Better backhand: Safin or Djokovic?
- Thread starter Jonesy
- Start date
BauerAlmeida
Hall of Fame
Two of the best backhands of all time, but Safin is number 1 for me. The effortless power, the ability to go DTL or come up with crazy angles with ease was insane.
NoleIsBoat
Hall of Fame
Safin has better FH/BH/return/net play
Djokovic has better serve and movement
Only has more slams thanks to being luckovic, and Safin being a playboy.
Djokovic has better serve and movement
Only has more slams thanks to being luckovic, and Safin being a playboy.
P
PETEhammer
Guest
Safin's movement is HUGELY underrated, dude is EASILY the best mover POUND for POUND of his generation. Don't call him Marathon Marat for nothing!
Leaves Luckovic with his patchy serve ROFLMAO
6august
Hall of Fame
If Djokovic is 10, Safin is a firm 9.75.
Mankind had never witnessed a player who dared to use his BH to attack Rafa's FH before Djoko came. There's nothing he can not do with his backhand.
But Safin, despite his dinosaur body, he makes the jumping backhand look so elegant, effortless and still explosive.
)))
RelentlessAttack
Hall of Fame
It’s hard to say because Djokovic has much better defensive lateral movement than Marat. They’re definitely in the same stratosphere of stroke quality though, same with Nalby
Backspin1183
Talk Tennis Guru
Djokovic found the perfect counter to Nadal's game and had the consistency to keep exploiting Nadal's court positioning on hard courts. Nadal usually stays more on the backhand side to run around it or hit as many forehands as he can. That leaves a small room for his forehand side to be exploited which many have tried but none could do the way Djokovic can. Nobody else really has the power, consistency and depth to do this to Nadal.
NoleIsBoat
Hall of Fame
RelentlessAttack
Hall of Fame
Well post Madrid 09 Djokovic has basically exploited Nadal’s vulnerability defending the BH side. He goes after the Nadal BH with the cross court FH and then takes control of the rally with the crosscourt BH. That’s why Nadal often comments on the importance of his DTL FH against Djokovic, if it isn’t firing like it did in 2013 he gets crushed in those exchanges. Djokovic also punishes Nadal’s relative weakness (serve) with his own biggest strength (ROS).
Their matchup is actually as lopsided as the prime Fedal one technically and tactically speaking.
On clay this is neutralized by Nadal’s ability to slide, and by the decreased importance of serve/ROS, thus the recent RG beat down.
P
PETEhammer
Guest
I would call him a pusher but pushers play tennis. Luckovic basically just does a more intense version of Yoga on the court. Heh, Yogavic is what they should call him. Heh.
swordtennis
G.O.A.T.
The Nalbandian and Safin Backhands were the shining lights of that era for me.
I would have loved to see a Robo Safin fully fit and dedicated.
Then again he would not be Safin then I guess.
Clay lover
Legend
Agreed. Their hardcourt meetings have basically been defined by who's able to impose their own patterns -- for Djokovic the CC to both wings and for Nadal the DTL to break Djokovic's spamming of the CC. But of course Djoko almost always prevails because his patterns are higher percentage.
Backspin1183
Talk Tennis Guru
That's very well explained. Nadal with his forehand DTL and movement was able to an extend negate the advantage in the match up Novak had before. But Nadal using less and less DTL forehands now and with a more compromised movement, he's not been able to hang with Novak much on hard courts the last few years.
His new game under Moya is actually a good one to play against Novak now. But the problem is that Nadal doesn't stick to it when they play and he is pushed hard. He reverts to his old game which at his current age doesn't work for him anymore. He just needs to play the way he did in the last set of their ATP cup match.
ForehandCross
G.O.A.T.
Don't know but Djokovic's BH will haunt Fedal's dreams even after retirement.
Uggh. Looks like USO 2000 F still stings. Safin thumped return winners off of Pete serve and scarred him so much that PETE didn't win a slam in next two years.
Uggh. Looks like USO 2000 F still stings. Safin thumped return winners off of Pete serve and scarred him so much that PETE didn't win a slam in next two years.
RelentlessAttack
Hall of Fame
We’ve now reached the point of you parodying the parodies of your own meme posts. The singularity is near
P
PETEhammer
Guest
And yet here you still are, following in my footsteps at the end of all things. I'm glad you're with me, Sam.
swordtennis
G.O.A.T.
I never thought Safin was that great of a mover.
Even if he was fully fit and dedicated.
There seems to be a myth on how great he was.
In that era he should have probably won a few more majors tho.
junior74
Talk Tennis Guru
I think a healthy Safin would have won more slams - in any era. He beat prime Sampras and peak Federer in final/ semi final of his titles. He toyed with fresh slam champ Djokovic on the Wimbledon grass.
He never got "great", because he wasn't serious enough about maintaining his body.
swordtennis
G.O.A.T.
Agreed he "should" have around 5 majors IMO.
The thing i did love about Safin was his BH of course.
But his length and strength.
He was a big strong guy.
MeatTornado
Talk Tennis Guru
Rafa losing matches because his opponent spams high percentage groundstrokes will always be a guilty pleasure of mine
Born_to_slice
Legend
/end sarcasm.
Keizer
Hall of Fame
P
PETEhammer
Guest
St. Nick didn't bring the power, Big Dave the consistency.
Third Serve
Talk Tennis Guru
Keizer
Hall of Fame
Both inflicted severe beatdowns on Nadal on HC primarily relying on controlling FH-BH CC rallies by taking time away from Rafa (Davydenko more so) or troubling him with angle (Nalbandian more so).
Rafa4LifeEver
G.O.A.T.
I love shotmaking, so vote goes to safin.
ZanderGoga
Semi-Pro
I think Safin could hit a single backhand as well as anyone in history. He just didn't have the mental or physical makeup to string them together tournament after tournament, year after year.
Finally someone got it right.
6august
Hall of Fame
9.75 and 9.5.
6august
Hall of Fame
One guy sometimes shows it when he's in a good mood. The other guy shows it from match to match, tournament to tournament, season to season...
How can we put them alongside???
)))))
mental midget
Hall of Fame
novak right? i don't know that safin did anything novak can't, really. he plays a more percentage game but can pull trigger dtl and cc, hit angles, pass, etc...and misses less.
mental midget
Hall of Fame
side note to this--i think novak generally plays with a great deal of restraint, but there's no question he can unload off both sides when he's in the mood. it would be interesting to see what happens if he upped his risk tolerance a bit and injected more pace more often.
abmk
Bionic Poster
Davy played peak Nadal close at Rome 2007.
Start da Game
Hall of Fame
consistency is often overlooked in such comparisons, year in year out.........it is not about how good your shot is - it is about what you accomplished over the years with that shot.........answer lies in there.........
BeatlesFan
Bionic Poster
Fed's 7-1 against Rafa since 2014, his only loss coming in the semis of the French Open in 2019. So if a one-handed BH player can dominate a rival after turning 33, then Fed's BH must be exceptionally special.
King No1e
G.O.A.T.
Safin was like a 5'10 athlete in a 6'4 body. How he and Monfils move so well for their height is beyond me.
King No1e
G.O.A.T.
I think you're missing a pretty important confounding variable here lol. Nadal was never the same physically after 2014.Fed's 7-1 against Rafa since 2014, his only loss coming in the semis of the French Open in 2019. So if a one-handed BH player can dominate a rival after turning 33, then Fed's BH must be exceptionally special.
skaj
Legend
Fed's 7-1 against Rafa since 2014, his only loss coming in the semis of the French Open in 2019. So if a one-handed BH player can dominate a rival after turning 33, then Fed's BH must be exceptionally special.
It's Nadal's deteriorating physique that is resulting in that head to head, he lost a step and Federer punishes that.
6august
Hall of Fame
I know. Still lost. Moreover, sample size is too small. We know even Isner pushed Dal at FO to the limit once.
Even in their HC matches, though Davy's BH works very well, he still aimed at Dal's BH 99% of time. I remember he once said Dal has a tier 2 BH, it tells a lot about his gameplan vs Dal.
Very good point! Not just Nadal, but almost all players will do what comes naturally, not what their coaches tell them to do, come crunch time! For Nadal, and most players, the most natural shot is the CC, off both wings!
I can understand though, if in crunch time, a player feels queasy about a shot, he shouldn't use it, because he's more likely to make an error!
ZanderGoga
Semi-Pro
I guess by using abstract, meaningless terms like "better."
TearTheRoofOff
G.O.A.T.
Nadal lost a step, but Fed didn't? Sounds legit.
Jaitock1991
Hall of Fame
Safin higher ceiling. Djoker higher baseline.
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