Does An Italian Teenager Provide Signs of Life For The One Handed Backhand?
The one handed backhand is dead. At least, that is increasingly becoming the consensus opinion of anyone who follows the game at a youth level. Fewer and fewer top juniors are rising up through the ranks with the single-handed stroke, with one notable exception. Lorenzo Musetti, who just last week celebrated his 18th birthday, is the first notable player born in the new millennium to sport the one handed backhand, and hopefully can provide a template for how he can avoid being the last?
Musetti first made an impression on the tennis world at the Australian Open of 2019. Seeded first, he won a dramatic final, outlasting American rival Emilio Nava in a tense third set tiebreak that saw both juniors saving championship points. The mental toughness that Musetti displayed in that match should serve him in good stead during his professional career, but what was most notable was the single handed backhand that he used- one of only six boys in the draw of 64 to use that shot, he has had the most promising professional career of them all by far.
Musetti currently sits at no.16 in the live rankings of tennis’ Next Gen (under 21) players, the only one in the top 20 with a one handed backhand besides Denis Shapovalov, who has already established himself firmly on the professional tour. It takes video analysis of Musetti in order to determine not only whether he can be a successful player on the ATP Tour, but whether or not he can provide a sustainable model for other young players to emulate, to show that the single handed backhand can be more than just a unicorn.
Some of the best match video available of Musetti is from an ATP Challenger level match that he played in 2019 in Genoa. The match saw Musetti pitted against Phillipp Kohlschreiber, a solid veteran of the ATP Tour who has ranked as high as World no. 16 (and who also carries on the one handed backhand tradition). Although Kohlschreiber won the match, the video still shows the promise that Musetti has to become a top player on the tour. Earlier that year, Musetti won his first ATP challenger title, the first player born in 2002 to accomplish that feat on the tour.
The key to Musetti’s future potential, and the potential he has to revitalize the one handed backhand’s future, lies in using the combination of extreme western forehand grip and modified eastern backhand grip that he uses on his groundstrokes. With the one handed backhand in particular, it enables him to very easily pull his opponent well off the court, opening up the down the line shot to make the down the line backhand (normally a low percentage, risky shot) into an easy putaway. Expect this to only continue to improve as Musetti develops physically and grows into his body, which he should continue to do as he only just turned 18.
Among enthusiasts of the one handed backhand, the conventional wisdom for nearly two decades now has been that the only hope for reviving the shot was that Roger Federer would inspire such a fandom among young players that they would emulate his style. However, this seems to be ineffective, considering that Federer himself has said that he would teach his kids a double handed backhand.
Federer’s backhand was originally developed to enhance a serve and volley based game- Federer employed that tactic much more frequently in his early career, particularly on faster surfaces. The fact that he was able to adapt his backhand so well to the modern baseline game is an incredible achievement, but expecting even the best young players to replicate it from a young age is nearly impossible.
Someone like Dominic Thiem provides a model that may ultimately be more sustainable for a long-term renaissance of the one handed backhand than someone like Federer. Whereas a player like Federer grew up playing on fast hardcourts and grass, Thiem’s one hander was specifically designed for clay courts with its lengthy takeback and subsequent ability to handle the very heavy topspin generated by players in the modern game.
This construction of Thiem’s stroke is why Thiem has, from a very early stage in his career, been more competitive against a player like Rafael Nadal than Federer ever was. Thiem has already won twice as many victories against Nadal on clay as Federer (four victories to two), and has done so over a period of only five years compared to fifteen for Federer. The reason for this is that Thiem’s backhand holds up to Nadal’s lefty spin on clay far more easily than Federer’s, due to the combination of his modified grip and takeback motion.
I don’t know if Lorenzo Musetti was more influenced by someone like Thiem in his training or the construction of his strokes, although the resemblance is there in the video of both players. In today’s game, it takes a great deal of investment and belief by both coach and player to develop the one hander at the junior level when the two hander is seen as much easier to learn and develop. Musetti would have been fourteen years old when Dominic Thiem recorded his first win against Nadal on clay, perhaps his coach at the time was watching and taking notes.
This is not to say that Dominic Thiem is a greater player than Roger Federer, not by a long stretch. But a key part of Federer’s appeal is that he is such a throwback to a now bygone era of tennis, and thus emulating his style to preserve the one handed backhand may not be viable. Dominic Thiem’s backhand is built for the modern game of heavy topspin and slower, high-bouncing surfaces, and Lorenzo Musetti is the first sign that the innovations he first introduced to the game are catching on. Fans of the one hander everywhere should hope that is the case.
