Worst Backhand: 1hbh edition

[Bogie]

just out of plain curiosity, who's got the worst 1 hander in tennis....????

gonzo- breaks down much too easily, and has to constantly resort to the slice in fear of not trusting himself in being able to hit over it

blake- flat, no variety whatsoever, and just plain ugly

feliciano lopez- my vote. definitely one of the worst 1handers in that he slices 90% of the shots off of that wing. very rarely will you ever seen him go after his backhand and he uses his slice just to stay alive in the point and find an opening to run around and hit a forehand from.

karlovic- saw him play in person twice at the sap open. horribly inconsistant and like lopez slices 90% of the time, but at least he uses that slice offensively as an opportunity to come to net.

chris guccione- like karlovic, very tall and lanky. usually just uses his backhand as an opportunity to come to net because of lack of consistancy from backcourt. wouldn't consider him the worst from the group mainly because he actually has enough self belief in that shot to hit over it about half the time instead of resorting to a defensive/neutralizing shot.

gimelstob- my former coach(brandon coupe) was gimelstob's former traveling coach so i got to see justin play several times in person. last time being when he played brandon at bank of the west when justin was there to support his gf corina morrariu(however u spell it). one again, like the others, that backhand is just not a very reliable shot and he made tons of unforced errors off of that side. seemed like the only points that he possibly could win were from his s&v game which is quite impressive.

other- the ones mentioned above definitely get my vote for worst on tour. if you think of anyone else, please post.

 

[helloworld]

Federer.... not even close.

 

[DragonFly]

Baghdatis when he switches on and off.

 

[HyperHorse]

I agree with Guccione, his ground game in particular his backhand is what's stopping him from getting to the next level.
I dont agree with you about Gonzo, he's got one of the best backhands on tour, from what i saw @ the Aus Open...
Another vote for most horrible backhand would go to Wayne Arthurs, but he's retired now...

 

[morten]

Rusedski, great slice, not much of a topped backhand.

 

[dunlopfan]

Chris Guccione hardly ever hits through his backhand, it's pretty much always slice.

 

[illkhiboy]

Do you mean one-handed non-slice backhand? Just because a person slices a lot , doesn't mean he has a bad backhand. Sometimes slicing is very effective, and prefered over the topspin or the drive.
I personally think Lopez has a poor topspin backhand. However, I think he has perhaps the best slice backhand. That alone means he has a decent backhand and certainly not one of the worst.
Karlovic perhaps has the worst though I havn't seen Guccione play yet.

 

[Morrissey]

Do you mean one-handed non-slice backhand? Just because a person slices a lot , doesn't mean he has a bad backhand. Sometimes slicing is very effective, and prefered over the topspin or the drive.
I personally think Lopez has a poor topspin backhand. However, I think he has perhaps the best slice backhand. That alone means he has a decent backhand and certainly not one of the worst.
Karlovic perhaps has the worst though I havn't seen Guccione play yet.

Best exampple of your point is Graf. Barely ever came over the ball on her backhand, sliced 99% of the time but did pretty good with it. It wasn´t really a weakness.

 

[Jules]

Lopez' slice is good...but that's all he's got on that side...

 

[onkystomper]

2 for rusedski

 

[Voltron]

I don't like Blakes backhand, it's to predictable.

 

[Bogie]

I don't like Blakes backhand, it's to predictable.

no variety off that wing whatsoever. he just consistantly drives it flat. he should take a page out of gonzo's book and try to learn how to mix it up and throw in some slices every now and then.

 

[edmondsm]

The Justin Gimelstob top spin bh is one of the worst pro bh's I've ever seen...if I remember correctly.

 

[djones]

Anyone remembers Siemerink's backhand?
It was terrible.

Just as Rusedski's!

 

[htrain]

Some of these guys look like they learned a backhand a year ago and already formed bad habits

 

[illkhiboy]

no variety off that wing whatsoever. he just consistantly drives it flat. he should take a page out of gonzo's book and try to learn how to mix it up and throw in some slices every now and then.

Maybe so..but it's remarkable how he uses his backand against Nadal, often taking the ball early and crushing it. His backhand return is especially lethal.

 

[FitzRoy]

I don't know what's worse: that Blake's backhand is on this poll, or that it has received votes. Blake's isn't even close to being the worst.

 

[z-money]

no #5 in the world can have the worst backhand! that just doesnt make sense if he did he would be #5

 

[J-man]

Blake run's around his backhand alot and can do it well. One of the reasons he's in the Top 10 with his backhand.

 

[AAAA]

Karlovic is pretty bad.

 

[bluetrain4]

I wouldn't call a backhand bad just because the player primarily uses slice. Look at Steffi Graf, a great slice backhand that was low and deep and hard to pick up.

That said, Graf actually had a very good topspin/flat onehander that she rarely used. But, she could hit it when she wanted to.

So, are the players who use primarily slice mentioned above players who actually have good non-slice onehanders, or do they really have no choice but to use slice because their non-slice backhands are so awful?

 

[habib]

I don't know what's worse: that Blake's backhand is on this poll, or that it has received votes. Blake's isn't even close to being the worst.

Seriously. Blake may not have much variety, but over the last few years he's turned his 1hbh into a forcing shot - especially when he takes it early. The motion is a little ugly, but it's also as simple as it gets - which is what allows him to take the ball right off the bounce so often and put his entire body behind it.

 

[Fee]

The Justin Gimelstob top spin bh is one of the worst pro bh's I've ever seen...if I remember correctly.

It got better yesterday...

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/writers/justin_gimelstob/05/24/paris.intro/index.html

I also picked up a valuable tip from watching Gaudio's backhand. The Argentine is considered to have one of the best one-handed backhands in the game, so after struggling with my own backhand Wednesday, I tried to emulate him as best I could. It paid dividends pretty quickly -- I only launched a few shots onto the Champs-Élysées this time. That's what you call progress!

 

[drakulie]

I don't know what's worse: that Blake's backhand is on this poll, or that it has received votes. Blake's isn't even close to being the worst.

I have to agree. he has a solid BH.

 

[Deleted member 3771]

Sometimes he drives it, but he drives it too flat- almost every backhand drive he hits is like he is going for a winner, after a few he always hits it out.

Chris Guccione hardly ever hits through his backhand, it's pretty much always slice.

 

[edberg505]

Bump

Thought I'd bump this thread up in light of recent events. I cannot for the life of me understand why James Blake's name is on the thread for worst backhand. He has played lights out tennis for the past two weeks. Also you don't beat Nadal if you don't have a backhand since that's pretty much Nadal's thing is to go to a righty's backhand. Heck he was standing toe to toe with Calleri's backhand in crosscourt rallies.

 

[flyboy1]

Okay, before I put down some of 'yall's picks, I need to say first that I understand why some of you picked Gonzo and Blake. Indeed, neither of them use their backhands as offensive weapons with any regularity. That being said, it seems silly to me to pick on people in the top-5 or top-10. Okay, fine, they don't have great backhands, but apparently they are not too much of a liability. In fact, Cliff Drysdale and P-Mac (though I know a lot of you don't particularly like them) and Darren Cayhill (spelling?) said that it was large improvments in Blake's backhand that allowed him to propell himself into the top-10/top-5; it's a better shot than it used to be.

As far as Gonzo is concerned, the same people mentioned above, and I think Mary Carillo as well, have mentioned that Gonzo using the slice more has actually helped his game. He used to attempt to come over more backhands and try to rip winners all the time with the backhand, especially from very low-percentage situations. Larry Stefanky (sp?) has him slicing more to neutralize his opponents. He made it to the finals of the AO using that slice ALMOST exclusively. He gets into trouble when his slice starts to float. Also, it seems as though tactically, he uses the slice a little too much, which makes him more predictable. He can rip the backhand, and he should take some more risks. At this point a year and a half ago, he was going for broke more often, and missing more often. This year, he's been more conservative with his backhand, which has cut down on errors, but he isn't hurting anyone with it either. His slice isn't bad, he just chooses that option too often.

And whoever said that Rogers backhand is the worst is just ridiculous. It is the improvment of his backhand side and his ability to neutralize from this side that has allowed him to be number 1. In fact, when Federer is feeling confident, he hits a good deal of winners with it. His backhand isn't as good as his forehand, clearly, but he has one of the better one-handers in the game. Sure it goes on and off, but so does his forehand. Does that mean that he doesn't deserve his #1 ranking? No.

Worst topspin one-handed backhand - Greg Rusedski

 

[tennispro11]

Gimelstob's bh is pretty bad. Saw him play in the USO a few years ago and couldn't believe how out of shape he was and his strokes were pretty ugly as well.