3 Tips to Hit Perfect TOPSPIN Single Handed Backhand

Hi there, it's Jan here and in today's session I'm going to show you how you can master single-handed backhand and to have massive topspin on it. So one of my subscribers asked me in the comments if I could show how to hit a nice single-handed backhand with loads of topspin. It seems he struggles with this. It's a very common issue again but I'm gonna try to break it down in few steps today so you understand a bit more what you have to do in order to achieve those beautiful backhands just like Stan Wawrinka or Tsitsipas or you know you name it. Dominic Thiem had a fantastic single-handed backhand and of course also Roger Federer. One thing they all have in common they have loads of spin, loads of spin and this is crucial. You don't want to hit the flat shots like this. You want to have a nice topspin backhand so you can also put your opponents under pressure. So I'm gonna try to cover it in few steps. Step number one how you're going to hold the racket. That's always the most important. So if we want to have a more spin I'm gonna show you right now here. This is the continental grip. You want to go slightly to the left and if you want a bit more you go even a bit more. But I would say on the first line here. This is the first line second line. So the bottom of the how we say the palm the v-shape it's on this first line. If I put it down angled as you can see I have exactly 45 degrees angle. Yeah I would keep it like this at the moment. Also remember guys like Gustavo Kuerten massive topspin and he would have it even more closed. If you train with me in person you know I always say the head of the racket has to be closed down not open. So this is the step number one. You want to really learn that the racket is this way. Not so much up here. And now for the most important outtake of this session the left arm. Use of the left arm. So the step one we have the grip for the spin. Okay close racket because you're gonna be coming from down up and now we're going into the preparation part. You have to use your left arm as much as you can. If you're right-handed you're using your non-dominant arm right now okay. The left hand will support the racket at the neck. Not here but at the neck. So what you can also do you can do this kind of exercise hold the racket with your left and just rest your right hand with that correct grip on the grip. But now at the moment I am holding racket with my left arm. The right is just resting and this is exactly what you want to achieve on the take back here. As you see all of them Tsitsipas has actually very evident take back that it's all about the left arm. Tommy Robredo. You remember Tommy Robredo one of the best backhands in the game. It's all about going together with your left and right is only resting. Remember this word resting. So until this point it's all about this motion. It's the left arm taking the racket back. Turning the upper part of my body obviously. Getting the position. Left arm holds the racket. I'm still up here with your racket away from your body. Watch this not at the same time not so much far. Again it's always about finding the right balance in tennis as you know me. Not too far not too close somewhere in between. Has to feel comfortable. If it feels comfortable it's usually correct. I'm here so I'm turning. Remember split step. First step is always out on the left. At this moment you're doing that. Now I'm going on the right and this is when I would get into finishing the backswing that loop. Then I go down and you can see my left arm still supporting racket still supporting racket still and around here when I'm almost at the bottom I would let it go. Because then from here I do the acceleration and the acceleration has to happen with one arm only. Because I cannot go with two up to here. It's just before I finish the loop I let it go. So until here still still left still left still left still left. Now the right arm will take over and the idea if you want to have a big top spin is to really get under the ball and now we're going over that ball. In the beginning you can also use your legs a lot. So you're going down and really coming from those legs. Or you can also just bring the left knee into it and it's fine. Now we're gonna get into the step three which is the racket path. So if you want to achieve a massive top spin that the ball goes banana basically banana shot. We cannot hit flat like this okay. So the racket path has to change from this to be like a normal kind of flat. Yeah this is also fine if you don't want to have a high top spin. But if you don't have a big top spin you need to dig down a bit more and you need to really come from down here. Almost if your racket was touching the ground and then from here I'm gonna go a bit more like this. So I'm focusing, watch this, hitting the ball from behind and brushing it up. You can also exaggerate in the beginning. Really just focusing on going up. Forget about, completely forget about going just through the ball. Just going hop and behind the ball. This is the ball, racket has to do this. I'm gonna take a few balls and I'm gonna show you a little exercise that you can start doing on your own right now. One ball in the hand. You don't even need partner for this. You don't need a ball machine, nothing. I'm gonna try to do that one, two, three steps on my own and then I'm gonna focus only on the swing path coming from under and over the ball. And I need to achieve basically this motion. This is what's gonna bring the ball over the net. The ball is gonna rotate this way, you can see. This is what's gonna give you that banana shot and the ball will still come down. More topspin you put on it, faster you can hit, because that spin will bring the ball back in the court again. The moment you overhit, then of course you know that you pass the limit and you go a little bit less. But basically this way. So I'm going, still the left arm, still the left arm here, finishing. Now of course I'm gonna bounce the ball, hop, now finish it and now I'm spinning the ball up. One more time and you're gonna try to hit the ball as high over the net as you can. So I'm gonna try to exaggerate now. I'm gonna bounce it first and then I'll do all the motion. Bouncing, hop, better. One more time, one ball here, one ball here. I'm gonna do the preparation, bit more time, hop, that one, quite nice. One more position, step out, hop, this one, this one was quite nice. And I'm only focusing on this motion. I will take a few more balls and I will try even more to go really low to high, to spin it as much as I can and let's see how high I can hit it over the net. I'm gonna show you from the angle from behind me now. Let's go. One more, I can go a bit higher, yeah, that one felt good. Keep the right distance and you can also do exercise one cross one line. Cross, spinning, can go even more, line. This one was a bit too close to me, you could feel it, it was not super clean. So I'm gonna keep the distance now, position, hop, that one, super good. I felt it, racket dropped below the ball and I was just brushing. I'm gonna go the same but cross court, hop, hop, beautiful, that one felt great. And like this you can be here all day long and just practicing your backhands alone. Once you master this, then you can start doing with a ball machine and then after that you can start playing with your partner. The only difference will be the ball is gonna come a bit faster to you, so it's just a bit of timing and the right placement of your legs into the right position, so you have the correct distance. The rest is the same. So let's wrap up this session. Step number one, the grip. Have your racket as the racket face, yeah, the hitting face, as close as possible. Step number two, start using your left arm, supporting the racket at the neck until very last moment when you let it go, just around here, almost like if you were going together with two until, almost until down, but not exactly there, yeah, 80 percent and then then you let it go. The left is also here for the balance, but there will be another session. Number three, the racket path has to change from this into this, so you're really going behind the ball and brushing the ball up this way, yeah, perfect example, Stan Wawrinka. If you slow down his motion, you will see that really it's a circle motion almost, that's the most important. Then you can have a nice spin and try to aim to keep the percentage between a spin power 50, 50 or 60 to spin and 40 to power max. I would not pass much these numbers. And yes, this is it today. I hope you enjoyed this session. Obviously, if you want to learn much more, make sure to check out my single-handed program Rock Solid Single Hander. It's loaded with so many videos and tips and exercises. It will massively help your single-handed backhand, not just the topspin, but your single-handed backhand in general. It's inside my Tennis Training App Tennis Fit, which I have designed for you to use and for you to help you transform your tennis game. So make sure to check it out. There is a link somewhere below this video or also in the comments. And that's it today. I hope you find it very helpful. Do let me know in comments if it did help you, if it's gonna help you, if you think you were doing this or you were not doing this. I would love to know your opinion. Let me know and also make sure to let me know in comments which other videos you would like me to cover. I'm doing videos every Saturday and I'm uploading every Saturday at 3 p.m. I think, so make sure not to miss it. And yeah, I'm gonna get back on the court here to practice more the single-handed backhand, because I really love this stroke, but I grew up always playing double-handed, so I still have double-hander as a more security, but the single-hander is just amazing, because once you master it, it can be a weapon. You can really start attacking with one hand, you can have much more speed and much more spin than with two hands. This is for sure. That's why those who can master single-hander, they have weapons on forehand side and also on the backhand side. And very lastly, if you're new to my channel and if you want to receive more of my videos, make sure to subscribe, hit the notification button, feel free to comment also with your friends and I'm gonna look forward to see you in my next video for more. Thanks for watching and have a great day!