[Banoffee]

At the moment, right after the off-season, only Djokovic's backhand is better

powerful, precise, great angles

also, he is the second player (after Federer) who could absolutely school Tomic - a lot of guys can beat him, but only a couple of them can defeat him the way Nishikori did

 

[Kei4ever]

Well, it's still arguable. As a Kei fan, I wish it were the best and would take it even if it were the second best, but it's still too flattering. As far as his counter-punching style, his backhand is really a weapon in his arsenal, but he often makes an error off his backhand when he is forced to generate power on his own. His backhand motion suits the counter-punching style, so it can work differently against players with different styles. Many of the top players have powerful strokes, so his backhand works very well against those guys, but his backhand is rather ineffective against sliced backhand strokes. See his matches against Federer. His backhand is not nearly as effective as it is against other top players. As far as his backhand return goes, it's not a stretch to say he's the second best IMO.

 

[BULLETS]

Interesting bait
First of all Feliciano lopez has has the best backhand so ur opening statement is false

in reality we all know who the top two widely accepted best backhands regardless of who is the flavor of the month
i can see the direction this thread is going to go in already

 

[Ichiban1920]

Nishikori? Flavor of the month? He's higher ranked than Pushray.

 

[norwood_10]

His crosscourt backhand is a treat. He reminds me of Davydenko in many ways except maybe a bit less all-out attack and a better serve. Ultimately while Cilic deserved the USO no arguments, Kei did seem out of energy in that final and what he has to learn from that is to put opponents away easier, going 5 with Raonic and Wawrinka really made life hard.

 

[BULLETS]

Nishikori? Flavor of the month? He's higher ranked than Pushray.

And ur point is?

 

[RedHotRafa49]

No, Murray's is.

 

[TheEndIsNear]

Hard to say, but it sure is a delicious backhand.

 

[JoWilly]

His backhand is incredible but I don't feel ready to put him above Stan or Murray's. Doesn't stop it from being a world class sjot though, just shows how many amazing backhands there are.

 

[james_von05]

No Djoko and Murray the best 2 backhand out there... Power, Consistency and Angle... while the rest are hit or miss.

 

[sirbenson]

It's up there with Murray's now for me, and getting closer to Djoko's imo.

 

[Chokehater]

I would vote for Wawrinka, but Nishikori has probably the best FH+BH combo (i.e. best groundstrokes) atm.

 

[DjokerLife94]

I disagree. No1e and Murray have the best BH's on tour.

 

[Forehander]

Technically it is one of the best and most compact two handed backhand. The ball just explodes off his racquet because his shoulder/body turn is amazing and don't have much wrist involved allowing him to hit the ball with exceptional extension. What's most exciting is that there is still room for improvement for the stroke. I haven't been so excited and looked forward to seeing a player smack a backhand since Nalbandian It's one of those backhand where you just feel when the ball is flying over that wing something special is going to happen, much like when watching Wawrinka/Gasquet/Safin/Agassi on fire.

Murray's backhand is very good too, great rotation but he seems to have lost the consistency and power since 2013. Djokovic backhand is simply a wall, defensively it's the best in history but nothing too exciting.

 

[Phenomenadal]

he is the second player (after Federer) who could absolutely school Tomic - a lot of guys can beat him, but only a couple of them can defeat him the way Nishikori did

Was this really necessary.

It's known Tomic tanked that match.

 

[asmazif]

No Djoko and Murray the best 2 backhand out there... Power, Consistency and Angle... while the rest are hit or miss.

"the rest"?

players such as Nishikori, Gulbis, Istomin, Berdych, Nieminen, Simon, Benneteau, Paire, Coric, Stepanek, Flo Mayer all have excellent two-handers.

 

[masterclass]

Now? Unless you haven't watched tennis lately, it is clearly Stanimal Wawrinka followed by Dr. Ivo Karlovic.
Karlovic went up to #2 ranked backhands after defeating #1 Djokovic slicing and dicing his killer backhand.
He clearly didn't break No1e with his serve.

The mini-break to take the set in the second set tiebreaker was due to Dr. Ivo's devastating backhand slice approach shot deep to the Djokovic forehand which forced an error from Nole. In the deciding set with the match hanging in the balance at 3-3 deuce on the Djokovic serve, another low backhand slice service return deep forced an error into the net from Nole to bring the game to break point. Karlovic then broke the World #1 with a superb short and low backhand slice service return drawing No1e into the net where he got passed after the Djokovic volley directed to the Karlovic running forehand.

Stanimal is undefeated since winning the Davis Cup carrying team Suisse to victory on the strength of his backhand.

:angel:,
masterclass

 

[Banoffee]

Technically it is one of the best and most compact two handed backhand. The ball just explodes off his racquet because his shoulder/body turn is amazing and don't have much wrist involved allowing him to hit the ball with exceptional extension. What's most exciting is that there is still room for improvement for the stroke. I haven't been so excited and looked forward to seeing a player smack a backhand since Nalbandian It's one of those backhand where you just feel when the ball is flying over that wing something special is going to happen, much like when watching Wawrinka/Gasquet/Safin/Agassi on fire.

Murray's backhand is very good too, great rotation but he seems to have lost the consistency and power since 2013. Djokovic backhand is simply a wall, defensively it's the best in history but nothing too exciting.

very good post, thanks.


btw, what also makes Nishikori's backhand exceptional is his movement, it is unparalleled IMO, angle-wise he might still not be on Davydenko's level, but close

Wawrinka's shot is more powerful and would have voted for him but Nishikori now really brought up his game

 

[tiangua_001]

Is Nishikori's backhand that good? I know its a great shot, with a very simple and compact techinic, can keep the ball low, also with his explosive power, can make this shot very sharp, very quick, very hard to get.

But I rarely see he can creat an angle like Nalbandian or Davydenko, also, his dtl shot I think is way behind the level with Nalbandian and Safin. Normally they can play deeper, more agressive, also more consistent. I don't his backhand is as reliable as Nalbandian, Safin, even Davydenko. Also,his backhand techinic remind me of Kafelnikov, but I should say, Kafel's backhand can do the damage more consistently.

I rate his backhand shot a great one, little bit better than Agassi, but worse than Nalbandian and Safin.

 

[Burrow]

In terms of what he can do with it, Djokovic's backhand is far from the best.

When in position, Wawrinka and Nishikori without doubt have superior backhands. How often do you see Djokovic punching holes in his opponent with his backhand? It's consistent but that's more related to his excellent movement, balance and cardiovascular fitness than anything else.