Backhand problems

Filippo Rotunno Asked 9 years ago

Hi Alois

I have not contacted you for ages but I am following your hard work (and Jeff's of course) with the usual sense of gratitude and humility. You both have enthusiasm in abundance and never seem to lose an ounce of it. Thank you a million times for what you do.

I have a little question which is really a plea. After so many years of playing, my backhand remains my main weakness. As I mentioned to you before I have a robot at home which is always set on sending balls on my backhand. When I do it at home everything is fine, I imagine you or Jeff playing your formidable backhands and manage to produce some excellent backhand returns. However in match situations I still do not feel completely at ease. Why? Why? What can I do to change things?

Kind regards

Filippo

Alois Rosario Answered 9 years ago

Hi Filippo,

Good to hear from you as usual.

I think you can try to find some more hitting time with a partner.  The robot is never quite the same as a hitting partner because you are not seeing the stroke of the opponent and the subtle changes and also there isn’t the pressure of someone standing at the other end to return it.

In your training try to make it more game like.  Challenge yourself to make the backhand under a little more pressure in training.  A little like what we talk about in the lesson on Effective Training in our Sports Psychology section.