Let's start with two sets of data.
On the ATP official website, there are a total of 2209 players with points and rankings, of which 50 are SLR players, accounting for 2.26%. There are 13 single-players in the top 100 players, of which the top 30 single-players are: Tsitsipas, Shapovalov, Tim, Federer, Evans, Dimitrov.
On the WTA official website, there are a total of 1642 players with points and rankings, of which 27 are single-handed players, accounting for 1.64%. There is only one SLR player in the top 100, and she is the 29-year-old Swiss player Golubić, who is currently ranked 43rd.
In the reading notes of Absolute Tennis, I briefly reviewed the development and change of the backhand racket in tennis. 50 years ago, almost all players' backhand shots were one-handed rackets, and when carbon fiber rackets replaced wooden rackets, backhand two-hand rackets became mainstream, and the once popular single-handed LR has retreated into an absolute minority.
On November 5, Spanish female player Navarro announced her retirement, which left one less female SLR player in active duty. Female SLR players are rare and now almost extinct, and we basically don't see women's SLR players on the field. I have played tennis for nearly 10 years, I have been to many cities, and so far I have only seen a female student using a single reflex in the tennis hall of Wuxi Xinti.
Why did SLR fall into such a situation?
Before answering this question, we may wish to ask why double inverse is so popular. A very simple truth is that the backhand is inherently the weakness of most people, and using a two-handed hand clap can increase the strength of the shot, better control of the beat surface and swing trajectory. When using a single reflex, a series of actions such as pulling, hitting, and swinging are a little farther away from the body, which means that it will be more difficult for players to maintain the center of gravity of the body, thus reducing the control of the bat.
From a technical point of view, another disadvantage of the SLR is that the position of the batting is more single. Some people may say that the SLR can run half a step less than the double reflex, and on the surface it can be cheaper. However, the SLR batting position is more single, and almost no one can use an open position to play a single SLR, and most people can play a more ideal double-rebound in the open or closed position.
For the above reasons, double inversion has become the absolute mainstream in the male and female professional tennis world. In a professional game that is getting faster and faster, who doesn't want their backhand to become more stable and powerful? Not only that, a player like Xie Shuwei, who lacks strength and dexterity, uses a double positive and double back hitting method.
In today's children's tennis teaching, some coaches will encourage children with insufficient strength to use both positive and negative, which can reduce the difficulty in the early stages of learning ball, help children fix movements and build confidence. As children who initially adopt both positive and negative doubles will gradually change to single positive and negative. That is, forehand use of both hands is generally considered a transition before one hand.
Before the 1950s, children who studied tennis transitioned from double to single-handed, a process that was the opposite of the modern forehand transition process.
Chris Evert, who has won 18 Grand Slam singles titles, was born in 1954, when almost all male and female players used SLR. "Evert was only 5 years old when he first started learning to play, and he was too young to shoot backhandball with one hand." Her father and coach, Jimmy Evert, recalls, "So I taught her to slap the backhand ball with her hands. At first, I thought it was just a transitional step, and I hoped that she would be able to change back to a normal one-handed clap in the future. ”
However, the growing little Everett did not change the way she held the beat. Instead, she changed the entire game of tennis – her backhand two-handed clasp was widely imitated, becoming the first female player to win a Grand Slam using a double back.
In contrast to Everte, Italy's Schiavoni won the French Open women's singles title in 2010, the last women's singles player to win a singles title at a Grand Slam. The following year, Schiavoni, who used a singles reflex, once again reached the French Open women's singles final, and was defeated by Our player Li Na.
From Schiavoni in Italy to Navarro in Spain to Swiss player Golubić, currently ranked 43rd, their insistence suggests that women's players can still have a place on the tour with SLR.
None of these players are at the top, so what is the point of their insistence on single-player reflexes? For most women's players on the tour, double-back is a smart choice to "go with the flow". In terms of male-female comparison, more male players choose SLR than female players, in large part because male players are usually stronger and taller, and the female players who choose SLR are not the strongest and tallest in the WTA. It's hard to imagine that Navarro's SLR can withstand the bombardment of Serena Williams' double reaction.
Therefore, purely from the perspective of physical conditions, we believe that the choice of SLR should be the stronger Serena Williams, rather than the relatively weak Navarro.
It is based on the above views that every time I see ALR players in a game, especially female SLR players, I will silently pay tribute, and it is because of their persistence on this narrow and bumpy road that this niche technique can be passed on and we can appreciate this unique style of play.
I admire SLR not only because I admire its uniqueness, but also because SLR makes tennis games more interesting today.
We all know that tennis has now become a bottom-line multi-racket confrontation, and Djokovic staged a 53-beat super long round with Zverev at the US Open this year. Double inversion has almost monopolized the entire tennis world, which is one of the most important reasons why some people think that tennis games have become boring.
The root of boredom lies in consistency, and when all people use the same way of holding and playing, such a game will definitely fall into a dull and boring quagmire.
To reinvent the beautiful, we must break the consistency, and the world is so wonderful because of difference. Just as we spare no effort to protect rare wildlife, in the tennis world, we must also protect and encourage single-player reflexes, so that diversity can avoid tennis sliding into a deeper quagmire, preserving and displaying diverse and wonderful beauty.
There is a little red in the evergreen bushes, and the moving spring color does not need much. SLR, especially women's single anyway, is the most moving touch of spring in today's tennis world. (Source: Tennis House Author: Yun Cirrus Yunshu)