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TennisOne Lessons 
Wimbledon and the Two-Handed Forehand David W. Smith, Senior Editor TennisOne The two-handed forehand has once again shown itself upon the grand stages of tennis. While still an enigma in the United States because so many teaching professionals and notable tennis individuals continue to write off this shot as “don’t want it, don’t need it,” we see individuals from other countries succeed with this shot, and now another Grand Slam winner is crowned using the two-handed forehand.. Let’s go back into history for some perspective and perhaps get a better understanding about why this shot is still frowned upon by so many so-called legitimate professionals.
In the 1990’s Monica Seles parlayed her left-handed two-handed forehand and two-handed backhand into becoming the number one player in the world of women’s tennis. Prior to her stabbing in April of 1993, Seles had won eight of her nine Grand Slam titles and took over the number one ranking from the great Steffi Graf, defeating her in three of four consecutive grand slam finals. Seles showed that while she was perhaps not as athletic as some of the ladies on the WTA tour at the time, she could still use her two-handed forehand stroke coupled with a prolific two-handed backhand to dominate women’s tennis and one of the all-time greats, Steffi Graf. However, Seles prowess didn’t seem to inspire many pros to look more intently at the two-handed forehand as a potential stroke to teach aspiring juniors. Many ridiculed the shot as being ‘on par’ with Françoise Dürr's unorthodox grips or quite simply dismissed it as an anomaly. Granted, Seles was a driven competitor and one of the hardest workers on her game while training at Nick Bollettieri’s Tennis Academy for two years. Said to be the first one on the court and last one off, Seles was indeed a dedicated practitioner of the game. Now, twenty years later, another two-hander on the forehand wing has won a Grand Slam. Marion Bartoli of France idolized Monica Seles and Marion’s father patterned his daughter’s game around the former champion. When Marion lost in the finals of Wimbledon in 2007 (a fairly lopsided loss to Venus Williams), many called her finals appearance a fluke. Again, most teaching pros didn’t find value in teaching this two-handed forehand to their students mainly because most pros simply didn’t know enough about the stroke.
This underscores the point that it is young players (not coaches) who develop new techniques that advance the game. Coaches then study the players who are successful, then teach these new techniques to developing juniors. Yet, around the world, we have seen more international players arriving on the professional scene with the shot. China’s top women’s player, Peng Shuai, is a former top-20 WTA pro and currently ranked 35 on the women’s tour. Other two-handed forehand players include Aiko Nakamura and Ayumi Morita from Japan as well as past men including Jan-Michael Gambill from the U.S., Fabrice Santoro from France, and Raemon Sluiter from the Netherlands. The Nay-Sayers I have always found it interesting to compare the initial reaction of the two-handed backhand in the early 1970’s to today’s commentary on the two-handed forehand. When Connors, Borg and Evert emerged with the two-handed backhand, many dismissed the stroke as “a women’s shot” or a weak stroke. Among barrage of other disparaging comments regarding the two-handed backhand, the great Jack Kramer labeled the stroke as “a shot that gives your opponent a psychological advantage.” When Borg won the French Open, reporters asked the young 17-year-old Swede when was he going to switch to a one-handed backhand.
Today, I’ve encountered similar—if not even more ignorant—assessments of the two-handed forehand. I often think I’m back in the 1970’s again, hearing those who have no experience in teaching the shot—or vision—saying how horrible the shot is. Yet, even within the very few players using the shot on tour, they have collectively won many tournaments and have gained significant rankings using a shot that many would claim is worthless. Ten Grand Slam titles in the last 20 years have been won by a two-handed forehand player. (Seles with 9, Bartoli now with 1). Granted the stable of two-handed forehand players is still miniscule compared to the conventional one-handed players. However, a similar historical context of the two-handed backhand in its infancy can be seen in today’s two-handed forehand. After Borg, Connors, Evert and Tracy Austin, it would be ten years before players would be seen competing—and winning—professional matches. Players like Capriati, Davenport, Chang, and Agassi would not be seen for another generation. Now, its been about the same timeline since Seles showed what she could do with the stroke. It has been a tennis-generation since her reign, and now we have a new two-handed forehand Grand Slam Champion in Marion Bartoli. Understand too, that there are more and more juniors competing, using the two-handed forehand. The top junior girl in California a couple years ago used the stroke and two of the top junior boys in Hawaii and in Colorado use the stroke. Finally, pros are studying and teaching the shot and producing enough players — as occurred in the early 80’s with the teaching of the two-handed backhand—that some will have the right stuff to make it to top colleges and a few to the pro level.
Teaching Tool TennisOne.com has posted several of my articles on the two-handed forehand. As in my two books (Tennis Mastery and Coaching Mastery), I have detailed the value of the two-handed forehand as more than just a unique shot. I've spent my last twenty years teaching a large number of players the two-handed forehand. Why, after 15 years of teaching a ‘conventional’ one-handed forehand, would I shift gears and teach something that really wasn’t even seen much? The reason behind my teaching shift was because I saw two distinct advantages:
The two-handed forehand had several key advantages that made it superior in the learning stages of tennis:
One of the detractions among those who do deride the shot is that it lacks reach. Well, of course it does…if we are talking about the difference between simply reaching out to hit the ball or actually getting into an optimal position to hit the ball well balanced and with a reliable swing. This is actually an advantage in that players with two-hands must move their feet to hit the stroke effectively instead of lazily reaching out with the hand and racquet. In actuality, this limited reach disadvantage we hear so much about is only about three inches compared to a properly hit one-handed forehand. Thus, the actual “limitation” is less than a half step if we convert this limited reach to a footwork analogy.
Perhaps the most important aspect of the two-handed forehand is the use of two hands, like the two-handed backhand, it promotes more stability and reliability in creating a repeatable swing path on command. With one hand, beginners and even many intermediate players, integrate wrist motions and looseness in the arm that create inconsistency. While one-handed swings can produce more whip-like speed, this racquet-head speed comes at a major price: Control. As players enjoy the control two-handed strokes provide a resultant factor occurs: Confidence. Because players can get more balls in play through a repeatable, reliable stroke, the confidence allows them to swing with more authority and pace. Thus, while it may be said that two-handed strokes limit power, I have seen just the opposite. For all players, from recreational to professionals, when confidence is bred, more prolific strokes and more effective strokes occur. When players have uncontrolled power, as in swinging with wristy, flippy motions, yes you can create a whippy, fast swing. But, because it is so dependent on perfect timing, players find themselves backing off and decelerating their swing to create some semblance of control. Thus, we find millions of “dinkers” who simply can’t create much pace because of their lack of confident control. For those interested in this “new way” to hit a forehand, especially those who are struggling with a conventional forehand, take a look at the following articles written especially for TennisOne (The Two-handed Forehand at the Pro Level, The Two-handed Forehand Revisited, and The Two-Handed Forehand: Learning Tool and Weapon!. Also, if you want a more detailed book on the two-handed forehand, please read either Tennis Mastery or Coaching Mastery. Both books go into great detail on this shot as well as providing players an “Advanced Foundation” for developing their entire game and reaching their true potential.
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