US TENNIS
August 1995
Why I Abandoned My Best Shot
By Pete Sampras, Playing Editor
with Alexander McNab

Set your sights on the future when you change your game

When I was 14, I was a short, skinny baseline grinder. I played a lot like Michael Chang, with a two-handed backhand and an intense on-court personality. But I wasn't improving. So my coach, Dr. Peter Fischer, said, "Let's try a one-handed backhand."

Pete's goal even then was for me to one day win Wimbledon. At 14, that idea was only a fantasy to me. Pete wanted me to become a serve-and-volleyer, and he said that no two-handed player volleyed well enough to win Wimbledon by coming in all the time. (Jimmy Connors won largely from the baseline, and Bjorn Borg volleyed with one hand.)

Stefan Edberg also switched from two hands to one as a junior, but he had a bad two-hander. My two-handed shot not only was a good shot, it was my best shot. Abandoning my best shot was frustrating, controversial and risky. But the eventual rewards have been well worth it.

My experience offers useful lessons for developing players and their parents and coaches, and perhaps even for some seasoned players who feel their games have plateaued. Here's what happened.


Think long-term

At the time Pete suggested the switch, I had a weak serve, I couldn't volley and I couldn't hit a backhand slice. Because of my size, I didn't have a lot of strength to hit the one-hander. But the purpose of the change was to begin building my adult game.

Prepare for frustration

My first tournament with a one-hander was the Easter Bowl. I lost in the first round of the main draw and the first round of the consolation. After that, I had a couple of months to work on the new shot. And although it was fun at first, playing was a lot different from practicing. My one-hander was a bad shot. All I could do was slice it, and not very well. I had no stroke. It was sloppy.

The next couple of years were a real struggle. I lost a lot of matches, and I lost a lot of confidence. It was tough going and my ranking went straight down the tubes. But Pete always told me, ''This is a move you'll appreciate when you're 20." And I knew in the back of my mind he was right.

Don't worry about losing

When I switched to the one-handed shot, my whole game changed. I began serving and volleying when I was 14 -- a short kid playing a big man's game. That was Pete's whole idea. I remember him telling me before one match, "Even though you probably are going to lose this match, I want you to serve and volley on both serves."

It's tough to know you are going to lose. But Pete was more concerned with my learning how to play all-court tennis and developing my serve-and-volley skills than winning. That's a different approach than I see a lot of juniors take today. And it is very risky. But the national age-group titles were not important to him. Winning the men's singles at Wimbledon was.

Trust an expert

Since I was still a young kid, I wasn't exactly sure what was going on. Yet there came a time, I guess about a year after I switched, when I wanted to go back to the two-hander. I talked to my dad about it, and I talked to Pete, saying, "This is not working." Other teachers I worked with, including Robert Lansdorp, all said, "Go back to the two-hander."

But Pete was in control of my tennis, and he's a very blunt guy who tells you how he feels. He said, "No. You're sticking with the one-hander. Trust me. This is a move for the long run. It is a risky move, but it's the right one."
I still felt my two-hander was a good shot, but my dad and I trusted Pete, so I said, ''All right."

You've got to have a positive personality there saying, ''This is the right thing to do." You need a coach working with you on any major change, and he absolutely must have an understanding of the shot. A 14-year-old isn't going to be able to do it on his own. You don't want to ingrain any bad habits.

Be patient

Eventually, the more I hit the one-hander, the more it started to become a pretty good shot. I began to get the feel of the slice, which helped on the volley, too. And as I kept serving and volleying, I began to get the feel of anticipating at the net. The toughest thing was learning to hit over the backhand. Throughout the whole process, the backhand was the shot guys used to kill me on.

Accept the new shot

My new backhand finally started to come together in the summer of 1987. I turned 16 that August, just about the time Chang won the U.S. Boys' 18's at Kalamazoo, Mich. At the end of the summer, I beat Michael in the U.S. Open Juniors.

That year I really improved, and I moved up to No. 6 in the country in the 18's (I always played up in age group). When I beat Michael, I knew I had a shot that I could get away with. My one-hander wasn't an aggressive shot, and I didn't have a lot of confidence in it, but it was getting better.

Once I began beating some guys and got some confidence, I accepted that it was a shot I was going to hit forever. The older and stronger I got, the better the shot became.

Exploit the results

Today I am a much more versatile player than I would have been if I'd stuck with two hands. I have more options on the court. With equal confidence I can hit over the ball or play a slice in baseline rallies, I can hit a slice approach shot and I can hit a sound volley.

I have better feel on the slice than I would if I were improvising with a two-hander, and I have a better feel at the net. I also have more reach both at the baseline and at the net. In short, it's easier to be an all-court player with a one-handed backhand. It gives you a more rounded game that doesn't limit you to staying back most of the time.

The sooner the better

My one-hander was a brand-new shot. I was starting from scratch, because I completely abandoned my two-hander. Most players, I think, should switch to a one-handed shot at a young age. Fourteen was almost a little late. If you wait any longer, you get set in your game and, just as important, in your attitude. By 16 or 17, you pretty much know whether you're going to win matches by staying back or coming in, so it is more difficult to change.

A conservative option

The change I made was radical. A more conservative, and perhaps more realistic approach might be learning to slice and volley with one hand, like Chang and Todd Martin do, and like my sister Stella did. (Connors and Patrick McEnroe are successful exceptions who volley with two hands.)

I can say now that what I did was smart. The most important thing about changing a stroke is to be concerned about playing well with it, not winning. If you learn the new stroke correctly and use it properly, the bigger victories later on will compensate for any near-term frustration and defeats.