Tennis Topspin Backhand On The Rise - Tommy Haas - How To Prep The Racket - Part 1 of 4

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Brent Abel - Creator "The 5 Mindset Skill Habit Training" 28 Day Course

19 National USA GOLD BALL Titles in Singles & Doubles
Selected to 5 USA World Cup Teams (Playing Captain 2018, 2019, 2023, 2024)
2023 ITF World Individuals Doubles Winner 75s (w/ Brian Cheney)

Current Rankings:
✴ #1 USTA Singles & Doubles 75s
✴ #1 ITF World Doubles 75s
✴ #3 ITF World Singles 75s
✴ Creator "What's The Right Shot?" 2012
✴ 45+ years tennis coaching career

ntss.

[webtennis]

Glad you like the videos. Hope they're helping your game.

This actually takes a lot of practice.

Learning how to relax your grip tension at the moment your opponent makes contact with their own shot is really counter intuitive.

But, over time, you can master this ...

Brent

[webtennis]

The key for me is to make sure I'm not squeezing my racket handle at the moment my opponent makes contact with their shot.

For example, when returning serve, make sure you're not squeezing the handle when your opponent makes contact with their serve.

If you, you'll be locked into whatever grip you have and it might not be the right grip for the type of return you want to play.

Brent

[aninair]

thats a great tip Brent. I am sure it is quite difficult to practice mainly because of the bad habits we have learnt. But I am surely going to try this next time I play. I will let you know if I could actually implement this change and also if it was effective for me. I love your videos. Thanks.

[aninair]

How do you keep changing grips as you are playing? What is the best way to make the grip transitions?

[deanmartin]

There are a number of great tennis players that have been very successful with a semi-western backhand. Their stroke mechanics were sound and the grip does not require any odd "tinkering" with the wrist. Fine video, but saying that Eastern is the ONLY proper backhand grip for topspin is just wrong. There are also variants, like a "weak" Eastern or "strong" Eastern midway between Continental/Eastern or Eastern/Semi-Western. Only a few players actually use the orthodox pure Eastern grip.