Djokovic's backhand is now the biggest weapon in tennis

I

IvanisevicServe

Banned
You'd never think it would be possible for a backhand to be the biggest weapon in tennis, and I'm sure most people will disagree, but after watching that Wimbledon final, that's my belief and I'm sticking to it.

Djokovic was absolutely PUNISHING Nadal's forehands with his backhand. How many times did Djokovic tee off on Nadal's forehands, basically knocking Nadal backwards and causing a short reply from Nadal's FH response? It was insane. Nadal's FH has been completely overpowered by Djokovic's BH in their matches this year, and Nadal's FH was arguably the biggest weapon in tennis the past 3 years or so.

I realize Djokovic is a great all-around player with a now-excellent forehand, phenomenal court coverage, phenomenal return of serve on both sides, and a now-good serve, but for him to be making Nadal's forehand look like a weakness by comparison is something else. He's gone from having a Top 10 current backhand for a few years to having quite possibly the greatest backhand in the history of tennis. It's frightening what he can do from that wing now.
 
TennisFan3

TennisFan3

Talk Tennis Guru
Against Nadal, Djoker's forehand is the best because Rafa puts the ball high with all the spin into Djoker's hitting zone.
 
D

Defcon

Hall of Fame
Nadal is not good at changing direction - his pattern of play is 90% cc forehands, protect his backhand and wait for the short reply.

It doesn't work against Djoker because Djoker can match Nadal's movement and retrieving. There are many players who have no trouble with Nadal's fh since it sits up, but they cannot hang with Nadal and eventually lose the rally.

If Djoker's bh was so devastating, we would see him dominate with that shot against other players, and that doesn't happen. Its a world class stroke but not that outstanding.
 
I

IvanisevicServe

Banned
Defcon said:
Nadal is not good at changing direction - his pattern of play is 90% cc forehands, protect his backhand and wait for the short reply.

It doesn't work against Djoker because Djoker can match Nadal's movement and retrieving. There are many players who have no trouble with Nadal's fh since it sits up, but they cannot hang with Nadal and eventually lose the rally.

If Djoker's bh was so devastating, we would see him dominate with that shot against other players, and that doesn't happen. Its a world class stroke but not that outstanding.
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1. Other players don't feed him as many balls to the backhand

2. The guy has lost just one match all year, and his backhand is the best shot he has. He may not hit 20 winners a match with it, but Nadal never hit all that many winners with his forehand, either.
 
Ralph

Ralph

Hall of Fame
jackson vile said:
Looked that great when he was beating Federer as well as all the other players :)
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Was that in the French semi-final?

3 losses out of 5 recent matches. Better than 5 losses, all in finals.

There, easy to play this game you oh so enjoy.
 
jackson vile

jackson vile

G.O.A.T.
Ralph said:
Was that in the French semi-final?

3 losses out of 5 recent matches. Better than 5 losses, all in finals.

There, easy to play this game you oh so enjoy.
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He claimed that Novak's backhand only looks good against Nadal, I rested that this was incorrect. Novak's backhand looks just as good when he is beating any and all players including Federer.

Novak is king, at this point.

Federer is going to end up in Nadal's side of the draw from now on. Federer will get even less opportunities now than before as Nadal will be doing the dirty work for Novak and take Federer out as he always does.

As a result Novak will be free to rule his post, and there is no player in sight that can stop him.
 
Ralph

Ralph

Hall of Fame
jackson vile said:
He claimed that Novak's backhand only looks good against Nadal*, I rested that this was incorrect. **Novak's backhand looks just as good when he is beating any and all players including Federer.

Novak is king, at this point.

***Federer is going to end up in Nadal's side of the draw from now on. Federer will get even less opportunities now than before as Nadal will be doing the dirty work for Novak and take Federer out as he always does.

****As a result Novak will be free to rule his post, and there is no player in sight that can stop him.
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* Did he? I might be wrong, but I can't spot anything in the OP that correlates to it being the most impressive shot in tennis but ONLY against Nadal.

** Yes, it does look good against Federer, and everyone else too. I agree. But why bring Federer into your sentence, I see no reason still...

*** Is that written in stone, or is just more likely? I thought that seeds 3 and 4 are still drawn, but I might be wrong.

**** It would seem that way yes, and well deserved by him. Interestingly, the last two times he lost (hard to remember that far back!) was also to the same player. Logic might dictate that the said player has more chance than others to beat him, although others have come very close, i.e. Murray.
 
Omega_7000

Omega_7000

Legend
jackson vile said:
Federer is going to end up in Nadal's side of the draw from now on. Federer will get even less opportunities now than before as Nadal will be doing the dirty work for Novak and take Federer out as he always does.
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I'm hoping Fed lands up in Nadal's half in every Major from this point on. This will allow Fed to play more freely & kick Nadal out in the Semis. He will tire Nadal out even if he doesn't win.

Face it ****. Nadal's days are numbered.
 
aphex

aphex

Banned
Omega_7000 said:
I'm hoping Fed lands up in Nadal's half in every Major from this point on. This will allow Fed to play more freely & kick Nadal out in the Semis. He will tire Nadal out even if he doesn't win.

Face it ****. Nadal's days are numbered.
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You forgot your LOLs...:)
 
8

8PAQ

Banned
Ralph said:
* Did he? I might be wrong, but I can't spot anything in the OP that correlates to it being the most impressive shot in tennis but ONLY against Nadal.

** Yes, it does look good against Federer, and everyone else too. I agree. But why bring Federer into your sentence, I see no reason still...

*** Is that written in stone, or is just more likely? I thought that seeds 3 and 4 are still drawn, but I might be wrong.

**** It would seem that way yes, and well deserved by him. Interestingly, the last two times he lost (hard to remember that far back!) was also to the same player. Logic might dictate that the said player has more chance than others to beat him, although others have come very close, i.e. Murray.
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Don't worry man. JV is a well known Federer hater. Almost everything he posts is designed to make Fed look bad. That's the number one goal in his sad pathetic life.
 
8

8PAQ

Banned
Omega_7000 said:
I'm hoping Fed lands up in Nadal's half in every Major from this point on. This will allow Fed to play more freely & kick Nadal out in the Semis. He will tire Nadal out even if he doesn't win.

Face it ****. Nadal's days are numbered.
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+1. I hope the same thing.
 
Ralph

Ralph

Hall of Fame
8PAQ said:
Don't worry man. JV is a well known Federer hater. Almost everything he posts is designed to make Fed look bad. That's the number one goal in his sad pathetic life.
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So it would seem. Very unfortunate really because he can talk sense at times.
 
I

IvanisevicServe

Banned
Beryl said:
Karlovic's serve is by far and away the biggest weapon in tennis.
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I thought about that one, but Karlovic isn't even relevant anymore, so the serve isn't doing him much good. I suppose given his sub-Top 100 other shots, it's a big enough weapon to keep him in the Top 100...but he's been getting broken a lot more than in the past.

And Djokovic's backhand is huge both when he's on offense and defense. Karlovic's serve only helps him on offense, obviously. Take away Djokovic's backhand, replace it with Karlovic's...but give him Karlovic's serve...he'd still be a Top 10 player, but I think Nadal beats him.
 
norbac

norbac

Legend
Omega_7000 said:
I'm hoping Fed lands up in Nadal's half in every Major from this point on. This will allow Fed to play more freely & kick Nadal out in the Semis. He will tire Nadal out even if he doesn't win.

Face it ****. Nadal's days are numbered.
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Exactly, I am ecstatic to finally see some TTers open their eyes. This is the era of Noel, the King.
 
aphex

aphex

Banned
IvanisevicServe said:
I thought about that one, but Karlovic isn't even relevant anymore, so the serve isn't doing him much good. I suppose given his sub-Top 100 other shots, it's a big enough weapon to keep him in the Top 100...but he's been getting broken a lot more than in the past.

And Djokovic's backhand is huge both when he's on offense and defense. Karlovic's serve only helps him on offense, obviously. Take away Djokovic's backhand, replace it with Karlovic's...but give him Karlovic's serve...he'd still be a Top 10 player, but I think Nadal beats him.
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Nice logic IvanisevicServe (wink-wink).

Djokovic with Karlovic's serve and backhand but still all other aspects of his game intact, would never, ever, ever get beaten.
 
Polaris

Polaris

Hall of Fame
jackson vile said:
Looked that great when he was beating Federer as well as all the other players :)
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Somebody is so insecure. :)

BTW, OP's hypothesis is just a characteristic kneejerk reaction without basis in reality. It gives Djokovic an advantage, but is far from the biggest weapon in tennis.
 
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C

corners

Legend
It's not even close to the biggest weapon in tennis, but it may be the best backhand, especially on the return.

But as Stephen Tignor pointed out on Tennis.com recently, the importance of Djoker's backhand is that it allows him to stay in the center of the court rather than run around his backhand. This gives him an advantage against both Nadal and Federer, who both look to run around their backhands (Fed moreso), making them vulnerable to Djoker's cross-court forehand.
 
I

IvanisevicServe

Banned
aphex said:
Nice logic IvanisevicServe (wink-wink).

Djokovic with Karlovic's serve and backhand but still all other aspects of his game intact, would never, ever, ever get beaten.
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I don't buy it. Nadal would get some Karlovic-caliber serves back, then attack the Karlovic-caliber backhand. Even with Djokovic's movement, there's no way he'd be able to get around that weak shot all the time and stay in the points with the Djokovic forehand.

There have been a few guys with serves comparable to Karlovic's (including Goran), with infinitely better all-around games (including Goran), and they were far from unbeatable.
 
sonicare

sonicare

Hall of Fame
IvanisevicServe said:
I don't buy it. Nadal would get some Karlovic-caliber serves back, then attack the Karlovic-caliber backhand. Even with Djokovic's movement, there's no way he'd be able to get around that weak shot all the time and stay in the points with the Djokovic forehand.

There have been a few guys with serves comparable to Karlovic's (including Goran), with infinitely better all-around games (including Goran), and they were far from unbeatable.
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Strawman..

No one ever in the history of tennis has a karlovic likle serve and djokovic like ground game.
 
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