Ben Shelton’s march into the US Open quarterfinals marked an unusual piece of tennis history on Sunday, with his victory over Stefanos Tsitsipas ending a 149-year Grand Slam streak for the one-handed backhand.
At least one player using the stroke had reached the men’s singles semifinals at a Major every year since Wimbledon in 1877. That sequence ended in 2026 after Shelton beat Tsitsipas 6-2, 6-3, 6-4 in the fourth round in New York.
Shelton had already eliminated another prominent one-handed backhand player, Denis Shapovalov, in the third round.
Once a dominant feature of the sport, the one-handed backhand has gradually become less common as the two-handed version has taken over in an increasingly powerful baseline game.
Roger Federer and Stan Wawrinka were among its leading modern exponents, continuing a tradition that included John McEnroe, Ivan Lendl, Pete Sampras, Stefan Edberg and Gustavo Kuerten.
ALSO READ | Alcaraz eases into US Open 2026 quarters after win over Paul
Tsitsipas said the numbers highlighted how dramatically the game had changed.
“I took a look, in the 1950s I think 97% or 98% of players were playing one-handed backhands,” he said. “It’s literally like 2% or 3% now.”
The Greek described it as a “traditional, classic shot” and said its decline was part of a wider reduction in stylistic variety across modern tennis.
Tsitsipas pointed to slower courts and the disappearance of contrasting approaches such as serve-and-volley tennis, counter-punching and defensive styles.
“What used to make tennis so interesting was you had those that played a specific way and others that played another way,” he said.
For Tsitsipas, the fading one-handed backhand is another sign of a sport increasingly converging towards a similar style of play.
(With inputs from Reuters).
Published on Sep 07, 2026