Every year since the first Wimbledon Championship in 1877, a male player with a one-handed backhand has featured in the singles semi-finals of a grand slam. That 149 year streak ended at this year’s US Open when Stefanos Tsitsipas, the last remaining single-hander in the draw, exited the tournament in the round of 16.
This is a watershed moment for tennis, as it marks a break with the origins of the sport and the culmination of a five decades-long trend towards hitting the backhand with two hands on the racket. The popularity of the two-handed backhand has surpassed the single-hander to such an extent that the latter is now on the verge of extinction in elite tennis.
