Tuckman
Rookie
This is sort of in direct response to the recent "Unpopular opinion" thread that Djokovic's FH is better than Federer's.
Have we now officially crossed the point where Djokovic's FH has gone from underrated to overrated? There are many many responses to that thread arguing "Fed's FH is better, but Djokovic's is top 5/10 all time."
I wonder if this is still a step too far. Let me preface that I've gained a lot of respect for Djokovic's FH, especially in recent years - 2023 comes to mind, and he was very clinical in the AO 26 SF vs Sinner off that wing. And of course his FH peak in 2011 is up there with some of the great FH years ever.
But with Djokovic, there are four problems to this "his FH is one of the GOATs" argument:
1. Separating longevity from peak.
2. Separating physicality and movement from his FH itself.
3. The competition of all-time great FHs.
4. FH underperformance in key matches where he was unable to put away serve +1s (cough, in many of his matches vs Wawrinka, cough).
Yes, Djoko has hung around with one of the better FHs on tour for, well, essentially the better part of two decades (I rate his more aggressive 2008 FH, especially at AO, pretty highly). But in any given year, I don't think you can make the argument that he had the best FH on tour outside of (in my mind) 2011, 2023, and perhaps 2021 and 2018. As an isolated shot, at least, I would rate Fed, Nadal, Lendl, Courier, Borg, Sampras, Agassi, DelPo, maybe even prime Gonzalez over it. Muster, Ferrero, Moya, and Wawa also tended to have more weight of shot from the FH. In recent years, I think it's fair to say that Alcaraz, Sinner, and even Thiem had better FHs (although I likely take Djoko's FH all-time over Thiem, he's been outplayed off that wing in some of their battles at AO, ATP Finals, etc). Fonseca's FH has a lot of potential too - such clean technique.
Fonseca actually displays a good contrast between physicality and FH technique. As I see it, Djokovic is so dominant in terms of movement and physicality that it masks the isolated capability of his FH on its own. It's still great, but not top 5 OAT.
This is in no way an argument to disparage Djokovic. He has an incredible FH, one of the best in absorbing and redirecting power. And yes, there is more to a FH than its offensive capability. But as an exercise, indulge me: would any of the players mentioned trade FHs with Novak? Could you build most of a player's game off the FH in the way that some of these guys do? Did some of these FH-centric players flame out because their FH declined, not another aspect of their game? Probably not.
(Separate but related: highly recommend this video. I know Roddick's commentary gets a lot of flak for being too self-deprecating, but loved his breakdown on why certain FHs are so good.)
Have we now officially crossed the point where Djokovic's FH has gone from underrated to overrated? There are many many responses to that thread arguing "Fed's FH is better, but Djokovic's is top 5/10 all time."
I wonder if this is still a step too far. Let me preface that I've gained a lot of respect for Djokovic's FH, especially in recent years - 2023 comes to mind, and he was very clinical in the AO 26 SF vs Sinner off that wing. And of course his FH peak in 2011 is up there with some of the great FH years ever.
But with Djokovic, there are four problems to this "his FH is one of the GOATs" argument:
1. Separating longevity from peak.
2. Separating physicality and movement from his FH itself.
3. The competition of all-time great FHs.
4. FH underperformance in key matches where he was unable to put away serve +1s (cough, in many of his matches vs Wawrinka, cough).
Yes, Djoko has hung around with one of the better FHs on tour for, well, essentially the better part of two decades (I rate his more aggressive 2008 FH, especially at AO, pretty highly). But in any given year, I don't think you can make the argument that he had the best FH on tour outside of (in my mind) 2011, 2023, and perhaps 2021 and 2018. As an isolated shot, at least, I would rate Fed, Nadal, Lendl, Courier, Borg, Sampras, Agassi, DelPo, maybe even prime Gonzalez over it. Muster, Ferrero, Moya, and Wawa also tended to have more weight of shot from the FH. In recent years, I think it's fair to say that Alcaraz, Sinner, and even Thiem had better FHs (although I likely take Djoko's FH all-time over Thiem, he's been outplayed off that wing in some of their battles at AO, ATP Finals, etc). Fonseca's FH has a lot of potential too - such clean technique.
Fonseca actually displays a good contrast between physicality and FH technique. As I see it, Djokovic is so dominant in terms of movement and physicality that it masks the isolated capability of his FH on its own. It's still great, but not top 5 OAT.
This is in no way an argument to disparage Djokovic. He has an incredible FH, one of the best in absorbing and redirecting power. And yes, there is more to a FH than its offensive capability. But as an exercise, indulge me: would any of the players mentioned trade FHs with Novak? Could you build most of a player's game off the FH in the way that some of these guys do? Did some of these FH-centric players flame out because their FH declined, not another aspect of their game? Probably not.
(Separate but related: highly recommend this video. I know Roddick's commentary gets a lot of flak for being too self-deprecating, but loved his breakdown on why certain FHs are so good.)
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The points I was inelegantly making was that 1) Djoko has had great FH peaks but hasn't necessarily sustained it as a weapon over the course of his career, as opposed to some of the truly all time great FHs 2) Having a consistently GOOD FH alongside having GOAT longevity ≠ having a GOAT tier FH. Fair play though on how the nuance of my idea gets totally lost here though
