The Rosewall Underspin Backhand

Jim McLennan
Senior Editor, TennisONE

To see the animation of the Rosewall backhand, click here.

The one handed underspin backhand can be the most graceful stroke on the court. In spite of all the two fisted strokes in the modern game, if you ever saw Ken Rosewall's underspin backhand in his prime, you know that the stroke looked simple but was devastating. Topspin, underspin, delicate chip returns, touch drop shots, anything is possible from this classic stroke. The key is in the positioning of the wrist and elbow.

The following pictures illustrate the classic Rosewall underspin backhand

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When played at the highest levels, tennis appears truly simple. With apologies to the hustle and bustle of Courier, Rosewall (and today Sampras) displayed the clean and uncomplicated style that we have come to know as "classical." It all starts with the wrist in the natural position. In the first photo above I am resting my forearm, wrist and hand on the racquet. It's neither locked, flexed, clenched, or bent--let's just say it rests "naturally." In the second photo, holding a subtle backhand grip my wrist is again in the natural position. Important, there's no need to lock the wrist (check out Sampras if you don't believe me). The third photo shows a common problem, bending the wrist to try and lock it. This looks awkward and feels awkward--avoid it at all costs.

Having set my wrist with the backhand grip, now let's examine the elbow. In the photo to the left I am pointing out that the elbow is naturally bent, not stiff as a board, not hyperflexed, just comfortably bent. A checkpoint is to see whether your hand is away from the body and in front of your breastbone--the classic position for the backhand slice swing. Why so much on the bent elbow? Tennis players need feel, need the ability to adjust their arm if the ball isn't exactly in the strike zone. They need to minimize effort and maximize results. The elbow is the key. When bent I can easily adjust the hand and racquet. When bent, I can adjust my hands up for a high contact, or down for a low contact. When bent, it appears to be a "neutral" backswing, neither high nor low.

I modeled my backhand underspin after the great Rosewall, and I hope our backswings are somewhat similar (even if the results weren't). My shoulders are well turned, the elbow is still relaxed, and I am looking over my shoulder at the ball.

From here, I'll let Ken Rosewall take over.

Note the distinctive position of Rosewall's racquet in the first photos (parallel to the ground). It looks as if he is going to hit the ball with the edge of his racquet rather than the strings.

However, as Rosewall accelerates the racquet forward, his forearm rotates to bring the racquet head completely perpendicular to the ground, thus striking the ball with a vertical racquet face, which enabled Rosewall to hit his underspin with power as well as control. While I disagree, some tennis experts might say that this wrist and racquet rotation adds more complexity than the average player can handle when learning this shot.

Note as Rosewall finishes his shot, his body remains sideways and his arm and racquet head move up in a long, smooth follow-through. With Rosewall, there is no high-to-low chopping motion you often see with underspin shots. The take-back and follow-through follow a much more neutral plane, which allowed Rosewall to drive the ball his underspin backhand. How effective was the Rosewall backhand? It played a large part in his 7 Grand Slam singles titles and 18 total Grand Slam titles. If you haven't developed an effective underspin shot yet, maybe you should consider emulating the great Rosewall.

To see the animation of the Rosewall backhand, click here.

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Last Updated 9/1/98. To contact us, please email to: webmaster@tennisone.com