Henin's Onehanded Backhand...

super smooth ... I didn't like that episode with Serena tho, but she did retire early ... she was a little tiger woman. Serena has all the power, Justine had the skills ... meh, missing good female players.
 
If we're going to throw men in the OHBH mix, then Fed takes the cake. But Gasquet's is really nice and smooth, Almagro is raw and powerful.
 
Perhaps her one hander is up there with any female's one hander but I would still pick a player like Evert's backhand over Henin's. A little more consistent and just as powerful, perhaps more so.

Evonne Goolagong's one handed backhand was pretty comparable to Henin's in effectiveness also but I wouldn't be upset if anyone picked Henin's over Goolagong's backhand.

Here's Evert and Goolagong playing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbHFchcZmjU
 
norbac said:
She had a weird hitch on it where she bobbed her head sometimes when hitting her one hander.
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I think I know what you're referring to, usually the down-the-line shot when she doesn't have much time to prepare. A lot of players do this, though I haven't really seen Federer do this.

I think it's a sign of arming the ball. It's definitely not her normal shot.



3fees said:
I think you got a point there, her one handed backhand is gripped like Federer, Extreme Eastern Backhand Grip,
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Federer uses a conventional Eastern. Henin used an Extreme Eastern, her knuckle rolled back by a half bevel.
 
Evan77 said:
super smooth ... I didn't like that episode with Serena tho, but she did retire early ... she was a little tiger woman. Serena has all the power, Justine had the skills ... meh, missing good female players.
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justine was super strong for her size. she had great skills but the reason she dominated was that she could hit the **** out of the ball. she had a very strong forearm and wrist which is the reason why she could generate so much snap in her strokes. most girls don't have the forearm strength to hit a one hander like this and do this "whole body turn" to hit balls hard.

justine while being small was a power hitter
 
Evan77 said:
super smooth ... I didn't like that episode with Serena tho, but she did retire early ... she was a little tiger woman. Serena has all the power, Justine had the skills ... meh, missing good female players.
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I never quite understood why people got all worked up over the Serena incident. My question is why did Serena proceed with the serve, only to complain after she missed the serve?

If I raised my hand to signal I wasn't ready to return serve and my opponent saw it but proceeded to serve any way, then I would not be very happy. I can see why in the heat of competition it would have pissed off Justine and put her in the mood to screw Serena over it.
 
Really miss her on the women's tour. There's just no one that's exciting and consistent enough for me to follow on that side anymore. That such a small woman can pack so much punch and variety into her shots is a source of inspiration to me. Her backhand was a thing of beauty.
 
Maybe this is being oversimplistic, but you could argue that a good one handed backhand could be less of a liability on the women's tour than the men's.

The two main weaknesses of the one handed are on the return of serve and dealing with high balls. However most WTA players have terrible serves and hit the ball relatively flat.

Still while few few male juniors coming through play with a one hander, that number is probably even less for the upcoming female players.

Of course Henin's forehand was more deadly and her main weapon (it was arguably the single best shot on the WTA tour from 2003-2007), but her backhand was great to watch. I remember her 2001 Wimbledon semi-final against Capriati when he she hit 3 consecutive backhand winners in as many points.

Apparently when she was a junior her coaches tried to get to play with a two handed backhand but she kept on ignoring them and switching back to the one hander as it felt more natural to her. Thank god she didn't become 'just another two hander'.

For aesthetics I always liked Gaudio and Stich's backhands as well.
 
I think aesthetically Mauresmo's backhand was prettier than Henin's. That was maybe height related though as Mauresmo was pretty much the ideal for modern day women's tennis, while Henin (definately shorter than her listed height) had to strain herself a lot more to generate power with the shot.

Overall though Henin's was probably better. Her backhand return was much better than Mauresmo's which was a relative weakness, and Henin's was more reliable across all surfaces (her backhand on grass was better than Mauresmo's on clay for instance).
 
dominikk1985 said:
justine was super strong for her size. she had great skills but the reason she dominated was that she could hit the **** out of the ball. she had a very strong forearm and wrist which is the reason why she could generate so much snap in her strokes. most girls don't have the forearm strength to hit a one hander like this and do this "whole body turn" to hit balls hard.

justine while being small was a power hitter
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and she maintained all the advantages of being small. She was one of the fastest women on tour and, unlike a lot of women players, she was fast moving forward too.

Don't believe we'll see anyone like her on the women's tour any time soon.
 
Gizo said:
Maybe this is being oversimplistic, but you could argue that a good one handed backhand could be less of a liability on the women's tour than the men's.

The two main weaknesses of the one handed are on the return of serve and dealing with high balls. However most WTA players have terrible serves and hit the ball relatively flat.

Still while few few male juniors coming through play with a one hander, that number is probably even less for the upcoming female players.
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Interesting thought, you might be right.

I definitely think there should be more women using the 1-hander, especially the short ones.
 
Gizo said:
Maybe this is being oversimplistic, but you could argue that a good one handed backhand could be less of a liability on the women's tour than the men's.

The two main weaknesses of the one handed are on the return of serve and dealing with high balls. However most WTA players have terrible serves and hit the ball relatively flat.

Still while few few male juniors coming through play with a one hander, that number is probably even less for the upcoming female players.

Of course Henin's forehand was more deadly and her main weapon (it was arguably the single best shot on the WTA tour from 2003-2007), but her backhand was great to watch. I remember her 2001 Wimbledon semi-final against Capriati when he she hit 3 consecutive backhand winners in as many points.

Apparently when she was a junior her coaches tried to get to play with a two handed backhand but she kept on ignoring them and switching back to the one hander as it felt more natural to her. Thank god she didn't become 'just another two hander'.

For aesthetics I always liked Gaudio and Stich's backhands as well.
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The Williams sisters serve 129 mph, Henin had no problem returning against them in the 2007 USO.

I think her backhand was better than her forehand. It just had that x factor where she was able to hit winning shots from impossible positions. Plus she could slice off that wing.
 
Gizo said:
The two main weaknesses of the one handed are on the return of serve and dealing with high balls. However most WTA players have terrible serves and hit the ball relatively flat.
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You're kidding me right? The majority of backhands I've seen so far at the FO on the women's side are moonballs. It's a joke.
 
FuriousYellow said:
and she maintained all the advantages of being small. She was one of the fastest women on tour and, unlike a lot of women players, she was fast moving forward too.

Don't believe we'll see anyone like her on the women's tour any time soon.
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I thought she was pretty slow actually, her legs moved fast but she was just so tiny. Venus Williams or Steffi Graf were literally twice as fast as Henin.
 
SAFINATORZ said:
sabatini backhand was weak, her backhand landed shot most of the time.!! henin is much more powerful and she has more variety compared to sabatini.. besides sabatini was a s & volley player.
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Sabatini was never s&v. She was a baseliner who turned an all court player with the help of Carlos Kirmayr. And her backhand weak?! Puff! It seems to me that you havent seen her playing. BTW, Sabatini used a 78 pound tension racket which weighted over 400 grams. Loopy and very heavy balls doesnt mean weak at all.
 
BevelDevil said:
Interesting thought, you might be right.

I definitely think there should be more women using the 1-hander, especially the short ones.
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Ummm...you need a strong arm and a good pair of shoulders to hit a 1hbh so it's very rare to have a short woman with a good one. So that's really remarkable of Henin.
 
scotus said:
I never quite understood why people got all worked up over the Serena incident. My question is why did Serena proceed with the serve, only to complain after she missed the serve?

If I raised my hand to signal I wasn't ready to return serve and my opponent saw it but proceeded to serve any way, then I would not be very happy. I can see why in the heat of competition it would have pissed off Justine and put her in the mood to screw Serena over it.
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how is any of that serena's fault? as the server she starts the point, henin lifeted her hand in the middle of the motion, so serena lost her timing. but even that isn't the issue. henin is considered a cheat because she didn't admit it.
 
TERRASTAR18 said:
how is any of that serena's fault? as the server she starts the point, henin lifeted her hand in the middle of the motion, so serena lost her timing. but even that isn't the issue. henin is considered a cheat because she didn't admit it.
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As opposed to Serena being considered a cheat for trying to serve through the "not ready" indication, missing the serve, and then trying to get two.

I doubt if Serena would have hit an ace that she'd have said anything about seeing "not ready" from Henin.
 
rh310 said:
Maybe, but it wouldn't hold up at all to the power hitters of the past 10 years.
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It holded up Monica Seles, steffi Graf, Mary Pierce, Lindsay Davenport, Jennifer Capriati, etc. Why wouldnt she hold up with the current players??
 
nat75 said:
Ummm...you need a strong arm and a good pair of shoulders to hit a 1hbh so it's very rare to have a short woman with a good one. So that's really remarkable of Henin.
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If that were true we'd see the 1-handers in the WTA be taller. Instead, they are shorter.

Henin, Schiavone, Navarro, Brianti (and Raymond, in doubles now) are all around 5'5". Also note that on the men's side, Olivier Rochus (5'5") uses a 1hbh quite effectively. I think at least 4 of the 6 players listed above would be worse players if they had a 2hbh.

A 1hbh, with the right grip, is an equalizer for small players because of the rackethead speed they can generate with relatively little physical exertion.
 
cluckcluck said:
Ok smart guy, since you seem to oppose all of us on this particular issue, why don't you enlighten us.... :roll::roll::roll::roll:
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There are many opinions in this thread. I agree with some but disagree with others. In this case I agree with the poster which stated that women are hitting flatter.
 
TERRASTAR18 said:
how is any of that serena's fault? as the server she starts the point, henin lifeted her hand in the middle of the motion, so serena lost her timing. but even that isn't the issue. henin is considered a cheat because she didn't admit it.
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If Serena only saw Justine after she initiated the service motion, she could have stopped it before ball contact.

If she already made ball contact before sighting Justine's gesture, it should not have hindered her serve.

I am not saying Justine did not lie.

All I am saying is that I can see why she was inclined to lie. Virtually all the pros have gone through juniors making their own calls, and have made and received intentionally bad calls. Often the juniors retaliate against what they consider a foul play by returning in kind.

Here all I am saying is Justine might have felt Serena ignored her request and tried to score an easy point. Then it is easy to see why Justine felt justified in lying to the referee in order to deny Serena another free serve.
 
nat75 said:
It holded up Monica Seles, steffi Graf, Mary Pierce, Lindsay Davenport, Jennifer Capriati, etc. Why wouldnt she hold up with the current players??
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You'd have to back that one up for Davenport with a match or three, unless you're talking about just slicing it back.

The Williams sisters brought power up to a completely different level.
 
BevelDevil said:
If that were true we'd see the 1-handers in the WTA be taller. Instead, they are shorter.

Henin, Schiavone, Navarro, Brianti (and Raymond, in doubles now) are all around 5'5". Also note that on the men's side, Olivier Rochus (5'5") uses a 1hbh quite effectively. I think at least 4 of the 6 players listed above would be worse players if they had a 2hbh.

A 1hbh, with the right grip, is an equalizer for small players because of the rackethead speed they can generate with relatively little physical exertion.
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First of all the 1hbh in today's women field is very very rare. How would you know how they would hit with a 2hbh?? And Sabatini and Mauresmo are both 5'9'' and they have pretty neat backhands, havent they?? Even on par or better than Henin's.
 
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