Let's switch to the backhand side [emoji1305]
- Djokovic (The perfect backhand)
- Wawrinka (The backhand everyone wants to hit)
- Murray (Loopy but smooth)
- Gasquet (Oil painting: Robbie Koenig)
- Nishikori (Smooth motion, difficult to read)
Honourary mention: Federer (not the best backhand but looks majestic af)
Really?! I can think of a few pretty awful looking one handers that are much less effective too. I mean, he's not Haas, that's for sure. But few people are graced with such perfect all-court technique. Ironically, I think Domi will go on to do more with that shot then Tommy ever had the chance to.
Nishikori and I'm not just saying this as a fan of him. Of the top players, he is the one who depends most highly on this particular stroke for his success. Everything else revolves around this stroke as far as he is concerned. Kei takes it the most early, so has a very high degree of difficulty as far as footwork and timing is considered and makes it look so easy.
If you watch most of his matches, his plan is to stretch his opponents on their presumably weaker BH side with deep, sharp CC angles till he can pounce in a drag them all over the court or go behind them. It's a bread and butter tactic that works in his favour most of the time.
However Kei does have dynamic versatility on that wing that some people are not aware of (open spoilers for examples in clips)
1) defensive slice, often for passing shot winners
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2) BH ROS. His DTL return shot on deuce court is one of the most beautiful aspects of his game and can yield outright winners. Wawrinka and Federer would love to have this! He does it here and two points later. Also see 17:08 where he does this on the deuce court.
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Even Federer hit a very good kick second serve and Nishikori was able to contact it early and eat it up for a return winner:
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3) BH DTL - I think willingness and confidence to go DTL is an important part of a good backhand, gives you more options and you can win the point outright, even in defense.
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In fact, just watch this clip as a summary of what Kei is able to do with his BH. Improv slice lob winner against a Raonic smash! The running BH winner to end the clip :lol:
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In all it's versatile, dynamic, reliable and dangerous to test. Qualities worthy of the Samurai. I have never seen too many people with as much confidence and control in the shot as he does, save perhaps Nalbandian.
I haven't even mentioned the times Kei decidedly showed off his single handed topspin BH...
Djokovic - beautiful fluid motion, incredibly solid, accurate. Can go DTL or CC with ease. Also, the only player that can hit his two hander on the stretch and still return with depth/power.
Murray - very similar to Djokovic. His flat CC BH is the best in the game. Also his 2nd serve return with the two hander is devastating.
Wawrinka - the best one hander in the game currently. Absolutely breathtaking power and accuracy. Literally takes the racquet out of his opponents hands when he's peaking. Probably the one shot that won him his three majors.
Nishikori - technically the most impressive out of all the two handers. Can change direction with ease, accurate, flat. Will punish weak 2nd serves with this shot.
Federer - despite being his weaker shot earlier on in his career this has become a thing of beauty over the years. Flat effortless power and penetration.
Gasquet - probably the most beautiful looking one hander. Can rip it DTL like nothing. Gorgeous shot.
I love pretty much all 1 handers..but stans will always be the best to look at to me ,he has very strong technique and is the most unique by far out of all the 1 handers ...then aestheticaly come fed gasquet haas thiem (beats me how somebody can say it s an ugly stroke just because it s not exactly clasic looking) then sela GGL shapovalov dimitrov.
from the 2 handers ..kei s bh is clealry the nicest to watch,fognini s is also interesting and of course djokovic s bh looks just extremly clean and that makes it nice to watch.
1. A. Zverev - Beautiful motion, great technique. Put some sexy winners into the spoilers.
And some schooling of single-handers: :smoke:
2. Nishikori - My second favourite, same as Zverev.
3. Djokovic - Love the motion, likely the best BH of all time when it comes to defense.
4. Murray - Rate it below the others aesthetically, but it's probably the most spectacular shot among the double-handers.
Don't know whom to put into the 5th spot, but these are the other options I like: Berdych, Fognini, Paire, Anderson, Gulbis, Kokkinakis.
1. Gasquet - My favourite 1HBH.
2. Almagro
3. Cuevas
4. Federer
5. Wawrinka - Rather neutral about its look, but it has to be on this list.
Zverev certainly has good technique on it and a load of power, you can hear it off the strings. Probably lacks on the defensive BH department given his height and how tricky it would be to bend for deep and low shots, but very solid indeed.
It's Nalbandian for the two hander and it's Nishikori currently. Other players have really solid shots but being able to change direction so effortlessly makes this shot so effective cool to watch.
Nalbandian looked like he was playing ping pong at times. No one has ever made it look as easy as he did at his best.
For the one hander, Stan and Gasquet are obvious candidates but Almagro also deserves a mention too.
It's hard to divorce one shot from an entire game; things which appear weak or strong based on one shot in isolation can in fact result from other strengths and weaknesses.
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