, he must like to play, he must have instinct, explosiveness and patience. […] I hope the coaches don’t go with the trend, but with the personality. »
According to him, Shapovalov is the perfect example of a winning combination of personality and technique. “Denis expresses himself thanks to his backhand. He’s having fun! »
Moreover, the left-hander is tired of seeing coaches try to standardize the players’ technique. “I think it’s really up to the players to decide, based on their feelings. »
The one-handed backhand suited him naturally from a young age. He listened to himself, he persisted, and his CV ended up proving him right.
“I don’t think I would have accomplished as much as I did without a one-handed backhand. Nothing would have been the same,” says the former 10e global.
Advantages
Roger Federer, Pete Sampras and Ivan Lendl shared 32 major titles playing with one-handed backhands. Even though Federer has often said that going back to the past he would choose a two-handed backhand, there must be advantages for youngsters like Shapovalov, Stefanos Tsitsipas and Lorenzo Musetti to still use it.
“Some are more comfortable with a two-handed backhand and others feel less stuck with a one-handed backhand,” answers Shapovalov, on the one hand.
On the other hand, he alludes to the relaxed power expressed by a one-handed shot with the arm and torso expanding: “I think it allows you to play more aggressively, to have more shots and to have heavier strikes. With two hands you are more restricted. There may be more control, but there isn’t the springy feel of the one-handed backhand. »
Among Ménard students aspiring to be part of the elite, there are “1 or 2 in 40” who speak with one hand. He sees the paradigm shift every day in training.
A paradigm that could also be called a new reality.