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To: varmintman

Your ignorance on this subject is quite annoying.

Go watch footage of Federer’s 1-handed return of serve or footage of when he takes the ball early. The racquet starts off low-mid thigh and ends shoulder height. No backswing required.

The only time you need to take a backswing is when you have plenty of time to set up. Even then, it is a restricted backhand.

Now, from my own personal experience (I have used both 2 and 1-handed extensively in USTA Junior’s and I was pretty darn good) the 2-handed limits creativity and is pretty darn predictable. It’s reach is also quite limited so it takes more energy to use a 2-handed because one must take 1+ more steps to reach a ball than a 1-handed.

A 1-handed, on the other hand, has great reach, very unpredictable (easy to conceal a slice or dropshot by making it look like your regular stroke) and can create angles that the 2 can’t hope to match.

There is more to the stroke than just how much you move the racquet head ya know.

The ONLY weakness (and it’s a big one) of the 1-hander is the high (above shoulder height) backhand shot. That sucker is HARD. Other than that, the 1-hander is better in every way. The 2-hander is easier to learn and requires less athletic ability to become consistent. That is why it is prevalent.

But what do I know? I’ve only played tennis for 20 years.


14 posted on 07/09/2012 6:36:36 PM PDT by Black_Shark
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To: Black_Shark

Edit:

A second weakness (I suppose) would be that the 1-hander requries near perfect timing every shot or you’ll be shanking the ball into the stands.


15 posted on 07/09/2012 6:38:32 PM PDT by Black_Shark
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To: Black_Shark
Efficiency in many tennis shots amounts to trading a couple of inches of wrist motion for two or three feet of racket head motion; in physics that's called leverage. The two hander has it, the shot Federer and Sampras use doesn't. Del Potro beat Federer in tha US open in 09 by totally breaking that backhand of Federer's down i.e. he just pinned him into that backhand corner and Federer was not able to hit his way out of it.

In fact if Venus Williams were healthy, you could set up a match between her and Federer, best two of three sets, nobody hits a forehand and no serving, put the ball in play with a machine, and Federer would lose that one as well, that would be an efficient shot versus an inefficient shot.

17 posted on 07/10/2012 2:45:08 AM PDT by varmintman
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