This video of Gael Monfils is from several practice sessions from the 2009 BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, CA. Monfils is working on running around his backhand to hit a forehand — either inside-out (crosscourt) or inside-in (down the line). Running around the backhand to hit a forehand is a very, very common tactic on the men’s tour because it allows pros like Monfils to transition from a neutral rally to offense in a relatively low-risk way.
How about you? Do you run around your backhand a lot?
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I do not. In fact, I tend to move towards a backhand when the ball is coming to my body if for no other reason than to work on my backhand more. When playing doubles, I always ask for backhand side as well. I have been playing since March of 2009, so am not all that experienced and am playing to a 3.5 level right now, and expect that I will be 4.0 within a year. My #1 weakness is not having hit enough balls in my lifetime and my desire to try and end points too quickly with winners -probably because I find that I tend lose longer rallies.
I do like what Monfils and DelPo are able to do w/ their forehands, but they are the elite and I often wonder if it is wise to try and emulate everything the pros do.
I am sure enough people will blast me for accepting that I have more to learn and that I am putting in my time to catch up in trying to be more consistent…but I do have a plan, and that plan is to catch up with (and beat) those who have been playing far longer than I have. (I did play sports in college and high school, just not tennis). Now I am like that tennis channel commercial with the guy who has “tennis addiction”…
MW
You can definitely practice running around your backhand. Also, don’t go for winners =) Ian and I discuss this a little bit in this week’s ET Podcast, which you can check out here –
http://www.fuzzyyellowballs.com/et-podcast-95-im-the-guest/
When I first started playing tennis I did not run around my backhand because I was trying to work on improving my backhand. This did help me configure a solid, consistent backhand. However, now I attend a tennis academy and they highly suggest running around your backhand whenever possible. If you have ever played a tennis player with a big forehand who is crushing the ball to your backhand you would understand. It is your weakness versus their strength and you are trying to hit a better and better shot so you can get a look at their backhand and that results in more unforced errors.
Pancho Segura’s two-handed forehand was the best single groundstroke of his era. He used to run around his (one-handed) backhand to hit it. That makes me wonder why people with two-handed backhands (the mirror image of Segura’s stroke) never run around their forehands to blast their two-hander.
When I started playing 35 years ago many coaches said that the (one-handed) backhand was more natural than the forehand, and that most good players had better backhands than forehands. I suspected that this was BS even then; I’d NEVER seen a pro run around his forehand to hit a one-handed backhand! (I mean, a few serve-and-volleyers who did not rely on their groundstrokes to win might have had defective forehands; but I’ve never opponents avoid serving to the backhand of a player with a forehand described as “sound” and “well-produced” — no matter how great his backhand’s reputation.)
Forehands have also come a long way in the last few decades. Pros can swing the racket faster on the forehand side, allowing them to hit with more spin and pace than on the backhand side. Thus, the forehand is often the weapon that pros design their games around nowadays.
What nobody talks about is the fact that running around your backhand (or forehand!) creates more angles. When you play a CC BH rally and your opponent hits the ball just a little out of the middle, running around your backhand gives you the possibility to hit the ball to your opponent’s FH side, away from him (inside in). This angle is very difficult to make with your BH. So even if you don’t have a “killer” FH this play will pay you off.
Haha, I do, but mostly because I’m still fairly new to the game, and my backhand is a lot weaker than my forehand.
I hit the backhands in practice and can get them back, but to hit a winner, I go to my forehand where I can generate more speed and accuracy.
lately (before i saw this) i started to run around my backhand to hit my bit, on-the-rise inside-out forehand. i kept winning point after point, and i was (still am) feeling good. i like to do this because my backhand isn’t very solid- i can’t do a two-haded back hand (my family is cursed with flexible, but weak shoulder muscles, so i was prone to injuries when i tried the 2H BH because of my swing somehow), and my 1H BH still needs a little development in concistency. anyway, it feels good to know that running around to a forehand is a worthwhile skill.
What if your best shot is your one handed (rightie) topspin backhand? And you also have a very good underspin rightie backhand. I have even experimented running around my Forehand and hitting an inside-out topspin backhand as deep as possible crosscourt. I started this for the surprise benefit versus my opponent. And it does surprise my opponent, whether he/she is a rightie or a leftie. Why don’t we see the pros with great topspin backhands (like Tommy Haas) do this? Does it have something to do with the geometry of the shot?…. or Wardlaw directional laws? Please let us know if you have a comment or insight on this. Thanks–Mikee.
Hi Mikee. Unfortunately, the running around your forehand doesn’t work very well — at least not at the pro level. Backhands are typically hit out of neutral or closed stances. This goes for both one-handed and two-handed backhands. Inside-out / inside-in forehands, however, are largely hit out of an open stance. The reason is that at the pro level you don’t have time to get around the ball and step in.
Trying to hit big on the backhand side out of an open stance is tough to do. On the forehand, however, it’s easy. That’s a big reason why pros run around their backhands but not their forehands.
Will
I find that while running around your backhand to hit a forehand is definitely an important ability to have, almost more important than your proficiency at hitting a forehand is picking the right moment to execute this play. Like almost all offensive plays, you leave certain openings when you go inside out. I take into consideration the surface and the opponent most of all when planning when I might run around my backhand in a match. On clay, where the ball bounces high and slow, I run around most rally balls on the right 2/3rds of the court because I can hammer the forehand down or spin it back deep better than I could with my onehander, and I have enough confidence in my defense to play long rallies this way. On slower, gritty hard courts, I find I only run around if the ball is heading down the center or is slightly short and I am in control. Because the court is fast enough that it is difficult to recover from the doubles line if you hit a weak shot, but slow enough that taking the offensive as soon as possible isn’t completely necessary, I find that this plan of action works pretty well from a neutral rally as I do have a fairly strong all around backhand. And on a fast indoor court, I like to attack as soon as I can without missing and the inside-out or inside-in forehand is a good way to do that, so I find that when I return or receive on the ad side I take the 2nd service return or my opponents first shot with the forehand whenever possible. Again, this all depends on the type of opponent and how consistent they are.
The reason why I think the pros run around so often is because when they are in the position to do so, the ball probably isn’t traveling as hard as possible. And because of the current technique of whipping the racket as fast as possible to create plenty of topspin and pace off the forehand side, most people find it easier to attack a slow offensive ball with their forehand than their backhand. Even though I can hit with as much pace and spin off my backhand as my forehand, the slower the ball the harder I find it to whack consistently with my backhand. On my forehand, the slower the ball the bigger the swing I take, and I generally don’t miss that shot unless I go for too much.
So while practicing your backhand to make it stronger is good, sometimes instead of spending all your time on your weaknesses it’s better to practice the shots that will win you the most matches. Pete Sampras’ former coach Paul Annacone (or tim henman, not sure which of them was talked about in the article I’m quoting) was a serve and vollyer, but he decided to work on his groundstrokes for six months to try to develop that known weakness. Shortly after someone told him that he had never looked so good losing. So take it to heart that as opposed to making your weakness better than your opponent’s strength, make your strength stronger than their weakness and learn strategies to set up that match up as much as possible!
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