The study investigated differences in the one (SH) and two-handed (DH) backhands when hit flat, across court (AC) and down-the-line (DL), and with heavy topspin DL (TDL). The ability to disguise each of these backhands when hitting the above strokes was also assessed. Eighteen college-level male tennis players, identified as having a high-performance topspin SH (n = 6) or DH (n = 12) backhand drive, participated in the study. Players were required to hit three AC, DL and TDL backhands from the baseline with their preferred technique, while being filmed with two high-speed video cameras operating at 200 Hz. The highest horizontal velocity backhand for each stroke was analysed. Results indicated that the sequential co-ordination of five body segments (hips, shoulder, upper arm, forearm and hand/racquet rotations) was required for the execution of the SH stroke. The same number of segments were generally co-ordinated in the DH stroke (hips, shoulders, and varying degrees of upper arm and forearm rotations followed by hand/racquet movement). Mature players produced comparable racquet horizontal velocities 0.005s prior to impact, using either the SH or DH backhand technique. The SH backhand was characterised by a more rotated shoulder alignment than the DH stroke (SH: 119.1¡, DH: 83.4¡) at the completion of the backswing. At impact, the ball was struck further in front (SH: 0.59 m; DH: 0.40 m) and a similar distance from the side of the body (SH: 0.75 m; DH: 0.70 m). Players using the DH backhand technique delayed the horizontal acceleration of the racquet toward the ball (SH: 0.13s; DH: 0.08s prior to impact) and thus were capable of displaying a similar hitting motion closer to impact than players with an SH technique.
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