Published10. August 2024, 07:18
Tennis: When the ATP jokes about the disappearance of the one-handed backhand
In a humorous video, the international men’s circuit features the last one-handed backhanders, forced to operate differently on a daily basis. The result is laughable.
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Forced to play darts with both hands, Stan Wawrinka proved clumsy in the exercise.
Screenshot.
“Tennis has changed.” A symbol of grace, lightness and elegance, the one-handed backhand is finding less and less space on professional courts. In February, this move, once beloved by Roger Federer, Ivan Lendl, John McEnroe and Pete Sampras, even disappeared from the world top 10 for the first time in the history of the ATP circuit. Since then, Grigor Dimitrov – currently 10th – has saved the honour, but his presence at the highest level alone is not enough to stem the phenomenon.
Because it’s better to laugh than to cry, the ATP has made a humorous video on the subject. The idea: to acknowledge the death of the one-handed backhand and imagine the daily lives of its fans accordingly. “It was hard, but we tried to use both hands wherever we could,” says Dimitrov, who plays the lead role, narrating the misadventures of his peers in absurd situations.
Wawrinka plays darts
We see Stan Wawrinka playing darts, Stefanos Tsitsipas brushing his teeth, Dominic Thiem painting, Christopher Eubanks holding a fork and Lorenzo Musetti signing a ball. All with two hands, for laughable results.
Enough to generate a flood of disillusioned comments: “This is really stupid”; “This is not natural”; “An artist cannot create art with two hands”; “I don’t know how people do it”; “I’m really going to have a hard time.”
A way of indicating that we cannot divert these aesthetes from their nature. And proudly claim their singularity.
