The U.S. Open is underway this week, the final major championship event of the tennis year. The New York Times had a marvelous article on the increasingly lost art of the one-handed backhand. To me, there is a handful of beautiful athletes to watch — their motion is gorgeous. Fred Couples hitting driver comes to mind, as does Roger Federer hitting his one-hand backhand.

Credit: Gallo Images

I’d have to agree with this article, however, that almost no one hits the shot as well as Wawrinka. It was devastating when he won the Australian Open in January and it’s helped him climb in the rankings to number four in the world.

Here’s the article, and here’s an interactive video presentation focusing mainly on Stan Wawrinka’s effective stroke (scroll down to go through it).