The signature shot to swoon over has seen higher days.
By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Sunday February 18, 2024
It’s a unhappy day for the one-handed backhand.
Revered and regaled for a century, the shot has been a fixture on the prime of the tour since, nicely, endlessly. Even in recent times, as the game morphed right into a extra bodily, faster-paced endeavor that favored the rise of the extra steady, extra environment friendly two-handed backhand, gamers like Roger Federer, Stan Wawrinka and Richard Gasquet saved followers swooning over the one-hander.
However issues are altering, and never in a great way. On Monday, for the primary time because the ATP initiated rankings in 1973, there aren’t any single-handed backhands contained in the High 10.
Stefanos Tsitsipas, who selected the one-hander on the age of eight due largely to the truth that he was impressed by Federer as a youth, is one among many up to date torch holders. He’s additionally outdoors of the High 10 this week for the primary time in over 5 years.
The evolution of one-handed backhand gamers in ATP and WTA High 10 pic.twitter.com/LVvZ3tk2MY
— We Are Tennis (@WeAreTennis) February 18, 2024
The place does that depart us? With a mere three one-handed backhands – No.11 Tsitsipas, No.13 Grigor Dimitrov and No.26 Lorenzo Musetti – contained in the ATP’s High 30.
Loads has modified over the past twenty years:
In 2003, there have been fourteen gamers inside the highest 30 with one-handers within the year-end rankings. Ten years later, there have been 10. Final yr? A mere three. In twenty years, we’ve seen the numbers dwindle from about 50 p.c of the highest 30, to a 3rd, to at least one tenth.
Presently there are ten gamers with one-handers contained in the High 100, and solely one among them is underneath 25.
Stefanos Tsitsipas – Ranked 11, age 25
Grigor Dimitrov – Ranked 13, age 32
Lorenzo Musetti – Ranked 26, age 21
Christopher Eubanks – Ranked 34, age 27
Daniel Evans – Ranked 42, age 33
Daniel Altmaier – Ranked 55, age 25
Dusan Lajovic – Ranked 58, age 33
Christopher O’Connell – 65, age 29
Stan Wawrinka – Ranked 67, age 38
Dominic Thiem – Ranked 89, age 30
Six of them are over 30, actually, and there are solely three gamers underneath 25 with one-handers contained in the High 200 – Musetti, Denis Shapavalov (24) and Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard (20).
Within the years to return, the game will rely closely on these younger gamers with one-handers to encourage the generations to return. Increasingly it’s wanting like an uphill battle.
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