Lorenzo Musetti and the One Hand to Rule Them All by Jeff Sackmann

[Rovesciarete]

While many tennis fans have long appreciated the beauty of the backhand of Lorenzo the Magnificent, only a few keen observers have noted his increasing effectiveness. Having watched him a fair bit and often posted potency numbers I was among them. Another one - and way more important - has been Jeff, who wrote an excellent article back in April. Strongly recommend for true tennis fans.

The one-hander

Musetti’s signature stroke is his one-handed backhand. He’s now the top-ranked guy with a one-hander, ahead of #16 Tsitsipas and #17 Grigor Dimitrov. Like those two, the Italian is a Federer acolyte.

Almost by definition, the Musetti backhand is lovely to watch. No winner looks better in a highlight reel than a one-handed backhand winner, and he delivers more than his share. Still, we have to ask: Is it any good?

The eye test says yes, but the eye test is not trustworthy when it comes to one-handers. Fortunately, the stats agree. My Backhand Potency (BHP) metric, which balances winners (plus forced errors) against unforced errors, as well as shots that precede one or the other, puts Musetti among the top third of ATP regulars:

he chart shows BHP per 100 backhands for all players with at least 10 charted matches in the last 52 weeks. That includes five guys with one-handed backhands, highlighted in orange. Among those, only Denis Shapovalov is close to the Italian. The other three are in negative territory.

(You can look up other players on the career list. Federer and Stan Wawrinka are both around neutral. Richard Gasquet stands at +2.0, close to Musetti’s current level.)

So Lorenzo is doing really well with his backhand wing on natural surfaces, but it has suffered on the hardcourt.

The tour’s most common surface may be the achilles heel of the one-handed backhand. It is of course possible to win on hard with a one-hander, as Federer showed us for the better part of two decades. To grossly oversimplify, he did it by hiding that backhand. Tstisipas’s recent resurgence in Dubai came from maxing out the aggression on that wing.

Indeed and truly a great article which fits my impression very well. Hope that the Tuscan can protect it better on the dominant surface and adjust it to it more.

 

[Rovesciarete]

I'm really happy with Lore's improvement on this front. Natural surfaces should remain his forte, but his general gains are also making a difference on hardcourt.

The biggest room for growth remains the serve. He is tall enough to do much better there.

 

[Rovesciarete]

Just one point, so much variety...

 

[Rosstour]

Just one point, so much variety...

That point turned the match. I said so at the time. Machac got cocky and went for that flying kick FH, and that was the moment that Lorenzo seized the momentum back

 

[Rovesciarete]

Lollo's groundstrokes were fire today and his backhand was spectacular again. He has imho the biggest set of options from that side of the court.

I fear that some of his frequent muscular injuries are related to his playing style, good to see him becoming more aggressive. Needs to keep upping those serve numbers.