Photo Lesson: The Basic One-Handed Backhand
Learning this stroke properly will save your game--and more importantly, your arm--a lot of trouble, and aside from adding more power and sometimes more topspin, you'll be able to keep using essentially the same swing as you improve from the beginner through the advanced levels.
Photo Tour of the One-Handed Backhand Grips
The choice of which one-handed backhand grip to use has a profound effect on your ability to hit particular spins and to meet the ball comfortably at a given height. Even if you like your current grip, knowing the other grips and their advantages and limitations will help you give opponents the type of ball they least like to hit, and you might also develop a new one-handed backhand weapon by using a different grip for a particular stroke.
Photo Study of the Points of Contact for Four One-Handed Backhand Styles
This visual and textual comparison will help you experiement with using different grips and their accompanying strokes.
Photo Lesson: The One-Handed Backhand Sidespin Slice
Every tennis player should have a slice backhand. It's the only way to execute several important offensive and defensive tactics, and for one-handers, it's the best way to handle balls that are too high or low for topspin. The sidespin in this lesson is optional; it makes the shot a little trickier both to learn and for your opponent to handle, but you can easily ignore it and learn the straight backspin variation here.
Photo Lesson: The One-Handed Backhand Topspin Lob
Topspin lobs are difficult enough to execute that, even though they're sure winners once they clear an opponent who's at the net and very effective in baseline rallies too, most of the top pros don't feel entirely confident hitting them. The one-handed backhand topspin lob is the most difficult of all, but while you're working on mastering it, you'll improve your topspin production in general, so it's a project that will repay your effort right from the start.
Photo Study of Richard Gasquet's One-Handed Backhand
Richard Gasquet has one of the all-time greatest one-handed topspin backhands. He hits it with incredible power, spin, and accuracy.
Photo Study of Amelie Mauresmo's One-Handed Backhand
If you're looking for a smooth, arm-friendly one-handed backhand with heavy topspin, Amelie Mauresmo provides a nearly perfect example.
One-Handed Backhand On the Rise: Video and Analysis
One great way to reduce a one-handed backhand's vulnerability to high balls is to hit the ball on the rise, before it gets too high. Learning this technique will also give you several tactical advantages that are explained in this lesson.
Backhand FAQ
Here are answers to the most common and important questions about backhands.
Backhand Repair
If something isn't working quite right with your backhand, you'll probably find a specific fix for it here.
