I’ve watched far too many players stall at the backhand. The forehand loops and attacks fine; the moment it’s backhand, the ball won’t punch through, and a little pressure from the opponent shoves them right back. The usual response is “drill more,” but more drilling keeps producing the same soft, floaty result.

The root usually isn’t volume, it’s a misconception: they treat the backhand as a mirror of the forehand, as if moving the left hand to the right side means the same swing works. The two strokes were never the same thing.

The forehand builds power as a chain from the ground up: legs drive, hips rotate, the shoulder carries the upper arm, then the forearm closes and the wrist whips. The body has room to swing that whole chain open. The backhand doesn’t get that luxury — your torso sits between the ball and your hand, and the big joints can’t rotate freely. What the backhand really leans on is an elbow pivot with the forearm whipping out like a strap. The forehand piece on the complete loop breakdown covers backswing and contact; the backhand runs on a different logic.

Until that difference clicks, nothing downstream feels right.

Mistake 1: the elbow chases the body

The most common fault. Under tension or when trying to add power, the elbow lifts and tucks in toward the body, as if the upper arm should do the swinging. But the backhand has so little space to begin with; lift the elbow and the pivot collapses, the forearm loses its axis, and the whole arm becomes a lump of muscle shoving the ball — which is exactly why it won’t punch through.

The fix is plain: treat the elbow like a fixed hinge on the body. Before and after contact, keep its position relative to your torso steady. What moves is the forearm closing and opening around that pivot, not the whole upper arm swinging. Stand by a wall, or have a partner lightly hold your elbow, and feel “elbow still, forearm moving” with no ball. That beats grabbing a paddle and flailing.

Mistake 2: whipping with the wrist

Some players hear “the backhand snaps” and start flicking the wrist hard. The result is a floaty, scattered ball and a feeling of having no real force.

The forearm is the backhand’s main driver. The wrist only does two jobs: the last bit of acceleration, and a small adjustment to the friction direction. It should be the finish, not the engine. Put your attention on the forearm’s close and open, let the wrist follow loosely, and the ball gets heavier and steadier on its own. For the deeper mechanics, revisit the piece on core power.

Mistake 3: contact point too far back

Another frequent error is waiting until the ball has dropped behind the side of the body before swinging. From there you simply can’t generate force; you can only scoop upward, and the ball either nets or floats up as a gift.

The backhand contact point should sit slightly forward and to the side. This is really meeting the ball early — taking the forehand rule of “stop waiting, start greeting” and moving it to the backhand. Greet the ball before it fully drops, and the forearm finally has room to snap.

A one-week practice order

Day one: no ball. Find the elbow pivot feeling with shadow swings, focusing on the forearm closing and opening around the elbow. Day two: multi-ball, fixed spot, loop the backspin, chasing friction and rhythm rather than power. Days three and four: loop while moving, linking footwork with the stroke. From day five: alternate forehand and backhand, with the emphasis on recovery — after the backhand, don’t freeze; bring the weight back to center so the next ball connects.

The backhand’s real weak point is “one good shot then it falls apart.” Plenty of players are fine on a single backhand, but crack under pressure because the continuous recovery was never trained.

Want to try it yourself

Backhand rubbers follow different priorities than forehand ones — the balance between bounce and control matters more. To feel a common backhand rubber directly:

Next session, don’t rush to add power. Fix the elbow, let the forearm do the work, and you’ll find the ball punches through all at once.