The tennisforall Digital Tennis Book
by evvy

Part 1, The Forehand, available now on lulu.com. Click above to buy.

read a preview


Tennis Coaching Article:
One Handed Backhand Part 2.
Heyup. This guy looks familiar. Whilst not noted for his backhand (a few of the unintelligentsia made the daft suggestion that he didn't have one), which was always going to be overshadowed by that service and forehand, it is nevertheless a pretty good example of backhand fluency and very easy on the eye.


GO...
Pete is turned long before the ball gets anywhere near him. His shoulders are square to the net and he's covering the baseline in sprint mode, rather than doing a crab-shuffle sideways.

GOPEE...
Go pee yerself.
Not literally, stoopid. Rolling the first five buttons reveals Pete's anchor step. Note how he slides the front foot over, to within range of the travel line of the approaching ball. Like Pio, he only steadies the anchor foot when he's sure that his positioning is inch-perfect.
Perfect for what?
Perfect for making a perfect contact on the one handed backhand. Like Pio previously, Sampras has left enough room between his body and the ball to make the hit.
Now draw an imaginary line from Pete's left knee to his right and you get a forward-pointing line, which points in the general direction of where the out front contact will be made.

EDE...
Roll these three buttons and see how effortless Sampras makes this backhand look. This easy action is made possible by early preparation and a perfect contact.
Remember :
bad contact = bad stroke. Simple as...

PEEDEE...
Rolling these buttons in sequence shows the general forward shift into the required forward contact, as Sampras sticks his racket to the out front ball. We see Pete's version of a perfect contact, which meets the previously mentioned criteria (see Pioline).
Although quite modest when compared to some extreme topspin merchants, we can see how Pete springs his knee bend to help him direct much of the force upward for a topspin backhand. But note that he doesn't take flight until after the ball has left the strings. It's the directing (both through and) upward that's important, not the actual jump: this is merely a consequence of his upshifting efforts.

...GO
Having left the ground briefly, Pete allows the force he's whipped up to pull him back around, into a more neutral position, and the left (back) foot spins forth to catch him.

Now run thee whole sequence at your own speed and compare this backhand to Piolone's one hander.