Sinner Backhand already top 3 in history?

S

SinnerEra

Rookie
Yesterday I went to lunch at the tennis club where my dad goes to play with his friends, and during lunch a discussion arose about who has the best two-handed backhand on tour. 4 of us said Zverev, while the other 3 were convinced it was Sinner. My dad says that Jannik has already the 3rd best backhand in history after Agassi and Nalbandian, also for him prime Djokovic backhand is really good but highly overrated. I think it's too early to consider Sinner's backhand already in the top 3 in history. What do you think?
 
55759984ecad04fa529e9d35
 
SinnerEra said:
Yesterday I went to lunch at the tennis club where my dad goes to play with his friends, and during lunch a discussion arose about who has the best two-handed backhand on tour. 4 of us said Zverev, while the other 3 were convinced it was Sinner. My dad says that Jannik has already the 3rd best backhand in history after Agassi and Nalbandian, also for him prime Djokovic backhand is really good but highly overrated. I think it's too early to consider Sinner's backhand already in the top 3 in history. What do you think?
Click to expand...
Just because your dad and a bunch of his friends said something ridiculously bad, does there even have to be a discussion about it?
 
Dropshot777 said:
His backhand is amazing. Easily top 10. Probably top 5. Not yet top 3 though. Also it is definitely better than Zverev’s
Click to expand...
Top 5 in the world right now or ever? Because he has played too less to be top 10 all time in anything right now
 
Doesn’t crack top 3 for me yet, but it’s getting there.

I’ve got Djoko, Agassi, Safin, Nalby, maybe Edberg/Wawa for 1HBH (although I think Fed’s is historically underrated among 1HBH when including slice, although wouldn’t put it on an aggregated best BH all time list). Connors is another great shout historically.

Dane_is_Finnish_OJ said:
Well, my dad and his drunk buddies think it's Djokovic, Borg, Safin. So there.
Click to expand...
Borg’s BH seems a bit suboptimal technique wise to me, I think his FH was far and away his superior shot. Not an expert on 70s/80s tennis tho.
 
SinnerEra said:
Yesterday I went to lunch at the tennis club where my dad goes to play with his friends, and during lunch a discussion arose about who has the best two-handed backhand on tour. 4 of us said Zverev, while the other 3 were convinced it was Sinner. My dad says that Jannik has already the 3rd best backhand in history after Agassi and Nalbandian, also for him prime Djokovic backhand is really good but highly overrated. I think it's too early to consider Sinner's backhand already in the top 3 in history. What do you think?
Click to expand...
:rolleyes:

Thought you were going to say after Egg and Connors.
 
Tuckman said:
Doesn’t crack top 3 for me yet, but it’s getting there.

I’ve got Djoko, Agassi, Safin, Nalby, maybe Edberg/Wawa for 1HBH (although I think Fed’s is historically underrated among 1HBH when including slice, although wouldn’t put it on an aggregated best BH all time list). Connors is another great shout historically.


Borg’s BH seems a bit suboptimal technique wise to me, I think his FH was far and away his superior shot. Not an expert on 70s/80s tennis tho.
Click to expand...
It was. Without question.

Yes, I’m an “expert” on 70s/80s tennis.
 
Last edited:
Y'all love stats, right? Well, chew on these:


Per TA's BH potency ratings Sinner's registers a good but not-quite-GOATy 2.7. By comparison Dre's is a whopping 5.6 and Nalby's a borderline great 3.6. I've explained my beef with these ratings before but that does sound about right.

As to the GOAT or at least GOOE 2HBH, probably Jimbo. 1H, I'd say Edberg. But the single most dangerous BH, 1H or 2H, belongs to Korda Sr. Y'all know what I'm talking about if you've seen him in his microwave mode!
 
NonP said:
Y'all love stats, right? Well, chew on these:


Per TA's BH potency ratings Sinner's registers a good but not-quite-GOATy 2.7. By comparison Dre's is a whopping 5.6 and Nalby's a borderline great 3.6. I've explained my beef with these ratings before but that does sound about right.

As to the GOAT or at least GOOE 2HBH, probably Jimbo. 1H, I'd say Edberg. But the single most dangerous BH, 1H or 2H, belongs to Korda Sr. Y'all know what I'm talking about if you've seen him in his microwave mode!
Click to expand...
Brown V Basavareddy 10 match series to determine the GOAT BH @RS ??
 
NonP said:
Y'all love stats, right? Well, chew on these:


Per TA's BH potency ratings Sinner's registers a good but not-quite-GOATy 2.7. By comparison Dre's is a whopping 5.6 and Nalby's a borderline great 3.6. I've explained my beef with these ratings before but that does sound about right.

As to the GOAT or at least GOOE 2HBH, probably Jimbo. 1H, I'd say Edberg. But the single most dangerous BH, 1H or 2H, belongs to Korda Sr. Y'all know what I'm talking about if you've seen him in his microwave mode!
Click to expand...

How about return stats my friend? Does Sinner fall in top 3?
 
objection_ said:
Brown V Basavareddy 10 match series to determine the GOAT BH @RS ??
Click to expand...
That's why I added those caveats in that other thread, LOL. As you can see Brown slices his BH about 1/4 of the time, and since BH slices are excluded from the potency ratings he and his ilk tend to pad their numbers by eliminating all UFEs from said slices. Nobody in their right mind would rate his BH over any of the legends', obviously.

TennisGrandpA said:
How about return stats my friend? Does Sinner fall in top 3?
Click to expand...
Well, depends. But let's look at the numbers first:


One big point in Sinner's favor is that his stats are virtually identical to Djoker's, across the board. Just slightly behind to be anal, which is still damn impressive indeed. And I see surface distribution is about the same for both (about 1/4 of all charted matches on clay, for starters), so there shouldn't be a big sampling bias either way.

That said... no doubt Novak/Big 3 supporters would point out that Djoker faced tougher competition/returning. And I do think Sinner's greater height somewhat limits his ceiling. Virtually all ATG returners are relative shorties aka under 190 cm. Murray is one semi-outlier at 6'3", but the guy was unusually flexible and probably the best ever at getting the ball back. I'd say Jannik is a slight notch below Muzz/Djoker/Dre/Jimbo, at least for now.
 
Top 3 in history. Not by any strech of imagination.
But i will compare only with Slam winners.
Any Non slam Winner no matter how good his backhand was should not be compared.
 
generally speaking nobody before the 80s had a goat backhand so we’re only talking about last 50 years of tennis for all time backhands.
 
No_Kwan_Do said:
God, no. Sinner possesses an excellent flat and top-spin BH but the guy has zero variety in that shot.

I've rarely seen the guy hit a slice, a lob, a consistently good dropper off that wing. Agassi, Djokovic, Murray all had better 2HBH's and that's just from the last 20 years.
Click to expand...

I appreciate your take on this, but keep in mind quantity doesn’t equal quality, what Sinner has done is absolutely maximize his one dimensional back hand, reminding me of Roddick and his serve.

We can say the Roddick had a one dimensional serve, but the fact remains that it’s one of the best servers of all time due to the stats alone, the same goes for Sinner’s back hand

Now, the further difference is that Sinner is only 23 and is making improvements in that backhand side every year as well as adding other shots on that side.
 
Tuckman said:
Doesn’t crack top 3 for me yet, but it’s getting there.

I’ve got Djoko, Agassi, Safin, Nalby, maybe Edberg/Wawa for 1HBH (although I think Fed’s is historically underrated among 1HBH when including slice, although wouldn’t put it on an aggregated best BH all time list). Connors is another great shout historically.


Borg’s BH seems a bit suboptimal technique wise to me, I think his FH was far and away his superior shot. Not an expert on 70s/80s tennis tho.
Click to expand...
My dad's mate, Paul, says YOU'RE suboptimal.
 
SinnerEra said:
Yesterday I went to lunch at the tennis club where my dad goes to play with his friends, and during lunch a discussion arose about who has the best two-handed backhand on tour. 4 of us said Zverev, while the other 3 were convinced it was Sinner. My dad says that Jannik has already the 3rd best backhand in history after Agassi and Nalbandian, also for him prime Djokovic backhand is really good but highly overrated. I think it's too early to consider Sinner's backhand already in the top 3 in history. What do you think?
Click to expand...
Djokovic's is overrated. It's probably the best and more reliable defensive backhand in history, hitting well on the move, against power and depth, but he is rarely aggressive with it. Sinner also hits well on the move but is much more aggressive, including approaching and hitting winners with it. Comparing it to Agassi's is a bit unfair though partly because they were developed with such different equipment. Agassi didn't have the benefit of polys and played against serve and volleyers so his he did it best for the type of backhand needed at the time - hitting early so that the volleyers don't have time to get to the net. But Agassi didn't hit very well on the run like Sinner does. But frankly, no 2 hander looked comfortable hitting on the move until Djokovic revolutionized and perfected it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Aussie Darcy
For the first time in ATP Rankings history, no male in the top 10 has a one handed backhand
Replies
16
Views
1K
roysid
roysid
B
The best one-handed backhand of all time!
2 3
Replies
105
Views
4K
kevin qmto
kevin qmto
Aabye5
Sinner's forehand - the sweet sound of success
Replies
22
Views
2K
Alcawrath
Alcawrath
zill
  • Poll Poll
In 5 to 10 years time will we be talking about Sinner having one of the best 2HB ever?
Replies
19
Views
1K
ghostofMecir
ghostofMecir
weakera
Jannik Sinner has dropped 17 games en route to the 4th round - the fewest in WIMBLEDON HISTORY
2 3 4
Replies
169
Views
6K
Djokovic_is_the_best#1
Djokovic_is_the_best#1
Back
Top