The One Hander

Felix Balshaw

An attacking one-hander he takes early and redirects down the line, the shot that carried him from No. 718 into the top 200 in 2026

Henry Bernet

A smooth, natural one-hander that began as his coach's half-joke when his two-hander wasn't working

Rémy Bertola

A compact one-hander built on timing and placement, because he rarely has the size to win rallies on power

Grigor Dimitrov

A textbook, full-swing one-hander with a knifing slice to match, close enough to Federer's that it earned him the Baby Fed tag as a teenager

Dan Evans

A knifing backhand slice he used to change pace and drag big hitters forward, with a one-handed drive held back for when they sat on the slice

Roger Federer

A backhand that could become a slice, a flat drive or a topspin roll from the same setup, so opponents read it late

Richard Gasquet

A sky-high takeback and a full-body whip through contact, a swing so big it looks like it shouldn't be repeatable at tour pace

Viktorija Golubic

A versatile one-hander built on slice and angles, which is why her best results have come on grass

Justine Henin

A full, explosive one-hander she could rip down the line on the run, usually against opponents far bigger than her

Aleksandar Kovacevic

A compact, attacking one-hander that he'll trade cross-court with anyone, top-ten players included

Dušan Lajović

A loose, flowing one-hander made for slow clay, where he has time to roll the ball deep cross-court rally after rally

Tatjana Maria

A slice-first backhand she uses to set up drop shots and trips to the net, an old-fashioned game that looks like nothing else on tour

Lorenzo Musetti

A long, loose swing with plenty of wrist, which lets him find short cross-court angles off balls most players would just block back

Christopher O'Connell

A tidy, dependable one-hander from a lifelong Gastón Gaudio fan, built for holding long baseline rallies together rather than going for broke

Diane Parry

A touch-heavy one-hander full of slice and changes of pace, which she uses to pull hard hitters out of their rhythm

Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard

A one-hander on a 6ft 7in frame, used mostly to take the first big swing after the serve rather than to win long rallies

Denis Shapovalov

A huge, full-swing lefty one-hander, often hit with both feet off the ground, that he would rather miss than play safe

Lilli Tagger

A heavy, deep one-hander she swings through with real pace, and to my eye the most exciting in women's tennis

Dominic Thiem

A compact, drive-through one-hander hit with huge pace and depth from well behind the baseline

Stefanos Tsitsipas

A big, looping swing shaped a lot like Federer's, gorgeous on slow clay and vulnerable when opponents keep the ball high to it

Stan Wawrinka

A whipping, high-kicking topspin strike with the kind of racket-head speed that turns defence into offence in a single swing