The best backhand ever?

[rod99]

Originally Posted by 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.

connors had a great backhand but i don't recall him hitting any topspin off that side.

[35ft6]

One hander. I would probably take Fed's. Guga or Gasquet is also up there. Other one handers I've admired are those of Gaudio, Pavel, and Wawrinka. Among others.

Two hander. Agassi or Nalbandian. Also up there, Safin, Kalfenikov, Coria, and Novak D.

[BTURNER]

He did not use it a lot. He far prefer to hit flat and deep but he did have a topspsin lob, and put a little top on some of his groundies occasionally for safety and and as a mix-up.

[borg number one]

When you consider all time great forehands and then backhands, one thing that strikes me about Borg is that both his backhand and forehand are so lethal. His forehand was the very best in the game, while his 2 hander wasn't far back. He could hit it hard and flat, or very hard with lots of topspin, or well-sliced. His backhand was very hard, consistent, with tons of spin. The point is, his forehand is awesome, and so is his backhand.

Imagine prime Borg, with his fitness, stamina, mental strength, speed and quickness as well as ability to generate power with 70 sq. inch wood frames, with a modern frame!!!

He would be so tough from the baseline, having no weakness at all on either the backhand or forehand side, plus today's frames tend to favor baseliners vs. serve and volleyers. His backhand, though unorthodox, was quite formidable, but people still wanted to avoid Borg's forehand.

[pc1]

Originally Posted by 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.

Connors had a great backhand and I agree that it was extremely versatile. There is no doubt about that but I do think this Laver's and Ashe's backhand were a bit more versatile than Connors.

Ashe's demontrated how versatile his backhand was in the 1975 Wimbledon Final against Connors where he sliced, dinked and lobbed his way to victory against Connors.

That being said, Connors clearly had a superior backhand to Ashe. I think Connors had the most solidly hit backhand of the Open era, bearing in mind Rosewall was at his peak prior to the Open era. He almost never mishit a shot on the backhand side. Everything was virtually perfect when you saw Connors hit a backhand.

[BTURNER]

I haven't seen as much of Borg as Connors but his two hander was certainly more consistent, very acccurate ,deceptive and hard. He did have an underspin version as well, but I do feel Connors use of slice and sidespin showed greater versatility, and was tactically rewarded. Its a very close call.

edit pc1, You are right about severl onehanders Ashe, Rosewall and laver, having just as much versatility, but they did not have the deception, and sheer power, and as connors . His was the combination of the above attributes.

[borg number one]

I like this video with Sampras, Federer, and Borg in action at Wimbledon. See some great backhands in action:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYa1bSRoOzs

[rod99]

Originally Posted by borg number one

I like this video with Sampras, Federer, and Borg in action at Wimbledon. See some great backhands in action:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYa1bSRoOzs

connors backhand was much more penetrating than borg's. borg would often leave his backhand short which could get him in some trouble, though his foot speed and passing shots would generally bail him out. borg's backhand was more consistent than connors' but he didn't hurt his opponent with it as much.

[borg number one]

I agree with you Rod99. I'd put Connors backhand slightly above Borg's but not by much. Yet, Borg's forehand was much more dangerous, which made for a lethal 1-2 combo from the baseline.

Remember that what he like'd to do was hit short and often "bait" the opponent to try and hit an approach shot and charge the net. He loved a target for his laser-like and powerful passing shots. His footspeed would allow him to do this.

So, yes, you are right when you say that his speed allowed him to do this, but at times it would get him in trouble. I wish we could have seen hit backhands with full graphite, 85+ sq. inch frames though!

[pc1]

Originally Posted by BTURNER

I haven't seen as much of Borg as Connors but his two hander was certainly more consistent, very acccurate ,deceptive and hard. He did have an underspin version as well, but I do feel Connors use of slice and sidespin showed greater versatility, and was tactically rewarded. Its a very close call.

edit pc1, You are right about severl onehanders Ashe, Rosewall and laver, having just as much versatility, but they did not have the deception, and sheer power, and as connors . His was the combination of the above attributes.

You very well could be right. Connors' backhand had a unique combination of power, deception and touch. The other about Connors' backhand is that it had amazing depth. Very very hard to attack when a player can hit the ball with such power and depth. Connors was also amazing with his backhand passing shots on the run.

I thought Borg could hit sharper angles than Connors because of his topspin but Connors actually hit fairly sharp angles on the backhand despite the fact he hit it so flat.

The best shot I ever saw Connors hit on the backhand side was actually one handed. It was his one handed miracle shot against Panatta in the 1978 US Open. It may have been the shot that won him the tournament. Here's the miracle shot at around 48 to 50 seconds into the video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTIxo...x=0&playnext=1

[lendlmac]

I gotta go with Ivan Lendl's topspin, backhand, cross court

[hoodjem]

Originally Posted by rod99

connors had a great backhand but i don't recall him hitting any topspin off that side.

Connors hardly ever got topspin.

[hoodjem]

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

[BTURNER]

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/ar...7380-3,00.html

"Connors hated topspin." He hated returning that excessive stuff many swedes hit over and over and over. He used topspin on lobs and for angles and when he wanted some extra margin on clay.

"My first instinct is to hit the hell out of the ball," says Connors. "I'm still learning to control that. If you're serving down 30-40, you don't play like it's 40-love. You just try to get the first serve in." On taking advantage of angles, Connors says, "You've got to use the open court. If my opponent and I are both at the base line, I'm going to hit cross court to his backhand, and if he hits back to my forehand, I'll go down the line. If he returns that, my next shot might be a short, top-spin drive back across court. That way I've always got him running."

[hoodjem]

Originally Posted by BTURNER

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/ar...7380-3,00.html

". . . If he returns that, my next shot might be a short, top-spin drive back across court."

Connors? Topspin? I didn't think he could even say the word.

Maybe he means it, but I would think that Connors could hit his most excessive "topspin drive," and we would look at it and think it's flat as a pancake.

[urban]

Anaother one with a great deceptive twohanded backhand was Mecir (and before cliff Drysdale). His return and passing shot was almost unreadable, when he was really on. I saw him beating Lendl once at Key Biscayne, when he was sending Lendl the wrong way time and time again. He was also a master of alternating pace, mixing soft indifferent shots with sudden hard drives, from the same motion, which made the shots impossible to detect before impact.

[hoodjem]

Originally Posted by urban

Anaother one with a great deceptive twohanded backhand was Mecir (and before cliff Drysdale). His return and passing shot was almost unreadable, when he was really on. I saw him beating Lendl once at Key Biscayne, when he was sending Lendl the wrong way time and time again. He was also a master of alternating pace, mixing soft indifferent shots with sudden hard drives, from the same motion, which made the shots impossible to detect before impact.

Very true. "Il Gatto" Mecir was amazing!

[borg number one]

Yes, Mecir had a great backhand. He seemed to be a horrible match up for Lendl and he also gave Mcenroe fits. I do remember that he had great disguise with his backhand.

See uploads from TW poster Krosero on YT:

1987 Key Biscayne (Lendl vs. Mecir)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_34nkKIUXc

(Mecir making fun of Lendl's complaint of scattered towels)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1zkN...eature=related

(1987 Wilander vs. Mecir , QF-US Open)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2bzl...eature=related

(1989 AO, Lendl vs. Mecir)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VtluetLotI

[pc1]

Originally Posted by urban

Anaother one with a great deceptive twohanded backhand was Mecir (and before cliff Drysdale). His return and passing shot was almost unreadable, when he was really on. I saw him beating Lendl once at Key Biscayne, when he was sending Lendl the wrong way time and time again. He was also a master of alternating pace, mixing soft indifferent shots with sudden hard drives, from the same motion, which made the shots impossible to detect before impact.

Originally Posted by hoodjem

Very true. "Il Gatto" Mecir was amazing!

I loved Mecir's backhand. It seemed that he was never late getting to any ball and even if he was late he could still hit a super sharp backhand crosscourt.

Originally Posted by borg number one

Yes, Mecir had a great backhand. He seemed to be a horrible match up for Lendl and he also gave Mcenroe fits. I do remember that he had great disguise with his backhand.

See uploads from TW poster Krosero on YT:

1987 Key Biscayne (Lendl vs. Mecir)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_34nkKIUXc

(Mecir making fun of Lendl's complaint of scattered towels)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1zkN...eature=related

(1987 Wilander vs. Mecir , QF-US Open)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2bzl...eature=related

(1989 AO, Lendl vs. Mecir)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VtluetLotI

Well Lendl gave a lot of people trouble. I do think that Mecir could be intimidated a bit by Lendl, his senior countryman. I don't think it was a horrible matchup if you look at the individual styles.

To this day it saddens me to think about how Mecir's career ended so prematurely. For pure enjoyment Mecir was among my favorite players to watch.

[borg number one]

Yes, Lendl was a tough matchup for anyone, but no, PC1, that's not what I was thinking in my earlier post. I was just wrong in thinking that Mecir had a favorable head to head record vs. Lendl AND McEnroe. It's probably ONLY against McEnroe, and NOT Lendl.

I WAS thinking that Mecir actually BEAT Lendl the majority of the time, though Mecir used to play Lendl tough. I could be wrong about that. It just seems that Mecir's range/size, movement/fitness could neutralize Lendl's power baseline game well, but I need to check their head to head record and look at their results more closely.

McEnroe HATED to play Mecir. I do see a web posting about Mecir upsetting Lendl in 1987. Perhaps that was the Key Biscayne upset that poster Urban was mentioning above. Yet, he got killed by Lendl in the 1989 AO Final, so perhaps the 1987 match was an anomalous match between them.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milosla...8D%C3%AD%C5%99 (wikipedia on Mecir)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ae7lyHnuOdw (1987 WCT Finals vs. McEnroe, Mecir won easily 6–0, 3–6, 6–2, 6–2, but McEnroe played very little that year in total)