The two-handed backhand is the backhand most baseline players use, and coaches often start young players on it. With both hands on the racket, your arms and trunk work as one closed chain: more stable, with less reach than a one-hander. It gets more of its racket speed from turning your hips and trunk than the one-handed backhand does, and your top hand drives the racket through the ball.
Grip and turn
Grip it with two hands touching. Bottom (dominant) hand in Continental: index base knuckle on bevel 2. Top hand above it in an Eastern forehand grip for that hand: index base knuckle on bevel 7 (for a right-hander).
the top hand holds it like a forehand for its own side.
Start in a ready stance: feet about shoulder-width, knees slightly bent, racket in front of you with your top hand resting on the throat.
light, ready to turn either way.
Turn early as a unit. As soon as you read a backhand, turn your shoulders and hips sideways together and take the racket back with both hands, the racket head a little below the height you'll hit the ball.
your body takes the racket back, not your arms.
Coil a little more with the shoulders than the hips. At the end of the backswing your shoulders are turned slightly further than your hips (about 20 degrees more in tested players), with your weight loaded on your back leg.
a stretch across your trunk, weight on the back foot.
Step and drive
Step toward the ball with your front foot (right foot for a right-hander). In a closed stance, angle that foot about 45 degrees to the baseline instead of straight at the sideline, so your hips can keep turning.
your front foot lets your hips through.
Swing forward with no pause at the back. Push off your back leg and turn your hips, then your trunk and shoulders, toward the net.
the swing starts from your legs and hips.
Let your top hand drive. Think of the top hand as the driver and the bottom hand as the passenger: the bottom hand steadies the racket, the top hand pushes it through.
like a forehand with your other hand.
Contact in front, finish
Meet the ball in front of your body, toward your front foot, with your knees bent and your weight moving forward. It sits a little closer to you than a one-hander's contact. By contact your shoulders have turned slightly past your hips.
you hit it out in front, not beside your back hip.
Swing out along the line of the ball, then up to a full finish. End with the racket head higher than your head, both armpits open ("aired"), and your top-hand elbow pointing across the net.
a long, high finish, weight on the front foot.
Feel it
A compact, stable stroke: you turn early, the stretch across your trunk unwinds, and your top hand pushes the racket through like a forehand from the other side. If it feels weak, turn more and drive with the top hand instead of pulling with the bottom arm. If balls go into the net, lengthen the finish so both armpits open and your top elbow points at the net. The two-hander loads the trunk more than the one-hander, so warm up your trunk rotation before hitting and stop if your lower back hurts. The app reads your body motion, not the ball, spin or your grip.
Fix-its
- You swing with your arms only (no turn) Turn shoulders and hips together before the ball bounces, then let the hips and trunk start the forward swing.
- Your bottom arm pulls and the top hand goes along for the ride Make the top hand the driver. Hit one-handed forehands with your top hand, then alternate them with two-handers.
- You cut the finish short and the ball goes into the net Finish with both armpits "aired" and your top elbow pointing across the net.
- You make contact late, beside or behind your body Turn earlier and step in so you meet the ball toward your front foot.
- Your front foot points at the sideline in a closed stance and your hips get stuck Angle the front foot about 45 degrees to the baseline so your hips can rotate through.
Drill
- Shadow swings without a ball: ready stance, unit turn, step, swing, and hold the finish with your top elbow pointing at the net.
- Top-hand forehands: hold the racket with your top hand only and hit gentle forehands on that side from a drop-feed, then alternate with two-handed backhands.
- Drop-feed two-handers, focusing on an early turn, contact toward your front foot and an "aired armpits" finish.
- Learn a one-handed slice backhand early as well; it uses a different movement pattern from the two-hander.
- Film from the side or from behind at 60 fps or slow-motion to check your turn, contact in front and finish.
Sources
- Genevois, Reid, Rogowski & Crespo — Performance Factors Related to the Different Tennis Backhand Groundstrokes: A Review, JSSM (2015)
- Stępień, Bober & Zawadzki — The Kinematics of Trunk and Upper Extremities in One-Handed and Two-Handed Backhand Stroke, J Hum Kinet (2011)
- Elliott — Biomechanics and Tennis, Br J Sports Med (2006)
- CUHK Physical Education Unit — Tennis notes (2025)
- USTA (Karl Davies) — The Driving Force in Your Two-Handed Backhand (2018)
- USTA (Rita Gladstone) — Improve Your Backhand (2018)
Last checked 2026-10-25.