Thiem, Shapovalov show one-handed backhand as a double-edged sword

PARIS—Are all tennis aficionados really just backhand obsessives in disguise?

Because it can be hit in a variety of ways—two-handed, one-handed, drive, drop, chip, topspin—and because its path across the body creates a long and hopefully elegant arc, the backhand is typically the shot that defines a player’s style and personality in our minds, especially when there’s only one hand on the racquet. The forehand remains the most important stroke in the modern game, but how often do you hear anyone gush over its beauty?

The past two days at Roland Garros have been a feast for backhand lovers on the men’s side. All of its present-day diversity has been on display: we’ve seen Alexander Zverev’s and Kei Nishikori’s ultra-efficient two-handers; Dusan Lajovic’s, Denis Shapovalov’s and Grigor Dimitrov’s electric one-handers; Benoit Paire’s two-hander, which he hits with the point-changing decisiveness of a forehand; and a much-anticipated battle between two young players with famous one-handers, Dominic Thiem and Stefanos Tsitsipas. All of them gave good value for the entertainment dollar, and showed that even in this supposedly cookie-cutter age, there are still many different ways to make a tennis ball do what you want it to do.

WATCH: Dominic Thiem vs. Stefanos Tsitsipas

The one-hander’s long arc and wealth of shot choices make it the favorite of most tennis aesthetes, but I like the contrast between a one-hander and a two-hander best. More than Thiem-Tsitsipas, I enjoyed the Bullring battle between Lajovic’s curving finesse and Zverev’s relentless pummeling. By contrast, Thiem and Tsitsipas, because they struggle to take the ball on the rise with one hand, camped out in the deep reaches of new Court 18, wound up their backswings, and launched heavy-topspin missiles at each other from afar.

Young Tsitsipas’ one-hander, which involves a high-looping take-back, is a thing of new beauty for the game. When he needed it most, though, it didn’t help him against Thiem. At 2-2 in the fourth set, down break point, Tsitsipas smothered a backhand into the net; Thiem held out from there for the win. The fact that Tsitsipas uses a one-hander made his chances of breaking serve slimmer; faced with Thiem’s kick to that side, Tsitsipas could only retreat behind the baseline and start rallies at a disadvantage.

Something similar could be said about Shapovalov’s one-hander on Thursday. The shot gives him options, and helps him launch forward when he gets a short ball. There are few sights in tennis more thrilling than seeing him connect on it for a winner. But it also put him at a disadvantage against Maximilian Marterer on Thursday.

(Photo: Anita Aguilar)

Marterer is a 22-year-old German currently ranked 70th, who hasn’t yet made the same splash, or received the same media attention, as Shapovalov. He’s a lefty like Shapovalov, and he plays with similar, daringly angled forays from the forehand side. But Marterer has a two-handed backhand, and while it lacks Shapo’s flash, that shot helped make the difference in their second-round match. Marterer was more consistent from that side, especially on the return of serve. When Shapovalov went out to sea in the second set, it was his backhand that sailed on him.

WATCH: Denis Shapovalov vs. Maximilian Marterer

The death of the one-hander has been predicted for years, if not decades; obviously those reports have been greatly exaggerated. Still, only two men—Roger Federer and Stan Wawrinka—who use the shot have won major titles in the last decade, and the last single-hander to win one on the women’s side was Francesca Schiavone in 2010, at Roland Garros. Federer himself says he would advise his own kids to hit a two-hander, while Thiem, despite his success with the shot, says he doesn’t see a one-handed renaissance coming anytime soon.

Is there a way for someone other than Federer to take the one-hander to No. 1, to make beauty pay? Among the top players who followed Federer—Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, and Andy Murray—the answer has been to develop a one-handed slice to complement their two-handed backhand. They get the power and stability of two hands, and a change of pace with one hand. Since undergoing wrist surgery two years ago, Juan Martin del Potro has taken this idea even farther. He’s risen back into the Top 10 by using his soft backhand chip to set up his blistering forehand.

Still, the slice isn’t really the thing of beauty that we backhand aesthetes want want to see; we’re looking for the effortless topspin bullet into the corner. For the next two weeks, Thiem would seem to be the player who is most likely to succeed with that shot. He’s reached the Roland Garros semifinals the last two years, and he beat Rafael Nadal on clay this spring.

But if Thiem is going to win a Slam, he may not be able to rely on his one-hander to win it for him. Down the stretch against Tsitsipas today, the shot that Thiem kept backpedaling to hit, and kept pounding for winners, was his forehand.

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