I employ a two-handed backhand.
While the one-handed backhand is all the rage these days ““
with the likes of Taylor Dent and Mark Philippoussis demonstrating
its virtues on tennis courts across the land ““ I’m just
old school. In fact, back in ’86 when I was on the junior
circuit, they called me Two Hand Dan, The Backhand Man.
And in preparation for covering this week’s Mercedes-Benz
Cup I dusted off my old wooden tennis racket and played a few
matches to get back in the swing of things. While my ground strokes
could use some improvement, I am confident that my preparation will
prove valuable when I watch the likes of Philippoussis and
defending tournament champion Wayne Ferreira battle it out at the
Los Angeles Tennis Center.
After a bit of practice, I now know all the ins and outs of the
game. I can just picture myself in the stands at the LATC, watching
Andre Agassi flub a volley.
“Andre, you are dropping your elbow, and if you do it
again I will be really T.O.’d,” I would yell from the
stands. “Please extend your forearm on the next volley
attempt, dude.”
Of course, the tournament’s security guards will probably
remove me from the premises.
You’ve go to hand it to the people who run the
Mercedes-Benz Cup, they put on a classy event.
And with a name like Mercedes-Benz attached to the tournament,
it makes perfect sense. In fact, the only tennis tournament held in
this great nation that has a cooler sponsor would have to be the US
Open, which is sponsored by the United States of America.
USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! (Patriotism)
But back to my backhand. The two-handed method gives you better
control and more power. One-handed backhands are lame.
“Many people have feared Daniel’s comeback for a long
time,” said Bryan Swatt, the No. 1 singles player on the UC
San Diego men’s tennis team. “The two handed backhand
is deadly. If he breaks it out at the tournament he could beat
anyone.”
By the way, Bryan also uses a two-handed backhand. He and I went
to high school together, and we both use two-handed backhands, so
we have a lot to talk about. This is what we talked about on
Friday:
DM: How much do two-handed backhands rule?
BS: A lot.
Whoa, take it easy Bryan.
As excited as Bryan is about two-handed backhands, I’m
more excited about the Mercedes-Benz Cup. It’s a great chance
to watch some world-class tennis and possibly buy a car.
That’s right, be sure to check out all the cars Mercedes will
have on display around the LATC. I’ll take the SL 500 in
red.
This week at UCLA there will be fancy cars, tennis stars, and
great food (sorry I couldn’t think of something that rhymed
with “cars” and “stars,” because that would
have been cool). Yes, the fare that is sold at the Mercedes-Benz
Cup puts the food in the UCLA dining halls to shame.
It makes sense: any sport that requires participants to wear
collared shirts should also require its fans to eat sauteed duck
breasts with wild mushrooms or Pôchouse (that’s a fish
and onion stew for all you plebes out there).
So, I’ll see you out in the stands this week.
I’ll be the guy ranting about two-handed backhands, single
overhead cam engines, and bouillabaisse.
Miller used to wear Rod Laver tennis shoes. E-mail him at
dmiller@media.ucla.edu to discuss your kicks.