I just stay loose and let both hands rip through with equal effort. Given both arms are connected to the racket I don't think it's possible to be much more dominant with one arm over the other. Maybe a little lol
My 2hander was very right arm dominant... very similar to Courier's. Messed up grip and very little torso rotation (i played baseball as well as a teenager so maybe no coincidence). i guess i played it because i was too weak for a one hander as a kid. And Chang and Agassi, then Courier were my idols. When i switched to the Pure Drive racket, it got worse: my already poor control got worse, but my slice improved. At some point my grip started to morph into an overlapping grip, with the left hand just along for the ride. Also, i had a wrist injury (ulnar discus tear) that clearly showed i needed to make changes. I switched to a one hander and was quite surprised by the results. Those balls that would give me the most trouble before suddenly became a lot easier to handle while the opposite was true for the balls that i had handled relatively well with 2 hands (handling shots above the shoulder, dealing with spin and pace). Felt weird to have my game totally changed because suddenly i had to rethink my entire approach to the game, but it was also freeing in some ways.
I’m in a similar spot to where you were. Former baseball player (lefty but swung righty) so my 2H backhand always feels unnatural and my non-dominant arm gets sore. Have tried switching to one handers and it’s ok but can’t give up on the 2HBH bc it’s so much more reliable / versatile. So if I’m taking the tips from this video and thinking less about things, I’d grip the racquet like a baseball bat and just let it fly… hopefully not to the back fence 😂 I think I do need to think less and stress less bc a tightened grip is likely leading to the arm soreness, but making the 2HBH feel natural after years of baseball will take a long time I’m afraid.
Update on this switch: I still do the 1.5 handed backhand and it's working well. Most consistent I've ever been. Still tweaking things and figuring out how to put sharper topspin and deal with high balls, but overall it's been a very positive change.
This is very interesting and is quite different than everything I’ve been taught. I struggle with my two hander so much so that I tried one hand for a while. Always on my two hander, I am told to use my left hand and stop trying to control it with my right and yes I am a righty. This video is great and maybe I just need to stop thinking so much.
great stuff! Only thing I would have loved to see you add to this video would have been the Nadal backhand which I think he hits with pretty much even distribution on both hands, and I think Alcaraz has a similar situation. BTW my theory on the Nadal backhand is that it is what is left from him actually being right-handed, so basically as a child he was playing by gripping the racket with the right hand in the middle of the grip, for lack of strength, then adding the left hand below it at the base of the grip, resulting in a double-handed lefty forehand. As he grew stronger he got rid of the double-handed forehand so it became his lefty forehand, but the righty forehand from his childhood turned into a lefty two-handed backhand. What do you think about this theory? In the fifties and sixties there was an Italian player Beppe Merlo (from the same region as Sinner, semifinalist at Roland Garros in 1955 and 1956) that came from table tennis (a bit like Fred Perry) and thus started to play tennis holding the racket on the forehand with a short grip (with the right hand way up un the grip) and never changed, his backhand was played like a lefty double handed forehand, so basically it is a similar situation as I had described for Nadal, but instead of taking the right hand from the righty-backhand he kept both hands on that stroke, on the righty forehand Beppe Merlo never had two hands on the racket like Nadal as a child.
im around an 8 utr and a coach, with decent technique except maybe my right two-hand backhand, my left and right shoulder have started hurting when hitting the right two-hand backhand, ive noticed my left elbow finishes in my stroke pointed to the right almost in the same direction of my right elbow on the finish, i think part of my problem is as you said, focusing on hitting with my left hand more. ive practiced hitting left hand forehands with my backhand grip and since then its like my stroke has fallen off of a clip. any drill for me to stay loose in my shoulder on my swing? and any idea why pain main occur in both my right and my left shoulder at different parts of the swing? usually my right shoulder feels pain on the take back, or the very moment i swing/pull forward, my left shoulder typically hurts on the swing forward or towards the end of the stroke on the follow through
You are right, maybe the myth comes from the early stage of the learning curve. In a two handed backhand the left arm has an important role to play, not using it derives in a sort of one handed backhand with two hands which is totally wrong as rotation is totally different. Therefore, in order to learn to use the left arm, there is some emphasis in using the left are when players are starting, then is easier to integrate the right arm which is key as the use of the right arm will lead to the torso rotation required to have a good backhand, leading only with the right will keep the player sideways with too much linear movement and almost no rotation.
When I pull my racket back in preparation I am very much right hand dominant while when I accelerate and strike to ball I am very much left hand dominant but I finish the same as the right hand dominant. 😮
Agassi pulled with his right hand and then pushed through with his left..... hence the distinctive signature snap he had. I think this is the best technique for a backhand with a lot of potential. yea yea.... people are different blah blah blah.... let's cut the bs..... Humans come with 2 arms and legs.... and there IS a optimal way and a less optimal way.
Is Sinner left or right arm dominant on his 2-hander?
👉 th-cam.com/video/Y6cc6DSVSFc/w-d-xo.htmlsi=BvA7IK4yCCLYna4I
I just stay loose and let both hands rip through with equal effort. Given both arms are connected to the racket I don't think it's possible to be much more dominant with one arm over the other. Maybe a little lol
My 2hander was very right arm dominant... very similar to Courier's. Messed up grip and very little torso rotation (i played baseball as well as a teenager so maybe no coincidence). i guess i played it because i was too weak for a one hander as a kid. And Chang and Agassi, then Courier were my idols. When i switched to the Pure Drive racket, it got worse: my already poor control got worse, but my slice improved. At some point my grip started to morph into an overlapping grip, with the left hand just along for the ride. Also, i had a wrist injury (ulnar discus tear) that clearly showed i needed to make changes. I switched to a one hander and was quite surprised by the results. Those balls that would give me the most trouble before suddenly became a lot easier to handle while the opposite was true for the balls that i had handled relatively well with 2 hands (handling shots above the shoulder, dealing with spin and pace). Felt weird to have my game totally changed because suddenly i had to rethink my entire approach to the game, but it was also freeing in some ways.
I’m in a similar spot to where you were. Former baseball player (lefty but swung righty) so my 2H backhand always feels unnatural and my non-dominant arm gets sore. Have tried switching to one handers and it’s ok but can’t give up on the 2HBH bc it’s so much more reliable / versatile.
So if I’m taking the tips from this video and thinking less about things, I’d grip the racquet like a baseball bat and just let it fly… hopefully not to the back fence 😂
I think I do need to think less and stress less bc a tightened grip is likely leading to the arm soreness, but making the 2HBH feel natural after years of baseball will take a long time I’m afraid.
Found a new possible solution - the Borg backhand. Hybrid between one-hander and two-hander. Similar in some ways to baseball swing.
@@jimyablonski175 good luck with that!
Thanks, will follow up how it works out. If anyone is curious, Mats Vilander is another good example of this technique.
Update on this switch: I still do the 1.5 handed backhand and it's working well. Most consistent I've ever been. Still tweaking things and figuring out how to put sharper topspin and deal with high balls, but overall it's been a very positive change.
Great video, and your backhand rocks. Looks like batting a tennis ball and you hit it real clean.
This is very interesting and is quite different than everything I’ve been taught. I struggle with my two hander so much so that I tried one hand for a while. Always on my two hander, I am told to use my left hand and stop trying to control it with my right and yes I am a righty. This video is great and maybe I just need to stop thinking so much.
great stuff! Only thing I would have loved to see you add to this video would have been the Nadal backhand which I think he hits with pretty much even distribution on both hands, and I think Alcaraz has a similar situation. BTW my theory on the Nadal backhand is that it is what is left from him actually being right-handed, so basically as a child he was playing by gripping the racket with the right hand in the middle of the grip, for lack of strength, then adding the left hand below it at the base of the grip, resulting in a double-handed lefty forehand. As he grew stronger he got rid of the double-handed forehand so it became his lefty forehand, but the righty forehand from his childhood turned into a lefty two-handed backhand.
What do you think about this theory?
In the fifties and sixties there was an Italian player Beppe Merlo (from the same region as Sinner, semifinalist at Roland Garros in 1955 and 1956) that came from table tennis (a bit like Fred Perry) and thus started to play tennis holding the racket on the forehand with a short grip (with the right hand way up un the grip) and never changed, his backhand was played like a lefty double handed forehand, so basically it is a similar situation as I had described for Nadal, but instead of taking the right hand from the righty-backhand he kept both hands on that stroke, on the righty forehand Beppe Merlo never had two hands on the racket like Nadal as a child.
Hit it with your left hand on the THROAT of the racquet. At contact! 😮
Thanks Nik
im around an 8 utr and a coach, with decent technique except maybe my right two-hand backhand, my left and right shoulder have started hurting when hitting the right two-hand backhand, ive noticed my left elbow finishes in my stroke pointed to the right almost in the same direction of my right elbow on the finish, i think part of my problem is as you said, focusing on hitting with my left hand more. ive practiced hitting left hand forehands with my backhand grip and since then its like my stroke has fallen off of a clip. any drill for me to stay loose in my shoulder on my swing? and any idea why pain main occur in both my right and my left shoulder at different parts of the swing? usually my right shoulder feels pain on the take back, or the very moment i swing/pull forward, my left shoulder typically hurts on the swing forward or towards the end of the stroke on the follow through
You are right, maybe the myth comes from the early stage of the learning curve. In a two handed backhand the left arm has an important role to play, not using it derives in a sort of one handed backhand with two hands which is totally wrong as rotation is totally different. Therefore, in order to learn to use the left arm, there is some emphasis in using the left are when players are starting, then is easier to integrate the right arm which is key as the use of the right arm will lead to the torso rotation required to have a good backhand, leading only with the right will keep the player sideways with too much linear movement and almost no rotation.
When I pull my racket back in preparation I am very much right hand dominant while when I accelerate and strike to ball I am very much left hand dominant but I finish the same as the right hand dominant. 😮
I think bottom hand v top hand "dominant" would be a more helpful way to describe this.
My racket doesn’t really drop when I do a 2 handed backhand, if I try to force the drop. It feels awkward
You can't imagine how lucky I am with my OHB. No concerns, No thinking about arm dominance.
Just shut down the brain and try to pop some balls.
Just play the one-hander. You have 50% fewer arms to worry about 😂
Agassi pulled with his right hand and then pushed through with his left..... hence the distinctive signature snap he had. I think this is the best technique for a backhand with a lot of potential. yea yea.... people are different blah blah blah.... let's cut the bs..... Humans come with 2 arms and legs.... and there IS a optimal way and a less optimal way.