Underrated One Handed Backhands

[Romix]

Looking for players from past or present that have good one handers

Not looking typical response wawrinka, gasquet, federer, thiem etc.

Looking for players who were known for the 1 hander but are rarely talked about. Or players that didn't have great careers but had the 1 hander. And Or players that you personally felt had great 1 handers.

For an example Mariano Puerta was not on the tour for a long time for multiple doping suspensions but he had an awesome 1 hander.

Another one is Joachim Johansson lots of injuries derailed his career just when he was starting to turn his 1 hander into a serious weapon

 

[tennis3]

Federer, Gasquet and Wawrinka

 

[AmericanTwist]

and Thiem lol...

If you want to talk about scrappers and underrated players you should make a thread about Diego Schwarzman. It is a wonder he was once ranked top 20 in the world.

Btw, I don't think any one hander player will win a slam event ever again. Tsitsipas got close however. But whatever Novak did after the 2nd set break worked....or Tsitsipas just ran out of energy.

 

[Romix]

Federer, Gasquet and Wawrinka

Lol

 

[Moose Malloy]

here's a rather obscure player with a great one hander

 

[Moose Malloy]

one of my favorite one handers

 

[Shaolin]

Andrei Pavel…awesome one hander and also really nice guy.

Augustin Calleri had a great one also.

Not underrated but Guga had my favorite.

 

[Shaolin]

one of my favorite one handers

One of my favorite 2 handers in that video too.

 

[The Green Mile]

There's not much of him online, but Andrew Ilie was really fun and could have incredible backhand performances from time to time.

 

[JMR]

Looking for players from past or present that have good one handers

How far back do you want to go? E.g., we have this from 1935:

And of course some of the great Aussies were famous for their backhands: Rosewall with his scalpel-like slice, and Laver with his rocketing drives.

But if you want to stay within more accessible time frames, I'd say Ivan Lendl, who strangely hasn't popped up in these discussions much. Lendl was arguably the first modern baseliner (Borg was trapped in the old wooden racket paradigm). His slam wins all came from hammering away with both wings -- clay, hard court, made no difference to him.

 

[Moose Malloy]

There's not much of him online, but Andrew Ilie was really fun and could have incredible backhand performances from time to time.

I was thinking of that guy when someone made a thread on who was the hardest hitter off both sides.

 

[Romix]

How far back do you want to go? E.g., we have this from 1935:

And of course some of the great Aussies were famous for their backhands: Rosewall with his scalpel-like slice, and Laver with his rocketing drives.

But if you want to stay within more accessible time frames, I'd say Ivan Lendl, who strangely hasn't popped up in these discussions much. Lendl was arguably the first modern baseliner (Borg was trapped in the old wooden racket paradigm). His slam wins all came from hammering away with both wings -- clay, hard court, made no difference to him.

Yes Lendl had an awesome 1 hander another one from that era that they don't talk about would be Becker's backhand

 

[Moose Malloy]

I was a big fan of Mansdorf's bh. The guy on the other side of the net wasn't too shabby either

 

[Angrybirdstar]

Gaudio and Korda, perhaps?

 

[Aabye5]

Henin. Dudi Sela.

 

[Gizo]

In addition to the ones already mentioned, I really liked the backhands of Fitzgerald, Clerc, Mancini, Stoltenbeg, Meligeni, Mantilla, Horna and Cuevas.

On the women’s side, my favourite one handed backhands have all been far more ‘obvious’ choices, so those of Goolagong, Mandlikova, Mauresmo, Henin etc. So in addition to those, I really liked the backhands of Dianne Fromholtz and Bettina Bunge.

 

[madhavan]

Leaving aside the usual BH gods...
Manolo Santana and Orantes (for his slice) from the older crowd
Arthur Ashe, Henri Leconte, Hicham Arazi, Cedric Pioline for their flair
Becker and Lendl for powerful bludgeons
More recently, Andrei Pavel, Agustin Calleri, Philip Kolschreiber, Nic Almagro, Gaston Gaudio
Many others (Vilas, Mancini, Gomez, etc) who were good also

 

[Olli Jokinen]

Conchita Martinez

 

[kkfm_clan_de_cheatah]

Mariano Puerta
Andrei Pavel
Scott Draper
Andrew Ilie
Michael Stich

 

[buscemi]

Cedric Pioline

 

[renarulz]

Andrei Pavel
Paradorn Srichiphan..

 

[droliver]

Andrei Pavel's 1hbh shot was a banger. One of the best of the 90's and early 00's.

Gaston Gaudio might be the only player I can think of who ran around forehands to hit a 1HBH

 

[TennisManiac]

Nicolas Almagro

 

[ghostofMecir]

Leconte, Gaudio (not really underrated at the time), Youznhy.

Mandlikova‘s backhand is not really underrated, but it was a beautiful shot

 

[Vincent-C]

I was a big fan of Mansdorf's bh. The guy on the other side of the net wasn't too shabby either

Eddy gets the Unfortunate Hair award, along with Petr Korda. The latter's BH was not too shabby, either.

 

[Rosstour]

Shapo and Musetti

 

[Sudacafan]

Guillermo Vilas.

 

[Vincent-C]

Danny-boy Evans

 

[Vincent-C]

Leconte, Gaudio (not really underrated at the time), Youznhy.

Mandlikova‘s backhand is not really underrated, but it was a beautiful shot

Good picks. I wish Henri had held it together and taken out Wilander in that FO final.
Not bloody likely, as they say.

damn.

 

[RSJfan]

Looking for players from past or present that have good one handers

Not looking typical response wawrinka, gasquet, federer, thiem etc.

Looking for players who were known for the 1 hander but are rarely talked about. Or players that didn't have great careers but had the 1 hander. And Or players that you personally felt had great 1 handers.

For an example Mariano Puerta was not on the tour for a long time for multiple doping suspensions but he had an awesome 1 hander.

Another one is Joachim Johansson lots of injuries derailed his career just when he was starting to turn his 1 hander into a serious weapon

For open era names that never come up, these come quickly to mind:

Brian Gotffried
Trey Waltke
Elliot Teltscher
Tom Okker
Arnaud Boetsch

 

[RSJfan]

Guillermo Vilas.

“Looking for players who were known for the 1 hander but are rarely talked about.”

 

[Sudacafan]

Don Budge.

 

[Vincent-C]

For open era names that never come up, these come quickly to mind:

Brian Gotffried
Trey Waltke
Elliot Teltscher
Tom Okker
Arnaud Boetsch

More good picks! Teltscher, and Waltke, nice.

 

[RSJfan]

Andrei Pavel
Paradorn Srichiphan..

How could I forget Srichiphan. I saw him play a lot.

 

[Sudacafan]

“Looking for players who were known for the 1 hander but are rarely talked about.”

I am the only person here who talks about Guillermo Vilas.
This place is very discriminating against South Americans, only second after Serbians.

 

[Vincent-C]

I am the only person here who talks about Guillermo Vilas.
This place is very discriminating against South Americans, after Serbians.

Vilas was fine, strong as a bull. Not my cuppa, though.

 

[Sudacafan]

Vilas was fine, strong as a bull. Not my cuppa, though.

Why you compare him with a beasty animal? You see what I mean?

 

[Vincent-C]

Johan Kriek, fer sher.

 

[RSJfan]

I am the only person here who talks about Guillermo Vilas.
This place is very discriminating against South Americans.

I‘m sorry you feel that way. I do recall that weirdo who kept talking about the non-existent “Vilas trial” but I guess that is not the same thing as discussing just how good Vilas was as well as an integral part of the true Golden Era. Vilas was one of my fav players when I was at a very impressionable age. I saw him play in person quite a few times. I also met him and he was very nice. Please feel free to discuss him regularly. He should be discussed at least as often as Carrot.

 

[Sudacafan]

I can't remember the backhands of 90% of the players mentioned here.

 

[Vincent-C]

Why you compare him with a beasty animal? You see what I mean?

Sorry bro- it's meant as a compliment where I come from, for a man to be compared to a bull.

 

[Sudacafan]

I‘m sorry you feel that way. I do recall that weirdo who kept talking about the “Vilas trial” but I guess that is not the same thing as discussing just how good Vilas was as well as an integral part of the true Golden Era. Vilas was one of my fav players when I was at a very impressionable age. I saw him play in person quite a few times. I also met him and he was very nice. Please feel free to discuss him regularly. He should be discussed at least as often as Carrot.

Vilas was robbed the #1. Perpetrators of that crime should be prosecuted and punished.

 

[RSJfan]

one of my favorite one handers

Arazi! Loved his game. Very good mention.

 

[Sudacafan]

Sorry bro- it's meant as a compliment where I come from for a man to be compared to a bull.

Thanks! Bull is better than c.apybara.

 

[RSJfan]

Ramesh Krishnan. That pudgy kid has a nice 1HB.

 

[Vincent-C]

Thanks! Bull is better than c.apybara.

Hey, I like capybaras!

 

[Vincent-C]

Ramesh Krishnan. That pudgy kid has a nice 1HB.

You betcha. And could take the ball super-early off either side- and do all that
while appearing to be asleep oncourt. Good call. As close to my ideal of
a zero-effort game as is likely possible.

 

[RSJfan]

Nastase could hit shots with his 1HB no one else could. But he does get discussed but more for his behavior than tennis.

 

[Sudacafan]

Before Borg and Connors, nearly every player used a onehander, so this thread will be very crowded with old players.

 

[Sudacafan]

Nastase could hit shots with his 1HB no one else could. But he does get discussed but more for this behavior than tennis.

Nastase infamously broke Vilas consecutive matches winning streak with that fancy stringbed.