Federer's Weakness

[lukman41985]

Out on the tour, word is that Fed's backhand is a weakness: "Rip shots to his backhand...hit the approach to his backhand and come in...stay away from the forehand and go to the backhand." Don't warm-up this guy's backhand! You can't strictly play to this side or else he'll sit on it and just start ripping it. The stroke has no technical flaws and he has just as much confidence on the backhand wing as he does on the forehand wing.

Rog, why you gotta be like this, man:

[johnyandell]

So you like it? Takes a lot of balls early like this one--massive racket head speed with a lot of arm rotation at times, so pretty. Doesn't seem like a weakness to me...

[marius hancu]

Very good shot, but can be improved. Check match with Gasquet, where Gasquet dominated on BHs.

My reading is that Fed's must step more into the ball, and change a little bit the direction of traffic on the baseline, more a la:

http://www.revolutionarytennis.com/step1.html

He moves too parallel to the baseline.

[johnyandell]

I'll think about that--you can't step in much more than in the video Lukman posted--didn't see the match but haven't seen anyone take the ball that early that often on the backhand side.

[ruymendes]

Guga

Roland Garros 2004 - Guga didn't allow Federer to attack, in both sides.
Just as Gasquet, Guga has a much more penetrating BHand.
Even Federer can, and need, to improve his game.

[crosscourt]

It's a fab backhand when the ball is low. It's the high bouncing ball that he doesn't play so well -- like the Nalbandian loss at the US open the year before lost.

cc

[lukman41985]

Yes, this is true. His mild eastern backhand grip isn't as good for high balls as the extreme eastern grips used by Henin, Kuerten, Gaudio, Gasquet. However, these four don't touch Federer when it comes to low balls/balls on the rise.

[crosscourt]

Picking this up again, there is of course a difference between Federer's backhand and the mechanics of any one backhand that he hits. In his loss to Nadal I was struck by the difficulty that he found in hitting two successive backhand drives without the second going about a mile long. At the same time the loopier shots he hit landed shorter and shorter. Being British I am used to the idea that a really good looking shot, like Henman's forehand, can just break down. But Federer's difficulties surprised me. Particularly as there were so many nice one handers on show in Paris -- Gaudio, Acasuso, Puerta Gasquet. I think that some of Federer's difficulties against Nadal were caused by a certain aimlessness that crept into Federer's game when points just didn't end when and where he wanted them to. And whatever may be said about him growing up playing on clay, if you're smart like Federer and want to be number 1 you develop a hard court game. So there is a mismatch between the player and the surface (although he has won Hamburg three times). What does anyone else think?

[crosscourt]

So, the US Open final proved half of Lukman's original point. The word, at least in the Agassi camp, is that Federer's backhand is a weakness. And Fed hit a lot of errors (and some superb winners) on that wing in the final, and still won. So, weakness or just not as strong as his forehand? I can't decide.

[CraigC]

A 500 pound bench press is weak to one who can do 510

How about this---

I'll play Federer backhand to backhand, hit high and short to his slightly less than perfect backhand side, make him approach, and then hit my crosscourt passing shot to make him use his slightly less than perfect forehand volley. Sure I will lose 0 and 0 but at least he isn't beating me with his best shots. Greatness is in disguising your weaknesses and utilizing your strengths.

[johnyandell]

Maybe slightly less deadly than his forehand side--but personally I wouldn't exactly call it a "weakness." That's a little tough on the number player don't you think? In reality, just like his forehand, he has combined and exaggerated some technical elements that make it more advanced and better, in my view--every seen another one-hander play the ball about a foot off the court, hit it on the rise and generate a screaming winner--and do it regularly? He's entitled to a few misses.

[shootermcmarc0]

yeah, his timing off the bounce is impeccable. when he hits winners that way, is he using the opponents pace mostly?

[crosscourt]

I think the question is whether the backhand is a weakness in his game, not whether he has a better backhand than a club/college/whatever player. And I haven't said it is -- just that I am not sure. To my mind it isn't one of the best one handers in the top 20. That doesn't make it a weakness though, not by any means. What I am interested in is whether it gives his opponent a game plan and in particular a way of thinking about the match that says "I don't have to match his brilliance all over the court, I just have to beat that backhand wing into submission". To which we would all add the caveat "if you can". Agassi seems to me to have thought that was what he had to do. Like just about everyone else he failed overall, but he did force a lot of backhand errors -- and was beaten by some superb backhand winners. And it may be that it doesn't give the opponent a plan. Agassi said after the match that with Federer, unlike Sampras, you couldn't identify a place to win the match from and aim to get there (even if, against Sampras, you often failed). I also think that when we talk about his backhand being a weakness we are concentrating on one stroke, the topspin shot, when what counts is the overall game on the backhand side -- topspin, slice and volley. Still, if I was Nadal I'd not be too anxious about my tactics for next year's clay court season. And this may be the only context in which Federer's backhand can be seen as a weakness. It may also be the context about which Federer comes to care most.

[johnyandell]

I actually am convinced Roger's technical motion is--like his forehand--an advance in biomechanics--or at least in combination of elements and degree of emphasis. If you look at his internal rotation of the hand and arm, he has much more than other players with one hand--the similarity to his forehand there is interesting. So he can hit rockets and hit amazing angles and very heavy spin--and yeah sometimes some big errors. More on that in the future with some high speed video...

[crosscourt]

I look forward to the article. Are there two issues here? Is Federer's paradigm stroke brilliant, but his ability to replicate it sometimes suspect -- see his Roland Garros defeat to Nadal? I am also interested in the variety of shots he hits, particularly the "off-backhand" from the ad court. This was a stock shot of Wilander as I recall, and now Nadal and Pierce are hitting it effectively. But not many one handers do -- and I agree that when he hits it it can be a missile.