ATP at risk of having no one-handed backhander in top 10 for first time in history as Stefanos Tsitsipas drops out after 5 Years

The ATP Tour may see a situation for the first time in its history where none of its top 10 players use a one-handed backhand.

Taylor Fritz beat Rinky Hijikata 6-3 6-3 in the quarterfinals of the Delray Beach Open last Friday to book a place in the last four. Fritz’s win means that he will be able to hold on to his place in the ATP top 10, pushing Stefanos Tsitsipas out from Monday onwards.

Tsitsipas, with his one-handed backhand, has been a top 10 player on the tour for the last five years. Alex de Minaur has entered the top 10 with his win over Andrey Rublev in Rotterdam. Grigor Dimitrov also has a chance to break into the top 10 should he win the tournament on Sunday. To do this, the Bulgarian will first have to defeat De Minaur in the Rotterdam semifinal. Dimitrov also has a one-handed backhand.

Hence, should Dimitrov lose to De Minaur on Saturday, there will be no one-handed backhand player inside the top 10 for the first time in the history of the ATP Tour.

One-handed backhand used to be the norm on ATP Tour

Players with one-handed backhands were prevalent once upon a time and those with two-handed backhands were a rarity. In that respect, Bjorn Borg and Jimmy Connors were two pioneers, as both of them enjoyed a lot of success using a two-handed backhand on the ATP Tour 1970s and 1980s.

Traditionally, players with more powerful serves and forehands/volleys usually did not opt for two-handed backhands. John McEnroe, Boris Becker, Stefan Edberg and even Roger Federer opted for a one-handed backhand.

Both Borg and Connors had better return games than their service games and were primarily baseliners, too. Hence, they preferred to punch more power into their backhand using a double-handed one. Then came Andre Agassi, who had one of the best two-handed backhands on the ATP Tour, which also helped him win a lot of points from the baseline.

However, the real evolution of two-handed backhand started in the first decade of this century. Players like Marat Safin, David Nalbandian, Nikolay Davydenko and Andy Murray had very effective two-handed backhands.

They were then overshadowed by Novak Djokovic, who possesses arguably the greatest backhand of all time.

Djokovic’s enormous success on the ATP Tour, behind which his two-handed backhand was a big factor, must have inspired a lot of youngsters all over the world to start using a two-handed one. Now, we have the likes of Carlos Alcaraz, Daniil Medvedev, Jannik Sinner, Holger Rune and Alexander Zverev all using two-handed backhands.

Both Agassi and Djokovic were great returners and strict baseliners, too. Thus one can start getting further correlation between having a good return game and using a two-handed backhand.

Coaching and racket technology are also important factors

We have entered into a tennis era now, where having a one-handed backhand is deemed as a weakness in one’s game.

Rafael Nadal famously exploited Roger Federer’s one-handed backhand during the mid-to-late 2000s, enjoying a great head-to-head record against him.

Federer found it difficult to deal with Nadal’s crosscourt forehand with his one-hander, especially on clay. There have been powerful one-handed backhands like those of Gustavo Kuerten, Richard Gasquet and Stan Wawrinka, but they were few and far between.

Both Kuerten and Wawrinka won multiple Grand Slams, as did Federer, but the two players from Switzerland (Federer and Wawrinka) were the only ones to win a Slam during the last 10 years using a one-handed backhand.

Most young players are coached to start hitting their backhands with two hands. The improvement of racket technology means that there is a strong chance of hitting passes with one’s backhand, too.

One cannot generate much power using a one-handed backhand unless one has a quick release of the wrist, preferably using a slinging motion. One also should have a lower centre of gravity while hitting the one-hander. Wawrinka and Gasquet ticked all those boxes and hence, have very powerful one-handers.

Tsitsipas backhand is his weak link

Someone like Tsitsipas, who hits his backhands with a more erect posture, cannot seem to extract enough power behind his shots at times.

Whenever a player faces the likes of Tsitsipas or Dimitrov, he invariably targets their backhand to start having an advantage. It can be argued that Tsitsipas' weaker backhand is one of the reasons why he is yet to win a Grand Slam despite coming close on a few occasions.

This was true about Federer, too, but the other aspects of his game were so superior that he still managed to win 20 Grand Slams. Federer also made some changes to his backhand during the latter stages of his career.

We are very unlikely to see too many top players on the ATP Tour with a one-handed backhand in the future. In fact, it would be a surprise to comes across any future Grand Slam champion with a one-handed backhand.