Tennis Backhand LAG And SNAP Explained | Done In 3 Simple Steps!

What's the correct wrist lag and snap technique on the two-handed backhand? Should your wrist be passive through the whole stroke? Or is there a whole nother dynamic way to force this racket flip down and up? In this video in the ATB Backhand Series, you're going to learn exactly how to execute the optimal backhand lag and snap technique in just three steps based on the footage of top pros and what the science says. Let's go! Now, just like the ATP forehand, the basic movements in the backhand lag and snap technique are flexion, extension, radial deviation, and ulnar deviation, along with pronation and supination in the forearm. Except this time, we've got two wrists to look after instead of one. Also, I think it's important to note that the wrist action in the racket flip are affected by exactly how your other parts of your body are used, such as your trunk and your shoulder rotation. The correct wrist and arm action on your two-hander starts with your prep. In our two-handed backhand backswing video, which you can check out in the description below, but here are three key checkpoints to keep in mind right now. First, after your split step, whether you decide to use the compact loop or the direct take back, your hands should stay on the hitting arm side of your body during your take back. So to make sure that this happens, try to keep your top elbow slightly bent and slightly raised about 35 to 30 degrees away from your torso. Now, number two, your hands should be stretched far enough back on your right shoulder, if you're a righty, and your core. You'll feel like your body is being coiled like a rubber band, and with your racket away from your body, you'll have a lot more space to accelerate forward. Now lastly, keep your racket head above your hands during your take back. If you want to start swinging forward with your racket head already down, you're just going to end up losing a lot of space to generate that racket speed, and well, there's really no racket flip to talk about. And plus, you'll feel more relaxed because gaining that extra racket speed is going to be a lot easier. To execute the racket flip, we're going to break this down into two distinct movements driven by your top and your bottom arm. And if you want us to continue this series on the wrist snap, be sure to leave us one of these. On the ATP style backhand, your racket flip and your acceleration should be initiated by your right arm, for righties, pulling forward. Many players make this mistake by starting by swinging, pushing forward with the left arm. And this mistake does happen a lot if you just oversimplify the two-hander into just thinking of it as a left-handed forehand. You see, the problem is, while you might initially feel a little bit more control with this technique, you'll start tensing up and having a much shallower racket flip, and ultimately end up with less pace and less control. So if you want a high-level backhand, it's really important that you start synchronizing both your top and your bottom arm to execute the two-hander properly. And then start initiating the racket flip by pulling forward with your right arm. Now, as we covered in the forehand wrist lag video, the racket flip on the forehand is pretty straightforward. Keep the hitting arm relaxed and just let the racket flip down and back naturally. But you see, the backhand side has a slight twist. Now, it's commonly believed that by simply accelerating forward from your hitting arm, the top arm, completely passive, you can execute the racket flip correctly. And while this is true, other coaches and biomechanists, such as Dr. Brian Gordon, have found that by actively pushing down on the racket head, by actively straightening your top arm, can actually create a more dynamic and a more powerful acceleration, utilizing what he's identified as the couple effect in mechanics. Now, I know what you're thinking, and yes, this does add a little bit of complexity, because depending on how you use your top arm, you can change the timing and the depth of your stroke and your racket drop. Now, to understand this, we need to look no further than the highest levels of tennis. Nishikori is known for his especially deep flip, and he'll start using this racket drop before he begins to accelerate forward from the bottom arm. And Nadal, he'll go through his backswing and even drop his racket lower than other pros due to his style of play, which involves a lot of heavy topspin shots with high net clearance. On the other hand, we've got players like Burdich, who'll accelerate forward with the racket flipping down and back relatively at the same time. His racket drop is typically more shallow, and he's known for hitting flatter shots. Ultimately, both methods have worked, so I recommend that you go out and try to experiment to see what works best for you. Now, another thing to note is that this racket flipping action can really only happen if your bottom hand and your wrist is relaxed. And depending on the depth of your racket flip and your grip, you'll probably notice yourself having more or less flexion in the bottom wrist at the end of your racket drop. Just make sure not to do this too actively, otherwise you'll injure your wrist just trying to manufacture this wrist position mechanically. From this position, you might think that the racket flip on the backhand looks a little bit excessive, but let me tell you, this rotation element is actually just like the modern forehand. The difference is that because the grips tend to be milder on the backhand side, your racket is going to flip down and back in less of a left to right path, but instead travel on edge or straight down. Now, what stops most players from getting this wrist lag action and consequently topspin on the backhand is tightness. But really quick, here's a great drill progression that'll get you feeling this loose racket flip right away. Start off with a few light shadow swings, and the key here is to pull forward from your right hand and then subsequently push down with your top hand. Now, a pro tip here, you can use a ball and put it in the throat of the racket just to feel a little bit more weight and start feeling that fluid wrist lag action. So from here, you're going to start drop feeding yourself still with three fingers on the racket, just like this, right? And you're going to make sure that your pinky and your ring finger is off the racket on both hands, and now you can start drop feeding yourself. So note here that you're going to think about keeping your arms loose with less fingers on the racket, and only after your full racket drop, when your racket is fully down and pushed straight down, are you going to start to come back up and accelerate forward. So as you drop feed, repeat to yourself, pull, push, pull, push. Now, after you've gotten comfortable here, we'll start adding a little bit more racket head speed with our next progression. Now, this drill is similar to Tomaz's forehand wrist drill over at Field Tennis. So once you're in the proper backswing, I want you to focus on keeping your arms loose while you start swinging forward by pulling from your bottom arm. You'll probably notice that your racket naturally travels back up and forward like a spring. And finally, try to achieve this same loose racket flip action by pulling from the arm and subsequently pushing from the top with the ball. As for the final racket flip position of your top arm, as your ATP style backhand unfolds, you want to make sure that the inside of your elbow right here is inverted upward almost completely towards the sky and still close and slightly in front of your body. On the two-hander, Rick Macy teaches this arm action by having players focus on lifting the left elbow while pulling forward with the right arm as shown in this video. Right arm straight, left elbow bent, racket head above, same concept. The leg drive and the hip is going to activate the pull. And this position creates tons of stored elastic energy in your top shoulder through external shoulder rotation. And as we'll cover in the next video of this series, the hitting arm will have nowhere to go but up, resulting in a high octane, powerful backhand shot. So to recap, number one, as your torso rotates at the beginning of the forward swing, your arms are going to lag slightly. And this is going to store elastic energy like a stretched rubber band. Step number two, accelerate your racket forward from the pulling motion of your bottom arm. Step three, experiment to see what timing and amount of top arm action works best for you. Remember, here's what you can do. A, push your racket head down before you accelerate forward. B, push your racket head down simultaneously as you pull with your bottom arm. And C, keep your top arm passive and let the racket flip naturally from the force of your bottom arm pulling forward. And most importantly, number four, if you want to take all of this out onto the court and make it real, make sure to download our completely free backhand lag and snap checklist right now by clicking the first link in the description below. So athletes, I hope you found this video super helpful. And if you like the video, watch our full series on the ATP two-handed backhand right here. Our newest videos right here. And remember to subscribe and click the bell so that you don't miss any new videos coming soon. Thank you all for watching. And until next time, go out and train hard. See you in the next video.