Underrated One Handed Backhands

Kriek, I'm tellin' ya. When he was interested, anyway.. kind of an earlier, smaller Stan off the BH.
He could blast the thing. Loved watching him play (caveat above).
 
[
Sudacafan said:
I can't remember the backhands of 90% of the players mentioned here.
Click to expand...

When we meet I will bring a racket and show you. Gottfried and Waltke both took the racket back high and cocked their wrist. They could slice and flat really well but harder for them to hit topspin because I believe they were both using a continental grip. Elliot used an eastern grip for his topspin shot and on his take back laid his racket back flat more like Orantes did except Orantes used a continental grip. He also wore shirts too big. It will be easier just to show you the rest. I hope Dr. Raul can join.
 
Last edited:
Gizo said:
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.
Click to expand...
Bettina Bunge, yes!

And J-L Clerc was so solid off both sides.. I don't know why he couldn't do
anything in Majors (much like Guy Forget, who also had a beautiful 1-hander).
Look at Clerc's h2h record against JMac and Connors..
 
RSJfan said:
[

When we meet I will bring a racket and show you. Gottfried and Waltke both took the racket back high and cocked their wrist. They could slice and flat really well but harder for them to hit topspin because I believe they were both using a continental grip. Elliot used an eastern grip for his topspin shot and on his take back laid his racket back flat more like Orantes did except Orantes used a continental grip. He also wore shirts too big that would hang low. It will be easier just to show you the rest. I hope Dr. Raul can join.
Click to expand...
Waltke had an ATG slice- truly a thing of beauty, and effectiveness. Also the last guy to wear trousers
at Wimbledon. classy
 
ghostofMecir said:
Leconte was super talented, but as was the case with many of his French compatriots, he was a head case and was concerned with a lot of things other than tennis.
Click to expand...
Yes, you are right of course. It was one of those hoping-against-hope things:
when I saw how Mats chose to serve in that match I knew my boy Henri's
chances were slim.

damn
 
Hey guys just wanted to sya thank you for all the posts and to all the posts in the future gotta alot of players I've never heard of before can't wait to watch some video of these guys/gals in action
 
Sudacafan said:
I am the only person here who talks about Guillermo Vilas.
This place is very discriminating against South Americans, only second after Serbians.
Click to expand...

Everyone likes Ivanovic. It’s only Egg. I’m not sure though if he’s very discriminated against or that Eggbot’s have a persecution complex.
 
RSJfan said:
Everyone likes Ivanovic. It’s only Egg. I’m not sure though if he’s very discriminated against or that Eggbot’s have a persecution complex.
Click to expand...
I like Djokovic fine; he's a principled human, AFAICS. His tennis bores me so much
that I'd rather watch Raffi, though- and that's saying something.
"Stultifying" might be the word for his game. "Pong tennis" works, too.
 
Vincent-C said:
I like Djokovic fine; he's a principled human, AFAICS. His tennis bores me so much
that I'd rather watch Raffi, though- and that's saying something.
"Stultifying" might be the word for his game. "Pong tennis" works, too.
Click to expand...
I‘ve seen a lot of Egg matches over the years. I like watching Egg. His gumby moves are almost unparalleled. He’s been a part of so many great matches. I enjoy a boob throw as much as the next fan. Eggbot’s are another matter. :giggle:
 
RSJfan said:
I‘ve seen a lot of Egg matches over the years. I like watching Egg. His gumby moves are almost unparalleled. He’s been a part of so many great matches. I enjoy a boob throw as much as the next fan. Eggbot’s are another matter. :giggle:
Click to expand...
I understand, but tend to like players who force the action rather than reacting to it.
In boxing I love counterpunchers, though. Go figure.

40-15 ;)
 
Ivan Ljubicic had a brutal single hander. Even if a player went hard into it they could expect a heavy response back.

I’m a big fan of guys who can hit a powerful single hander on the full run and control it with shape the same way 2h players can. Obviously Thiem and GOATwrinka were awesome at this, but so was the Spanish player Guillermo Garcia Lopez:

 
Subway Tennis said:
Ivan Ljubicic had a brutal single hander. Even if a player went hard into it they could expect a heavy response back.

I’m a big fan of guys who can hit a powerful single hander on the full run and control it with shape the same way 2h players can. Obviously Thiem and GOATwrinka were awesome at this, but so was the Spanish player Guillermo Garcia Lopez:

Click to expand...
Good call on Ljubicic. He had real good preparation for the shot, similar- now that I think of it- to Teltscher's.
It's like you could tell from the wind-up that the ball would be a heavy one, though of course Ljubicic was a
much bigger guy.

I'm not familiar with GGL, but will try to find some clips.
 
Vincent-C said:
Good call on Ljubicic. He had real good preparation for the shot, similar- now that I think of it- to Teltscher's.
It's like you could tell from the wind-up that the ball would be a heavy one, though of course Ljubicic was a
much bigger guy.

I'm not familiar with GGL, but will try to find some clips.
Click to expand...
Yes, Ljubicic had great preparation and I think the aggressive mindset helped a lot. He was a huge man so he had a head start in that department. Off-topic, but I think Ljubicic was pretty valuable to Federer in reminding him to be super aggressive on the backhand.

I also wonder how much help Ljubicic was when Federer was tinkering with his racquet setup. I think Ljubicic might have been a good sounding board there, as he was an adopter of very powerful racquets with a larger head sizes to augment his already very serious weapons, and might have been able to sell Roger on the benefits.
 
Subway Tennis said:
Yes, Ljubicic had great preparation and I think the aggressive mindset helped a lot. He was a huge man so he had a head start in that department. Off-topic, but I think Ljubicic was pretty valuable to Federer in reminding him to be super aggressive on the backhand.

I also wonder how much help Ljubicic was when Federer was tinkering with his racquet setup. I think Ljubicic might have been a good sounding board there, as he was an adopter of very powerful racquets with a larger head sizes to augment his already very serious weapons, and might have been able to sell Roger on the benefits.
Click to expand...
That all makes sense to me. I remember wondering about the choice of Ljubicic as coach- actually I was dubious of that pairing-
but it worked out well, didn't it? 2017 in particular was such a refreshing year.. some of those clean BH winners were jaw-dropping,
even more so at IW I think, against the surly Mallorcan.
 
Last edited:
Vincent-C said:
That all makes sense to me. I remember wondering about the choice of Ljubicic as coach- actually I was dubious of that pairing-
but it worked out well, didn't it? 2017 in particular was such a refreshing year.. some of those clean BH winners were jaw-dropping,
even more so at IW I think, against the surly Mallorcan.
Click to expand...
2017 was insane. Federer was also great for a lot of early 2018 and also he nearly won 2019 Wimbledon as a middle-aged man, but those feats were just cherries on the top after that insane 2017 season. No one could beat him.
 
RSJfan said:
Nastase could hit shots with his 1HB no one else could. But he does get discussed but more for his behavior than tennis.
Click to expand...

Yeah Nastase was great, too bad tennis from that time was played in slow motion by today's standards. Everyone was so slow o_O
 
Calleri had a very good 1bh backand, one of the biggest out there...
Gaudio bh was really awesome
Kolshreiber had a very good one tll
Henman was good I think, also Andrei Pavel had a decent one.
 
RSJfan said:
I‘m sorry you feel that way. I do recall that weirdo who kept talking about the non-existent “Vilas trial” :rolleyes: 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.
Click to expand...

A post a day? Isn't that a bit much for Vilas -- who was *cough* never ranked number 1? o_O
 
Vincent-C said:
Vilas won Majors. I liked Clerc a lot, but he didn't, despite being super-solid off both wings (ask Connors).
Click to expand...
so, you judge the backhand technique based on how many majors the player won?
I don’t that, Clerc had much better backhand than Vilas period. I respect your opinion as anybody’s else but I grew up in Argentina, I played tennis while these players were still playing. I saw Clerc spanking Vilas really bad in an exhibition indoor match. Vilas fans were booing Clerc, I was having the best time of my life witnessing that. We have no room to have two idols among us, not admitted. I took Clerc’s side, the underdog.
 
Last edited:
blackfrido said:
so, you judge the backhand technique based on how many majors the player won?
I don’t that, Clerc had much better backhand than Vilas period. I respect your opinion as anybody’s else but I grew up in Argentina, I played tennis while these players were still playing. I saw Clerc spanking Vilas really bad in an exhibition indoor match. Vilas fans were booing Clerc, I was having the best time of my life witnessing that. We have no room to have two idols among us, not admitted. I took Clerc’s side, the underdog.
Click to expand...
I remember watching Clerc against McEnroe in an exo in Hilversum, Netherlands (it was on tv), maybe in 1988. He was actually retired, but he spanked McEnroe badly on the clay. First time I saw him play, I was very impressed with his power. Mac was behaving terribly, he probably didn't like being done in by a pensioner.
 
blackfrido said:
so, you judge the backhand technique based on how many majors the player won?
I don’t that, Clerc had much better backhand than Vilas period. I respect your opinion as anybody’s else but I grew up in Argentina, I played tennis while these players were still playing. I saw Clerc spanking Vilas really bad in an exhibition indoor match. Vilas fans were booing Clerc, I was having the best time of my life witnessing that. We have no room to have two idols among us, not admitted. I took Clerc’s side, the underdog.
Click to expand...
I think if you've seen my comments that I've praised Clerc quite a bit here. I do see his lack of success
in Majors as a mark against him. YMMV, of course.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Big Fed
  • Poll Poll
1 Handed Backhand vs. 2 Handed Backhand Thread To End All 1hdbh vs. 2hdbh Thread!!!!!
Replies
44
Views
4K
tenniko
tenniko
M
One Handed Backhand making a comeback?
2 3
Replies
109
Views
8K
framebreaker
F
T
Nadal's worst nightmare? One-hander on natural surfaces
Replies
14
Views
3K
Tornes
T
N
Djokovic vs Single Hander Players
Replies
20
Views
1K
nolefam_2024
N
RaulRamirez
Why don't more (any?) players...
Replies
16
Views
728
RaulRamirez
RaulRamirez
Back
Top