Stefanos Tsitsipas in action during the US Open. (AP)
A tradition that started in 1877 at the All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club culminated in a New York evening at Arthur Ashe Stadium in 2026. The 24-year-old Italian is the highest-ranked single-handed backhand men’s player in the ATP standings. But he couldn’t carry this 149-year-old legacy forward, going out in the second round of the US Open. 48, who bowed out to Ben Shelton in the third round. Nor could 2016 US Open champion Stan Wawrinka, who was handed a late wildcard, exiting and retiring after a first-round loss.
NEW DELHI: “I’ve got a 150-year streak to save,” Stefanos Tsitsipas wrote in an X post on Saturday. We’re like dinosaurs going extinct,” said Tsitsipas, a two-time major finalist, after his second-round win over Lloyd Harris. “I think it is partly a consequence of the fact that, realistically, the two-handed backhand offers an advantage in modern tennis,” said Musetti, who reached major semifinals in 2024 and 2025. I think when your coach is a one-handed tennis player, you will most likely be a one-handed tennis player too “I think when your coach is a one-handed tennis player, you will most likely be a one-handed tennis player too,” the Swiss said before the US Open. “I thought that it might perhaps help me, because, when you think about it, it is still easier to return a fast serve with two hands,” she said during the US Open.
The Greek tennis player tends to post hyperbole, veering from the philosophical to the absurd. But here, for a change, he was spot on. As he faced Ben Shelton in the fourth round of the US Open, he was indeed playing to keep one of tennis’ biggest traditions alive. When the game evolved, two-handed backhands found their groove. The number of one-handed backhand players reduced, but the stroke still maintained its presence. John McEnroe, Ivan Lendl, Stefan Edberg, Pete Sampras, Gustavo Kuerten, Richard Gasquet, Roger Federer , Stan Wawrinka and Dominic Thiem are some of the names that have embraced the stroke over the last four decades or more. Neither could Canada’s Denis Shapovalov, World No. “Every single decade, we’re decreasing. Musetti acknowledges that the changing shape of the sport has been a key reason. “Nowadays, probably the coaches are mostly double-handed players, and it’s just easier to teach a kid to have two hands on the backhand side. One of my kids is switching from a double-hander to a one-hander, and I just see how hard it is for him to hit it and control it. “It does not come naturally to me, though, so it requires work, and it takes time before everything falls properly into place. But it remains an option in my game.”
