Matteo

[stroke]

TennisUpToDate.com: "Berrettini is the only top player with a huge weakness" says Patrick Mouratoglou.

https://tennisuptodate.com/atp/berrettini-is-the-only-top-player-with-a-huge-weakness-says-patrick-mouratoglou

I am certainly not a fan of Mouratoglou's take on things almost all of the time, but certainly agree with him about Berrettini. He is a bigger more interested version of Sock to me. His serve is better than Socks, even though technically to me very similar, his forehand like Sock huge, top 10 all day, but his backhand, not good.

[stotty]

Berrettini's backhand is certainly a weakness but his strengths are also very strong. The two most important shots in modern tennis are the forehand and serve. It is possible to have a sub standard backhand yet do pretty darn well. Roddick never had much of a backhand, nor Rusedski...Raonic's isn't that great either. But they all compensate with their humongous serves.

Even in modern tennis you can still get round a modest backhand by having a great forehand and a great serve.

I am not a Patrick Mouratoglou fan either. I find him a phoney...a joke.

[stroke]

Berrettini's backhand is certainly a weakness but his strengths are also very strong. The two most important shots in modern tennis are the forehand and serve. It is possible to have a sub standard backhand yet do pretty darn well. Roddick never had much of a backhand, nor Rusedski...Raonic's isn't that great either. But they all compensate with their humongous serves.

Even in modern tennis you can still get round a modest backhand by having a great forehand and a great serve.

I am not a Patrick Mouratoglou fan either. I find him a phoney...a joke.

Agreed, I am just not a fan of the what I call 90's Courier Moya type runaround at all cost forehand tennis. It is dated to me.

[seano]

Berrettini's weak backhand was never more evident than his semi-final loss to Nadal in the Australian semi-finals, It was quite noticeable. He can get away with mostly forehands against right- handed players but up against a left-handed heavy topspin forehand, its a definite liability.

Sean

[johnyandell]

We'll look at that backhand next month!

[johnyandell]

Patrick was really media shy at first...uh that changed.

[jimlosaltos]

TennisUpToDate.com: "Berrettini is the only top player with a huge weakness" says Patrick Mouratoglou.

https://tennisuptodate.com/atp/berrettini-is-the-only-top-player-with-a-huge-weakness-says-patrick-mouratoglou

.

Is that true? I'll propose some for the sake of discussion.
Of course "weakness" and "huge" are both subjective. I try to use "relative weakness" when discussing top players since they're all so darned great.

1) Medvedev - Net Play
2) Djokovic - Overhead smash {His once coach Boris Becker "Novak has the worst smash in the top 100. We did everything to try and fix it but nothing worked.". He's lost big matches bcuz of it}
3) Zverev - Second Serve
4) Nadal - ?
5) Tsitsipas - Return of Serve
6) Rublev - Second serve
7) Berrettini - Yes, bhd

[stotty]

Is that true? I'll propose some for the sake of discussion.
Of course "weakness" and "huge" are both subjective. I try to use "relative weakness" when discussing top players since they're all so darned great.

1) Medvedev - Net Play
2) Djokovic - Overhead smash {His once coach Boris Becker "Novak has the worst smash in the top 100. We did everything to try and fix it but nothing worked.". He's lost big matches bcuz of it}
3) Zverev - Second Serve
4) Nadal - ?
5) Tsitsipas - Return of Serve
6) Rublev - Second serve
7) Berrettini - Yes, bhd

Looking at the list certainly prompts thought. The first thing that springs to mind is to ascertain how costly each weakness is: Novak's is the least costly as overheads are infrequent with his game. We could say the same of Meddy's net game. A poor second serve in today's game, however, is very costly. Same with the return of serve. I perceive Berrettini's weak backhand to be slightly less of a weakness because it's countered by his forehand and big first serve.

So the bottomline is some weaknesses are more costly than others.

[jimlosaltos]

Looking at the list certainly prompts thought. The first thing that springs to mind is to ascertain how costly each weakness is: Novak's is the least costly as overheads are infrequent with his game. We could say the same of Meddy's net game. A poor second serve in today's game, however, is very costly. Same with the return of serve. I perceive Berrettini's weak backhand to be slightly less of a weakness because it's countered by his forehand and big first serve.

So the bottomline is some weaknesses are more costly than others.

Agreed. Another dimension is whether opponents can expose that weakness. Rafa had to leave his normal patterns of play to expose Medy's net play to come from behind in Melbourne, but had the skills to do that. Others can't necessary force him to the net -- although I assume we'll see more try now.

Let's say that Fed's is his high backhand. Again, as a lefty with a great forehand, Rafa could. Others, even very good players such as Agassi and Sampras, could not.

[jthb1021]

Agreed. Another dimension is whether opponents can expose that weakness. Rafa had to leave his normal patterns of play to expose Medy's net play to come from behind in Melbourne, but had the skills to do that. Others can't necessary force him to the net -- although I assume we'll see more try now.

Let's say that Fed's is his high backhand. Again, as a lefty with a great forehand, Rafa could. Others, even very good players such as Agassi and Sampras, could not.

Sampras wouldn't have needed to bring Meddy in as a primary tactic for victory! He would have played him like Cressy did, serving and volleying just at an all world level! Rhythmless tennis that drove Meddy crazy. He'd serve and volley holding easily and come up with aces in big moments the way he always did. His return games he'd concede a bunch of them until he gets his teeth into a 0-30 and cash in on a break point or win breakers. Pete all day in this match up! Pete is Meddy's nightmare!. Andre on the other hand would need to make some tactical adjustments probably play him similarly to how Novak does.

[jimlosaltos]

Sampras wouldn't have needed to bring Meddy in as a primary tactic for victory! He would have played him like Cressy did, serving and volleying just at an all world level! Rhythmless tennis that drove Meddy crazy. He'd serve and volley holding easily and come up with aces in big moments the way he always did. His return games he'd concede a bunch of them until he gets his teeth into a 0-30 and cash in on a break point or win breakers. Pete all day in this match up! Pete is Meddy's nightmare!. Andre on the other hand would need to make some tactical adjustments probably play him similarly to how Novak does.

I wish we could see that!

Maybe some video game will simulate it.

Besides, it would be so recursive to be playing as Medy and then do the dead fish celebration in a video game

(But I actually mentioned the Fed match up with Pete and with Andre, both of which we actually saw.)

[stotty]

Sampras wouldn't have needed to bring Meddy in as a primary tactic for victory! He would have played him like Cressy did, serving and volleying just at an all world level! Rhythmless tennis that drove Meddy crazy. He'd serve and volley holding easily and come up with aces in big moments the way he always did. His return games he'd concede a bunch of them until he gets his teeth into a 0-30 and cash in on a break point or win breakers. Pete all day in this match up! Pete is Meddy's nightmare!. Andre on the other hand would need to make some tactical adjustments probably play him similarly to how Novak does.

The trouble with matches like this is they are merely matches played in one's head. I've played similar matches in my head too. But that's all they ever can be because there is no way of knowing what the outcome of a Sampras v Meddy match -- or any match in one's head -- would be. If there is one thing ALL posters on the Tennisplayer are notoriously bad at, it's correctly predicting winners of tennis matches.

[stroke]

The trouble with matches like this is they are merely matches played in one's head. I've played similar matches in my head too. But that's all they ever can be because there is no way of knowing what the outcome of a Sampras v Meddy match -- or any match in one's head -- would be. If there is one thing ALL posters on the Tennisplayer are notoriously bad at, it's correctly predicting winners of tennis matches.

So true. There is a lot of money to be had if one can pick the outcome more often than not. I know for certain the bookies would love for me to be an active bettor.