I recently looked back at some match footage of myself from around 2011. At the time I was about 27 or 28 years old, and firmly playing at a top 30 level in the world, about as good as I ever got.
Watching this video of myself years later, I have to say I don’t love what I see!
I always preferred my backhand side, and thought of myself as being really tight up and down that wall. However, my backhand technique is definitely flawed – and almost certainly led to issues of it breaking down when put under pressure.
Look at how high and far out that that elbow is….!
So what’s the problem there….. Elbow is up too high, and should ideally be tucked in slightly tighter to my body, with the hand then extending a bit lower and not so cramped up to my head.
What’s wrong with what I’m doing?
Having the elbow up and out causes a few things to be true. It makes the swing hinge at the elbow more than it would otherwise (because the elbow is already closer to the point it will be at contact), the upper arm has less room to move forward, so is taken out of the swing a bit, and the elbow bends more acutely which pushes my racket hand up towards my head. The swing as a whole becomes slightly more of a chop than a sweep. All this takes time, and moves the racket head out of the line of the path of the ball.
The main things this means in practice are these:
– The swing takes slightly longer to load up and deliver, and racket head speed is slower unless you have lots of time to wind up.
– Longer/slower swing to deliver means as the pace picks up, you feel more rushed, and are more likely to mistime the ball, or be slightly late and catch the corner or sidewall. Putting you at a disadvantage to a player whose swing starts lower and can more easily be shortened/condensed.
– You are more likely to be in a position where the ball gets uncomfortably deep and forces you to flick the ball instead of being drive through it. When you are rushed and have that elbow out, your only option is to try and cut it off before it gets too deep, if you see it early enough it can be effective, but if you don’t catch it in front of you, you’re in trouble.
– The slower racket head delivery gives your opponent slightly more time to see swing angle and predict shot type and direction, at a high level, little advantages are huge.
– Less snap on the ball. You can still hit the ball hard with this technique, but the wind up is longer, and the real killer at a high level is being able to create pace from a shorter/quicker swing where your intentions are revealed later.
Closing thoughts
In looking back, my backhand was precise, accurate, and pretty effective even at the highest level when I had enough time. I was as skillful with a backhand volley drop as anyone in the world. In playing against opponents outside the top 20, I was a good enough all around player and athlete to always have a fair shot at winning. When I was pressured enough with pace and quality however, it showed itself as a major weakness that limited my ability to win consistently against top 20 opponents.
Below is a video where you can see a good contrast in my backhand technique with my opponents.