The backhand is a
shot
Shot may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
* ''Shot'' (album), by The Jesus Lizard
*''Shot, Illusion, New God'', an EP by Gruntruck
*'' Shot Rev 2.0'', a video album by The Sisters of Mercy
* "Shot" (song), by The Rasmus
* ''Shot'' (2017 f ...
used in most
racket sports
Racket sports are games in which players use a racket or paddle to hit a ball or other object. Rackets consist of a handled frame with an open hoop that supports a network of tightly stretched strings. Paddles have a solid face rather than a netw ...
, such as
tennis
Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...
and
pickleball
Pickleball is an indoor or outdoor racket/paddle sport where two players (singles), or four players (doubles), hit a perforated hollow polymer ball over a net using solid-faced paddles. Opponents on either side of the net hit the ball back and ...
, where the back of the hand precedes the palm when swinging the racket. Except in the phrase ''backhand
volley'', the term refers to a
groundstroke
In racket sports a groundstroke, or ground stroke, refers to a forehand or backhand shot that is executed after the ball has bounced on the court. The term is commonly used in the sports of tennis and pickleball, and is counter to a volley shot ...
(where the ball has bounced before it is struck). It contrasts with the
forehand stroke, where the palm precedes the back of the hand. The term is also used in other sports where a similar motion is employed, such as throwing a
sport disc.
The backhand is usually performed from the baseline or as an
approach shot. For a right-handed player, a backhand begins with the racquet on the left side of the body, continues across the body as contact is made with the ball, and ends on the right side of the body, with the racquet over the right shoulder. The backhand can be a one-handed or two-handed stroke.
Due to the fact that the player's dominant hand "pulls" into the shot, the backhand generally lacks the power and consistency of the
forehand, and is usually considered more difficult to master. However, the two-handed backhand provides more stability and power for the shot, and is increasingly used in the modern game. Beginner and club-level players often have difficulty hitting a backhand, and junior players may have trouble making the shot if they are not strong enough to hit it. Many advanced players still have a significantly better forehand than backhand, and many strategies in tennis aim to exploit this weakness.
Grips
For most of the 20th century, the backhand was hit with one hand using either an ''eastern'' or ''continental'' grip. The first notable players to use a two-handed backhand were the 1930s Australians
Vivian McGrath
Vivian Erzerum Bede McGrath (17 February 1916 – 9 April 1978) was a tennis champion from Australia. Along with John Bromwich, he was one of the early great players to use a two-handed backhand. His name was pronounced "McGraw".
Biography ...
and
John Bromwich
John Edward Bromwich (14 November 1918 – 21 October 1999) was an Australian tennis player who, along with fellow countryman Vivian McGrath, was one of the first great players to use a two-handed backhand. He was a natural left-hander, though ...
. Beginning with
Mike Belkin
Michael I. Belkin (born June 29, 1945)
is a former top-ranked Canadian tennis player.
Canada's top-ranked player five times between 1966 and 1972, Belkin had a career 17–12 Davis Cup record, including a 14–7 record in singles.
The right- ...
, who was the first two-handed backhand player in the United States, and
Chris Evert
Christine Marie Evert (born December 21, 1954), known as Chris Evert Lloyd from 1979 to 1987, is an American former world No. 1 tennis player. Evert won 18 major singles titles, including a record seven French Open titles and a joint-record ...
, in the 1960s many players began to use a two-handed grip for the backhand.
Pete Sampras
Petros "Pete" Sampras ( el, Πέτρος Σάμπρας; born August 12, 1971) is an American former world No. 1 tennis player. His professional career began in 1988 and ended at the 2002 US Open, which he won, defeating longtime rival Andre ...
and
Stefan Edberg
Stefan Bengt Edberg (; born 19 January 1966) is a Swedish former professional tennis player. A major proponent of the serve-and-volley style of tennis, he won six Grand Slam singles titles and three Grand Slam men's doubles titles between 1985 ...
notably switched from the two-handed to the one-handed backhand late in their development.
Strengths and weaknesses
Two-handed backhand
Players often choose their backhand type based on their hand dominance—if the player is somewhat ambidextrous, the two-handed backhand might be best.
Starting from the 1970s, many of the greatest players used the two-handed backhand and it has become more popular on the pro tour. Two-handed backhands have some important advantages over one-handed backhands:
* The backhands are generally more accurate because having two hands on the racquet makes the contact more stable, allowing for more control of the shot, especially on the return of serve and in defense, while one-handed backhands generally require finer motor skills and are less consistent in longer rallies.
* Two-handed backhands can more easily hit higher balls.
* Two-handed backhands have a chance to be consistently closer in power and accuracy to the forehand, possibly even surpassing it. People with a noticeably weaker one-handed backhand tend to get balls returned to them on that wing, giving them a disadvantage, especially with high kick serves and lefty slice serves.
* Two-handed backhands can be hit with an open stance, whereas one-handers usually have to have a closed stance, which adds further steps (which is a problem at higher levels of play).
* Two-handed backhands are generally easier to develop; performing all the basic shots takes less advanced motor skills. Since the 70s, juniors have been increasingly taught two-handed backhands.
One-handed backhand
One-handed backhands have some other important advantages over two-handed backhands:
* Modern one-handed backhands typically have significantly more topspin and torque than two-handed backhands,
which allows them to create more acute angles and pull the opponent off the court more easily, especially on the clay.
* One-handed backhands can generate more power
when properly set up, and can be very penetrating when hit correctly. They can also hit lower balls with more pace and penetration than two-handed backhands.
* One-handed backhand players move to the net with greater ease than two-handed players because the shot permits greater forward momentum and has greater similarities in
muscle memory
Muscle memory is a form of procedural memory that involves consolidating a specific motor task into memory through repetition, which has been used synonymously with motor learning. When a movement is repeated over time, the brain creates a long-t ...
to the preferred type of backhand volley (one-handed, for greater reach). This is why a majority of serve and volleyers employ a one-handed backhand.
* One-handed backhands should be hit more in front of the body than the forehand, which allows them to be hit with a deeper hit spot.
* One-handed backhands force players to hit high balls with slice, thus causing them to develop much better slice backhands than two-handed players.
Generally, both backhands are efficient at what they do. Perhaps the biggest weakness cited by most coaches in regards to the one hander is the fact that it requires more time and steps to be set up properly—it requires an extra half step in order to execute a proper back-swing and have proper control over the point of contact—a traditional one handed backhand is hit from a closed stance with the dominant foot placed in front, whereas the two hander can be hit both from open and closed stance. This can hamper players who use a one handed backhand on fast surfaces as the high speed of most drive shots gives them very little time for preparation and setting up their shot. However, players with a modern one-handed backhand like
Dominic Thiem
Dominic Thiem (; born 3 September 1993) is an Austrian professional tennis player. He has been ranked as high as world No. 3 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals, which he first achieved in March 2020. He is the second-highest r ...
,
Stan Wawrinka
Stanislas "Stan" Wawrinka (; born 28 March 1985) is a Swiss professional tennis player. He reached a career-high Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) singles ranking of world No. 3 for the first time on 27 January 2014. His career highlight ...
or
Stefanos Tsitsipas
Stefanos Tsitsipas ( gr, Στέφανος Τσιτσιπάς, ; born 12 August 1998) is a Greek professional tennis player. He has been ranked as high as world No. 3 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), which he first achieved on 9 ...
can hit it with an open stance and off the back foot, too. There are also plenty of players who can set up their shots properly even with little time for preparation and can hit effective backhands with one hand even on fast surfaces (the most notable example is
Roger Federer
Roger Federer (; born 8 August 1981) is a Swiss former professional tennis player. He was ranked List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players#Weeks at No. 1, world No. 1 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 310 weeks, in ...
, who can hit drives with his backhand on all surfaces with the same consistency as two handers). Stan Wawrinka is another example of a player who hits consistent one hand backhand drives on all types of surface with the same margin of error. The type of backhand a player uses mostly comes down to personal preference and their game style. Since the 1970s, however, the two-handed backhand has had a spike in popularity and is now more widely taught than the one-handed backhand.
Many tennis greats use the one-handed backhand.
Such players include Roger Federer,
Stefan Edberg
Stefan Bengt Edberg (; born 19 January 1966) is a Swedish former professional tennis player. A major proponent of the serve-and-volley style of tennis, he won six Grand Slam singles titles and three Grand Slam men's doubles titles between 1985 ...
,
Pete Sampras
Petros "Pete" Sampras ( el, Πέτρος Σάμπρας; born August 12, 1971) is an American former world No. 1 tennis player. His professional career began in 1988 and ended at the 2002 US Open, which he won, defeating longtime rival Andre ...
,
Justine Henin
Justine Henin (; born 1 June 1982) is a Belgian former professional tennis player. She spent a total of 117 weeks as the world No. 1 and was the year-end No. 1 in 2003, 2006 and 2007. Henin, coming from a country with limited success in te ...
,
Steffi Graf
Stefanie Maria Graf ( , ; born 14 June 1969) is a German former professional tennis player. Widely regarded as one of the greatest tennis players of all time, she was ranked world No. 1 for a record 377 weeks and won 22 major singles titles, ...
,
Gustavo Kuerten
Gustavo "Guga" Kuerten (; born 10 September 1976) is a Brazilian former world No. 1 tennis player. He won the French Open singles title three times ( 1997, 2000, and 2001), and was the Tennis Masters Cup champion in 2000. During his career he ...
,
Amélie Mauresmo
Amélie Simone Mauresmo (; born 5 July 1979) is a French former List of WTA number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 tennis player and tournament director. Mauresmo won two Grand Slam (tennis)#Tournaments, major singles titles at the ...
,
Martina Navratilova
Martina Navratilova ( cs, Martina Navrátilová ; ; born October 18, 1956) is a Czech–American, former professional tennis player. Widely considered among the greatest tennis players of all time, Navratilova won 18 major singles titles, 31 maj ...
, Stan Wawrinka,
Don Budge
John Donald Budge (June 13, 1915 – January 26, 2000) was an American tennis player. He is most famous as the first tennis player — male or female, and still the only American male — to win the Grand Slam, and to win all four Grand Slam ev ...
,
Ken Rosewall
Kenneth Robert Rosewall (born 2 November 1934) is an Australian former world top-ranking amateur and professional tennis player. He won a record 23 Majors in singles, including eight Grand Slam singles titles and, before the Open Era, a record ...
[ and ]Rod Laver
Rodney George Laver (born 9 August 1938) is an Australian former tennis player. Laver was the world number 1 ranked professional in some sources in 1964, in all sources from 1965 to 1969 and in some sources in 1970, spanning four years befor ...
.
Technique
Despite there being many different variations and styles, in general there are three different techniques to hit the one-handed backhand. The first is the slice, the oldest version of the single-handed backhand, which was popularised by many classic players such as Ken Rosewall
Kenneth Robert Rosewall (born 2 November 1934) is an Australian former world top-ranking amateur and professional tennis player. He won a record 23 Majors in singles, including eight Grand Slam singles titles and, before the Open Era, a record ...
and was still used up until the 1980s even in the women's tour, with many great women champions such as Steffi Graf
Stefanie Maria Graf ( , ; born 14 June 1969) is a German former professional tennis player. Widely regarded as one of the greatest tennis players of all time, she was ranked world No. 1 for a record 377 weeks and won 22 major singles titles, ...
having one of the lowest, most effective slice backhands. The slice backhand is considered the most simple and is the easiest to learn technique-wise. However, it is much harder to master. Unlike the slice on its own, the slice backhand refers to a player continuously using slice on their backhand as an ordinary shot, instead of for variety. Most slice backhands are executed with a continental grip, identical to that of the backhand volley. The motion is also simple, and involves a cut at about 45 degrees to the bottom of the ball. The slice action closer to the bottom results in a higher and slower ball, typically used for lobs while a cut closer to the side of the ball results in a faster and lower ball. It is considered hard to be able to consistently pull off deep, low yet quick backhand slices and requires much practice and finesse. Such slice backhands often prevent opponents from getting under the ball easily and hitting easy winners. It also slows down the pace of the ball due to the back-spin on it, giving time for the player to anticipate and set up shots. For example, Steffi Graf
Stefanie Maria Graf ( , ; born 14 June 1969) is a German former professional tennis player. Widely regarded as one of the greatest tennis players of all time, she was ranked world No. 1 for a record 377 weeks and won 22 major singles titles, ...
often used her slice backhand to buy time for her to move around and hit inside-out forehands, her signature shot. It can also act as a good bluff to hit drop-shots or even fake drop-shots.
From the 1940s to the 1960s, the flat single-handed backhand was popularised by many players, most famously Rod Laver
Rodney George Laver (born 9 August 1938) is an Australian former tennis player. Laver was the world number 1 ranked professional in some sources in 1964, in all sources from 1965 to 1969 and in some sources in 1970, spanning four years befor ...
and Don Budge
John Donald Budge (June 13, 1915 – January 26, 2000) was an American tennis player. He is most famous as the first tennis player — male or female, and still the only American male — to win the Grand Slam, and to win all four Grand Slam ev ...
. He was one of the first players to use a flat single-handed backhand with a hint of top-spin. Although flat or top-spin shots were not rare at the time, they were not common shots and were used mainly for variety only, especially on the backhand side. These shots were generally faster-paced, but were considered harder to learn and execute. Even today, there are still many players who use the flat single-handed backhand, such as Stan Wawrinka
Stanislas "Stan" Wawrinka (; born 28 March 1985) is a Swiss professional tennis player. He reached a career-high Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) singles ranking of world No. 3 for the first time on 27 January 2014. His career highlight ...
and Roger Federer
Roger Federer (; born 8 August 1981) is a Swiss former professional tennis player. He was ranked List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players#Weeks at No. 1, world No. 1 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 310 weeks, in ...
, although they have added more top-spin to cope with top-spin from other players as well. However, by the 1980s, the flat single-handed backhand was the norm for most single-handed backhand players, with marquee players such as Stefan Edberg
Stefan Bengt Edberg (; born 19 January 1966) is a Swedish former professional tennis player. A major proponent of the serve-and-volley style of tennis, he won six Grand Slam singles titles and three Grand Slam men's doubles titles between 1985 ...
, John McEnroe
John Patrick McEnroe Jr. (born February 16, 1959) is an American former professional tennis player. He was known for his shot-making and volleying skills, his rivalries with Björn Borg and Jimmy Connors, and his confrontational on-court beha ...
and Pete Sampras
Petros "Pete" Sampras ( el, Πέτρος Σάμπρας; born August 12, 1971) is an American former world No. 1 tennis player. His professional career began in 1988 and ended at the 2002 US Open, which he won, defeating longtime rival Andre ...
using it to great effectiveness. The advantages of the flat single-handed backhand include its speed, the angles it can produce and its depth. It is usually executed with an Eastern or Semi-Western grip, and involves a "throw-back" in which the racket is pulled across the player's body, sometimes with the help of the left hand, and a release to hit the ball followed by a much larger follow-through and finish as compared to the slice backhand.
While Björn Borg
Björn Rune Borg (; born 6 June 1956) is a Swedish former world No. 1 tennis player. Between 1974 and 1981, he became the first man in the Open Era to win 11 Grand Slam singles titles with six at the French Open and five consecutively at Wimb ...
was considered to have had a two-handed backhand, he released his racket with one-hand, and was arguably the catalyst for the evolution and popularity of the two-handed backhand as well as the top-spin single-handed backhand. In the 1980s, when more players were using top-spin, single-handed backhand players found it more difficult to hit flat backhands due to the difficulty of neutralising the spin. Therefore, many players incorporated much more top-spin in their single-handed backhands, which was uncommon at that time. Up til today, many players who are considered to have some of the best single-handed backhands ever, such as Richard Gasquet
Richard Gabriel Cyr Gasquet (; born 18 June 1986) is a French professional tennis player. His career-high ATP singles ranking is world No. 7, attained on 9 July 2007. He has won a total of 15 singles titles on the ATP Tour. His best performances ...
, use a top-spin backhand. Other current players who use it include Nicolás Almagro
Nicolás Almagro Sánchez (; born 21 August 1985 in Murcia, Spain) is a Spanish former professional tennis player. He reached the quarterfinals of the French Open in 2008, 2010 and 2012 (losing each time to Rafael Nadal, the eventual ...
and Grigor Dimitrov
Grigor Dimitrov ( bg, Григор Димитров, ; born 16 May 1991) is a Bulgarian professional tennis player. He has been ranked as high as world No. 3 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), which he first achieved o ...
(Although he is also capable of hitting it flat). This helped single-handed backhand players cope with high spinning balls. The advantages of the top-spin single-handed backhand include consistency, placement, the angles it can produce as well as its ability to cope with high balls. Single-backhand "flicks" also evolved due to the popularisation of the top-spin single-handed backhand. Unlike the flat single-handed backhand, top-spin single-handed backhands are almost always performed with the Semi-Western or even Western Grip. Richard Gasquet
Richard Gabriel Cyr Gasquet (; born 18 June 1986) is a French professional tennis player. His career-high ATP singles ranking is world No. 7, attained on 9 July 2007. He has won a total of 15 singles titles on the ATP Tour. His best performances ...
, who is considered to have one of the most elegant and efficient single-handed backhands, is known for his long, winding action on his backhand and his elegant follow-through. The top-spin single-handed backhand is probably the hardest to learn. It involves the player employing a Semi-Western or Western grip, and winding the racket around his body and, most importantly, bring it lower than the ball. Then, he has to hit the ball at the middle to bottom of the ball while winding his hand upwards and front of him, in a "window-wiper" action. A mistake that is often made in this execution is not bringing the racket low enough or not having a follow-through.
Many great players employ a combination of two or even three different styles. For example, Stan Wawrinka
Stanislas "Stan" Wawrinka (; born 28 March 1985) is a Swiss professional tennis player. He reached a career-high Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) singles ranking of world No. 3 for the first time on 27 January 2014. His career highlight ...
, who is said to have one of the most powerful single-handed backhands ever, can hit extremely flat backhands, but can also apply top-spin to them. Stefan Edberg
Stefan Bengt Edberg (; born 19 January 1966) is a Swedish former professional tennis player. A major proponent of the serve-and-volley style of tennis, he won six Grand Slam singles titles and three Grand Slam men's doubles titles between 1985 ...
in the past, along with Roger Federer
Roger Federer (; born 8 August 1981) is a Swiss former professional tennis player. He was ranked List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players#Weeks at No. 1, world No. 1 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 310 weeks, in ...
and Grigor Dimitrov
Grigor Dimitrov ( bg, Григор Димитров, ; born 16 May 1991) is a Bulgarian professional tennis player. He has been ranked as high as world No. 3 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), which he first achieved o ...
are able to apply all three, using the slice, flat and top-spin backhands effectively. This variety makes it hard for the opponent to guess what kind of shot they are going to play.
Great backhands
The player long considered to have had the best backhand of all time, amateur and professional champion Don Budge
John Donald Budge (June 13, 1915 – January 26, 2000) was an American tennis player. He is most famous as the first tennis player — male or female, and still the only American male — to win the Grand Slam, and to win all four Grand Slam ev ...
, had a very powerful one-handed stroke in the 1930s and '40s that imparted topspin onto the ball. He used an Eastern grip, and some pictures show his thumb extended along the side of the racquet for greater support. Ken Rosewall
Kenneth Robert Rosewall (born 2 November 1934) is an Australian former world top-ranking amateur and professional tennis player. He won a record 23 Majors in singles, including eight Grand Slam singles titles and, before the Open Era, a record ...
, another amateur and professional champion noted for his one-handed backhand, also used a continental grip to hit a deadly accurate slice backhand with underspin throughout the 1950s and '60s. Connoisseurs of the game also rate Swede Henrik Sundström
Henrik Sundström (born 29 February 1964) is a former professional male tennis player from Sweden. He is nicknamed Henke. Sundström was at his best on clay and achieved his strongest results on this surface, with his solid and heavy topspin ...
's one-handed backhand as technically magnificent and as powerful as many forehands, but Sundström's career was cut short by injury.
In his 1979 autobiography, Jack Kramer
John Albert Kramer (August 1, 1921 – September 12, 2009) was an American tennis player of the 1940s and 1950s. He won three Grand Slam tournaments (the U.S. Championships in 1946 and 1947, Wimbledon in 1947). He led the U.S. Davis Cup tennis ...
devotes a page to the best tennis strokes he had ever seen. He writes: "BACKHAND—Budge was best, with Kovacs, Rosewall and Connors in the next rank (although, as I've said, Connors' 'backhand' is really a two-handed forehand). Just in passing, the strangest competitive stroke was the backhand that belonged to Budge Patty
Edward John Patty (February 11, 1924 – October 4, 2021), better known as Budge Patty, was an American world no. 1 tennis player whose career spanned a period of 15 years after World War II. He won two Grand Slam singles titles in 1950. He wa ...
. It was a weak shot, a little chip. But suddenly on match point, Patty had a fine, firm backhand. He was a helluva match player."
On the men's pro tour, dramatic changes have occurred since then. In the 1980s, many great players such as Stefan Edberg
Stefan Bengt Edberg (; born 19 January 1966) is a Swedish former professional tennis player. A major proponent of the serve-and-volley style of tennis, he won six Grand Slam singles titles and three Grand Slam men's doubles titles between 1985 ...
, Ivan Lendl
Ivan Lendl (; born March 7, 1960) is a Czech–American former professional tennis player. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest tennis players of all time. Lendl was ranked world No. 1 in singles for 270 weeks and won 94 singles titles. ...
, Henrik Sundström
Henrik Sundström (born 29 February 1964) is a former professional male tennis player from Sweden. He is nicknamed Henke. Sundström was at his best on clay and achieved his strongest results on this surface, with his solid and heavy topspin ...
and John McEnroe
John Patrick McEnroe Jr. (born February 16, 1959) is an American former professional tennis player. He was known for his shot-making and volleying skills, his rivalries with Björn Borg and Jimmy Connors, and his confrontational on-court beha ...
were leading the charge with their one-handed versatile backhands.
But a new wave of players, such as Jimmy Connors
James Scott Connors (born September 2, 1952) is an American former world No. 1 tennis player. He held the top Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) ranking for a then-record 160 consecutive weeks from 1974 to 1977 and a career total of 268 ...
, Björn Borg
Björn Rune Borg (; born 6 June 1956) is a Swedish former world No. 1 tennis player. Between 1974 and 1981, he became the first man in the Open Era to win 11 Grand Slam singles titles with six at the French Open and five consecutively at Wimb ...
, Mats Wilander
Mats Arne Olof Wilander (; born 22 August 1964) is a Swedish former world No. 1 tennis player. From 1982 to 1988, he won seven major singles titles (three at the French Open, three at the Australian Open, and one at the US Open), and one major ...
and Miloslav Mecir
Miloslav is a Slavic masculine given name, derived from the Slavic root ''mil-'', "merciful" or "dear", and ''-slav'' ''glory''.
Name variants
* feminine form: Miloslava
* diminutive form: Miloš
* Polish: Miłosław/Miłosława
* Czech fe ...
, started to show the world that two-handed backhands could also offer major advantages. Players could now increase the speed and control of their two-hander in key defensive shots, such as returns, passing shots and lobs. Since then, many players followed this trend. Among the main ones are Andre Agassi
Andre Kirk Agassi ( ; born April 29, 1970) is an American former world No. 1 tennis player. He is an eight-time major champion and an Olympic gold medalist, as well as a runner-up in seven other majors.
Agassi is the second of five men to ach ...
, Yevgeny Kafelnikov
Yevgeny Aleksandrovich Kafelnikov ( rus, Евгений Александрович Кафельников, , jɪvˈɡʲenʲɪj ˈkafʲɪlʲnʲɪkəf, a=Ru-Yevgeny-Kafelnikov.ogg; born 18 February 1974) is a Russian former world No. 1 tennis p ...
, Marcelo Rios
Marcelo is a given name, the Spanish and Portuguese form of Marcellus. The Italian version of the name is Marcello, differing in having an additional "l". Marcelo may refer to:
* Marcelo Costa de Andrade (born 1967), Brazilian serial killer, rapi ...
, Marat Safin
Marat Mubinovich Safin ( rus, Мара́т Муби́нович Са́фин, , mɐˈrat ˈsafʲɪn, Ru-Marat-Safin.ogg; tt-Cyrl, Марат Мөбин улы Сафин; born 27 January 1980) is a Russian retired world No. 1 tennis player an ...
, David Nalbandian
David Pablo Nalbandian (; born 1 January 1982) is an Argentine retired professional tennis player who played on the ATP Tour from 2000 until his retirement in 2013. He reached the highest ranking in singles of world No. 3 in March 2006. Nalban ...
(owning the fastest recorded backhand at ), Novak Djokovic
Novak Djokovic ( sr-Cyrl, Новак Ђоковић, translit=Novak Đoković, ; born 22 May 1987) is a Serbian professional tennis player. He has been ranked world No. 1 for a record total 373 weeks, and has finished as the year-end No. 1 ...
, Andy Murray
Sir Andrew Barron Murray (born 15 May 1987) is a British professional tennis player from Scotland. He was ranked world No. 1 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 41 weeks, and finished as the year-end No. 1 in 2016. Murray h ...
, Kei Nishikori
is an inactive Japanese professional tennis player. He is the second male Japanese player to have been ranked in the top 5 in singles (after Jiro Sato), and the only one to do so in the Open Era. Nishikori first reached his career-high singles ...
.
However, the one-handed backhand is still used effectively by a few players like Richard Gasquet
Richard Gabriel Cyr Gasquet (; born 18 June 1986) is a French professional tennis player. His career-high ATP singles ranking is world No. 7, attained on 9 July 2007. He has won a total of 15 singles titles on the ATP Tour. His best performances ...
, Stan Wawrinka
Stanislas "Stan" Wawrinka (; born 28 March 1985) is a Swiss professional tennis player. He reached a career-high Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) singles ranking of world No. 3 for the first time on 27 January 2014. His career highlight ...
, Dominic Thiem
Dominic Thiem (; born 3 September 1993) is an Austrian professional tennis player. He has been ranked as high as world No. 3 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals, which he first achieved in March 2020. He is the second-highest r ...
, Philipp Kohlschreiber
Philipp Eberhard Hermann Kohlschreiber (; born 16 October 1983) is a German former professional tennis player. The right-hander won eight singles and seven doubles titles on the ATP World Tour and made the quarterfinals at the 2012 Wimbledon Cha ...
, Stefanos Tsitsipas
Stefanos Tsitsipas ( gr, Στέφανος Τσιτσιπάς, ; born 12 August 1998) is a Greek professional tennis player. He has been ranked as high as world No. 3 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), which he first achieved on 9 ...
, Grigor Dimitrov
Grigor Dimitrov ( bg, Григор Димитров, ; born 16 May 1991) is a Bulgarian professional tennis player. He has been ranked as high as world No. 3 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), which he first achieved o ...
, Denis Shapovalov
Denis Viktorovich Shapovalov (born 15 April 1999) is a Canadian professional tennis player. He has been ranked as high as world No. 10 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) which he first achieved in September 2020. He is th ...
, Pablo Cuevas
Pablo Gabriel Cuevas Urroz (; born January 1, 1986) is an inactive Uruguayan professional tennis player. Cuevas won the 2008 French Open men's doubles title with Luis Horna.
He has won six singles titles and has a career-high singles ranking of ...
, Dušan Lajović, Dan Evans, Marco Cecchinato
Marco Cecchinato (; born 30 September 1992) is an Italian professional tennis player. He has a career-high ATP singles ranking of World No. 16 reached on 25 February 2019. On 29 April 2018, he won his first ATP World Tour title at the 2018 Hungar ...
, Leonardo Mayer
Leonardo Martín Mayer (; ''Mayer'' locally or , ; born May 15, 1987) is a former professional tennis player from Argentina. Mayer achieved a career-high singles ranking of world No. 21 in June 2015 and world No. 48 in doubles in January 2019. ...
, Marius Copil
Marius Copil (born 17 October 1990) is a Romanian professional tennis player playing on the ATP World Tour and ATP Challenger Tour. He is a member of the Romanian Davis Cup team. Copil is known for his extremely fast, powerful, and consistent ...
, Tommy Robredo
Tomás Robredo Garcés, known as Tommy Robredo (, ; born 1 May 1982), is a Spanish former professional tennis player. His career-high singles ranking was world No. 5, which he reached in August 2006 as a result of winning the Hamburg Masters ea ...
, Dudi Sela
David "Dudi" Sela ( he, דודי סלע; born 4 April 1985) is an Israeli professional tennis player. He reached a career-high singles ranking of World No. 29 in July 2009.
Sela won the French Open 2003 junior doubles title. Representing Israel ...
and Feliciano López
Feliciano López Díaz-Guerra (; born 20 September 1981) is a Spanish professional tennis player. He achieved his career-high singles ranking of world No. 12 in March 2015 and doubles ranking of world No. 9 in November 2016.In 2005, López was t ...
.
On the women's tour, Justine Henin
Justine Henin (; born 1 June 1982) is a Belgian former professional tennis player. She spent a total of 117 weeks as the world No. 1 and was the year-end No. 1 in 2003, 2006 and 2007. Henin, coming from a country with limited success in te ...
's backhand was considered on par with the men's, with John McEnroe saying "Justine Henin has the best single-handed backhand in both the men's and women's game. Henin's backhand is described as a deadly weapon which is spontaneous, accurate and powerful. She can hit drop shots with her deadly back hand."
Many different styles of backhand arose in the late 1980s, including Steffi Graf
Stefanie Maria Graf ( , ; born 14 June 1969) is a German former professional tennis player. Widely regarded as one of the greatest tennis players of all time, she was ranked world No. 1 for a record 377 weeks and won 22 major singles titles, ...
's exceptional one-handed sliced backhand, and Monica Seles
Monica Seles (; hu, Széles Mónika, ; sr, Моника Селеш, Monika Seleš; born December 2, 1973) is a retired professional tennis player who represented Yugoslavia and the United States. A former world No. 1, she won nine Grand Slam ...
' two-handed backhand, characterized by its rapidity of execution. WTA players who possessed one-handed backhands include Graf, Henin, Margaret Court
Margaret Court (''née'' Smith; born 16 July 1942), also known as Margaret Smith Court, is an Australian retired former world No. 1 tennis player and a Christian minister. Considered one of the greatest tennis players of all time, her 24 maj ...
, Evonne Goolagong
Evonne Fay Goolagong Cawley (née Goolagong; born 31 July 1951) is an Australian former world No. 1 tennis player. Goolagong was one of the world's leading players in the 1970s and early 1980s.
At the age of 19, she won the French Open sing ...
, Martina Navratilova
Martina Navratilova ( cs, Martina Navrátilová ; ; born October 18, 1956) is a Czech–American, former professional tennis player. Widely considered among the greatest tennis players of all time, Navratilova won 18 major singles titles, 31 maj ...
, Hana Mandlikova
Hana or HANA may refer to:
Places Europe
* Haná, an ethnic region in Moravia, Czech Republic
* Traianoupoli, Greece, called Hana during the Ottoman period
* Hana, Norway, a borough in the city of Sandnes, Norway
West Asia
* Hana, Iran, a cit ...
, Gabriela Sabatini
Gabriela Beatriz Sabatini (; born 16 May 1970) is an Argentine-Italian former professional tennis player. A former world No. 3 in both singles and doubles, Sabatini was one of the leading players from the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s, amassing 41 ...
, Conchita Martínez
"Conchita" Martínez Bernat (born 16 April 1972) is a Spanish former professional tennis player. She was the first Spaniard to win the women's singles title at The Championships, Wimbledon, Wimbledon, doing so in 1994 Wimbledon Championships ...
, Jana Novotná
Jana Novotná (; 2 October 1968 – 19 November 2017) was a Czech professional tennis player. She played a serve and volley game, an increasingly rare style of play among women during her career. Novotná won the women's singles title at Wimbled ...
, Eleni Daniilidou
Eleni Daniilidou ( el, Ελένη Δανιηλίδου; ; born 19 September 1982) is a Greek former tennis player from the island of Crete.
She is considered one of the best Greek tennis players of the Open Era, winning five singles titles and t ...
, Amélie Mauresmo
Amélie Simone Mauresmo (; born 5 July 1979) is a French former List of WTA number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 tennis player and tournament director. Mauresmo won two Grand Slam (tennis)#Tournaments, major singles titles at the ...
, Carla Suárez Navarro
Carla Suárez Navarro (; born 3 September 1988, in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria) is a Spanish former professional tennis player. A former top 10 singles player, she reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 6 on 29 February 2016, and a be ...
, Margarita Gasparyan
Margarita Melikovna Betova (née Gasparyan; rus, Маргари́та Ме́ликовна Гаспаря́н, , mərɡɐˈrʲitə ɡəspɐˈrʲan, Ru-Margarita Gasparyan.ogg, hy, Մարգարիտա Մելիքի Գասպարյան; born 1 Sept ...
, Roberta Vinci
Roberta Vinci (; born 18 February 1983) is an Italian professional padel and former tennis player. In doubles tennis, she won five major tournaments and reached the world No. 1 position. She also reached a career-high ranking of world No. 7 in ...
, Francesca Schiavone
Francesca Schiavone (; born 23 June 1980) is an Italian former professional tennis player. She turned professional in 1998 and won the 2010 French Open singles title, becoming the first Italian woman to win a Grand Slam event in singles. She wa ...
, Naomi Broady
Naomi Broady (; born 28 February 1990) is a British tennis player.
She has won one WTA doubles title, as well as nine singles titles and 20 doubles titles on the ITF Women's Circuit. On 7 March 2016, she reached her best singles ranking of wor ...
, and Diane Parry
Diane Parry (born 1 September 2002) is a French professional tennis player. On 24 October 2022, she peaked at No. 58 in the WTA singles rankings. In 2019, she became the junior world No. 1.
Career Junior years
Junior Grand Slam results - Single ...
.
The two-handed backhand began to gain popularity over the one-handed backhand in the 1990s (even though there had been great tennis champions whose backhand was two-handed, Chris Evert
Christine Marie Evert (born December 21, 1954), known as Chris Evert Lloyd from 1979 to 1987, is an American former world No. 1 tennis player. Evert won 18 major singles titles, including a record seven French Open titles and a joint-record ...
being an example). Some of the greatest two-handed backhands of the modern game include Serena Williams
Serena Jameka Williams (born September 26, 1981) is an American inactive professional tennis player. Considered among the greatest tennis players of all time, she was ranked world No. 1 in singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) for ...
, Martina Hingis
Martina Hingis (, sk, Martina Hingisová; 30 September 1980) is a Swiss former professional tennis player. Hingis is the first Swiss player, male or female, to win a major title and attain a world No. 1 ranking. She spent a total of 209 weeks a ...
, Venus Williams
Venus Ebony Starr Williams (born June 17, 1980) is an American professional tennis player. A former world No. 1 in both singles and doubles, Williams has won seven Grand Slam singles titles, five at Wimbledon and two at the US Open. She is ...
, Maria Sharapova
Maria Yuryevna Sharapova ( , ; rus, Мари́я Ю́рьевна Шара́пова, p=mɐˈrʲijə ʂɐˈrapəvə, a=Maria_sharapova.ogg; born 19 April 1987) is a Russian former List of WTA number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 ...
, Kim Clijsters
Kim Antonie Lode Clijsters (; born 8 June 1983) is a Belgian former professional tennis player. Clijsters reached the world No. 1 ranking in both singles and doubles, having held both rankings simultaneously in 2003. She won six major titles, ...
, Lindsay Davenport
Lindsay Ann Davenport Leach (born June 8, 1976) is an American former professional tennis player. Davenport was ranked singles world No. 1 for a total of 98 weeks, and was the year-end singles world No. 1 four times (1998, 2001, 2004, and 2005) ...
, Jelena Janković
Jelena Janković ( sr-Cyrl, Јелена Јанковић, ; born 28 February 1985) is a Serbian former tennis player. A former world No. 1, Janković reached the top ranking before her career-best major performance, a runner-up finish at the ...
, Li Na
Li Na (born 26 February 1982) is a Chinese former professional tennis player.
She achieved a career-high WTA ranking of world No. 2 on 17 February 2014. Over the course of her career, Li won nine WTA Tour singles titles including two Grand Sl ...
, Nicole Vaidisova
Nicole may refer to:
People
* Nicole (name)
* Nicole (American singer) (born 1958), a contestant in season 3 of the American ''The X Factor''
* Nicole (Chilean singer) (born 1977)
* Nicole (German singer) (born 1964), winner of the 1982 Eurovi ...
, Petra Kvitova
Petra ( ar, ٱلْبَتْرَاء, Al-Batrāʾ; grc, Πέτρα, "Rock", Nabataean: ), originally known to its inhabitants as Raqmu or Raqēmō, is an historic and archaeological city in southern Jordan. It is adjacent to the mountain of Jab ...
, Victoria Azarenka
Victória Fyódarauna Azárenka ( be, Вікторыя Фёдараўна Азаранка; Russian: Виктория Фёдоровна Азаренко; born 31 July 1989) is a Belarusian professional tennis player. Azarenka is a former wo ...
, and Jeļena Ostapenko
Jeļena Ostapenko (born 8 June 1997), also known as Aļona Ostapenko, is a Latvian professional tennis player. She has career-high WTA rankings of world No. 5 in singles, achieved on 19 March 2018, and world No. 9 in doubles, reached on 22 Augus ...
. The Williams sisters
The Williams sisters are two professional American tennis players: Venus Williams (b. 1980), a seven-time Grand Slam title winner (singles), and Serena Williams (b. 1981), twenty-three-time Grand Slam title winner (singles), both of whom were c ...
and Sharapova possess double-handed backhands that are considered the best and most powerful on tour. They can damage their opponents from any corner of the court with their backhands, being able to create angles that are much more difficult to create with a one-handed backhand. Other female players are known for their use of the slice backhand. Female players known for their proficiency with this shot include Billie Jean King
Billie Jean King (née Moffitt; born November 22, 1943) is an American former world No. 1 tennis player. King won 39 major titles: 12 in singles, 16 in women's doubles, and 11 in mixed doubles. King was a member of the victorious United States ...
, Margaret Court, Virginia Wade
Sarah Virginia Wade (born 10 July 1945) is a British former professional tennis player. She won three Major tennis singles championships and four major doubles championships, and is the only British woman in history to have won titles at all ...
, Martina Navratilova, Steffi Graf, Jana Novotná, Nathalie Tauziat
Nathalie Tauziat (born 17 October 1967) is a French former professional tennis player. She was the runner-up in women's singles at the 1998 Wimbledon Championships and runner-up in the women's doubles at the 2001 US Open partnering Kimberl ...
, Justine Henin, Amélie Mauresmo, Svetlana Kuznetsova
Svetlana Aleksandrovna Kuznetsova (born 27 June 1985) is a Russian inactive professional tennis player. She is a two-time major singles champion, winning the 2004 US Open and 2009 French Open, and finishing runner-up at two other majors. I ...
, Samantha Stosur
Samantha Jane Stosur ( ; born 30 March 1984) is an Australian professional tennis player. She is a former world No. 1 in doubles, a ranking which she first achieved on 6 February 2006 and held for 61 consecutive weeks. Also a former top ten s ...
, Francesca Schiavone, Sara Errani
Sara Errani (; born 29 April 1987) is an Italian professional tennis player. She is a former top five player in singles and former world No. 1 in doubles. With 9 singles titles and 27 doubles titles (including 5 Grand Slam doubles championship ...
, Roberta Vinci, Carla Suárez Navarro, Agnieszka Radwańska
Agnieszka Roma Radwańska (; born 6 March 1989) is a Polish former professional tennis player. She won 20 career singles WTA Tour titles, two doubles titles, and achieved a career-high singles ranking of world No. 2 on 9 July 2012. Her achievem ...
, Monica Niculescu
Monica Niculescu (born 25 September 1987) is a Romanian professional tennis player. She has been ranked by the Women's Tennis Association as high as 28 in singles and 11 in doubles. Niculescu has won several titles: three singles and ten double ...
, Caroline Garcia
Caroline Garcia (, born 16 October 1993) is a French professional tennis player. She has been ranked in the top 5 in both singles at world No. 4 and in doubles at world No. 2. Garcia is the 2022 WTA Finals singles champion.
She is also a two-ti ...
, Anastasija Sevastova
Anastasija Sevastova (born 13 April 1990) is an inactive professional tennis player from Latvia. She reached her career-high singles ranking of world No. 11 in October 2018, after reaching her first Premier Mandatory final at the China Open. She ...
, Ashleigh Barty
Ashleigh is the feminine form of the Old English name Ashley (given name), Ashley, which means "dweller near the ash tree forest". It is most common in the United States and United Kingdom.
Notable people
B
*Ashleigh Ball (born 1983), Canadian ...
and Bianca Andreescu
Bianca Vanessa Andreescu (; born June 16, 2000) is a Canadian professional tennis player. She has a career-high ranking of No. 4 in the world, and is the highest-ranked Canadian in the history of the Women's Tennis Association (WTA). Andreescu ...
.
Some of the greatest rivalries in tennis history are symbolized by two different backhand styles. These include the Evert–Navratilova rivalry
The Evert–Navratilova rivalry was a tennis rivalry in the 1970s and 1980s between Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova, widely regarded as two of the greatest tennis players of all time. It is considered to be one of the greatest rivalries in ...
of the 1980s with Martina Navratilova
Martina Navratilova ( cs, Martina Navrátilová ; ; born October 18, 1956) is a Czech–American, former professional tennis player. Widely considered among the greatest tennis players of all time, Navratilova won 18 major singles titles, 31 maj ...
's smooth one-handed sliced backhand versus Chris Evert
Christine Marie Evert (born December 21, 1954), known as Chris Evert Lloyd from 1979 to 1987, is an American former world No. 1 tennis player. Evert won 18 major singles titles, including a record seven French Open titles and a joint-record ...
's perfectly controlled two-handed backhand, Borg-McEnroe rivalry of the same period featuring Björn Borg
Björn Rune Borg (; born 6 June 1956) is a Swedish former world No. 1 tennis player. Between 1974 and 1981, he became the first man in the Open Era to win 11 Grand Slam singles titles with six at the French Open and five consecutively at Wimb ...
's two-handed backhand against John McEnroe
John Patrick McEnroe Jr. (born February 16, 1959) is an American former professional tennis player. He was known for his shot-making and volleying skills, his rivalries with Björn Borg and Jimmy Connors, and his confrontational on-court beha ...
's one-handed backhand, and the contemporary Federer-Nadal rivalry with Roger Federer
Roger Federer (; born 8 August 1981) is a Swiss former professional tennis player. He was ranked List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players#Weeks at No. 1, world No. 1 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 310 weeks, in ...
's effortless one-handed backhand with a lot of topspin or backspin, versus Rafael Nadal
Rafael Nadal Parera (, ; born 3 June 1986) is a Spanish professional tennis player. He is currently ranked world No. 2 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). He has been ranked List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis ...
's powerful, flatter two-handed backhand.
References
External links
Herald Tribune:One handed backhand revived
{{tennis box
Tennis shots
simple:Tennis#Shots