Backhanded compliments

Lorenzo Musetti, 23, of Tuscany, Italy, lasted three-and-a-half sets against Carlos Alcaraz in the semifinal of the French Open, before pulling up with cramps.

- Kunal Pradhan

For about 120 of the 145 minutes they spent on court, Musetti gave the champion a run for his money. It was perhaps inevitable that the Italian would lose; he hadn't beaten the Spaniard in any of their last five meetings. Still, this was more than just another semi-final loss in the annual cycle of Grand Slam tournaments. For many, it was personal.

Musetti, ranked No. 7, is the best single-handed backhand player in the world today. The leader of a dying breed of men and women sidelined by sports science—the one-handed backhand return is deemed too weak, with the evolution of carbon-fibre racquets, nylon strings and vibration dampeners that offer greater power and control—but who still press on with it.

Grigor Dimitrov and Stefanos Tsitsipas are the others in the top 30 who have a single-handed backhand.

But only eight men in the top 100 employ the most elegant stroke in tennis. On the women's tour, there are none in the top 70, and only three in the top 100.

These are the impractical, romantic madcaps who persevere no matter how many coaches and pundits tell them to switch. For them, there is pride in playing the shot. The fluid arc as the single-handed backhand falls into a slice or rises into a topspin for a flourishing follow-through is the kind of poetry in motion nothing else in tennis can ever be.