The best backhand ever?

[President of Serve/Volley]

Boris Becker is up there for sure.

[getbusyliving]

Can't forget Richard Gasquet.

[Darth_Timmaayyy!!]

Old, Laver.. More recently Becker..

In fact Becker for all time...

[TheFifthSet]

[abmk]

becker ???? seriously ?????? he isn't better than federer, let alone the likes of nalby,agassi,connors,borg,kuerten,safin !

[Darth_Timmaayyy!!]

Originally Posted by abmk

becker ???? seriously ?????? he isn't better than federer, let alone the likes of nalby,agassi,connors,borg,kuerten,safin !

Oh yes he is young Padawan!

[hoodjem]

1. Laver
2. Budge
3. Rosewall
4. Edberg
5. Connors
6. Agassi
7. Kuerten
8. Vilas
9. Gasquet
10. Rios
11. Becker
12. Lacoste
13. Ashe
14. Borg
15. Kovacs
16. Safin
17. Nalbandian
18. Nadal
19. Mancini
20. Lendl

[borg number one]

Connors had a tremendous backhand, as did Borg, Edberg, Wilander, Becker, Agassi, Rosewall, and Laver. Federer has a great backhand, and so does Nadal.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdlep5PkJ9Q (great 2 handers)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXF5zghUQtI (photo collection of great 2 handers)

[mela]

Stefan Edberg

[pc1]

Originally Posted by hoodjem

1. Laver
2. Budge
3. Rosewall
4. Edberg
5. Connors
6. Agassi
7. Kuerten
8. Vilas
9. Gasquet
10. Rios
11. Becker
12. Lacoste
13. Ashe
14. Borg
15. Kovacs
16. Safin
17. Nalbandian
18. Nadal
19. Mancini
20. Lendl

Hoodjem,

No doubt Budge had a great backhand but I've read he was often aced on the service return which means to me that while he hit a lot of winners on the return, he paid for it. The other thing was that I heard he couldn't chip the ball well on the backhand at all and the means to me a lack of touch. That's a couple of negatives to me that I don't feel Rosewall and Laver had.

I read some people stating that Rosewall's backhand was semi-flat and they indicate he couldn't do what some backhands could do. I've seen a lot of Rosewall in person and on video and trust me when I say that the man was almost never aced and almost always got his racket on the ball to return it. Dennis Ralston wrote an article on the service return and he stated that at the time he wrote the article that Rosewall had not missed a backhand return of serve in two weeks. That's astounding!

Rosewall generally hit the ball back low against serve and volleyers but he could also drive the ball back with great power passing the volleyer. He could hit sharp angles plus he had a great lob on the backhand side. He also had an excellent drop shot on the backhand side and it was one of the most consistent backhands ever, along with Borg.

There was really nothing Rosewall didn't have an answer to on the backhand side. I read he could hit topspin in practice but why do it if you already have a backhand that has the answer to all situations.

Arthur Ashe ranked Rosewall's and Laver's backhand as the best he had ever seen. He wrote this in the late 1979's when Borg and Connors were in their prime. It's not as if Ashe didn't respect Borg and Connors at that point. Ashe wrote at that point that he felt Borg was the GOAT and yet he still ranked Rosewall's and Laver's backhand the best he had ever seen.

[BorisBeckerFan]

Obviously I like Becker's backhand. I like Guga's back hand motion the best with Edberg, Laver and Lendl just trailing. Agassi and Nalbadian also have beautiful motions. Also noteworthy for me are Kafelnikov, Gasquet and Safin.

[Kaz00]

Wilander!!

[BorisBeckerFan]

Originally Posted by Kaz00

Wilander!!

Very sturdy and reliable backhand on Wilander. Not just consistent but consistent in the clutch.

[ricflair]

1/edberg
2/kafelnikov
3/lendl
4/agassi

[Dino Lagaffe]

[Gugafan]

I am pretty sure Agassi said Kuerten had the best backhand he had ever faced...This coming after the Masters Cup in 2000.

LOL Laver and Budge!!...

[Don't Let It Bounce]

No one's mentioned Paradorn Srichapan's one-handed spank-o-matic. I don't know about all-time (unless you disregard defense and rate only offense, maybe), but it was certainly one of the best when he was in his prime.

[abmk]

Originally Posted by hoodjem

1. Laver
2. Budge
3. Rosewall
4. Edberg
5. Connors
6. Agassi
7. Kuerten
8. Vilas
9. Gasquet
10. Rios
11. Becker
12. Lacoste
13. Ashe
14. Borg
15. Kovacs
16. Safin
17. Nalbandian
18. Nadal
19. Mancini
20. Lendl

nalbandian,safin,kafelnikov* are CLEARLY better than anyone till no8 and edberg . kuerten is somewhat debatable , I'd put the 3 ahead of him

edberg's BH is rated a bit too highly in here

rosewall's was regarded as better than laver's

I'd put connors at 1, agassi at 2, nalby and safin tied at 3 , I think these 4 are quite close ...

* - You don't even have kafelnikov in your top 20

[OHBH]

Lubicic. that guys one handed is a winner spitting machine. If only his forehand were equally good....

[BTURNER]

connors is #1 IMO. Connors had the most versatile two hander I ever saw. Of course his flat one is what people will write about in history books, It was hard, deep and rarely errant a perfect offensive shot vs either S/V or baseliners. In addition he could impart moderate top for a rallying shot, underspin or sidespin. He could loop it for a lob and in later years he learned to take off pace and caress it softly with top for severe dipping angle. the only thing he never mastered was a great dropshot on the wing. He lost more points than he won trying that.