How To Use Your Wrists On The 2 Handed Backhand

Are you ready to learn how to use your wrists on the 2 handed backhand?

I’ve known quite a few players who worry about what their wrists should be doing on this shot. Should one of your wrists stay cocked back the whole time? , or are both wrists supposed to be loose?

Here’s the truth…

It’s best not to focus on what your wrists are doing.

Focus on your hands instead. If you think about altering your wrists, your hands will probably feel tighter.

This is not good. You want your hands to relax enough, so that they can drop under the ball before contact.

Here are a few simple ways on how to hit a powerful 2 handed backhand.

Best 2 Handed Backhand Grip

First and foremost, you have to make sure you are using the best 2 handed backhand grip to achieve the right movement with your hands.

Ideally, you want to have your top hand (right hand for a righty, vice versa for a lefty) in an eastern grip.

This will allow your racquet head to drop when you relax your hands.

Your bottom hand can be in a weak continental, or continental grip.

Holding the racquet like this will allow you to get the racquet head below the ball. Hence, you can drive up and through, creating power and spin.

Perfect 2 Handed Backhand First Move

After you’ve gotten your grip right, you need to make sure you have the correct first move.

A common mistake is to make the first move with your racquet and hands instead of your shoulders. You want to lead with your shoulders so that you can keep a nice compact backswing.

There are a couple variations on wrist position at this point of the swing.

Some players, like Novak Djokovic or Andre Agassi have the racquet tip cocked up more before they drop the hands under the ball.

Other players like Andy Murray and Marcelo Rios make more of a level first move with the racquet tip not as high.

Their hands still drop under the ball, but at the end of the day, it comes down to feeling comfortable and relaxed with the first move.

I recommend playing around with it, so you can find out what works best for you.

The important thing here is that no matter what direction your racket tip is pointing, your hands have to be loose enough to drop the racquet head under the ball.

Net Drill For The 2 Handed Backhand

One of the best drills you can do to work on dropping your racquet head under the ball is the Net Drill.

Stand close to the net, and swing up against it slowly.

Focus on dropping your bottom hand below your top hand before you bring your racquet face up into contact with the net.

This will help you learn the feeling of dropping your hands below the ball before contact.

2 Handed Backhand Finish

Last, but not least, you should relax your hands at contact. If your hands are tight, then you won’t be able to drop your racquet head under the ball and you won’t get the spin, power, and control that you want.

If you relax your hands at the end of the swing, you will be reminded to relax your hands earlier in the swing.

This counter-intuitive tip is super effective in getting players to relax their hands.

I hope this helped you better understand how to use your wrists on the 2 handed backhand.

As you can now, it’s not so much about the wrists, as it is about your hands.

Put these 2 handed backhand tips into action, and you’ll be hitting brilliant two-handers in no time.

By Jeff Salzenstein, Founder Tennis Evolution

Jeff is a former top 100 ATP player and USTA high-performance coach
committed to helping players and coaches all over the world improve.

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