The KEY to a great two handed backhand...

The two handed backhand is a pretty compact shot that doesn’t require a huge backswing, or differs greatly in technique among too many players, but is often the weaker shot in comparison to the forehand (which is hit solely with the dominant hand). Why is that? Perhaps, the dominant hand is often the very problem.

The key really is simple. You have to hit tons of shots with your non dominant hand in order to develop a world class backhand. It is a misunderstanding to some point to think of a one handed backhand and a two handed backhand as the same stroke. One handed backhanders have a much larger and looser motion and use a lot more of their core and dominant arm to create spin and power. The best two-handers in the world barely use their dominant arm to create spin and power on their backhands. We completely overuse our dominant hand in tennis, with forehands, slices, volleys, serves and overheads all being hit with one arm. For those of us whose non dominant hand is underdeveloped, the tendency is to mostly use our dominant hand on the backhand as well, when in reality, the non dominant hand should be the main guiding force.

How do we develop our non dominant hand? Like everything else, we hit many more tennis balls and we practice it. You can get fed baskets of balls to the backhand side where you use the same grip, prepare with both hands, but hit the ball with your non dominant hand. You can also, incorporate it into your daily warm up, starting with mini tennis all the way to the baseline, alternating between two handed backhands and (lefty) forehands if you’re a righty (vice versa for lefties). This will ensure that you get a better feel for the ball and the wrist action necessary for your non dominant arm/hand in the complete stroke. Practice hitting both angles, through the court and lobs to feel the variety. Now, tennis players know that nothing happens overnight. This is really something that should be taught from an early age on and blended into a daily routine. Practice makes perfect and this really (REALLY!) helps!

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