Mumbai: On social media, a new campaign started after an appeal was made from the Grandstand stadium in the Billie Jean King National Tennis Centre in New York.
“I’d like to start some sort of movement,” said Stefanos Tsitsipas on Saturday. “#Keeponehanderalive.”
The streak had lasted since the majors began with the 1877 Wimbledon Championships. This season, based on the current rankings, no top 10 ATP player uses a one-handed backhand. Going back to the US Open in 2006, four in the top 10 – Roger Federer, Ivan Ljubicic, Tommy Robredo and James Blake used the one-hander. The world No.49 is now one of only four women’s singles players in the top 100 using the one-hander – Diane Parry, Viktroija Golubic and Tatjana Maria are the others. Tagger now trains in an academy run by Francesca Schiavone, the last women’s singles player to win a Grand Slam (French Open 2010) using the one-handed backhand.
The streak he referred to was of at least one men’s singles player with a one-handed backhand reaching the semi-final of a Grand Slam in each calendar year. “That is the only downside (compared to) a double-handed backhand. “So, I think when your coach is a one-handed tennis player, you will most likely be a one-handed tennis player too. “Nowadays, probably the coaches are mostly double-handed players, and it’s just easier to teach a kid to have two hands on the backhand side.
“(The one-hander) requires excellent footwork and technique,” said Tsitsipas, a two-time Grand Slam finalist, after his second round at the US Open. “My coaches when I was growing up were, I would say, 90 percent one-handers,” he said in a press conference during the US Open Fan Week. “In terms of efficiency, I think the two-handed backhand is more advantageous, especially in the modern game, with the speed at which tennis is played today.
