Federer vs Djokovic backhand

[nomie]

The general opinion when reading these boards seems to be that the Federer single-handed backhand is a liability and easy to exploit and/or prone to breaking down, especially on a high bouncing surface like at the French Open.

On the other hand many people seem to consider the Djokivic double-handed backhand solid, superior, and being more of a weapon.

However I have seen little physical evidence presented when making these statements. So the "Tale of the Tape" series on the ATPWorldTour is particularly interesting to me, as it gives a bit more insight into this issue. In other words it presents some hard numbers instead of opinions!

Now I know its statistically a small sample, but its interesting nonetheless.
Here is the shot breakdown for Djoker vs Federer up to this point in the French Open:

Novak Djokovic:
Forehand Winners 85
Forehand Unforced Errors 99
Backhand Winners 47
Backhand Unforced Errors 87

Roger Federer:
Forehand Winners 113
Forehand Unforced Errors 97
Backhand Winners 46
Backhand Unforced Errors 88

From the above it seems their respective backhands actually match up pretty well!

 

[tata]

well up to this point nole has been facing players with 2 handed backhands and fed has faced people with backhands that aren't as tough as nole's. the stats dont take into consideration of the match up in those baseline exchanges.

perhaps it is best not to compare the stats for each match til now but rather watch their matches against each other and use those stats instead.

 

[TennisLovaLova]

Well Djoko played really badly the whole tournament.
And Federer too actually.

But Fed's game globally makes him hit much more UE than Djoko, cause he's a pure offensive player and takes a lot of risk when going for the winner, even in the BH.
Djoko's game relies more on longer rallies and the configuration of his BH UE is different than Fed's.

So these numbers only show that Djoko is having trouble with his game at the moment...

Another interesting stat we dont have access to is the number of short FH they hit, I mean when you hit a short shot into the court, the opponent often blasts it on your BH, making you hit an UE with the BH.

It happened a lot to both Roger and Djoko this week

 

[joeri888]

Federer's backhand is underrated. By myself, amongst many other people. When Federer is zoning, his backhand is probably the best in the world for his game. When he is off though, it can be a huge liability. But in SF RG 11, IW SF 12, WTF RR against Nadal 11, and many matches of 2004-2007 it was often his backhand SETTING UP his forehand that made the difference

 

[TennisLovaLova]

Federer's backhand is underrated. By myself, amongst many other people. When Federer is zoning, his backhand is probably the best in the world for his game. When he is off though, it can be a huge liability. But in SF RG 11, IW SF 12, WTF RR against Nadal 11, and many matches of 2004-2007 it was often his backhand SETTING UP his forehand that made the difference

yep u're right.
But his serve is the key imo, it's what really helps him implement his game, gain confidence and then he can propose some crazy BH shots

 

[Kurte954]

I'm no Fed KAD, but it's because Roger's FH is such an amazing weapon that his backhand only SEEMS inferior - because for so long, if an opponent let Fed hit a fh instead of bh, they were screwed.

The main strategy Fed used for so long relies on a good backhand, which he used to get a chance to hit the inside out FH and win the point.

No way Fed could be as dominant for as long if he had an easily exploitable weakness.

 

[Magnus]

Fed's FH is what lost him the match against Novak, and his serve too. But his FH was downright explosive (not in the good sense of the word).

 

[BackhandExpert101]

Misleading.

Federer's always been among the leaders in backhand winners because opponents feed him so many balls to his backhand to avoid his forehand. The sun shines on a dog's you-know-what every now and then, so with all those opportunities, he'll connect on a few. UEs are one thing, but how about, as another poster mentioned, all the short, creampuffs he hits that keep him from winning the point? Countless.

And Federer's abysmal backhand is better than it ever was. Djokovic has played terribly this fortnight.

 

[Deleted member 777746]

This thread is pure gold. Federer's backhand is apparently better than Nole's - and this is BEFORE the Neo upgrade.

my god man