[Action Jackson]

Clay Death made an interesting comment about Federer's backhand. This is whole paragraph, taken from the Borg/Nadal thread.

Fed has perhaps the best one handed backhand the game has ever seen. he can drive the ball off that wing or he can slice it with authority and yet it can be dismantled and rendered ineffective. on clay, you can punish that wing with relentless topsin drives. on hard courts, you can do what Djokovic does to it. take it early and hit balls that penetrate through the court. Fed is also reduced to just blocking balls back off that wing when serves are being being hit at 130-140 mph. he was able to get away with it for over 4 years because Fed was Fed and he had incredible movement and anticipation. slightest loss in that movement has made him shaky off that wing. and players like Djokovic were still in diapers.

Obviously I don't think Federer has the greatest single hander the game has ever seen.

So the question is who does have it? Once I get a few nominations, then I will add a poll.

Edberg, Kuerten, Stich, Laver, Haas, Lendl, Corretja ( not in any order) are ones I can name off the top of my head that have a better single hander.

MTF over to you for some nominations, of course Karlovic, LaLo are up there for backhand genius.

 

[Rogiman]

What about Gaudio, George?

My vote goes to him

 

[Action Jackson]

Gaudio is there of course, but I don't want to appear any more biased than I already I am. I'd probably give Kuerten the edge out of those two.

What I will do is gauge the amount of nominations, then throw it open.

 

[Rogiman]

of course Karlovic, LaLo are up there for backhand genius.

How could you forget Rusedski??

 

[leng jai]

We discussed this beforehand and decided this thread was necessary. Far too many people overrating Federer's backhand so its time to take this topic and thoroughly discuss it. Clay Death's comment was a cracker and will surely go down as one of his finest comments on MTF.

 

[Action Jackson]

How could you forget Rusedski??

Grinning Greg did have a good slice though, only topspin he hit, was when he was in bed with his wife.

 

[BlueSwan]

Kuerten and Edberg obviously had amazing single backhands, BUT I do think that Federers is amongst the greatest as well. It's just that every other part of his game is so good that his backhand looks weak. So I think Federer should be included in the poll. One could argue that Gasquet should be included as well.

 

[Rogiman]

Kuerten and Edberg obviously had amazing single backhands, BUT I do think that Federers is amongst the greatest as well. It's just that every other part of his game is so good that his backhand looks weak. So I think Federer should be included in the poll. One could argue that Gasquet should be included as well.

Federer's backhand has improved a lot and could be great at times, but very often it breaks down and certain players know how to use it to their advantage. The 2005 USO final against Agassi comes to mind. I don't think a shot which produces so many misshits could be considered one of the best.

 

[Action Jackson]

Yes, for sure Federer's BH improvement and also improvement in his defensive skills helped him in his period of domination.

Guga broke it down in 2004 and Rogiman is right, it can be broken down, just have to sometimes go to the forehand, to get it done.

 

[buzz]

Goudio's backhand when on:drool:

But sometimes

haas, Guga, Edberg, Stich (lendle I don't know)have in some way better backhands than Fed. I think fed would trade his for theirs if he could.

Corretja im not so sure, his backhand was very save and spinnie. Not sure, but not many winners I think.

But don't forget the amazing accuracie Fed has with his stretching backhand cross court passing, Shots no one else would get in a good position, and Federer making winners from that. :worship:

I think Federers backhand has some weaknesses but it can score him a lot of points, like the slice, down the line drive and croscourt passing. His backhand is actually some sort of matchup issue I think

 

[Rogiman]

Whatever Gaudio won in his career (which is quite a lot) it was due to that one shot.

 

[keroni]

Gaudio

 

[Action Jackson]

I remember the Gaudio and Guga matches on clay, especially the RG 2003 one. The backhand to backhand rallies were a joy to watch, another match that Gaudio had enough chances to win, but couldn't do it.

The way they used their backhands, using good angles crosscourt, then going DTL, when not expected. These guys played claycourt tennis, not the hardcourt on clay like now.

Edberg had a classical backhand, the huge follow through, such a contrast to his forehand.

 

[Rogiman]

I remember the Gaudio and Guga matches on clay, especially the RG 2003 one. The backhand to backhand rallies were a joy to watch, another match that Gaudio had enough chances to win, but couldn't do it.

The way they used their backhands, using good angles crosscourt, then going DTL, when not expected. These guys played claycourt tennis, not the hardcourt on clay like now.

And they were both attacking, albeit Guga a lot more.

Like I said, Gaudio only had that shot going for him whereas Guga had a great serve to save him too.

 

[Action Jackson]

Corretja im not so sure, his backhand was very save and spinnie. Not sure, but not many winners I think.

Corretja's backhand, he could hit it flat on the faster surfaces, especially on the pass when he beat Sampras on a fast indoor court. He had an excellent backhand down the line, he gave Agassi fits with that shot, especially as Andre liked to bang off forehands.

It was his weapon and he used to hit out, when he needed to.

 

[Action Jackson]

And they were both attacking, albeit Guga a lot more.

Like I said, Gaudio only had that shot going for him whereas Guga had a great serve to save him too.

Gaudio's forehand then was the safe shot, he got plenty of angle with it, but it wasn't as good as the backhand obviously. That was the shot that helped him win RG, well his forehand improved quite a lot, he got more zip on it and got the same angles.

Guga had the more power, whereas Gaudio was better with the dropshot and more touch around the net.

They played some very good matches.

 

[CmonAussie]

...
~~~~()~~~~()~~~~()~~~~()~~~~
honestly the answer is Justine HENIN [ok she`s not a guy but that bh of hers is sheer beauty]#@@#
>>> of the men i`d have to go with Rod LAVER [from what i`ve heard & the few clips available on youtube]*""*!

 

[Slasher]

This one by Lendl is wanktastic.

 

[Action Jackson]

Slasher, thanks for that video and Lendl was excellent off both sides.

Albert Costa is another one with a better backhand than Federer. This backhand got him the RG crown and loved going down the line. He was the one that pushing the Muster most when he was at his peak, as Muster was trying to work him over with the forehand, big Al's backhand down the line was what was keeping him in the matches.

 

[Action Jackson]

Calleri has definitely one of the hardest backhands around. He can be awful, but when he is on like when he destroyed Ferrero in Malaga.

He made Agassi look like a child in Miami. The clip below is from when he played Hewitt at the US Open, heaps of backhand winners here.