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“While fitness, motivation, and tactical prowess are undoubtedly important attributes in tennis, the mechanical efficiency of an individual’s strokes often determine the level of success experienced by the recreational, competitive, and elite tennis player.”Originally posted by stroke View Post
Yes...of course. Mechanical efficiency. Off to the races and yada yada. I would contend that Stefanos Tsitsipas suffers from a shallow understanding of tactics. The author suffers from the same deficiency. There is nothing fundamentally wrong with the Tsitsipas backhand. He just doesn't use it to its fullest potential. There's that pesky word again...potential. This is always the consideration in any player but even more importantly when a player is eating his way up the food chain. Case in point...Stefanos Tsitsipas.
Not one mention of the slice backhand in the very lengthy and wordy analysis of backhands. Tsitipas biggest deficiency is in his utilization of the slice backhand. He is slap happy driving the ball. Roger Federer had the greatest backhand of all, in that he mixed in the slice with malice. This guy sliced and diced his opponents to pieces when push came to shove. When the match was hanging in the balance he would pull out the slice. Using it with intelligence. Changing the entire rhythm of the match. The variety of spin, depth and even speed was "mesmerizing". Stefanos stuck with Daddy-O way to long in the coaches seat. Dad failed to develop the serve to the fullest potential as well. With the lack of tactical acumen in the backhand Stefanos came up a couple of cards short after a blazing beginning in the pro game. In my estimation if he had something resembling Roger's slice backhand and serving efficiency he would have been very, very tough for many years. As it is...he struggles. He's more interested in the woman than in putting in the necessary thought and work in his approach to the game.
Not to mention the lack of real net approach and volleying skills.
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Just to be fair to this writer, he did mention the slice backhand deficiency of Tsitsipas compared to other players with more effective 1 handers. I certainly agree with that. His slice is clearly not close to Fed(the best slice), Grigor, Gasquet, Stan, Musetti, Evans, etc.
Last edited by stroke; 05-24-2025, 03:00 AM.Comment
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Speaking of fairness...there used to be some semblance of an understood etiquette amongst the old posters here on the forum. I wrote a rather interesting comment regarding an article you posted and you made a plea for fairness to some unknown to me writer. Your retort of my most interesting comment came only two hours and twenty some minutes later thus preventing any forum observer from knowing that don_budge had something to say on the matter. Something of interest I might add. Fairness...on this forum. That's a laugh. Hahaha!!!Originally posted by stroke View Post
At any rate your writer completely misses the most important point regarding tactical acumen in the application of one hand backhands. His focus was on some ridiculous statistic (most statistic applied to tennis are) regarding winner ratio to some other factor. Actually this misses the point completely. Your writer has swung and missed. He struck out as far as I am concerned. While he excels in showing off his "awareness" of bio mechanics and technique he is batting .000 in tactics. Tactic often trumping technique in the real world within realistic limits. Hitting winners off one hand backhands is not the first priority. Roger Federer is the best example and Daniel Evans is a close second...relatively speaking. Federer's use of the slice coupled with the multiplier effect of his larger equipment made him so much more competitive after the switch. Of course his ability to hit the drive improved but equally important was his enhanced ability to make the ball talk with underspin. A nuance not often talked about in illiterate tennis circles. I guess that is why it is a nuance.
Daniel Evans was an excellent example of how important the slice is tactically. He had a couple of very good years there and he made judicious use of the slice in taking down bigger hitting opponents and he frustrated them with his ability to use the slice to make his opponent engage in trading slice backhands as well. Federer always resorted to slicing his backhand in big moments in matches to get the ball in play and neutralize his opponents bigger weapons to get himself into the point. He was a master of letting the game come to him.
Now the point is regarding Mr. Tsitsipas is that he does not realize when or how to use the slice to his advantage as both Evans and Federer did. Tsitsipas will insist on attempting to drive balls on his backhand side that are inappropriate. He would be much better off using a slice in defense or in neutralizing his opponent in many occasions. This really skews the writer's attempt to quantify numbers to justify his take and analysis why the Tsitsipas backhand is deficient. Another problem with Stefanos not utilizing the slice is his inability to effectively approach the net and not being to rely on an effective backhand volley. Both slice variations of the backhand stroke. Stroke.
The one hand backhand game is built on a backhand that is first a neutralizing or defensive stroke. Aggressive applications are secondary although a necessary one.
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Yes, that is a good, if busy, chart. As best I remember, Stef almost never hit a slice backhand until a few of years ago, and when he introduced slice to his game starting with hard chops that sit up.Originally posted by stroke View Post
I wonder how much of Stef's descent in the rankings owes to the same issues that Casper Ruud, Daniel Medvedev, and Sasha Zverev have mentioned -- the lower quality, less lively balls.
Just as Ruud has found that his excellent forehand is less effective with the new balls, Stef's backhand ( which I believe during his peak was the heaviest on tour) is more attackable. Stef and Casper have been the two ATP players that hit more run-around forehands than anyone else. Ruud has been forced to reinvent his game, resulting in his first big title in Madrid. We'll see how Stef does with his own reinvention.
Also on tactics, as Stef was ascending he would hit inside-out backhands that were very effective ( dare I say Hinga-esque ?) but he seems to have abandoned that shot entirely.
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If there is one guy worth reading on the Internet, it’s Hugh. All his articles are interesting and go a step, or two, further than anyone else. As a few of us have said in the forum, it’s not that Stef has got worse, it’s just the game has moved on without him because he simply hasn’t evolved or developed with the times. Technical help has long been needed on that backhand of his; none has been forthcoming.
I tend to agree with Hugh that the single hander is pretty much extinct. As stroke alluded recently, Musetti has nice looking strokes but sits so deep in the court at times that he can’t deliver a knock-out blow with any kind of ease. He has a pretty backhand (pretty bloke my wife thinks) but it doesn't do much.
One thing I remember most about McEnroe is his ability to micro adjust the height of his backhand backswing in relation to the incoming ball. He did this so beautifully on grass and it made his backhand so effective. While I know it’s no longer in vogue to talk about players as ancient as McEnroe, there are things guys like him did better than players of today. Even McEnroe no longer talks about the game as it was back then, as if it’s some kind of embarrassment —that’s how in awe we are of power these days. Believe me, McEneroe could teach players of today an awful lot about nuance on the backhand, and I don’t care how fast the game has become —many of the same rules still apply.StottyComment
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As Wilander said one time, one of my favorite quotes, McEnroe can make you feel real stupid out there. His drop shot feel/hands were better than Alcaraz. And with his more continental backhand grip, he could no doubt take the ball on much better than almost all. Fed was right there also.Comment
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Certainly agree about Hugh. He consistently puts out great stuff, a lot of great technical insights. I even suggested to Jeff via the tennisplayer.net "recommendations for improvement", that they consider bringing Hugh on board.Originally posted by stotty View PostComment
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I think some of the best athletes in the world like Federer and Sampras struggled with the one handed backhand. I think if those guys are having issues, to me it seems it might be the stroke itself. I think the big change now, is that most people can return from both sides, so you can't serve and volley like you could before, because of the two handed backhand. It seems today most people almost have two forehands. I also don't think the two handed backhand looks ugly, and actually looks pretty nice at times. So not really sure why people are even trying to hit one handed backhands anymore.
I do believe Stef is a little crazy, which doesn't help. But in my opinion Stef is an extremely athletic human being.Comment
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Good points. I remember Domi Thiem, who had a great one-hander and switched in teens from a two hander, experimenting with using the two-hander again but ONLY on returns. Hard to do, but several players ( Courier, among them I believe?) have predicted that might be a path -- two-hander on returns, single on groundstrokes. But I suspect the window for that has closed.Originally posted by neilchok View Post
As for Stef being 1) crazy and 2) very athletic, also agree
I recall when Stef beat Fed at the Australian Open, that Fed grumbled at his presser "We didn't know he could half-volley like that."
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The deep dive turned into treading water in the shallow end.
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Yep...treading in shallow water. What's this author's name? The MVP of the internet. What about the Tsitsipas serve? Where's the deep dive? This is a bigger culprit than the drive backhand. That and the lack of slice acumen. Slice tactics. Just drive...drive...drive. I think in the end the real problem was in the coaching. Early on I was calling for a change. Daddy-O didn't want to let go. Parents coaching their offspring is often a toxic mix. This one sort of blew up as far as I can tell too. It was too late apparently. With Tsitsipas' height and athletic body that serve is a real liability in that it has nowhere near reached its potential as a dominating weapon. I just watched him blow serve in the third set. A critical point in the match. The young Tsitsipas used to have more grit too. He would hang in there when the chips were down. Now...not so much. He can't wait to get a snuggle from girlfriend.Originally posted by don_budge View PostThe deep dive turned into treading water in the shallow end.
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Yep...yep...yep. Another early break in the fourth. The serve is the main culprit. As the serve goes...so goes the rest of the game. So the saying goes. I made that up. But it's true. I'm wondering about the racquet that Matteo Gigante is using. It appears to be a real jumbo behemoth. Anybody know what size it is? As far as one handed backhands go...the real reason that there are so few is two fold. Number one...mind numbing monotony in the coaching ranks. Juniors start with two handed backhands and are more stubborn about dropping one hand then they are giving up their blankey. It takes longer to develop the one handed game with all of the nuance, so therefore it is out of the question for a population that is so patience deficit. But the other thing is the court texture. All of the courts are so high bouncing that it makes the two handed backhand so much more attractive. If they normalize the courts and speed them up you will see more one handed backhands. I don't see that happening. As it is...it's fake tennis. The huge racquets and the engineered courts make the game unrecognizable from the game I played starting in 1968. Three of the four Slams were played on SLICK grass...not the velcro variety they have grown as a hybrid for Wimbledon.Originally posted by don_budge View Post
Yep...treading in shallow water. What's this author's name? The MVP of the internet. What about the Tsitsipas serve? Where's the deep dive? This is a bigger culprit than the drive backhand. That and the lack of slice acumen. Slice tactics. Just drive...drive...drive. I think in the end the real problem was in the coaching. Early on I was calling for a change. Daddy-O didn't want to let go. Parents coaching their offspring is often a toxic mix. This one sort of blew up as far as I can tell too. It was too late apparently. With Tsitsipas' height and athletic body that serve is a real liability in that it has nowhere near reached its potential as a dominating weapon. I just watched him blow serve in the third set. A critical point in the match. The young Tsitsipas used to have more grit too. He would hang in there when the chips were down. Now...not so much. He can't wait to get a snuggle from girlfriend.
As for Tsitsipas...I remember when he first appeared he was so willing to grind it out. He was taking down veterans left and right. I remember commenting on what a good lobber he was. If he was hopelessly out of position he put the ball up in the air just to get back into the point. He isn't willing to grind it out anymore. Lacking patience. I've seen a bunch of balls that he might as well have sliced in some variety to stay in the point and to maneuver his opponent. Neutralize him. But he isn't willing. He's a man on a mission. To get back to Sweet Thing. Cuddles. He isn't mentally tough anymore.
Deep diving on Stefanos Tsitsipas. This is don_budge...over and out. But you never know...do you?
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