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Pete Sampras one-handed backhand legacy fades as US Open era

2026-09-07 · Pete Sampras · Club News

Pete Sampras one-handed backhand legacy fades as US Open era ends

Stefanos Tsitsipas posted a plea on social media ahead of the 2026 US Open: "I've got a 150-year streak to save." The Greek star was not exaggerating. As he prepared to face Ben Shelton in the fourth round, he was fighting to preserve a tradition that began in 1877 at Wimbledon. For the first time in Grand Slam history, no man with a one-handed backhand reached a semi-final at any major tournament in a single season. The list of legends who once wielded that single-handed stroke reads like a who's who of tennis history: John McEnroe, Ivan Lendl, Stefan Edberg, Pete Sampras, Gustavo Kuerten, Richard Gasquet, Roger Federer, Stan Wawrinka and Dominic Thiem. Their era has passed.

The decline of the single-handed backhand

The one-handed backhand was once the default stroke. With wooden rackets, amateurs and professionals alike employed the single-handed style to outfox their opponents. As the game evolved and two-handed backhands found their groove, the number of one-handed backhand players reduced. In 1905, when all four Slams were played, there were 16 one-handed backhanders in Grand Slam semi-finals. Jump a grand hundred years to 2005, and that number had reduced to just five. Roger Federer, four times over, and Mariano Puerta made up that diminished list. The stroke that once defined an era was becoming a rarity.

Pete Sampras and the modern game

Pete Sampras, the American great, was among the final generation to master the one-handed backhand at the highest level. His serve-and-volley game, built on that foundation, yielded seven Grand Slam titles throughout the 1990s. Sampras retired in 2002, leaving behind a legacy that now sits at the intersection of tennis history and obsolescence. The 2026 US Open served as a stark reminder of how far the game has moved away from his style. With Ben Shelton's powerful groundstrokes and the next generation prioritizing two-handed consistency, the Sampras model of dominating with a single-handed slice has become a relic.

The final holdouts fall

Last year, the number of one-handed backhand semi-finalists dwindled to just one: Lorenzo Musetti, the 24-year-old Italian who reached the last four of the French Open. Musetti carried the torch as the highest-ranked single-handed backhand men's player in the ATP standings. But the 2026 US Open proved too difficult a barrier. Musetti could not carry this 149-year-old legacy forward, going out in the second round. Neither could Canada's Ben Shelton, who fell to Tsitsipas in the fourth round. The tradition that once saw 16 one-handed backhanders in semi-finals across all four majors in 1905 had finally run its course.

What the end of an era means

The numbers tell the story clearly. In 1905, with all four Slams played, 16 one-handed backhanders appeared in semi-finals. By 2005, that number had shrunk to five. In 2026, the number reached zero. The evolution from wooden rackets to modern power equipment made the one-handed backhand increasingly difficult to master at the highest level. Yet for purists, the stroke represented elegance and variety that the two-handed variety cannot replicate. Federer, who retired in 2019, was the last of the great one-handed exponents to regularly threaten at the majors. His retirement marked the beginning of the end for the tradition.

The US Open's fourth round provided the final nail in the coffin. Tsitsipas, wielding a two-handed backhand, eliminated the last significant threat to the 150-year streak. Ben Shelton, the powerful American, continued the trend of two-handed dominance. The era that Pete Sampras helped define-the era of the one-handed backhand as a viable Grand Slam weapon-has officially ended. The 149-year run since Wimbledon's inaugural championship in 1877 has come to a close, not with a whimper but with a 24-year-old Italian's second-round exit and a Greek player's social media post that captured the moment perfectly.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

  • The 2026 US Open marked the first season since 1877 with no man reaching a Grand Slam semi-final using a one-handed backhand.
  • Pete Sampras, a seven-time Grand Slam champion, was among the last generation to master the one-handed backhand at the highest level.
  • In 1905, there were 16 one-handed backhanders in Grand Slam semi-finals across all four majors; by 2026, that number had fallen to zero.
  • Lorenzo Musetti, the highest-ranked single-handed backhand player on the ATP tour, exited in the second round of the 2026 US Open, effectively ending the 149-year tradition.

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