The one-handed backhand project

There is no good argument for switching from a solid two-hander to a one-hander in your thirties. I did it anyway, and eighteen months later it is finally holding up under pressure.

The honest cost

• Six months of losing to people I used to beat
• A genuinely miserable stretch against high balls to the backhand
• One bout of tennis elbow that I earned entirely through impatience
• Roughly 4,000 balls fed by a machine before it felt automatic

The shot was never the hard part. Trusting it at 4–4 was the hard part.

Was it worth it

Objectively, no. My results dipped for a year and have only just recovered. Subjectively — the slice is better, the approach shot is a real weapon, and I enjoy playing more than I have in a decade. That was the actual goal.