Chicken Wing Follow-Through

The chicken wing is one of the most recognizable faults on the two-handed backhand. Both arms should extend and rotate together through contact and into a full finish. Instead, the lead arm's elbow bends and pulls up and away from the body, like a wing, while the racquet face opens too soon. This usually happens because the non-dominant hand goes passive too early, when it should be an active driver of the stroke. The dominant arm then takes over and steers the racquet on its own rather than as part of a two-handed unit.

The chicken wing produces two visible problems. First, the racquet face opens before full extension is reached, sending the ball higher and shorter than intended. Second, the follow-through is cut short, because the compromised arm structure cannot carry through to a full finish above the shoulder. The fault is rooted in the non-dominant arm disengaging, not in a timing issue. So one of the most effective corrections is drilling with the non-dominant hand alone, hitting slow-fed backhands using only that arm. This forces the correct muscles to stay engaged through the full swing.