How to Generate More Backhand Power With One Simple Tip

If you struggle with your backhand consistency or want to make your backhand a bigger weapon, this is the video for you. Today I'm going to show you one of the most common mistakes on the backhand, show you what you can actually copy from pros, and then demonstrate a drill that will help you develop this skill. So let's get started. Now it's incredibly common that players will have a more offensive and even just a better overall forehand than a backhand. And one of the most common mistakes I see on a backhand is what I would call alligator arms. So I see people This is an issue for two reasons. Number one, you're going to have no power and you have no chance to play offense if you're swinging at a ball with your arms super close. So just imagine you were trying to throw a ball as far as you could. You would obviously extend through. If I told you how to throw the ball and you can never extend, how far are you going to throw it? Not very far at all. So we have to extend out through the ball to get a little pace on the shot. The So our hitting zone is very small. We have to time this absolutely perfectly or else we're going to pull the ball. So we want that nice long hitting zone there instead of alligator arms coming close. All right. So if alligator arms are the problem, what do we want to do? Obviously, we want to extend through the ball. So I'm trying to make that hitting zone as long as possible. So even if I'm a half inch off with my timing, an inch early, an inch late, it's not going to because I'm on the path of my target. That's very, very important. The second thing is to make sure that we understand that just because we're extending does not mean we're extending completely straight. We are still going to be on a slightly low to high trajectory just with that extension. So I'm going slightly up, boom, and then I'm going to my follow through. So before I show you the drill that I use to help myself with this technique, we're going to break down one of the best players in intense tennis. She was the third overall pick. She won a 2016 junior Wimbledon women's doubles title, and she got up to WTA number 120 in singles, Uswe Orkunata. She's got an absolutely beautiful backhand with great extension. So I want you to check that out right now. All right. So let's take a look at Uswe hitting some backhands here at full speed. You can see she's got awesome racket speed. She's a tremendous athlete. And like I said, a great player. Now let's watch these down at one third the speed. So you can see the slow motion. You can see the good shoulder turn driving through the ball, just like we talked about. She's got a good split step every time. She's like a robot. All three of these look the same. And when we slow it down completely, let's analyze the stroke in detail. She's got a great shoulder turn. The tip of the racket is high and the bulk of her preparation is done before the ball bounces, which means she's going to be on time even when her opponent is hitting the ball fast. She's got a good load on her left leg, but this shoulder turn and racket preparation is elite. Then you see her stepping in. Contact is made just around the right foot, which is perfect. She's not late. She's not overextended. Her head is in the center of the body. So her balance is excellent. And then this is the point of the video. Look at that extension. The left arm completely straight. The right arm will always be a little bent. It's harder that way, but she's extending through the ball. So she has a long hitting zone. She was on the way up and then a full high follow through. So she's still balanced. The head is still centered. The racket has hit the back of her back. So she's finishing the follow through. This is just an elite backhand that you can copy. So the drill my coach used to make me do was working on that extension and holding the follow through until certain checkpoints over the net. So the first progression was literally just to take a shadow swing, get my arms extended right here, and then I could bring it to my follow through. Then he would feed me balls and he would make me hold that pose until my shot crossed the far baseline. So I'd go right here, my shot crosses the baseline, then my follow through. Then he would have me do the same thing when my ball would cross the net. So it'd be a little shorter. And then he would have me put it all together. So I got used to that extension, holding, being balanced here, and over time it became one continuous swing. All right. So for the first round, I'm going to try to hold my finish until my shot crosses the baseline on the far side. Extension, follow through right there. Extension, follow through. And like I mentioned in that video, it's going to be harder for my right arm to get fully extended, but I at least want to make sure my left arm is perfectly straight and I am trying to go low to high. Now I'm going to make the progression where I do this when my shot crosses the net. So I want you to see the extension again. And you can see that it's a shorter hold for me. Straight, boom. So it's still a two-part swing, but I'm really working on that extension there, waiting for my ball to cross the net. One more. These are absolute rips. I'll give you a behind angle. And now we put it all together. So I'm trying to go all the way through the ball. My extension is not as good as Arkinada's. But we're trying to get that straight swing, low to high, through the ball, good extension. Now before I give you this demo of the drill from behind, so you can see where the ball is going, you can see the timing. One thing we mentioned about Arkinada's backhand was that follow-through. So as I extend out, I like players to get in this position. So this arm is about parallel to the ground. It's not over-rotated or under-rotated. And the hands are above the eyes. Now technically, it doesn't matter what you do on a follow-through because the ball is already gone. I find it's very tough to go alligator arms and then cheat yourself in this position. So one way that I used to work around this problem for myself was if I thought about getting in that position, I would naturally extend a little bit more. So when we swing, we want the hands above the eyes. We're not blocking ourselves this way. I see that one all the time. My right arm is here. My hands are high. Or you can be like Uswe and actually release those hands so you're hitting the back. So again, last thing, extension into that follow-through and holding it with perfect balance. All right, so demonstrating the drill from behind. I'm going to hold this one till the baseline. Extension to my follow-through. Again, until it crosses. Extension, follow-through right there. I'm going to try to go down the line. Extension, follow-through. So you can hold that for as long as you need to. Now I'm going to do it when the ball crosses the net. Extension, follow-through. So it's a little bit shorter but it's still a two-part swing. Extension, follow-through. Right there. And I want to be able to hold that for as long as I need to. I'm actually a little bit past the net. Not easy. Extension, follow-through. One more. You can see that even though I'm extending my arms, I'm not missing any of the net because I'm still going low to high. That was a terrible catch by the way. Now, see if we can do it all in one motion. Okay, so ball's coming. Extension, and I'm trying to get to this follow-through right here. Again, extend out all the way there. Look at my balance. Right there. You can hold this all day. So this is the drill. I used to do this for hours with my coach every single week. Extending out and getting to that follow-through. So a little side thing you probably already noticed was I don't take my racket back like Guxue. She's got this beautiful take back which I love. Mine was always here and when I played it was actually more there. Kind of like a Venus. It's not an essential thing. So if I had my teaching you, I would love for you to be here so you can let that acceleration drop and rip. It always made more sense in my mind. If this is where I want to get, why wouldn't I just start there? There's no problem. Honestly, the take back for me is the least important part of the shot. So even though she does beautifully here, you could see I was like a little flatter, but as long as I'm extending through and getting that follow-through with good balance, I've got a great backhand. So work on this drill with a ball machine, with a coach, extension and holding. Get in that follow-through position. If you want my help with your strokes, with your tactics, I coach you all month long in my online academy for less than the cost of one private lesson. I think it's one of the best deals out there. I would love to work with you. But again, if you follow this simple fundamental, not only will your backhand be more consistent, but you'll start hitting more offensive shots and winning more matches.