Backhand Testing: Finding Your Comfort Zone
Most people do not love their backhand. That is normal.
When you test paddles, you are not trying to fix that side overnight. You are trying to find out whether a paddle makes your backhand easier to trust or harder. That is worth knowing before you buy.
Why the Backhand Is a Good Truth Test
The backhand exposes problems that the forehand often hides. On your forehand side, you have more range, more natural strength, and more confidence. You can compensate for a paddle that is slightly awkward or slightly off without even realizing it.
On the backhand, that margin shrinks. If a paddle feels harsh on off‑center contact, you will feel it there first. If it is uncomfortable to swing over a long game, the backhand is usually where it starts to show. If it makes you want to run around shots instead of taking them, that tells you something, too.
The backhand does not lie about fit in the same way the forehand sometimes can.
What to Notice on Backhand Dinks and Soft Shots
The kitchen backhand is where feel and control are tested on the less forgiving side of your body. The same questions from Dinking Technique – Evaluating Touch and Control apply here, but pay attention to whether the answers change when you are on your backhand side.
Is it easy to keep the ball low on a backhand dink, or are you fighting to control the height? Does the paddle feel predictable when you are placing a backhand cross‑court? Do soft shots feel like you are in control of them, or like you are guessing?
Some paddles feel noticeably different on backhand touch shots compared to forehand. If you feel less confident on the backhand side with a specific paddle, and the gap is bigger than usual, that is worth noting.
What to Notice on Blocks, Resets, and Jammed Balls
This is where forgiveness shows up most clearly on the backhand side.
When someone speeds the ball at your backhand, you do not always have time to set up cleanly. You are blocking, resisting, and trying to redirect a fast ball back into the kitchen. How the paddle handles that situation, especially on contact that is not quite centered, is a direct measure of forgiveness.
A forgiving paddle gives you something manageable even when the ball catches you slightly late or slightly inside. A less forgiving one tends to produce unpredictable results on those same balls: floaters that sit up, or shots that spray wide.
Also, notice jammed balls on the backhand side. When the ball is crowding you, and you do not have room to swing freely, how does the paddle feel through contact? Some paddles feel stable in tight spots. Others feel like you have no control at all.
A Simple Backhand Routine to Use With Each Paddle
Keep it short. This is a check before you get into games, not a full practice session.
Start with a backhand dink exchange, cross‑court first, then straight ahead. Use the same basic routine as the forehand side in Dinking Technique – Evaluating Touch and Control, just mirrored. Notice how the paddle feels and whether your placement is landing where you want it.
If your partner will cooperate, ask for a few speed‑ups to your backhand so you can block and reset. A handful of those tells you more about backhand forgiveness than a long, soft rally will.
Then, if there is time before you get into games, hit a few backhand drives at your normal swing effort, not your hardest shot, just your repeatable backhand drive. Note whether those feel controlled or like you are fighting to keep them in.
That is enough. Get into real games and let the backhand show up naturally under real pressure.
How Your Priorities Show Up on the Backhand
The article What to Focus On – Prioritizing Your Paddle Testing covered how to pick one or two priorities before you start testing. The backhand side is one of the clearest places to see whether a paddle is actually delivering on them.
If forgiveness is your priority, the backhand is your most important test. This is where off‑center contact happens most often for most players. A forgiving paddle keeps those balls in a usable spot. An unforgiving one makes a side that is already less natural feel unreliable.
If comfort is what you are focused on, whether because of arm fatigue, a prior injury, or just how a paddle feels after two hours of play, the backhand swing is often where discomfort shows up first. Pay attention to whether the paddle starts to feel harsh or heavy as a session goes on.
If confidence is the priority, notice whether you feel like you are trusting the backhand or still avoiding it. A good fit will not make the backhand your strongest shot, but it should make you a little more willing to take it when it comes.
Backhand Testing in the Full Picture
A paddle that feels comfortable and forgiving on the backhand still needs to hold up on serves, dinks, and drives. Those pieces are covered in Serving Fundamentals – Testing Paddle Performance, Dinking Technique – Evaluating Touch and Control, and Drives & Power Shots – What to Look For.
What the backhand test does well is catch problems the other checks might miss. If a paddle passes every other test but consistently feels wrong on the backhand side, that is a real problem, because your backhand is not going away.
Run the routine. Get into real games. By the end of the session, you will have a much clearer sense of whether the backhand side of this paddle is something you can live with and build on, or something you will always be working around.