Nadal's forehand = most under rated shot in tennis

[mandy01]

Nadal's FH isn't underrated,most people realize it's a great shot.If anything what's underrated about Nadal is his fighting spirit,never-say-die attitude and his willingness to fight for every point like it's the very last point in his career.

you've got to be the best troll I've seen.You're taking the art of trollery to new heights,teaching the pretenders how it's done.

 

[mcr619619]

(Is Soderling a real man? Or an unskilled man? I say unskilled. He can't hit 10 shots in a row on one wing without making an error)

^

A player has to play the game that best suits him, why would he want to hit
10-20 shots and try to outlast someone else running around the court, his movement isn't his best weapon, his best weapon is his power. Faster the court the more offense wins over defense.

If Nadal didn't have great movement he would have to take more risk and make more UEs. That day will come soon, Nadal loses a half step he is a slightly better version of Igor Andreev.

BULLZ1LLA, you just made yourself AGAIN looks like a *******..said Soder is unskilled because he can't do a long rallies where your Idol is the Best.. it's all about playing within your strength, so why does Nadal always target Fed's BH? so is Nadal too unskilled to be afraid of Fed's FH? no, because that's how he can win,that's his strategy, and for Soder, it's his strategy to shorten the points, hit flat shots(which have way higher risk than Topspin) and win by doing winners, not wearing out the opponent, and grind like Nadal..why play a game you ain't suit to or you can't play.. it's common sense, but as much as i've read your post, you don't have that..

 

[mcr619619]

(Rafa has the best backhand passing shot in tennis)

that's the only true among all you've posted...

 

[Tmano]

Its only underated by those who dont have a clue about tennis.

I think Nadal's 2004 forehand was faster. Now he ussually follows through up above his head. He used to follow through across hs body more often.

1/ 2004 v Hewitt AO - 17 years of age
2/ 2004 v hewitt
3/ 2004 v Freddy
4/ 2011 v Freddy
5/ 2011 v Djoko

You bet, it was faster more penetrating and his was hitting the ball with much less spin...maybe due to he was playing with a different racquet..was it the pure drive II generation? Definitely his return forhend looked a bit like Agassi's FH

 

[bluetrain4]

True. He used DEAD strings in 2004 and still got mighty power. The reason: his stroke was the conventional across the body finish and much flatter in general. In fact, he regularly hit 100 mph+ forehands on rally shots, and he never does that now - only once in a blue moon. It's funny to see a baby Nadal cranking up BIG forehands, bigger than he does now. His forehand also used to penetrate the court much better then. If he had kept on with it, he probably would have had more slams, done much less running and wouldn't have been injured. Not to mention more people would like his playing style.

For whatever reason, starting late 2005-early 2006, Toni made Nadal switch to a exaggerated reverse finish close to his head. This enabled him to get more spin, but at the expense of pace and penetration. Without doubt this was a great tactic against Federer, but it hurt Nadal's HC game, especially against the rest of the field. I recall Nadal getting blown of the court by big hitters before 2008, and I used to think that the 2004 Nadal wouldn't have lost to these guys.

Whereas in 2004 Nadal TRULY an aggressive player (who relied on his forehand to hit winners at every opportunity) from 2006 Nadal became a counter-puncher whose first instinct was to defend. It was not until 2008 that Nadal flattened out his forehand (a little), improved serve + backhand - that he was able to win outside clay. Of course with these improvements he won 3 slams in 8 months, but then he got injured and lost momentum.

I think Nadal took a big step back when he modified his 2004 forehand. Back in 2004 all the variations of his forehands were deadly. Because the stroke had so much penetration, even if he hit it short, it was not a big deal.

Now.however, his cross court forehand is useless, unless he get GOOD depth on it. It's basically just spin with little penetration. So if he hits it short, guys like Djoker, Delpo, Murray take him to the woodshed with their backhands. Given his hollow stick, Nadal relies 100% on racquet head acceleration and arm speed to generate depth. So whenever he is tight or tired, he cannot brush the ball enough, and it become a short moonball which is obliterated by his opponent.

The only way for Nadal to attack is to use his off-forehand i.e Inside out or DTL. By their nature, these are flatter strokes (than cc fh) and penetrate through the court better. Plus Nadal has great disguise on them. The only problem is that Nadal doesn't hit them enough. And when he's not confident, he hits 95% cross court, which makes him one-dimensional and predictable.

Outside of going back to the 2004 forehand , for Nadal to counter the big hitters, he needs to use a heavier stick (with some more juice in the frame) so that he doesn't hit short and the ball penetrates the court better. That, and use the off-forehand much more. That will be the key to Nadal in the tail-end of his career in the near future..

How heavy is Nadal's frame? I wouldn't be surprised if it's lighter than a lot of other frames that top players have used and still use, such as the 14.2 oz beheamoth used by Sampras, given his game style.

BUT, I'd have to assume that it's considerably heavier than a stock 11.3 oz AeroPro Drive. I'm guessing mid to upper 12 oz range: 12.4-12.9 oz

 

[BeHappy]

Its only underated by those who dont have a clue about tennis.

I think Nadal's 2004 forehand was faster. Now he ussually follows through up above his head. He used to follow through across hs body more often.

1/ 2004 v Hewitt AO - 17 years of age
2/ 2004 v hewitt
3/ 2004 v Freddy
4/ 2011 v Freddy
5/ 2011 v Djoko

Yeah but he lost those matches. He thought he had to play that way because he had no idea how to play on hard court. His first victory against Federer on hardcourt way back around that time he was hitting his incredible loopy forehand.


I have never heard anyone ever under rate Nadal's forehand by the way. It's one of the absolute best forehands in history.

 

[Sneezy]

Its only underated by those who dont have a clue about tennis.

Underrated by people who have no clue about tennis, and are FISHING for COMPLIMENTS of Nadal's forehand. If anything, I think because Nadal's groundstrokes are so good his net game is underrated.

 

[pabletion]

While his critics attribute his success to modern tennis equipment, i think that equipment alone would not have Nadal at 10 majors. His strategy of attacking his opponents backhand relentlessly may seem boring and some may even call it cheating, but they dont realize how difficult it is to pull that off consistently.

We are talking about Nadal going up against argubly the best forehand ever in Roger Federer. This means that Nadal's cross court forehand has to be extremely precise, or else Federer has a chance to hit his own inside out forehand. And the fact that Nadal is able to find Federer's backhand so frequently is a testament to his control of that fuzzy yellow ball. Think about it...

whoa.... I think you are very very wrong in your assumption, cause I've heard and read numerous times about how great a shot Nadal's FH is, one of the best in the game. Roger Federer himself has said that, and I can recall Fed talking about it once when asked what the perfect player would be like, and he mentioned he would have Nadal's forehand.

Why would anyone who knows about tennis consider playing to an opponents weakest side (in Nadal's case, Federer's backhand) as cheating? bogus....

Bottom line, Nadal's forehand, to me, is an amazing shot, specially when he has enough time to set his feet and go for it, something he's developed a lot in the last 3-4 years and the reason he's no. 1 and won 10 majors. Its scary how much power he's got and even more scary how it seems sometimes hes got no shot and you see him running like hell to not just hit a decent parallel down the line FH, but an absolute rocket of a shot his opponent can hardly see. His forehand has come a long way since I first saw him on tour, which was much more defensive and/or conservative, with more spin and almost always finishing up on top of his head.

Its not an orthodox shot, and in my opinion not to be taught or imitated, cause it clearly takes a gifted athlete like Nadal to be able to generate such pace and spin. His forehand is definitely one of my favorite shots in the ATP right now.