after hundreds of dollars on coaching, and countless hours watching videos and doing analysis, this is the single video that fixed my back hand!! I seriously want to know where you teach so I can come in person as your videos makes the most sense for someone like me who has to understand the physics of how things work! The lightbulb moment is when you said the back hand rotation is not like the forehand where the none dominant shoulder points forward at contact! Me trying to over rotate was the main cause of the miss-hits!
Seriously the BEST explanation I've found. You did right to point out that this is NOT like your forehand shot. Most of us learned first to forehand, so its natural to be trying to use similar technique. Explaining it like you did was super helpful, including making clear that we're not expecting any kind of lag in this shot, it's strictly a power from rotation.
I watched your video and then put your advice into action hitting against my wife today. I was more consistent and had more power and accuracy. Dozens of instructors, over the years, have told me the two-handed backhand was just like a left handed forehand. Thanks for explaining the differences. I have a league match tomorrow against tough opponents, and I’m looking forward to implementing your advice during that match.
yup I used to do this too! was taking the tip “hit more lefty fh for a better 2hbh” too literally. eventually found that there are many elements of the fh that don’t fit in the 2hbh (like “pat the dog” and being more open at contact)
The ambidextrous demonstrations made everything so clear. I was always wondering why my right elbow was jammed into my side and why I felt like I was bunting all the time. Thank you very much, sir.
I'm understanding the shoulder lean and racquet drop after rotation now. Thanks for tips on the following through and left foot placement after the swing. I usually feel like I'm going to fall after a hard swing but this stabilizes the stance a lot.
I've been trying to mimic Djokovic's backhand, but I'm one of those people who is doing it wrong. I did feel my elbow jam up and while I was holding my racket up like Djokovic, my dominant shoulder wasn't dipping low enough. So I tried this today and it improved/fixed my 2HB, giving me a little more power... I was hitting 2-3 ft behind the baseline, with the intention of getting my balls into into No Man's Land. Before, I was hitting the ball with mixed results, getting some into the service box areas, some into no man's land, and moon balls to the fence. But today, I was able to get the ball a lot more consistently into no man's land and much less into the service box areas. I feel my elbow jamming less and my upper body rotating more.... Thank you for another brilliant video!!!
Best explanation and yes two hander is not non-dominant forehand and if u treat it such, you will have wrist and back pain issues as u try to generate power. A backhand is a backhand non dominant arm ( Right for a lefty and left for righty) does have a role to play in it.
Please do a video tutorial about the jumping 2 handed backhand like the one Safin used to do, I really need to improve on my jumping backhand like aggassi and Safin to handle those high balls in the backhand area
great Video! Agree100% the 2HBH s NOT a lefty FH - that advice has sunk American tennis the past 25 years. Suggestion - Please do a video on the 2HBH approach shot. I cannot find any videos on that and since I learned the 2HBH later in life, it does not come naturally. Thanks
Exactly the lesson I needed today, have been struggling to "find" my 2hbh and other ytube coaches have been promoting this idea of a non-dominant one handed forehand but when I practice that on the wall it does not feel intuitive. Bookmarking this video, thanks coach Nik!👍
personally, my 2hbh improved after gradually shifting dominance to the non-dominant hand. you can see this in many pros who have great 2hbh's -power, spin, directional control. but you can also see many great 2hbh like nik describes. try both, see what benefits you more :)
my tennis instructor always correct me , regarding going down with the front shoulder maybe i go down during the first phase of unit turn and approaching the ball but i didn't go up as you did in the contact phase.
Great stuff. 0:53 you said straightening (or levelling) the leaned shoulders "will naturally drop." In slow motions, however, the left shoulder stays higher than the right shoulder even at the time of the contact. When the drop happened 1:08 , the left shoulder is still clearly higher. I don't think it was "straightened." Rather, the drop happens while the left shoulder remains high. So the drop motion has to be caused by something else, which I suspect is the preparation for the hip rotation. Do you agree or disagree? Besides, I agree with the main point of the video. If we set up the racket in backhand like forehand, the angle between the torso and the racket face would be very different, and you can't make proper contact.
Hi Nick, many thanks for your videos, your approach of explaining and analysing things is indeed unique - hats off. One question: do we have any evidence that, for a right-handed person for example, a two-handed backhand is stronger than hitting a forehand with his left hand? (but holding the racket as if he was going to hit a two-handed backhand - so no need to worry about switching grips). A fair comparison in my opinion is to try to compare your normal backhand with your normal forehand but with different grip (and not with a forehand with your left hand - here I assume that with practice, just like Nadal, and ignoring grips, one can have two similar forehands).
I am trying to learn a lefty forehand since about ten years. I always played a single-handed topspin backhand. I never liked a both-handed backhand. The idea with a lefty forehand was at least to be able to attack shorter balls. It is very risky to attack short balls with a single-handed backhand. Especially down the line is difficult with a single-handed backhand.
Could you explain when you are supposed to start rotating on the backhand? Why do we need to delay the rotation? Is it to make up for the fact that our hand would be further back than if we were doing a wrist lag on the forehand?
It seems like your elbows are close to your body as the racket is coming around. I always thought those elbows should be away from the body? Please explain if you would.
Hi coach, do you know why most pro don't use a "dog pat" motion in their backhand takeback? (only see Nadal does this) With the racquet on edge at takeback, we can't generate much topspin compared with closing racquet to face the ground.
This lesson is so good, resolving my puzzles. Only that Djokovic's style with the racket backswing from high to low movement feels very unnatural to me. Nadal and Sinner's backhand style is a better fit to me: it is just a simple, leveled backswing with no or very little high positioning. can you comment a bit on this?
Hey Nikola, on a two-handed backhand your dominant arm is barely doing anything because the take back is initiated by your shoulder turn (your backhand stroke). The one-handed backhand, on the other hand, uses the arm more, especially recreational players (I'm a 3.5, probably a weak 4.0 if improve my backhand). I think that's the reason why I developed tennis elbow because of poor technique on a one-handed backhand, too arm(y), in combination with poor footwork. I decided to switch to a two-handed backhand. My question is how many balls does one need to hit to develop a shot, e.g., a two-handed backhand? I think I played my last match this year, it is getting colder. The reason I ask you this is because I am planning to compete in a tournament next year, just a bucket list nothing more.
Hey Ramon, just giving my experience. To improve my serve I practice serving about 400 serves every week. The whole summer. So it really takes a while unless you spend money on a great instructor and then maybe you can fix your shot in a much shorter time. But to train the eyes and brain and muscles takes a long time
You realize how many well known coaches teach this short take-back in SE-FL? And I am not saying it’s the right way. In my opinion, Andre Agassi has one of the best (if not Theee best) 2HBH Thanks for the video.
Two things: 1) is that YOU crushing left-handed forehands??? 2) On the two-hander, is each arm doing equal work, or is one arm "stronger" in the stroke than the other? Asking for a friend, as you know I have a one-hander :)
My 2 handed backhand is my biggest weapon. As I'm 6"5, my movement is my weakest point, so I try to implement the open stance in situations where I have less time, like djokovic does sometimes as well. Do you have any tips for generating power and maintaining a relaxed two handed swing while doing this open stance?
Du bist so gut du Sau hahahahha entschuldige meine Ausdrucksweise, aber sie trifft es auf den Punkt hahahah Ich ertappe mich erneut, wie du das, was ich lehre, erklärst. Nur das ich es nie im Detail erklären, sondern nur erfühlen konnte!!! Ganz stark!!
How would you rank fogninis backhand ? His stroke is relatively compact compared to the swing path of the all time greats but it’s very effective nonetheless
Nadal I think has one of the most effective backhands. In my experience in playing tennis, the majority of players have a harder time returning topspin than a more flat backhand.
You obviously can not turn your left shoulder more forward because then the right hand would no longer be holding the racquet. But that is not a reason to make your right arm dominate the shot.
How about JIMMY CONNORS backhand sir? Jimmy Connors backhand was simple powerful and he had better technique THAN AGASSI ever had! Plus he set it up better!
You says two hbh is not similar to a 1 forehand makes with non dominant hand but there are a lot of simples of this; ie th-cam.com/video/xn-Bdd74F5c/w-d-xo.html
Related Video 👉 th-cam.com/video/ELEfNZrg-qw/w-d-xo.html
Nikola, can u add some space to the end of the videos pls, coz it stops to fast. On this video u give me one second to see racket back =)
You mean the slowmo part?
@@IntuitiveTennis I mean 8:07
@@ProfessorBoooty I’ll make endscreen thanks for the feedback
Hello Nick Thank you for your explanation my tennis is improved since I watch your videos you are very good teacher thankful for all Pasquale 👍💪💪💪
after hundreds of dollars on coaching, and countless hours watching videos and doing analysis, this is the single video that fixed my back hand!! I seriously want to know where you teach so I can come in person as your videos makes the most sense for someone like me who has to understand the physics of how things work! The lightbulb moment is when you said the back hand rotation is not like the forehand where the none dominant shoulder points forward at contact! Me trying to over rotate was the main cause of the miss-hits!
don't copy this slot entry...
Seriously the BEST explanation I've found. You did right to point out that this is NOT like your forehand shot. Most of us learned first to forehand, so its natural to be trying to use similar technique. Explaining it like you did was super helpful, including making clear that we're not expecting any kind of lag in this shot, it's strictly a power from rotation.
I watched your video and then put your advice into action hitting against my wife today. I was more consistent and had more power and accuracy. Dozens of instructors, over the years, have told me the two-handed backhand was just like a left handed forehand. Thanks for explaining the differences. I have a league match tomorrow against tough opponents, and I’m looking forward to implementing your advice during that match.
yup I used to do this too! was taking the tip “hit more lefty fh for a better 2hbh” too literally. eventually found that there are many elements of the fh that don’t fit in the 2hbh (like “pat the dog” and being more open at contact)
The ambidextrous demonstrations made everything so clear. I was always wondering why my right elbow was jammed into my side and why I felt like I was bunting all the time. Thank you very much, sir.
I'm understanding the shoulder lean and racquet drop after rotation now. Thanks for tips on the following through and left foot placement after the swing. I usually feel like I'm going to fall after a hard swing but this stabilizes the stance a lot.
I've been trying to mimic Djokovic's backhand, but I'm one of those people who is doing it wrong. I did feel my elbow jam up and while I was holding my racket up like Djokovic, my dominant shoulder wasn't dipping low enough. So I tried this today and it improved/fixed my 2HB, giving me a little more power... I was hitting 2-3 ft behind the baseline, with the intention of getting my balls into into No Man's Land. Before, I was hitting the ball with mixed results, getting some into the service box areas, some into no man's land, and moon balls to the fence. But today, I was able to get the ball a lot more consistently into no man's land and much less into the service box areas. I feel my elbow jamming less and my upper body rotating more.... Thank you for another brilliant video!!!
🙏🙏
Best explanation and yes two hander is not non-dominant forehand and if u treat it such, you will have wrist and back pain issues as u try to generate power. A backhand is a backhand non dominant arm ( Right for a lefty and left for righty) does have a role to play in it.
Please do a video tutorial about the jumping 2 handed backhand like the one Safin used to do,
I really need to improve on my jumping backhand like aggassi and Safin to handle those high balls in the backhand area
Will Do
Yes its helpful, my coach suggested me to not take right foot out and lock the back hand , but that shoulder bend is good !! So helpful !
This is the best explenation of 2h backhand and forehand difference, thank you!
EXCELLENT INSTRUCTION NICK! YOU MAKE IT EASY FOR US CLUB PLAYERS TO UNDERSTAND! 👏👏👏👏👍👍👍👍🎾🎾🎾🎾🎾
great Video! Agree100% the 2HBH s NOT a lefty FH - that advice has sunk American tennis the past 25 years. Suggestion - Please do a video on the 2HBH approach shot. I cannot find any videos on that and since I learned the 2HBH later in life, it does not come naturally. Thanks
Great explanation. The shoulder dip explanation was particularly helpful to me.
Thank you
You teach very well. I've learned a lot. Thank you.
that's the instruction i was waiting for my twohanded backhand
Exactly the lesson I needed today, have been struggling to "find" my 2hbh and other ytube coaches have been promoting this idea of a non-dominant one handed forehand but when I practice that on the wall it does not feel intuitive. Bookmarking this video, thanks coach Nik!👍
personally, my 2hbh improved after gradually shifting dominance to the non-dominant hand. you can see this in many pros who have great 2hbh's -power, spin, directional control. but you can also see many great 2hbh like nik describes.
try both, see what benefits you more :)
Nugget of gold!
my tennis instructor always correct me , regarding going down with the front shoulder maybe i go down during the first phase of unit turn and approaching the ball but i didn't go up as you did in the contact phase.
Simply brilliant observations Nick 🌟👍
Hello! I am a two-handed player so I strongly wished you can produce more videos on two-handed lessons. Thank you Nick！
Will do
Very Nice video.. I'm from Brazil and just started to learn how to play tennis.. I will watch more videos to get more tips 👊😉
This is a great video and explanation that has helped my backhand significantly. Thank you!!
My pleasure 🙏
Very clear and helpfull( and simplifies the differences of the two shots perfect) Bedst from Denmark.
Thank you Olaf
Just superb!
Great stuff. 0:53 you said straightening (or levelling) the leaned shoulders "will naturally drop." In slow motions, however, the left shoulder stays higher than the right shoulder even at the time of the contact. When the drop happened 1:08 , the left shoulder is still clearly higher. I don't think it was "straightened." Rather, the drop happens while the left shoulder remains high. So the drop motion has to be caused by something else, which I suspect is the preparation for the hip rotation. Do you agree or disagree? Besides, I agree with the main point of the video. If we set up the racket in backhand like forehand, the angle between the torso and the racket face would be very different, and you can't make proper contact.
Perfect Video! Thank you and greetings from Germany 🇩🇪
Thank you so much! :)
Nik, I want to ask you if you can do a video on approach forehand shot or how to kill short balls
Sure will
Awesome coaching! Priceless insight👍 can u do the same for the one hand backhand? Thanks!
Thanks!! Great video every time 🙌, cannot wait next videos!
Learn something always watching your awesome instruction Nik! 👏👏👏👍👍👍🎾🎾🎾
Great video Nick. Do you have one on open stance double handed backhands, the pros and cons, the technical aspect to hitting it etc.
th-cam.com/video/S9xsR_BzeaE/w-d-xo.html
Thanks Nick, that's fantastic 🙂
Hi Nick, many thanks for your videos, your approach of explaining and analysing things is indeed unique - hats off. One question: do we have any evidence that, for a right-handed person for example, a two-handed backhand is stronger than hitting a forehand with his left hand? (but holding the racket as if he was going to hit a two-handed backhand - so no need to worry about switching grips). A fair comparison in my opinion is to try to compare your normal backhand with your normal forehand but with different grip (and not with a forehand with your left hand - here I assume that with practice, just like Nadal, and ignoring grips, one can have two similar forehands).
Thank you!
A great video Nick,and you have a nice left handed forehand! 😁
Thanks! 😃
Awesome! Very timely Nick!
🙌🙌
Best tips forever, breaking some popular miths👍🏼😉
Super video ! 😂👌👌👌👌
Ali ne razumijem koja ruka vodi pokret preko ramena ? Ljeva ili desna preko ramena ?
I am trying to learn a lefty forehand since about ten years. I always played a single-handed topspin backhand. I never liked a both-handed backhand. The idea with a lefty forehand was at least to be able to attack shorter balls. It is very risky to attack short balls with a single-handed backhand. Especially down the line is difficult with a single-handed backhand.
Could you explain when you are supposed to start rotating on the backhand?
Why do we need to delay the rotation? Is it to make up for the fact that our hand would be further back than if we were doing a wrist lag on the forehand?
Best coach on youtube hands down
I second that!! 👍👏
i third that! nik adds a lot to my understanding of strokes.
Very important, thank you
💯
What would you say is the ideal racquet SW for a person using a two handed backhand???
quick question on top tennis, zverev says he thinks of it as a lefty forehand. Can you explain this?
It seems like your elbows are close to your body as the racket is coming around. I always thought those elbows should be away from the body? Please explain if you would.
Hi coach, do you know why most pro don't use a "dog pat" motion in their backhand takeback? (only see Nadal does this) With the racquet on edge at takeback, we can't generate much topspin compared with closing racquet to face the ground.
Where in Florida do you teach, I would like to take lessons from you if possible.
This lesson is so good, resolving my puzzles. Only that Djokovic's style with the racket backswing from high to low movement feels very unnatural to me. Nadal and Sinner's backhand style is a better fit to me: it is just a simple, leveled backswing with no or very little high positioning. can you comment a bit on this?
watching several pros, i see a variety of 2hbh takebacks eg. vertical looping, fognini is fairly level takeback, and certainly a great 2hbh.
Hey Nikola, on a two-handed backhand your dominant arm is barely doing anything because the take back is initiated by your shoulder turn (your backhand stroke). The one-handed backhand, on the other hand, uses the arm more, especially recreational players (I'm a 3.5, probably a weak 4.0 if improve my backhand). I think that's the reason why I developed tennis elbow because of poor technique on a one-handed backhand, too arm(y), in combination with poor footwork. I decided to switch to a two-handed backhand. My question is how many balls does one need to hit to develop a shot, e.g., a two-handed backhand? I think I played my last match this year, it is getting colder. The reason I ask you this is because I am planning to compete in a tournament next year, just a bucket list nothing more.
Hey Ramon, just giving my experience. To improve my serve I practice serving about 400 serves every week. The whole summer. So it really takes a while unless you spend money on a great instructor and then maybe you can fix your shot in a much shorter time. But to train the eyes and brain and muscles takes a long time
@@K4R3N Thank you for inspiring, I just started training, this will motivate me
@@x12624 go for it man, if you're near Chicago I'll hit with you
Impressive lefty forehand!
Wow, amazing breakdown. Love this channel!! So would you recommend against incorporating lefty forehand drill to get feel on your backhand?
In that context yes, but generally it’s ok to develop the left side of body by hitting forehands
Thx tennis god
Serious gems!!
Is there a deliberate wrist drop in reverse strike? i do it consciously i bend my right hand down
Is racquet drop natural or do you have to force shoulder to tilt?
Wow, thank you so much for the useful video!!
I was too helpful.
I think Jannik Sinner's backhand is extremely good as well.
Very good
Absolutely fantastic
Great!!!
You realize how many well known coaches teach this short take-back in SE-FL? And I am not saying it’s the right way. In my opinion, Andre Agassi has one of the best (if not Theee best) 2HBH
Thanks for the video.
Two things: 1) is that YOU crushing left-handed forehands??? 2) On the two-hander, is each arm doing equal work, or is one arm "stronger" in the stroke than the other? Asking for a friend, as you know I have a one-hander :)
1) 🤫
2) th-cam.com/video/ELEfNZrg-qw/w-d-xo.html
My 2 handed backhand is my biggest weapon. As I'm 6"5, my movement is my weakest point, so I try to implement the open stance in situations where I have less time, like djokovic does sometimes as well. Do you have any tips for generating power and maintaining a relaxed two handed swing while doing this open stance?
I made a video a while back on that topic 👉 th-cam.com/video/S9xsR_BzeaE/w-d-xo.html
Du bist so gut du Sau hahahahha entschuldige meine Ausdrucksweise, aber sie trifft es auf den Punkt hahahah Ich ertappe mich erneut, wie du das, was ich lehre, erklärst. Nur das ich es nie im Detail erklären, sondern nur erfühlen konnte!!! Ganz stark!!
🙏🙏 Danke Markus du Sau 😂😂🎾🎾
@@IntuitiveTennis hahahaha ist das geil
zwei schweine 😂😂🎾🎾
hahaaha
How would you rank fogninis backhand ? His stroke is relatively compact compared to the swing path of the all time greats but it’s very effective nonetheless
Fognini is an interesting player. Great timing and uses pace well. Very strong/fast too
I am confused if I am a right handed and hitting double backhand, which shoulder is my non-dominated shoulder? please advise
Left shoulder
Nadal I think has one of the most effective backhands. In my experience in playing tennis, the majority of players have a harder time returning topspin than a more flat backhand.
You obviously can not turn your left shoulder more forward because then the right hand would no longer be holding the racquet. But that is not a reason to make your right arm dominate the shot.
I think there is one scenario the setup could work is when you're right-handed but left-footed.
Hey this video was on my birthday
Happy belated
Best😃
True, i get your point.. How was that again? Haha!😁
As in a left-handed Golfing I think
you demo late slot entry... don't go forward while racket head is still high...
Is that a Slinger bag?
Why are there crumbs all over the court
Oddly enough, I'm at a point in my game where the form of my thbh looks better than my forehand, and more consistent. Sigh..
How about JIMMY CONNORS backhand sir? Jimmy Connors backhand was simple powerful and he had better technique THAN AGASSI ever had! Plus he set it up better!
Hey Nik. Fix your hashtags...currently says “#onehandedbackhand”
Thanks Ben
How is that kid in the examples hitting a righthanded backhand but a lefthanded forehand all the time xd
I play mine like a cricket 🏏 shot 🤣
Same
You says two hbh is not similar to a 1 forehand makes with non dominant hand but there are a lot of simples of this; ie th-cam.com/video/xn-Bdd74F5c/w-d-xo.html
:)
I'd rather have a one-hand backhand. A fluid two-hand backhand is unlikely due to the biomechanical limits of the motion.
Your explanation is very confusing