Jannik Sinner’s Slingshot Backhand

If there is one tennis player that comes to mind when thinking of the 2024 tennis season, it has to be Jannik Sinner. Ever since his loss against Sacha at the US Open, the Italian has only lost a match three times. He’s beaten Djokovic three times and picked up the Australian Open, Rotterdam, and Miami along the way. What is even more surprising is that he has overtaken Alcaraz for the number two spot in the rankings. I wouldn’t be surprised if he dethrones Djokovic in the next two months.

However, today I want to talk about Jannik Sinner’s slingshot backhand. I'm going to explain later why I call it a slingshot backhand, but the fact is that Sinner has one of the most aggressive two-handed backhands in the history of tennis. I can compare it to Agassi or Nalbandian; the power that he gets out of his backhand is incredible.

Technique

Right away, let's get into the technique. Sinner has a very aggressive loading position. He has his hands quite low, so he dips the front shoulder, creating a V formation between his upper body and his lower body. He turns his back towards the other side, and interestingly, his racket is slightly closed on the hitting side of the body when he takes his racket back.

Now, Sinner happens to have a next-gen two-handed backhand, and I will make a separate article where I will explain in great detail how the next-gen two-handed backhand is different from the modern two-handed backhand. The main characteristic is that the next-gen two-handed backhand has a timing that's very delayed. Therefore, Jannik waits on the hitting side of the body until the ball is very close. Most players will have the racket further back at the bounce of the ball. So at the bounce of the ball, Sinner is on the hitting side, and he remains on this side as the ball starts traveling closer to the contact zone.

The Slingshot

What Sinner does next is something that's quite unorthodox. This is why I call it a slingshot backhand. His backhand is different from the general next-gen two-handed backhand because he doesn't stay on this side. He does take his hands closer to his body as the ball approaches the contact zone. So because he pulls his arm in and then accelerates forward, the racket ends up whipping behind his body, which creates a slingshot effect.

Look, Sinner is not the only one who gets a lag that's further behind the body. This most of the time has to do with how far the hands are from the body. The further the hands are away from the body, the less the racket is going to go behind the body. But generally, players will gradually accelerate, so the racket will slowly loop, and it'll start picking up speed as it drops into the slot. The acceleration is very gradual, going from slow to fast. On the other hand, Sinner's acceleration is very sudden.

Why? Because he has a next-gen two-handed backhand where he waits in this position as long as possible until the ball is very close to him. He then starts taking his hands closer to his body, accelerates, and he creates this slingshot effect where the acceleration is very sudden.

Left Arm Dominant

One thing that's unorthodox about Sinner's swing path is the fact that Sinner is more left arm dominant. The two-handed backhand generally is not left arm dominant on right-handed players. This is still very much true today. Most two-handed backhands are more right arm dominant. Now, an easy way to tell whether somebody is left arm dominant or right arm dominant is to simply look at their swing path.

If the tip of the racket ends up passing the level of the handle on the finish, that means that a player is more left arm dominant. If the tip of the racket never passes the handle and it's in a neutral position, that player is more right arm dominant if they happen to be right-handed.

The vast majority of players, including Djokovic, Nadal, and the list goes on and on, are slightly more right arm dominant because their tip of the racket never goes past the level of the handle. It stays neutral as they finish their backhand. However, if you look at Sinner's backhand, the tip of the racket comes around the handle on the vast majority of his finishes. Sinner indeed is more left arm dominant on his two-hander.

Another player that's still on tour is Andy Murray. He happens to have a backhand that's more left arm dominant, but these players, as already said, are in the minority.

Younger Sinner

Now, back to Sinner and his left arm dominant backhand. I studied Sinner's backhand from juniors on, even when he was 11 years old, and it was very apparent that he didn't really use his right side much because his right elbow was always very close to his body when he was very young. He also had a separation between the hands, and he would hold the racket with his off hand a bit on the throat. Generally, the more your hands are separated, you're naturally going to use your non-dominant arm more. Also, if you happen to collapse your dominant side, if this elbow tucks in naturally, that left arm is going to take over, and you're going to be more left arm dominant.

Of course, as Sinner got older, I studied some footage when he was 14 years old, and I studied those backhands, they became less left arm dominant with time. The finish on Sinner's two-handed backhand improved, and he is getting his dominant elbow much higher, and he has a proper finish. Nevertheless, when he hits his two-handed backhand the hardest, that left side still tends to take over, and the tip of the racket goes past the level of the handle. And it is a backhand that's more left arm dominant even to this day.

Final Thought

How does Sinner compare to some of the greatest two-handed backhands in history? In my opinion, Novak Djokovic has the greatest two-handed backhand in the history of tennis. And while I do think that Sinner has more power naturally, he is one of the best ball strikers that I've ever seen. He hits the ball maybe harder than anybody that I've ever seen. T he only guy that I can compare him to is maybe Robin Soderling. Sinner hits the ball huge from the baseline.

I still prefer Novak Djokovic's backhand over Sinner's, and possibly, Alexander Zverev’s backhand over Sinner's. While Sinner can hit it harder, he can hit these laser beam frozen rope down-the-line backhand winners, I value consistency more than anything else. And I do think that Novak Djokovic's backhand is a tad more consistent than Sinner's, and I, therefore, value it a little bit higher. But of course, I do believe that Jannik Sinner has one of the best two-handed backhands just based on its sheer shot-making capabilities.