Classic Strokes Tennis Lessons

As I find interesting sources of video showing good technique, I will add links on this page for also viewing the videos.

The first examples are of some great one-handed backhands from Justine Henin, Roger Federer, and Richard Gasquet.

The Henin backhand example shows a full 90-degree turn from an equally weighted forward ready position (not an open stance), an 1/8 of a turn grip change from her forehand grip, actively using her left hand to pull the racquet back, and then a full turn forward to complete this very effective and powerful backhand.  By the way, about half of Classic Strokes female clients transition to a very consistent and reliable one-handed backhand which a lot of clients find more comfortable than the two-handed backhand that is almost always taught to female clients by other instructors.

The Federer backhand also shows a full 90-degree turn, perfect balance, and also actively using the left hand to pull back the racquet.  Although Federer uses a bit more of a "loop" resulting in a higher initial racquet position at the end of the backswing than what is taught by Classic Strokes, you will see that he then immediately drops the racquet into the waist high position that we teach so that he can then use the much stronger muscles in his core to make a full turn forward for controlling the stroke and generating power.

Gasquet's backhand is similar to Federer's but is also notable for the full turn he makes forward and slightly upward stroke angle to generate huge amounts of topspin.  From these examples, you can see that a one-handed backhand can generate just as much topspin as a typical two-handed backhand but is also more versatile as it can also be used to hit "slice" shots as well.