SYDNEY—Juan Martin del Potro says he will not try and use a one-handed backhand to compensate for the injury to his left wrist.
The Argentine has hit a two-handed backhand since he was a child, but has been injured over the past year and underwent surgery nine months ago. On Tuesday, del Potro won his first match in 10 months by defeating Sergiy Stakhovsky in Sydney, 6-3, 7-6 (4).
"I never try it," del Potro told TENNIS.com when asked about playing with a one-handed backhand. "Franco [Davin, del Potro's coach] doesn't want to teach me the one-handed backhand. But I thought I improve a lot of my slices, my volleys, too, which is nice. But now I need to get my backhand again. If I get all my arms, in the future I will be ready for play with all the players."
The former U.S. Open champion said he had a very difficult year in 2014 as he was not able to practice until the late fall. But he is hopeful that he can eventually hit his two-handed backhand as hard as he can.
"I'm working on my backhand every day. I just start to hitting backhands here in Sydney like three days ago," he said. "I think I'm improving. It's take time to feel the ball again on my wrist, to play hard, to make winners. Also, I'm doing a big effort when the guys play me to my backhand, because I don't feel confidence yet. But if I don't have a big pain, I will still practicing and I'm positive. I need to be patient and survive with these kind of things in the beginning of the year."