Behold the gorgeous and beloved one-handed backhand, however do it rapidly, as a result of time is working brief for tennis’s lustiest shot.
Sure, the shot that made Roger Federer well-known, the signature stroke of Rod Laver, a favourite of John McEnroe, and Pete Sampras and Martina Navratilova is quick going the best way of the picket rackets of the early Eighties, a relic that generates pleasure and nostalgia when a tennis aesthete lays eyes upon it, however one whose days could also be numbered.
Even those that play with a one-hander have their regrets. Simply ask Chris Eubanks, the late-blooming breakout star of American tennis this yr, whose one-handed backhand is as easy as they arrive. Eubanks mentioned he was about 13 years outdated when he fell laborious for the Federer backhand and determined to modify from the two-hander he had performed with since he first picked up a tennis racket.
“If I knew what I do know now, I most likely wouldn’t have,” Eubanks mentioned as he sat within the lounge of his Midtown Manhattan lodge within the days main as much as the U.S. Open.
Not so way back, the highest ranks of the game, particularly the lads’s recreation, had no scarcity of one-handed backhands. Along with Federer, Stan Wawrinka and Dominic Thiem gained Grand Slam titles with the shot. Among the many prime 10 males now, solely Stefanos Tsitsipas performs with a one-handed backhand. Tatiana Maria, No. 47 on the planet, is the highest-ranked lady to rely totally on her one-hander.
In additional fast phrases, it has been a largely horrible first week for one-handed backhands within the singles competitions on the U.S. Open. Because the second spherical wound down on Thursday afternoon, Wawrinka, who at 38 years outdated nonetheless rips his one-hander as laborious and as clear as anybody ever has, and Grigor Dimitrov had been the one one-handed backhand standard-bearers.
“I’m not hitting in addition to after I was successful Grand Slams, that’s for certain,” Wawrinka mentioned after beating Tomas Etcheverry of Argentina on Thursday in 4 units regardless of uncharacteristically hitting a handful of wayward backhands. However Tsitsipas, Thiem, Eubanks and Maria all misplaced within the first days of the match.
So did Lorenzo Musetti, the rising Italian whose silky one-handed backhand could make tennis cognoscenti drool. His stroke begins low, sweeps up and ahead virtually from knee stage, then flies up with a high-stretching end. Someplace alongside the best way, it makes straightforward, pure contact, and that fuzzy yellow ball flies off his racket. Musetti, 21, is meant to be a rival for Carlos Alcaraz, the 20-year-old world No. 1, through the subsequent decade. Musetti is ranked 18th, however he has but to make a Grand Slam quarterfinal.
In January, Tsitsipas confronted Novak Djokovic within the Australian Open last. Tsitsipas’s backhand is one other of the prettiest, smoothest strokes within the sport.
“My signature shot,” Tsitsipas mentioned earlier this week. “It form of defines me.”
But it took about three video games to determine Djokovic’s technique that night — pound ball after ball deep onto the Tsitsipas backhand. Djokovic gained in straight units.
And therein lies the nice contradiction of the one-handed backhand. How can one thing so stunning to look at, a stroke that’s so etched into tennis historical past, be so exploitable, and why have a dwindling handful of gamers remained so loyal to it?
The reply to the primary query, consultants say, is generally a perform of the growing function of energy and velocity within the sport. Even clay courts, traditionally the slowest floor, play laborious and quick nowadays. Gamers, who spend an increasing number of time within the health club, hold getting greater and stronger, and now hit forehands at greater than 100 miles per hour. Rackets and strings permit for a lot topspin that rally balls from even common gamers are bouncing as much as eye stage, making it laborious for even the 6-foot-7 Eubanks to get on prime of the ball on some backhands.
David Nainkin, who leads participant improvement for males for america Tennis Affiliation, has recommendation for any younger expertise he sees wielding a one-handed backhand — eliminate it. The 2-handed backhand is way extra steady, he mentioned, and the movement is shorter and less complicated.
“It’s virtually not possible to make it with a one-handed backhand now,” he mentioned. “I feel you’ll see much less of it possibly within the subsequent 10 years.”
Navratilova, who credit her mastery of a one-handed topspin backhand for her rise to close invincibility within the early Eighties (thanks, Renee Richards, her coach on the time) is rather less draconian, however not that a lot. Navratilova mentioned she would encourage younger gamers to maintain two fingers on the racket — more often than not.
“Work on the one-handed slice and volley,” she mentioned, although she added that attempting to make use of it to maintain up with fashionable tempo and spin seemingly wouldn’t work.
Given all that, the way to clarify the continuing devotion to the one-hander amongst a dwindling few?
In a phrase, Federer.
As a lot because the Swiss grasp has accomplished for the game, he could also be extra accountable for the present technology of one-handed backhand devotees — and their shortcomings — than anybody.
Why does Denis Shapovalov, the proficient 24-year-old Canadian who missed the U.S. Open with a knee damage, like to hit the one-hander with each ft off the bottom?
Federer.
Eubanks?
Federer.
Tsitsipas?
Federer. And Sampras.
Tsitsipas mentioned he remembers the day when he made the dedication to the one-handed backhand. He was 8 years outdated. The day prior to this, he had performed a two-hander, and his coach had made enjoyable of him for going backwards and forwards, asking Tsitsipas if he was going to commit. That day, Tsitsipas did.
Tsitsipas is aware of some great benefits of the two-handed backhand. Safer shot, simpler to regulate. However he isn’t about to give up the one-hander. He needs to be like Federer, in each method, and Sampras, too.
“I’m right here to form of not have it die,” Tsitsipas mentioned of the shot. “It form of sits in my coronary heart deeply as a result of I actually need to be like them.”
Eubanks, too discovered it irresistible, and nonetheless does. “I simply adore it,” he mentioned. “It simply appeared so good.”
He took one hand off the racket in the future at apply and tried not to concentrate to the coaches who might need been taking a look at him side-eyed, or making feedback to his father, who was his main coach. He informed himself this shot was going to work for him, and he was cussed about ensuring it did.
With the knowledge of age and a half-dozen years climbing his method into the highest 100, plus time spent working as an analyst for the Tennis Channel, Eubanks is acquainted with the shot’s drawbacks, particularly the timing it requires, however he isn’t about to modify. “It’s somewhat too far gone,” he mentioned. “Can’t fairly try this now, not and win.”
