Federer will teach his kids a two handed backhand
- Thread starter Fedforever
- Start date
Not clicking on the article 'cause of the source.
Couple of thoughts, though: 1) The ones that are old enough are girls. Aren't females who play with one-handers needles in a haystack? 2) 99.9% of kids begin with two-handers (strength).
Got a sneaking suspicion that progeny of the GOAT are gonna go ahead and give the one-hander some consideration when the time comes.
Sampras switched when he was a teen. No issues
Zeref
Professional
SameI guess that's why we play sports for fun, isn't it?
Admittedly, the last good BH i hit was a couple of months ago. Half volley from near the baseline which magically landed near the other baseline. Since then, I must have hit about a hundred backhands and half of those were unforced errors, the other half were slices.
clayqueen
Talk Tennis Guru
Fed has now confirmed what all objective observers have always known. Tennis is not about aesthetics it's about effectiveness. Most players who are good enough to play top tier tennis at a young age often have a 2HBH because they are not strong enough to hit the shot with one hand. Gasquet is an exception.
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clayqueen
Talk Tennis Guru
Federer will end up working for Rafa at his Academy.
MichaelNadal
Bionic Poster
So much Ravenclaw arrogance in here, I can't
Fedforever
Hall of Fame
He has been quite clever about vociferously supporting the Academy but without seeming to take over. A case of learning from past mistakes probably.
BlueClayGOAT
Semi-Pro
I have very few of those moments, since I'm strictly an amateur recreational player. XD
I used to be on my school table tennis team, and I was coached for a few months in tennis, but that's as far as it went. But the one hander just feels more natural to me, even my coach gave up on teaching me a two-hander after a couple of weeks and told me to go one-handed. I was the only kid there who used a one hander, i remember.
Now I'm a very occasional player, so I run out of stamina pretty fast. I just get my serve in and bum-rush the net now.
It's a fun strategy, if not a particularly winning one. At least it makes me volley better, which is also why i stick with a one-hander.
Chanwan
G.O.A.T.
I'm not that great either, think I could be a 4.0 in the US system if I understand it correctly. And I too rush the net quite a bit. Partly because it's just fun, partly because I want to be an all courter and by going up there all the time, I get quite a bit better there as you say. Sometimes, I look silly, other times I'm able to scare my opponents by being (almost) impenetrable up there.I have very few of those moments, since I'm strictly an amateur recreational player. XD
I used to be on my school table tennis team, and I was coached for a few months in tennis, but that's as far as it went. But the one hander just feels more natural to me, even my coach gave up on teaching me a two-hander after a couple of weeks and told me to go one-handed. I was the only kid there who used a one hander, i remember.
Now I'm a very occasional player, so I run out of stamina pretty fast. I just get my serve in and bum-rush the net now.
It's a fun strategy, if not a particularly winning one. At least it makes me volley better, which is also why i stick with a one-hander.
Was more or less born with a great stamina so at least I got that part covered. And I too am probably better at table tennis. We're cut from the same cloth, we should play some day! ;-)
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clayqueen
Talk Tennis Guru
Lol
He has been quite clever about vociferously supporting the Academy but without seeming to take over. A case of learning from past mistakes probably.
peakin11mugs
Semi-Pro
Looks like your talking about sportsmanship award. That award is just odd.
You need to watch that video of nadal talking about KIA. His entire body was fighting saying KIA and he just ended up forcing himself to say KIA and then just laughed after he said it at how ridiculous it is. Same with his very forced corporate mentions that he has to drop in
Your comment about Mercedes is an anecdote. Google levels of evidence. Yes kias are great reliable well run cars but it’s incomparable to a 150k Merrceds S class or a customised Mercedes vans which the pros use and to think people worth over 100 million dollars desire Kias or it is that their dream car is laughable. The idea of sponsorship and advertising and marketing exists at all is people associate feelings to physical products. People like rafa and so pay over the odds for stuff he sponsors even though he doesn’t even use the products. Same with other famous people etc
Fed being more popular than Nadal really bothers you doesn’t it? I know you don’t play tennis, did you know that most coaches and in group tennis lessons all around the world they all use Federer as an example. Ive had loads of different coaches even shows us on iPads etc. or the tennis coaching online typically uses fed (because he has far purer strokes with less idiosynchracies than other players) Does that bother you?
clayqueen
Talk Tennis Guru
This is not surprising at all. Federer's style is easy to teach because it's text book tennis but no one else plays tennis like Rafa. Rafa is unique. How can coaches teach Rafa's style when even they don't know how he does what he does? This is why I love watching Rafa play, it's just mesmerising to see some of his shots. It doesn't matter how many times you see them, you just think 'wow, how is that even possible?'
junior74
Talk Tennis Guru
Style is everything. You know nothing about Federer, do you?
Tennis_Hands
Banned
clayqueen
Talk Tennis Guru
Is this why young players are not making a breakthrough, because they are just playing textbook tennis and are not showing any natural flair?
clayqueen
Talk Tennis Guru
Gosh! How old are you?
peakin11mugs
Semi-Pro
Regarding your other post too obviously personal preferences etc no right or wrong about what style you like or the reasons why. Playing tennis or not etc is not important either etc. However the fact that you dont play tennis makes sense you would like a flash energy player and not appreciate feds ability though and things like Murray actually having a WRONG and poor second serve (technique significantly improved past few years) or Djokovics incorrect and sloppy footwork (made up for by athleticism) you wouldn’t teach those as they are actually wrong.
It’s not a case of flair, often the idiosynarcies are specifically things you would not want to copy. E.g. you wouldn’t want to teach nadals serve motion or his butt rituals etc they are too idiosyncrastric. Yes he does them well but they are too idiosyncratic and in many cases not the actual best. Nadals individual strokes bar his running forehand and forehand aren’t the best in class strokes either so you would use fed, Sampras, Edberg etc depending on what stroke you wanted. You wouldn’t really teach nadals forehand bar on clay too etc.
Also again with respect you wouldn’t understand if you didn’t play fed obviously has tons of idiosyncrasies but he does every single stroke and movement, footwork exceptionally and perfectly. It is something to work towards but generally isn’t really reproducibilie either as few would ever have the talent to do it that well (certainly not with the out of date racket fed uses) You can try though.
People who play tennis admire fed as he has mastered tennis and has an unreal level of natural talent and a freak body
See if you can ever hold federers old pre racket change 90 inch racket. Feel how heavy and tiny it is and then try and imagine how he played against the field with that piece of antique equipment. His new 97 inches is still small but much much better!
peakin11mugs
Semi-Pro
But they aren’t playing text book tennis and they dobt have feds game or talent. That’s the point. And you want them to have flair and differences. And fed doesn’t just play text book tennis he executes everything exceptionally and has all the options. Nadal can execute what he does well but doesn’t have many options. That’s why he can’t have an answer to fed now apart from playing “harder”. In his own words he had no specific strategy for beating Djokovic but to play “harder”. In his OWN words the strategy for fed was every shot (yes every) to the backhand. That harder strategy is not wrong. Neither approach is right. It’s just you need to be able to play “harder” then... or wait for your opponent to decline like djoker did. Put it this way nadal never could play like federer if he was raised like that. He doesn’t have the talent. Fed does have the talent to play like nadal but he wouldn’t want to
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Federer will be an assistant coach to Nadal, who will have 20 Slams by next September.
Nadal will not allow 1 handed backhands to be taught, so Fed will have to retrain himself.
clayqueen
Talk Tennis Guru
You are very eloquent in the way you put your points but, sadly, your prejudice comes through. The big give-away was referring to Rafa picking his butt in his service motion.
However much you try to dismiss Nadal's style, just think that he MADE Federer change his style. I hope coaches who are teaching Fed's style have factored this is.
http://www.express.co.uk/sport/tennis/866620/Roger-Federer-Rafal-Nadal-better-player
.........And Federer admits Nadal helped him become a better player.
“I don't want to thank him for that, but he made me maybe rework my game and go back to the practice courts and think about what I could change maybe to become a better player,” Federer said.
“I think for that I'm happy about the losses I took. Took them on the chin and kept moving forward.
peakin11mugs
Semi-Pro
You are very eloquent in the way you put your points but, sadly, your prejudice comes through. The big give-away was referring to Rafa picking his butt in his service motion.
However much you try to dismiss Nadal's style, just think that he MADE Federer change his style. I hope coaches who are teaching Fed's style have factored this is.
http://www.express.co.uk/sport/tennis/866620/Roger-Federer-Rafal-Nadal-better-player
.........And Federer admits Nadal helped him become a better player.
“I don't want to thank him for that, but he made me maybe rework my game and go back to the practice courts and think about what I could change maybe to become a better player,” Federer said.
“I think for that I'm happy about the losses I took. Took them on the chin and kept moving forward.
Fed needing to increase racket size which allows him to hit through his backhand and not need to slice was mentioned many years ago. Its his fault he didn't do it earlier. The strategy for one handers dealing with heavy topspin is also well known and discussed. Fed physically couldn't do it with such a small racket (and some mental issues also) but his fault entirely
Im not dismissing nasals style. It isn't wrong in the slightest. It has its limitations but it certainly isn't wrong. Also there are few who would have the physical attributes to do what he does so you couldn't replicate it. A lot of his "errors" are overcome with sheer athletic ability just as djokivic has unreal movement despite sometimes sloppy footwork due to athletic skills. Few would have the talent to play the way fed does e.g. hitting so early etc.
Im not mentioning the butt picking as a hater comment what I mean is those rituals in between points are specifically taught in every sport even games like snooker as a mental technique, they are idiosyncratic no right or wrong. Fed blows his hand, adjusts his strings (when not needed). What Nadal does isn't wrong. The problem is he is too reliant on them and takes too long (which isn't a problem either in of itself the reason it is a problem is it will cause occasional warnings etc if that wasn't the case then really it would be better for him to take even longer) and the choice of butt picking is simply unfortunate. You wouldn't actually teach nadals rituals. Funnily enough people do occasionally teach feds although he isn't the inventor if you get what I mean. This is a higher level technique anyway and not taught at lower levels. Many players do it without knowing anyway
clayqueen
Talk Tennis Guru
A nice cop out but I don't think Fed would agree with you that it's as simple as that. The thing is, Rafa is from another planet so it's impossible for anyone to emulate him:
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peakin11mugs
Semi-Pro
I wouldn’t quote fed just as I wouldn’t quote nadal and his family repeadtly saying fed is better than nadal. They are media figures and will speak as PC as such
No it is as simple as that. Feds main weakness in this matchup is the backhand. Obviously nadals game was awesome but the specific main issue is the backhand. He was also just too stubborn to try and change. He wouldn’t move over serves to protect the backhand even though he knew that’s what would happen.
Nadals own words say his strategy is to hit everything and serve everything to fed backhand (not most actually everything) and that his one single switch up to feds forehand on rafas serve in Wimbledon 08 final to get match point was “a stroke of genius”. It was btw. But that sums its up nadals strategy is literally so simple that hit one forehand is genius. In essence his physicality and amazing execution is what wins him slams. His tactics are very few. It’s all about physicality. Again not wrong. Not as succwsful as fed everywhere bar 1 slam and 4 associated tournaments but not wrong so to speak. Major weakness in this is no answer when your opponent can handle the backhand or physicality (nadal keeps playing fed the same) no answer to some one physically better, no answer when nadal movement etc is hampered (although US open serve switch up as he has bad knees was amazing and shows he occasionally can do it)
He actually said against Djokovic there is no strategy just play peak level. Problem was Djokovic was playing at higher level than nadal could muster at that tome hence 7-0
clayqueen
Talk Tennis Guru
Take your blinkers off you will see more clearly.
Gasquet's BH is useless because beside that he has nothing but that BH. Also, Gasquet has a decent BH slice.
Can't believe you said that.
Shank Volley
Hall of Fame
I think we all know that the second another Federer steps onto the tour with even a half-similar game to Roger, that kid is getting sponsor money out the wazoo. Everyone will want a piece of the new Fed, it sells itself. Look at what happened with Dimitrov, and he doesn't even have the name.
metsman
G.O.A.T.
Gasquet's BH is useless relative to how he plays. He'd be much better off with a two hander. If you play like Thiem and Gasquet and you have a one hander, you will be severely disadvantaged.
Tennis_Hands
Banned
Some of Federer's kids will be more than 10 years old when Nadal calls it quits.
#lifeperspectives
Tennis_Hands
Banned
Nadal's signature shot: his FH has a lot more similarities to Federer's than you seem to realise.
That is not surprising, given that you actually know 0 about tennis.
Pyrolysis
Rookie
Good point. Assuming he's talking about the girls, of course they're gonna have a two-hander. It's the WTA shot.Not clicking on the article 'cause of the source.
Couple of thoughts, though: 1) The ones that are old enough are girls. Aren't females who play with one-handers needles in a haystack? 2) 99.9% of kids begin with two-handers (strength).
Got a sneaking suspicion that progeny of the GOAT are gonna go ahead and give the one-hander some consideration when the time comes.
Phew. I was worried there for a minute.
Tennis_Hands
Banned
roger presley
Hall of Fame
After I saw his match against Tiafoe yesterday,again I'm convinced that it would be a shame if he does not teach his kids OHB!
Tennis_Hands
Banned
MathGeek
Hall of Fame
Good point. Make the highest levels in tennis may be harder for the children of pro players than making it in other sports - baseball and football come to mind where there are notable children who followed in dad's footsteps (Mannings, etc.)
My profession is a scientist, and right now it's looking good that at least two of my progeny will follow in my footsteps, which is rare among scientists. My wife is a scientist also. We tried to provide opportunities, but we leave the career choices and matters of technique to the children once they reach college. But, of course, insist on certain disciplines in earlier years (show your work on math problems, LOL).
But in tennis, we left most of those details to the tennis coach. My wife has a 2HBH, and I have a 1HBH. My son's coach universally starts youngsters with a 2HBH unless they insist on a 1HBH and show some early promise with it. But after a few years competing with a 2HBH, my son has added a 1HBH to his arsenal, because he's recognized some of the important tools he's seen me use: chip returns to strong serves, easy slice, wicked bh drop shots, more reach to the bh side, higher percentage when there is no time to get the feet right, etc.
The point being, no one is stuck with the bh method they start with.
Alfred Chicken
Rookie
...and thus she shrugged it off in a most effortless way, kinda like fashion does to shoulder pads every time they desperately try to give it another shot on the big stage...
clayqueen
Talk Tennis Guru
I trust Federer's judgement in this.
Daddy Daddy!! Mom!! We wanna learn from uncle Stannie, his BH's COOL, yours SUX!!
Fedforever
Hall of Fame
Could it be because to be because you have to do so much work as a child to be a top player later on? Perhaps top players can't bring themselves to inflict it on their own kids.
vive le beau jeu !
Talk Tennis Guru
Tennis_Hands
Banned
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