Interactive Forum November 2024: Gio Backhand

[johnyandell]

Giovanni Mpetshi Perricord Backhand

Here is a first look. Strong grip. Early contact. All stances. Short followthrough or does it just look that way since he is 6’8”?

And look at that contact point on that one slice at the end—and the swing path!

Thoughts please!

[jeffreycounts]

He has the windshield wiper going on that first backhand which is pretty neat. He seems to have that partial windshield on all of them actually. And I'd say that is a big difference from someone like Stan. Stan gets a lot more extension and less of that extreme hand rotation.

[hybridfh]

The extension doesn't look great but that seems to be due to the very early contact point. On the backhand slice, that's a pretty tough ball he's hitting but still it's interesting that his wrist seems to break whereas I think it shouldn't...if I saw footage of myself hitting that slice, I'd be telling myself to keep the wrist more stable through the shot and to hit through it a bit more.

good set-up, i think is windup is kinda small the racket is not looking at the back fence and his hitting zone is too short

[jimlosaltos]

Could the short take backs and limited extension on both Gio's backhand and forehand be deliberate and related to his height?

I heard announcers say of Zverev at the Paris/Bercy masters that the court's speed actually is a disadvantage for Zverev, despite the velocity of his groundstrokes, because of his "big swings".

Gio is even larger than Zverev (significantly bigger) and if he took the racket back and extended as much as say, Sinner his swing would take a long time.

Also, Gio tries to hold the baseline unlike Zverev (which make sense, since he doesn't want to get in foot races with top ATP players), further reducing the time he has to prepare.

[doctorhl]

At least on these views, he doesnt seem to have much body rotation on follow through like Stan. Perhaps he is so strong and has such long levers that he has developed a style that doesnt need the rotational help?

[doctorhl]

His slice looks like Federer knife slicing while standing on a footstool!