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Ian’s been working on his backhand over the last year and a half and after subtle improvements, he got called out by tennis YouTube personality Ryan Reidy from @2MinuteTennis Ryan wanted to help Ian out and give him a few tips to push Ian in the right direction on his one-handed backhand improvement. Here are Ryans thoughts and backhand analysis.
#backhand #tennis #lesson
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27 Comments
Ian…thank you for the chance to help you with your backhand. If you need any help along the way just give me a shout. You got this!
Yup. Amazing lesson! My fav from Ryan. I found 3 or 4 Waldos that I do as well.
Definitely start with grip. Game changer. One tip I got with for the off-hand was to push the raquet down with it, thereby keeping it on longer before snap back. I take it off too early too. Party hat you can monitor with video easily. I think footwork will be a challenge with new spacing from the ball that you’re not used to.
Outstanding video! I've being playing tennis all my life, pretty much, since I was 13. I even played college ball. I'm 60 now and I still love the game. I'm one handed back hand and I wish I had the backhand that I have now when I played college. It was my weakest shot then. I still was able to manage. It was like the instructor said the belly button point instead of the zone area to hit your shot. Nevertheless, not very consistent which made me run around a lot to hit my forehand.
I am fortunate that I have not had any serious injuries in my knees, shoulders, back or anywhere else, which allows me to keep playing hard ball, like I like it. Anyhow, I was telling my wife, I wish I had these tools and information when I played in my youth, I could have done a whole lot better. I guess, better late than never…
I try to teach my son and I wish I had the talent that he has when I was his age. My heart break is that he does not like tennis very much, he prefers soccer, go figure… Nevertheless, I hope that with this kind of instructional videos I can do a better job at teaching him or anyone else to do the stroke right and make them more interested in the game and continue playing.
Going back to the video, I have not seen anything that can dissect the stroke like this video does. After watching it, I was able to be aware of those details that make a huge difference in keeping consistency on your shots. If you think about it, most games only last 3 strokes, so if you can get one or more than that, you are in the winning side. As the saying goes, the devil is in the details…
Thank you for posting this!
After watching the end of the video where you asked if we can give any comments that can help improve your progress, I would say to replicate the motions given in a very slow motion. What that does is to be very aware of al the muscles and movements involved in the stroke. if you can do it perfectly in slow motion, and continue to repeat that, once you do it in real time, you don't even think about it, just feel it and it will happen the way it is intended. I've done that in tennis and golf and it works. Just try it.
thanks ryan and ian. couple pointers here really helped my bh.
Great Collab gents. Total respect for you Ian!!!!
No, the grip has nothing to do with it. it is the mismatch between the angle of the wrist in relation to the grip. I have a continental grip and the face of my racket is very closed when the racket is moving forward. It is a very inside-out swing motion with the wrist still throughout the motion until the finish over the head.
In this case, the top of my knuckles, the back of the wrist, and my forearm all in a straight line (like a punch), rather than having the knuckles raised above the wrist and forearm (wrist cocked back). I can lay a racket flat on my knuckles, wrist, and forearm. If you have a western grip, you would have the wrist cocked all the way back. If you have a western grip with my (continental) wrist position, the racket face would be parallel to the ground at contact – racket frame contacting the ball.
You have a choice. Changing your grip or changing your wrist angle will have similar effects.
Overall, I think the rest of the video is excellent. He's picked up several important flaws in your backhand stroke and has good advice for improving things.
Ian, One thing you can do to work on your backhand would be to start the swing from – lets' call it "the slot" where the racket is just starting to move forward. Start with the racket in the same position as Shapovalov at 16:40 and Wawrinka at 18:03 (the frame before he freezes the video for a while). This would be next to your right thigh – since you are a lefty (between the thigh and the back fence). You can use his recommended grip or your current grip with the wrist set 22.5 deg. from where you currently have it. Of course, you realize you won't get full power without a backswing, but you need to get used to getting the racket down and back with a closed racket face.
If you groove this, you will solve 90% of your issues.
Many thanks from Paris to share this. Great great value !!
I must've watched a thousand tennis videos and this is hands down the best instructional video I've ever seen on the one hander!
Hi Ian, Coach Mark here, 20yrs plus PTR Professional, former college player, now old 4.0 🙂 I follow you and Ryan. His "analysis" of your backhand is right on. I do hope you will take his ideas and incorporate them. I have a one-hander myself, and the grip and body turn is extremely important, as well as where you make contact…not too far in front. My tip is : feel like you are looking over your LEFT shoulder as the ball approaches…then you will have turned your upper body. Then, do NOT let go with your off-hand too soon, feel like you are pulling the racquet out of that hand as you rotate. We can always improve, thanks to you both for all the great content and for growing the game!
Check out Mikael Youzney as he transitioned from a two-hander to a one-hander. You’ll see him struggle with the technique.
Great advice and instruction in breaking down the backhand. I have enjoyed so much of the 2MinuteTennis content. Incredible humility Ian to post said advice on the internet and give us insight that even though you are already a good player you can stay humble enough to stay learning and keep improving.
@5:14 woah buddy, kids watch this channel, what are you doing there
WOW! To be so humble to take such in-depth analysis and "criticism" on your shot despite being a coach half of your life. Hats off to you, Ian!
This video is a indictment of all the tennis coaches in Ian’s history, Ian himself, tennis in general. It’s ridiculous that a player who has a history in tennis spanning juniors, I presume HS tennis and college tennis cannot routinely hit a topspin backhand in a match. Ian lacking this basic tennis skill is like a college player in basketball not being able to dribble with his left hand, a golfer who can’t hit a sand wedge, a volleyball player that can only serve under handed or a soccer player who can’t head the ball. Yes these sports can still be played by someone lacking these skills but unlike in tennis no coach or player is going to accept being so obviously incomplete in their skill set and have it keep them from achieving their full potential. Ian is not some beginner he has played tennis for the majority of his life. You would think one of his coaches would have been responsible/competent enough to teach him a topspin backhand long before now. Ian himself should have seen its importance long ago.
Ian – loved the candid video. Made me smile 😊 as Ryan analysed my 2-hander last year (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ii5QDqEBm-w) using many identical principles. I then went on to implement the changes in a 21 day challenge (10-15 min a day). It wasn't easy but so glad I changed it. I would say this… but the still-ball element of the TopspinPro really helped in the beginning and then I shifted to a Slinger ball feed. Hope your shoulder heals fast. Phil
Best backhand video on you tube ever???
No offence, but i'd like to ask you ian, at what level do you teach your students one handed backhand? Is it a really beginner one, or what? Because i thought (once again, no offence, just my opinion), a tennis coach may not hit with good technique , because of habit etc, but 1 thing that tennis coach has is the eyes to observe and analyze things? With that, couldn't you just, you know, record yourself hitting, and then fix it here and there?
It’s about time you found someone to fix your BH. I knew it was effed up the first time I saw it — the way you take it back, pause and then take it back even higher — but I couldn’t analyze it like this guy.
This is such a good breakdown of your flawed BH I feel like I want to send this guy a picture or something to put on his wall. It’s so barren and sad; it looks like he just moved in. 😞
This is an excellent video. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
do as i say….
Ok Ian have you been able to fix the issues Ryan pointed out or is it the same old story of 'once muscle memory sets in it's almost impossible to change/correct certain things'?
Ian, I'd love to see a follow-up on this video to see how you progressed!
Never ceases to amaze me. What you think you’re doing (the student’s mind’s eye) and what you’re really doing, (the coach’s observational eye) are rarely the same. Having an experienced coach work with you, and illustrate to you the things you need to work on rather than what you think you need to work is immensely invaluable. This was such an insightful lesson. Thanks for posting.
That's an amazingly spot-on analysis of the technical flaw of the backhand. Any progress since this was filmed?