How to hit a powerful one handed topspin backhand: by geoff willilams!

[GeoffWilliams]

You have to bend it, to take it back! It's the coil that always provides the power.

[bottle]

I like this. A person might not even know when he got his arm straight.

[GeoffWilliams]

Thanks for the pos. comment Bottle! There is nothing gradual about a fast shot!

[bottle]

This writer's observation about hip pushing out while arm still is going back seems first-rate and immediately stealable to me, although I have strong reservations about his western grip, prematurely straightened arm and wrist set in cast iron at contact.

Even Justine Henin shows repeatedly, on the Tennis Channel, how her hand moves at contact. Is this turning over from forearm, whole arm or both? I don't have to figure it out since I decided on continental grip for all backhand shots, but I'm likely to suspect that Justine's wrist also alters in some way.

I'm with Mark Papas at Revolutionary Tennis (website) on this issue. He says that wrist action is "the dirty little secret" of the 1htsbh. He also advocates a gradual straightening of arm usually up to contact but slightly beyond sometimes.

Regardless, I've already incorporated the first idea here-- a great way to add power. Not that one wants maximum power all of the time-- but everybody seems to understand that.

Nice exchanges here.

"You can hit a backhand with any grip you want." --Martina Navratilova

[GeoffWilliams]

Your pro is telling you to put more weight into the shot and hit out front more to make the transfer more effective. Look at Henin, Almagro, Kuerten, Gaudio, Gasquet, Puerta, etc. They all coil as far back as they can when they have time to do so! Look at this dynamic coil by the young Argentine 1 hander, Puerta: See how the bed faces the back fence? You never coil that far. Also, notice how he is chinning the deltoid. http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=...w=1408&bih=927

That's 53 lbs. It would depend on which lux you use. Alu power or alu pow. rough or alu spin is the best for the frame you have, not ace 18g, or bbo, or lux adrenaline, or timo! It's a little low tens for the size of the frame, but some can keep it in at that tens., as Nadal strings at 54lbs, but he only uses the sticks for 8 games, and the tens. does not drop much in that time. To combat the bad lux tens. loss, it helps to string the tensioning crosses higher, by quite a bit, than the mains. Ie, mains at 45lbs, and crosses at 53lbs.

The barb wire/gut will produce more power and have less tens. loss strung like that as well. Probably too much power for your taste if you like lux. Lux alu pow/barb wire also has good spin, better than lux alone.

[gzhpcu]

Thanks for the feedback Geoff. It is a video where I am just lazily rallying back and forth.

The point on the coil is taken, the Argentine pro I work out with once a week, has been telling me the same thing.

I have luxilon strings with about 24 kilos tension. You don't consider that a good setup?

[GeoffWilliams]

Still not sure what you mean. I don't watch baseball so the analogy is lost on me. When you say you point the racquet at the opponent (or target), which part of the racquet do you point with?




thanks for clarification. I think i get it now.



thanks.



To clarify, the hips shouldn't open up completely right? (as they do in open stance forehand and 2hbh)

The top of the hoop, points towards the net, at the start of the shot, but not too much, instead of pointing straight up at the sky, if you have time. The right hip opens up first, creating a "dragged" effect, and that's the main thing, to create more power, the hip has to open up first and "lead" the shot. They don't start in the open position, like many do in the open fh, but they do open up almost all the way. But the hip has to lead the shot.

Study my back hand in this article I wrote, near the end of the art., labelled: in the final I jumped on short back hands, and you will see the hip opening up first, with a dynamic coil and full follow through.

https://www.tennisplayer.net/article...the-age-of-50/

[GeoffWilliams]

I looked at the video. Thank you for asking me to look at it. The positive: you are consistent in your lull mode (easy rally mode.) You close off the hip well. Your shot is simple, less to go wrong. You step into the shot off the plant foot.

The negative: There is no mass or acceleration, probably due to the lull mode. The legs/knees/hip don't transfer your weight fully into the contact point. Your stick accel. is not top notch. Sometimes you stop your follow through too early. (Many of these can be attributed to playing at the easy pace, a lull pace.) The contact pt. is a little too far back. The coil is not dynamic enough. Due to the lack of a dynamic coil, there is no "voltage" on the shot. No real force or weight transferred. It's as if you are standing still while hitting rather than attacking the coil and intending to do some damage with your weight/feet transferring into the shot. No coil, no weight transfer, no voltage developed, no spin, no power, no forced errors or winners! But, plenty of shots that go into the court!


Watch Kuerten in the stroke archive for reference.

To improve: coil more dynamically, and transfer more weight forward, and attack the shot with your feet forward more, to attain mph./voltage/pressure.

I see you have a babolat, apd cortex. That stick is muted, compared to the apd non cortex, that Nadal uses. (Paint job.) It also is light, about 334g total mass once, strung (15g), gripped, etc. It is a good stick to add silicone into the handle butt, and lead at the top 10-2 oclock. Try stringing it with barb wire mains/gut crosses, for most spin/power ratio. It's a 16 x 19, open string pattern, which allows for more spin, less control, than an 18 x 20. Of course, control is related to how good the string job is, how suited the mass/bal. is to your own style, and how related the string is to that style!

[gzhpcu]

Geoff,
I am hitting a couple of backhand topspin shots in this sequence.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yuaXr5843oQ

Am I doing something wrong?

[spacediver]

Inverted: Imagine Reggie Jackson at the plate, waving his bat, getting ready to hit a home run off a fast ball. He points (inverts) the bat towards the pitcher, a little, just like most invert their forehands. Only the top players invert their back hands.

Still not sure what you mean. I don't watch baseball so the analogy is lost on me. When you say you point the racquet at the opponent (or target), which part of the racquet do you point with?

Pronation: Closing off the forearm, during the back swing, and then rotating and pronating it, (backwards) so it faces the sky, on the follow through!

thanks for clarification. I think i get it now.

The hitting foot: Plant foot is the foot you put down, on the run, the rear foot, and the hitting foot is the foot you use to step into the shot with.

thanks.

The hips are closed during the coil, and open up first to create a "dragged" effect, like throwing a frisbee back handed, or a a karate chop back handed. The hips opening up first, while the stick is still moving backwards in a U turn, creates a lot of extra voltage!

To clarify, the hips shouldn't open up completely right? (as they do in open stance forehand and 2hbh)

[GeoffWilliams]

The article is hard to follow and little confusing. A video paints a millions words and saves an awful lot of text. Post a video, Geoff. Any backhand travelling that fast would be nice to see.

Ok. I will take some with my hd camera. There is also a video of me hitting a back hand winner, in the May issue,: 4.5 over 50 years old article, on the first page. (Although I don't invert the shot first.) This back hand was hit off a short ball, to the fh corner, against a local open player who plays a lot of tournys, and hits fh off both sides. The ball travels right past the camera John is holding! It's a cool shot. John said, "We can use that one in the article.", right after I hit it right past his camera a few feet away! It's the shot down on the bottom of the page.

https://www.tennisplayer.net/article...the-age-of-50/

Also, here is my article on how to hit a powerful one handed back hand over head: https://www.tennisplayer.net/article...hand-overhead/

[GeoffWilliams]

I don't understand what you mean by inverted.

Also, confused about pronation here. Are you saying you should pronate the elbow during windup and then supinate during/after contact?




Which one is the hitting foot?




Are you saying we should open up our hips early in the shot? I always thought hips should remain closed during this stroke.

Inverted: Imagine Reggie Jackson at the plate, waving his bat, getting ready to hit a home run off a fast ball. He points (inverts) the bat towards the pitcher, a little, just like most invert their forehands. Only the top players invert their back hands.

Pronation: Closing off the forearm, during the back swing, and then rotating and pronating it, (backwards) so it faces the sky, on the follow through!

The hitting foot: Plant foot is the foot you put down, on the run, the rear foot, and the hitting foot is the foot you use to step into the shot with.

The hips are closed during the coil, and open up first to create a "dragged" effect, like throwing a frisbee back handed, or a a karate chop back handed. The hips opening up first, while the stick is still moving backwards in a U turn, creates a lot of extra voltage!

[stotty]

The article is hard to follow and little confusing. A video paints a millions words and saves an awful lot of text. Post a video, Geoff. Any backhand travelling that fast would be nice to see.

[spacediver]

To achieve max. potential coil, the shot should also be inverted, before take back, like a batter at the plate, inverts his bat while waiting for the pitch to arrive, and pronated, after the shot contact point, to achieve max follow through mph. Pronated, meaning, the forearm turns over, so that it faces the sky, after contact, and follow through is completed!

I don't understand what you mean by inverted.

Also, confused about pronation here. Are you saying you should pronate the elbow during windup and then supinate during/after contact?

A common mistake made, even by Fed, is raising the hitting foot heel up in the air, during and after contact.

Which one is the hitting foot?

The hips open up early, and the shot is "dragged", like throwing a frisbee, or a back handed karate chop! It's like a skier, skiing moguls, and not using his hips to turn,but using his knees to turn with. The knees turn out first, the hip follows, and the rest of the shot is dragged behind, with the shoulder at full lock down, from the deltoid.

Are you saying we should open up our hips early in the shot? I always thought hips should remain closed during this stroke.

[bowt]

lol