Chicken Wing Follow-Through

The chicken wing is one of the most recognizable faults on the two-handed backhand. Instead of both arms extending and rotating together through contact and into a full finish, the lead arm's elbow bends and pulls up and away from the body, resembling a wing, while the racquet face opens prematurely. This typically happens because the non-dominant hand — which should be an active driver of the stroke — goes passive too early, letting the dominant arm take over and steer the racquet independently rather than as part of a two-handed unit.

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