Very interesting that Gasquet's backhand is in the mix still. This whole 1 vs. 2 debate is interesting. It is clear that 2 handed bh's are in the majority by a wide margin. And yet, we have a one hander who can still move into the top 10.
The only question I have is what this list would have looked like in Wawrinka's best years, 2014-17 or so. Would Wawrinka make the top ten on the backhand side?
Just throwing this out there. My opinion is that he has the best backhand in the last 10 years or so. I know that Hugh still takes Feds backhand over Stans. But even watching Stan today, I see that he has the ability to simply leave a player standing when he is able to belt one.
He is the only one who could go toe-to-toe with Djokovic and win the matchup on his good days. On his off days, it was still a tough win for Djokovic. Only Nadal's forehand could handle Stan's backhand and really only at the French. On hard court, Stan could stand his ground.
Hey Hugh - thanks for all the great articles in 2023. All the analysis has helped me to focus on the bigger picture in my own strokes and has helped me tremendously, so just wanna say thanks :)
Hugh nice piece to kick off 2024! A couple questions for you:
1) On Rune's backhand, does he normally have his takeback with open strings? If so, would you consider it a technical flaw? For some reason, I've always likened it to Djokovic's BH, but your analysis clearly points out the differences in the early motions.
2) Do you have any plans to do an article covering technique changes that specific pros have made coming out of off-season? Some examples I've noticed/heard are Shelton's lower elbow on the FH and Swiatek's cleaner service motion.
1) I don't think closed strings is necessary for the backhand. The fact you have two hands on the racquet mean you can control the face much better and deliver consistent flat balls. Robin Soderling, Lleyton Hewitt, Andre Agassi, Jimmy Connors all very open in the backswing. Not a flaw, just a flatter backhand.
2) Yeah maybe I will review something like a shelton forehand or Iga serve after the AO!
Hey Hugh, amazing piece as always and a great sort of grouping of everything you've been talking about in the past months - will certainly use it as a cheat sheet aha -
A few questions, no obligation to answer them all but I need to write those thoughts down:
1) You've talked about the unsung forehand of Bautista, and while he certainly checks the control > power theory, staying as a great backboard for many years with great movement and consistency despite of limited power, his FH doesnt tick as many good boxes as his BH: the racket head isn't upright, wrist slighty flexed, outside setup... so I wonder why you think it works so well: it is compact and short so do you think in a Agassi-way, the lack of moving parts makes up for those inefficiencies
2) You've mentioned FAA in your top forehand guesses despite it being quite noisy as you described when he had big inconsistencies in 2022 - and while the BH is obviously the main issue, I agree the FH can get loose too -. Is it because you think he could feast on +1 or anything else? Very much agree on Medjedovic, Rune by the way.
3) Do you agree that Rune's flip on the BH is way less prononced than Sinner? In fact in matches, he is the one (beside Djokovic) who I'm always like "great full turn". Anyway, both guys still get the inside line great with a full turn before dropping I believe, theirs is just a little less "smooth" in the takeback
Edit : and happy new year!
Edit 2: Btw, I think Rune might have ruined his averages this year a bit with that big slump through injury from Wimbledon to the indoor season
1) I have a hunch that eastern forehands can get away with a lot more noise than their more extreme cousins. I have no data for this and I've thought about it some but still don't have a good answer. RBA has an eastern grip and just kind of bunts it back; very little actual racquet head speed. Like you said, just very little moving parts.
2) I think FAA had some injury and equipment issues this year. At his best I think his forehand is great, especially on the plus-one ball and on all surfaces.
3) Yes, he also doesn't close the face as much/uses a less extreme top hand grip perhaps. He gets a great turn, but not in the 'pre-set' way like Medvedev or Davydenko.
Interesting, I love the article. I always thought it made more sense to begin a forehand with the wrist hinged or cocked back to reduce extra movement. Novak continues to amaze with his dominance in the groundstroke game.
I'm surprised you didn't review the Return section, because to me those numbers indict the whole project. Looking at return stats and just using the eye test, there is no way that Alcaraz should be any worse than 4th while being in the same general tier as Djokovic, Medvedev, and Sinner, but instead he's in a tier with Zverev and Khachanov? Practically, how would Alcaraz even be competitive against Zverev indoors if he was lagging slightly on return along with the obvious serve and backhand gaps? Similarly, how are Fritz, Etcheverry, Ruud, and Rublev getting spots in the top 10? The latter 2 have huge struggles on 1st serve return (esp. backhand) and the former 2 are clearly not very explosive movers or early ballstrikers. I would nominate Schwartzman, Paul, and de Minaur in a heartbeat before anyone else outside of the world #1-4.
I'm also somewhat skeptical of the Serve category because somehow Zverev is in but Fritz and Tsitsipas aren't, which makes me think that 2nd serves are not weighed heavily enough.
It was unclear to me how the return was rated (missed returns? Aces hit against? or just shot quality of the returns you put in play?). Khachanov missed the entire grass swing and Carlos played a bunch of big servers on grass is one thought that popped up. It's possible you go a year in return friendly conditions; don't face big servers and don't play as many matches on quicker courts. Additionally, Carlos might get his racquet on a lot of returns due to his athleticism that are technically very 'weak' replies. That's why I said it leaves more questions than answers. There's some signal there, but there's still so much noise.
Very interesting that Gasquet's backhand is in the mix still. This whole 1 vs. 2 debate is interesting. It is clear that 2 handed bh's are in the majority by a wide margin. And yet, we have a one hander who can still move into the top 10.
The only question I have is what this list would have looked like in Wawrinka's best years, 2014-17 or so. Would Wawrinka make the top ten on the backhand side?
Just throwing this out there. My opinion is that he has the best backhand in the last 10 years or so. I know that Hugh still takes Feds backhand over Stans. But even watching Stan today, I see that he has the ability to simply leave a player standing when he is able to belt one.
He is the only one who could go toe-to-toe with Djokovic and win the matchup on his good days. On his off days, it was still a tough win for Djokovic. Only Nadal's forehand could handle Stan's backhand and really only at the French. On hard court, Stan could stand his ground.
Here is just one clip from a practice session. https://youtu.be/VZHhmg1v4Zw?t=32
You can see that even against Nadal's forehand, Stan could hit clean winners.
Okay, I'll stop my Stan gush session. Hope everyone is having a good 2024 so far!
I think Stan would have been on the list in his prime for sure.
Hey Hugh - thanks for all the great articles in 2023. All the analysis has helped me to focus on the bigger picture in my own strokes and has helped me tremendously, so just wanna say thanks :)
Thanks Liam!
Hugh nice piece to kick off 2024! A couple questions for you:
1) On Rune's backhand, does he normally have his takeback with open strings? If so, would you consider it a technical flaw? For some reason, I've always likened it to Djokovic's BH, but your analysis clearly points out the differences in the early motions.
2) Do you have any plans to do an article covering technique changes that specific pros have made coming out of off-season? Some examples I've noticed/heard are Shelton's lower elbow on the FH and Swiatek's cleaner service motion.
1) I don't think closed strings is necessary for the backhand. The fact you have two hands on the racquet mean you can control the face much better and deliver consistent flat balls. Robin Soderling, Lleyton Hewitt, Andre Agassi, Jimmy Connors all very open in the backswing. Not a flaw, just a flatter backhand.
2) Yeah maybe I will review something like a shelton forehand or Iga serve after the AO!
Hey Hugh, amazing piece as always and a great sort of grouping of everything you've been talking about in the past months - will certainly use it as a cheat sheet aha -
A few questions, no obligation to answer them all but I need to write those thoughts down:
1) You've talked about the unsung forehand of Bautista, and while he certainly checks the control > power theory, staying as a great backboard for many years with great movement and consistency despite of limited power, his FH doesnt tick as many good boxes as his BH: the racket head isn't upright, wrist slighty flexed, outside setup... so I wonder why you think it works so well: it is compact and short so do you think in a Agassi-way, the lack of moving parts makes up for those inefficiencies
2) You've mentioned FAA in your top forehand guesses despite it being quite noisy as you described when he had big inconsistencies in 2022 - and while the BH is obviously the main issue, I agree the FH can get loose too -. Is it because you think he could feast on +1 or anything else? Very much agree on Medjedovic, Rune by the way.
3) Do you agree that Rune's flip on the BH is way less prononced than Sinner? In fact in matches, he is the one (beside Djokovic) who I'm always like "great full turn". Anyway, both guys still get the inside line great with a full turn before dropping I believe, theirs is just a little less "smooth" in the takeback
Edit : and happy new year!
Edit 2: Btw, I think Rune might have ruined his averages this year a bit with that big slump through injury from Wimbledon to the indoor season
1) I have a hunch that eastern forehands can get away with a lot more noise than their more extreme cousins. I have no data for this and I've thought about it some but still don't have a good answer. RBA has an eastern grip and just kind of bunts it back; very little actual racquet head speed. Like you said, just very little moving parts.
2) I think FAA had some injury and equipment issues this year. At his best I think his forehand is great, especially on the plus-one ball and on all surfaces.
3) Yes, he also doesn't close the face as much/uses a less extreme top hand grip perhaps. He gets a great turn, but not in the 'pre-set' way like Medvedev or Davydenko.
Interesting, I love the article. I always thought it made more sense to begin a forehand with the wrist hinged or cocked back to reduce extra movement. Novak continues to amaze with his dominance in the groundstroke game.
I'm surprised you didn't review the Return section, because to me those numbers indict the whole project. Looking at return stats and just using the eye test, there is no way that Alcaraz should be any worse than 4th while being in the same general tier as Djokovic, Medvedev, and Sinner, but instead he's in a tier with Zverev and Khachanov? Practically, how would Alcaraz even be competitive against Zverev indoors if he was lagging slightly on return along with the obvious serve and backhand gaps? Similarly, how are Fritz, Etcheverry, Ruud, and Rublev getting spots in the top 10? The latter 2 have huge struggles on 1st serve return (esp. backhand) and the former 2 are clearly not very explosive movers or early ballstrikers. I would nominate Schwartzman, Paul, and de Minaur in a heartbeat before anyone else outside of the world #1-4.
I'm also somewhat skeptical of the Serve category because somehow Zverev is in but Fritz and Tsitsipas aren't, which makes me think that 2nd serves are not weighed heavily enough.
It was unclear to me how the return was rated (missed returns? Aces hit against? or just shot quality of the returns you put in play?). Khachanov missed the entire grass swing and Carlos played a bunch of big servers on grass is one thought that popped up. It's possible you go a year in return friendly conditions; don't face big servers and don't play as many matches on quicker courts. Additionally, Carlos might get his racquet on a lot of returns due to his athleticism that are technically very 'weak' replies. That's why I said it leaves more questions than answers. There's some signal there, but there's still so much noise.
I can definitely see Nadal making both the forehand and backhand list. What do you think of his chances Hugh?
If he can stay healthy for sure. I think we might see a more aggressive forehand on the hardcourts this Aussie summer
Really brought a smile to my face to see Gasquet on the backhand list after all these years!
All the best for 2024 Hugh and look forward to future articles as always.
It's an amazing stroke. Happy New Year mate. Thanks for the support.