Tsitsipas laments fall of one-handed backhand as 149-year Grand Slam run endsPublished on: September 8, 2026 1:15 PM
Pakistan, Sept. 8 -- Ben Shelton's run to the US Open quarter-finals dealt a blow to tennis traditionalists on Sunday after his win over Stefanos Tsitsipas left the men's draw without a one-handed backhand and ended a 149-year Grand Slam streak.
The elegant stroke has steadily yielded ground to the two-handed shot in the modern power game and at least one practitioner had reached the men's singles semi-final at a major each year since Wimbledon in 1877 until the streak ended in New York.
Roger Federer and Stan Wawrinka were the modern standard-bearers of the shot, but they followed a lineage that included John McEnroe and Ivan Lendl in the 1980s, and Pete Sampras, Stefan Edberg and Gustavo Kuerten in the 1990s.
Shelton also accounted f...
Click here to read full article from source
To read the full article or to get the complete feed from this publication, please
Contact Us.