Aggression plus top-notch mechanics make for a fearsome shot.

Serbia’s Jelena Jankovic likes to clock the ball, and in a baseline battle she can hang with the best. Last year, she beat the likes of Nadia Petrova, Elena Dementieva, and Svetlana Kuznetsova on her way to a career-high fi nish of No. 12 in the world. While there’s lots to like about Jankovic’s game, it’s her two-handed backhand that stands out. It’s her go-to shot when she gets an opportunity to take a ball early and punish it.

1. Jankovic is taking small adjustment steps, and you see space under both of her shoes. You can tell from her position near the baseline and the eager look on her face that this is going to be an attacking backhand. Also notice how she turns her shoulders and starts her backswing together. This is the key to getting good upper-body coil. Her grip is semi-Western with her left hand, and somewhere between a Continental and Eastern with her right.

2. Jankovic has loaded up and stored her weight on her back foot and is now ready to explode forward. She has done this so intensely and effectively that her right foot is off the ground a little bit. After starting her racquet high in the strike zone in the last frame, she’s now dropping it, forming the back part of the C that you want in a loop backswing.

3. This is what a world-class shoulder turn looks like. Jankovic is looking over her shoulder, and you can see that the muscles in her arm are stretched. It appears she’s readying for an aggressive, on-the-rise backhand. Her stance is open, and her racquet is behind her. It’s actually a bit too far back for my taste—I prefer to see the frame not break the plane of the body—but it’s OK if the ball is coming in slowly.

4. Jankovic has chosen to take a high-bouncing ball at shoulder height rather than move back and let it come down. In other words, she’s playing the ball and not letting it play her. Because of the height of the ball, she’ll be driving it slightly downward into the court. That’s why her right shoulder is tilted down a bit. I prefer the shoulders level, but sometimes your intentions will modify your mechanics.

5. Contact occurs with the ball nicely centered on the strings, and Jankovic has exploded into the shot so much that she’s catapulted herself off the ground. This wasn’t her intention but the result of the momentum she produced with her legs, hips, and shoulders. Still, her eyes are fi xed on the point of impact.

6. Here you see her outstanding extension and weight transfer. Jankovic has hit through the ball and continues moving her racquet toward her target. Notice how she uses her shoulders to bring the racquet through—she doesn’t arm the ball—and as a result she’s using every part of her body for power. Players with the best two-handers use their bodies as a unit.

7. Jankovic has landed on her front foot, and there’s so much weight transfer that her back foot has kicked up just as it might on a serve. That’s because of the momentum she built up going into the shot; it’s not something she did on purpose and it’s not something you should copy. Depending upon your intention with a particular shot, the back foot can do many things.

8. Following her aggressive assault on the ball, Jankovic wraps the follow-through fully around her body as her racquet decelerates. Compare the position of her shoulders from the first frame to this one and you’ll see she’s gone from looking over her right shoulder to looking over her left.

Article by Rick Macci, Photos by David Kenas – Tennis.com