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Why haven’t we looked at Andy’s backhand before?
In this series of articles we’ve taken a close look at the two-handed backhand in pro tennis and broken it down into the commonalities and the differences among the various players and styles. (Click Here.) We’ve looked at many or even most of the great two-handers in the game. But you may have noticed there is one player we haven’t looked at or analyzed: Andy Roddick. Until now, that is.
How Bad is Terrible?
It’s widely accepted in the high performance coaching community that Andy’s backhand is a limiting factor in his game. And that is probably true, as we’ll see. But when we critique the stroke of a player who has won the U.S. Open and been number 1 in the world, I think we need to be careful about making wild statements. Some media commentators and coaches are quick to call Andy’s backhand “terrible” or a “disaster.” But those are relative terms–really, really relative terms. Andy could use that “terrible” backhand of his to smack the hell out of 99.99% of all tennis players on planet earth. It’s only against a handful of players at the top of the world…