Is the one-handed backhand a dying artwork? Laura Robson: Classic all the time comes again – VOTE! | Tennis Information

Is the one-handed backhand a dying artwork? Roger Federer has taken the seemingly sluggish demise as a private insult, however Laura Robson says “vintage always comes back”.

Former US Open champion Dominic Thiem grew to become the newest participant favouring a single-handed backhand to retire from the sport after Federer referred to as time on his superlative skilled profession in September 2022, whereas Justine Henin, Amelie Mauresmo and Francesca Schiavone dazzled with their wondrous backhands on the WTA Tour earlier than retiring from the sport in recent times.

Stefanos Tsitsipas, Grigor Dimitrov, Lorenzo Musett and Dan Evans are probably the most notable gamers with one-handers within the males’s recreation, whereas Diane Parry, Tatjana Maria and Viktorija Golubic are only a handful of WTA stars who grasp the attractive type.

The week of February 19 was the primary within the historical past of the ATP rankings that there have been no gamers with one-handed backhands on the earth’s high 10.

Federer mentioned it felt like a “dagger” when Tsitsipas and Dimitrov dropped down the ATP Tour rankings.

“I felt that one. That one was personal. I didn’t like that,” he advised GQ journal. “But at the same time, how do you say, it makes the one-handers – [Pete] Sampras, Rod Laver, me – it makes us special as well that we’ve carried the torch, or the flag or whatever, for as long as we did.”

There have been solely 11 within the ATP’s high 100 and three within the WTA’s high 100. When the ATP launched the rankings in 1973, there have been 9 within the high 10, so are we seeing the demise of one in every of sport’s most lovely arts?

“I don’t think it’s a dying art,” Laura Robson advised Sky Sports activities. “I think the game has just evolved a bit and people worked out how to expose the one-handed backhand and getting it above their shoulder, so unless you’ve got a really great slice you’re always going to have a tough time, especially on a clay court.

“I can not think about how a lot pressure it places via your stomach muscle and arm to be hitting each ball up above your head.

“It’s maybe dying on the women’s side and realistically we’re barely going to see it anymore because you have to be so strong in the first place. You have got to have so much power through your hand and your trunk and everything so I can see it dying out on the women’s side, but not necessarily the men’s side.”

Robson, who admitted to practising the approach throughout warm-ups earlier than coaching, feels the sport is evolving with the double-handed backhand now dominating the lads’s and girls’s recreation.

“The game continues to evolve,” the previous British No 1 mentioned. “Maybe you could get away with it 10 years ago when players weren’t smacking it as hard as they possibly can at you and with the heavier balls as well it’s always going to be a bit more difficult.

“Slower courts do not assist so possibly if the sport type of modifications once more and we return to sooner surfaces and lighter balls then the one-handers may come again since you really feel such as you’ve received a greater probability.

“Who knows? Let’s see in another 10 years.

“I might have liked a one-hander however I wasn’t robust sufficient to do it. I feel it actually relies on the individual however then once more you’ll be able to’t actually get away from [poor] approach with a one-hander since you’d simply be uncovered in a short time.

“I could see it coming back down the line. Vintage always comes back, doesn’t it?”

Tim Henman disagreed with Robson’s assertion, saying the fashionable recreation of pure bodily energy now overtakes the finesse of earlier eras within the sport.

With the ever-increasing significance of baseline rallies, the extra strong double-handed backhand has grow to be much more fashionable with the following era.

“[With] the physicality of the sport, the conditions and generating power with the ball bouncing up high, I think the two-handed backhand is probably more effective – but I would say the one-handed backhand still looks the best,” mentioned the previous world No 4.

In an interview with Sky Sports activities in August 2021, seven-time Grand Slam champion and a former world No 1 Henin mentioned the single-handed backhand was “not getting popular anymore”.

“I worked a lot on my backhand. It wasn’t as natural as I thought it was,” mentioned the Belgian.

“I remember when I was eight, nine, 10 years old that I had been working on it a lot. So many people like my dad wanted me to take it on with two hands because I was not powerful enough, but again, it was another challenge.

“I assumed it was so lovely. I watched Steffi Graf and Stefan Edberg, even when they used extra slices, however for me it was regular enjoying with a backhand like this.

“It took a lot of work and I can understand this for a little girl standing there waiting to play tennis. She might not have a lot of power, meaning it was important to build something which was technically very clean.”

What’s developing on Sky Sports activities Tennis?

Within the run-up to the second Grand Slam of 2024 – the French Open at Roland Garros from Might 26 – you’ll be able to watch the entire greatest tennis stars in motion stay on Sky Sports activities as they compete throughout the clay-court season.

• Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome (ATP and WTA Masters 1000) – Might 7-19
• Geneva Open (ATP 250) – Might 20-26
• Lyon Open (ATP 250) – Might 20-26
• Internationaux de Strasbourg (WTA 500 with Emma Raducanu in motion) – Might 20-26
• Morocco Open (WTA 250) – Might 20-26

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