Don’t worry, the one-handed backhand isn’t gone from the ATP Tour – yet

The news – very well-documented – that there will be no ATP players with one-handed backhands in the top 10 as of Monday has hit the purists hard. It is a blunt reminder that times marches on and, as inexorable winds of change sweep through our sport, there will be casualties.

We are living in a time of electronic line-calling, polyester strings and – more so by the year – two-handed backhands.

For a century tennis fans have swooned over the one-handed backhand, seeing it as a rarity, and maybe even a defiant stance taken against aforementioned inexorability, in the name of aesthetics. Rather than aim for machine-like productivity in an off wing, there were many players who opted for the more sweeping, elegant one-hander, and not necessarily because it gave them the best chance to win.

Even Roger Federer himself espouses the two-hander.

“From moving now on forward we will see double-handed backhands predominantly, which is how I would teach my kids, as well, to play tennis,” said Federer in 2018.  “I think it’s just easier.”

Some hit the one-hander because they watched their heroes do it. There is a long list. Guga. Sampras. Stefan Edberg. Roger Federer. Stan Wawrinka. Richard Gasquet.

Tsitsipas carries the torch

Stefanos Tsitsipas, the highest-ranking one-hander on the circuit at the moment, would like to carry that torch into the future. But in a sport that is becoming faster-paced seemingly by the minute, and on surfaces that allow for higher and higher bounces, it is becoming increasingly difficult to be a top player with a one-hander tour.

Players don’t have the stability with the one hand, and they very often struggle on return. The high, over-the-shoulder bounces are tougher on a one-hander, as well.

Tsitsipas is partial to the backhands of his Swiss heroes, but he thinks Richard Gasquet’s is museum-worthy as well.

“In terms of elegance and beauty, I would probably say Gasquet’s is a beautiful backhand,” he said. “Otherwise Roger’s.

“Roger has a very nice flow, as well. It’s poetry when you watch it. He can mix up the slice, which makes it an interesting combination, switching from a single-handed backhand topspin to a slice. But I feel like Stan’s single-handed backhand down the line is much better, in my opinion, having played him.”

Dwindling numbers

What Federer (20 Grand Slam titles) and Wawrinka (3 Grand Slam titles) managed to do with their one-handers may never be done again.

Just look at the numbers, they don’t lie.

In 2003, there were fourteen players inside the top 30 with one-handers in the year-end rankings. Ten years later, there were 10. Last year? A mere three.

In twenty years, we’ve seen the numbers dwindle from about 50 percent of the top 30 to a third to one tenth.

Today it is Tsitsipas, Grigor Dimitrov and Lorenzo Musetti who carry the torch. Even worse, there are only ten one-handers inside the top 100 and only one of them is under 25 (Lorenzo Musetti, 21). There are another six inside the top 200 and when you total up the numbers that amounts to eight percent of the tour’s top 200 players hitting a one-handed backhand (of which 1.5 percent are under 25).

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It promises to be even thinner in the future unless a player like Tsitsipas, Musetti or Denis Shapovalov (currently 124, aged 24) can rise to the top of the sport and inspire future generations to embrace the one-hander.

There’s also Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard of France. He’s only 20 and already ranked 164.

For now we’ll keep our fingers crossed that the trend reverses and we see more variety in the men’s game.

All the one-handers in the top 200

To satisfy you’re curiosity, we’ve provided this handy list of one-handed backhands inside the top 200, alongside their rankings as of February 12:

• Stefanos Tsitsipas – 10
• Grigor Dimitrov – 13
• Lorenzo Musetti – 26
• Christopher Eubanks – 34
• Daniel Evans – 44
• Daniel Altmaier – 53
• Dusan Lajovic – 58
• Stan Wawrinka – 60
• Christopher O’Connell – 67
• Dominic Thiem – 90
• Aleksandar Kovacevic – 102
• Denis Shapovalov – 127
• Richard Gasquet – 130
• Andrea Vavassori – 152
• Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard – 164
• Marco Cecchinato – 198

Last one-hander to win a Slam, a Masters 1000, or any title

The one-hander may be vanishing, but it still makes an impact at the highest level every once in a while. Grigor Dimitrov just won a title in Brisbane, and his backhand was a big reason for his success.

• Last ATP title: Grigor Dimitrov Brisbane, January 2024
• Last Masters 1000 title: Stefanos Tsitsipas, 2022 Monte-Carlo
• Last Masters 1000 final: Grigor Dimitrov, Paris Masters 2023 (lost to Djokovic)
• Last Grand Slam title: Dominic Thiem, 2020 US Open
• Last Australian Open title: Roger Federer, 2018
• Last Roland-Garros title: Stan Wawrinka, 2015
• Last Wimbledon title: Roger Federer, 2017