By Shrivathsa Sridhar
NEW YORK, Sept 6 (Reuters) – Ben Shelton’s run to the U.S. Open quarter-finals dealt a blow to tennis traditionalists on Sunday after his win over Stefanos Tsitsipas left the men’s draw without a one-handed backhand and ended a 149-year Grand Slam streak.
The elegant stroke has steadily yielded ground to the two-handed shot in the modern power game and at least one practitioner had reached the men’s singles semi-final at a major each year since Wimbledon in 1877 until the streak ended in New York.
Roger Federer and Stan Wawrinka were the modern standard-bearers of the shot, but they followed a lineage that included John McEnroe and Ivan Lendl in the 1980s, and Pete Sampras, Stefan Edberg and Gustavo Kuerten in the 1990s.
Shelton also accounted for Denis Shapovalov, a left-handed exponent of the one-handed backhand, in the third round before downing Tsitsipas in the last 16.
“I took a look, in the 1950s I think 97% or 98% of players were playing one-handed backhands,” Tsitsipas said after his 6-2 6-3 6-4 defeat. “It’s literally like 2% or 3% now.
“It’s such a traditional, classic shot, that it’s a shame to lose a shot like that. Is there something you can do about it? I guess yes. Is it the end of the world if no one plays a one-handed backhand? No. Tennis still goes on the way it is.”
Tsitsipas said the decline of the shot reflected a narrowing of styles in the modern game.
“Tennis used to be played with so many different variations of style and that variation has narrowed to one particular style these days, where everyone is playing the same. Courts have become slower,” he added.
“You don’t see many personalities on the court … we used to have the serve-and-volley players back in the day. We used to have those that play a different way, counter-punchers, defenders.
“Now it’s narrowed to one style of game. What used to make (tennis) so interesting was you had those that played a specific way and others that played another way.
“It’s the same with the one-handed backhand.”
(Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar in New York; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
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