Backhand open stance or closed?
Hi
I am right handed and always feel tied up when moving on the backhand corner off the tee. I always hit with a traditional stance ie closed. Is it not better off hitting open stance at the rear of the court?
A closed stance will help you generate more power with proper racquet swing.. but practicing open stance backhand helps reach the ball quicker and is extremely useful for midcourt volleys and interception before the back wall. It feels very unnatural at first and requires a lot of practice to feel comfortable but has immense rewards for your backhand game and you movement efficiency. Trick is to focus extra hard on shoulder rotation while hitting backhand on open stance since your upper body is more open and not in a natural way to generate backhand swing speed..look at Gaultier.. he's a master at playing backhands on wrong leg.
Thierry Lincou too is also fantastic at hitting off of the "wrong" leg -- honestly I think he's better at this than Gaultier. Agree that doing this effectively while hitting a backhand means that shoulder rotation is even more important.
From my limited experience, take it with a grain of salt, I don't think you'd be able to generate any accuracy or power from an open stance. And by open stance I am assuming it is something akin to how shorbagy stands at the T to deliver forehand boasts or volleys down the line when the ball is hit close to him
You'll probably want to practice ghosting (proper court movement) to the backhand corner and then hit from the traditional backhand position as much as possible.
You want your feet to be planted by the time you're ready to swing, and the power to come from the torque generated by your hip and shoulder movement through the swing. There is very limited kinetic energy available in comparison through your body when hitting the backhand from an open stance. Although when you get good enough you can deliver an effective shot from this position.
The backhand shots have a steep learning curve and are tough to become good with. I would recommend hitting backhand straight drives (length) to yourself for solo and then do backhand rotation with a partner for practice. I can't even count the number of hours I must have spent on court to get any sort of acceptable power and control out of my backhand at first lol. But it's worth it once you do.
If you can maintain control and accuracy with an open stance, it's a good tool to have access to. Given the time, I prefer to hit backhands with a closed stance, but as other commenters already mentioned, for quick volleys and for cutting off balls before they get past you often times you have to hit on an open stance. I practice backhands way more than forehands so I have comparable control from either stance, but way more power on a closed stance. A drill I used to do was to hit straight drives (not hard drives) above the service line and bouncing in the service box, switching open-closed stance every shot. On a good day I'll get up to 80+ drives consecutively. You should do this on forehand too if you have time. Basically being able to play the ball accurately regardless of stance is always a benefit even if you're always striving to play from a "classically correct" stance.
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