The Monthly Maestro #11 - Ode to the Single-Handed Backhand
The most majestic stroke.
Past month, something terrible happened for all nostalgic tennis fans among us.
If you would look at the current Top 10 men’s players worldwide, you’d see a terrific variety of incredible players. In the Top 3 you’d recognize a Sinner on a streak, an explosive Alcaraz, and a Djokovic who’s showing the young guns how it’s done. Just below them you’d find a Grand Slam champion in Medvedev and an Olympic gold medal winner in Zverev. The Top 10 is then completed by very impressive players like Rublev (who did struggle to keep his composure past week), De Minaur, and Fritz. All being fantastic players.
But you would ’t see a player with a single-handed backhand.
For the first time ever in the history of men’s professional tennis, there is no player that doesn’t use both hands while hitting the backhand groundstroke in the Top 10. And for fans of the beauty of the game, that’s a problem.
An Ode
Though it looks more natural, it’s actually the harder shot (generally speaking). You have to be able to get your feet right earlier and hit the ball further in front of you, all the while keeping the wrist tight. Compared to the double-hander, there is way less room to compensate for when you’re nog perfectly positioned in relation to the ball.
Yesterday we witnessed the first ever Netflix Slam, an impressively organized and new event on the tour. Still, you’re watching two clay warriors in the shape of Nadal and Alcaraz, both equipped with comfortable double-handers. Where have the grass specialists with the single-handers down the line gone?
It takes us back to the old Federer days, when he would hunt the opponent’s serve down like a SABR-tooth. With a little one-handed half-volley he would come into the net and surprise friend and enemy. Or think of the power players like Wawrinka and Gasquet could produce, with their crazily big follow-through after the contact point.
Let us hope that players like Tsitsipas, Dimitrov, and Musetti will find their form and inspire young players to hit their backhands as beautifully as they do. Because if they don’t, I must confess I think everything will get a bit more boring.
This Month’s Maestro
Although I would prefer picking a single-handed backhand player for this month’s most important category winner, another guy caught my (and not only mine) attention. I’m referring to Joao Fonseca, a 17-year-old Brazilian prodigy that made his debut on the ATP tour past month. I believe we’ll be seeing a lot more of him coming years, as he already seems to have all the weapons in the book. Except for a single-hander though.
Another player worth mentioning here is nobody less than Frenchman Ugo Humbert. Beating players like Andy Murray, Daniil Medvedev, and Alexander Bublik (who was lucky enough to reach the final via the outburst of Andrey Rublev mentioned earlier), Humbert showcased some incredible tennis to win the trophy in Dubai.
In other news
Directly after I sent out my last newsletter exactly one month ago, I felt like I was missing a bit of dedication. I knew I should try out a plant-based diet, but at that moment it felt too hard and difficult to keep up. Two days after sending the newsletter I pivoted nonetheless, banned all animal products from my diet, and committed to stick to it for at least the entirety of February. Now it’s March and I’m still exclusively living off the greenest of diets. I will keep you posted when the cravings for cheese start kicking in again.
Next to dietary news, I’m also happy to share my newest course about the serve for all age groups is finally finished. The course will be available for all licensed Dutch tennis coaches from next Monday. We’re currently translating the course to English for the Thirty Love Academy: if you’d like to stay updated, you can register via our website to be the first to receive the ins & outs.
Links worth checking out
The best One-Handers - Let’s enjoy some single-handed backhands (while we still can).
New website - Check out the new website of our non-profit foundation, the Thirty Love Foundation.
X - I’m writing on X these days as well. I don’t really understand why we don’t still call it Twitter though.
Best,
Erik