@@wave1468 I disagree. Maybe on slower courts, but at places like Wimbledon, USO, or the Masters Cup _(especially_ the final of this tournament)? It was basically a second forehand.
@@sasook Especially considering when he played Nadal and got those Topspin balls to his backhand he wasn’t the best at dealing with them until later on in his career including 2006. His backhand he said improved in 2015
I've never seen such clean footwork by Federer on that backhand ever. And the stroke too was very clean. I wonder why he lost some form on that afterwards.
I think he slowly and unintentionally reverted back to his earlier pre-2017 style, which was less powerful. Footwork is important to a lot of these backhands, and granted his age slows that down each year, but he's absolutely blasting some of these backhands while standing still. What puzzles me is how he added pace to his backhand after so many years on the tour. Guidance from Ljubicic was surely a factor, but I think perhaps his injury gave him time to really work on a bigger backhand without risking losing majors while he tried to change his form on such an important shot.
@@kjbaumga he now (2014+) uses a racket with 7sq inches of headsize which means allot more free power and higher twistweight which made consistent rallying easier and consistent power easier to attain. He should have switched around 2011 he would have won more slams if he did no question about it. Its a shame for so long he was afraid of taking the leap and upgrading to a frame thats not as disadvantaged against his opponents
Not just really good but great. If you play high level competitive tennis you know. He is the GOAT. Tsitsipas said recently that Federer was impossible to copy. He wasn't kidding.
It takes an idiot to make something easy look hard and a genius to make something hard look easy. If ever there was a genius in sports, it’s Roger Federer.
Of course he’s got all the shot making skills; his insane forehand, his unbelievable backhand, slice, topspin, sidespin, 4th dimension spin, overheads, volleys, half volleys. tweeners, etc. Having these tools would put any player in the top ten. But what makes him GOAT is that he has much much more than just world-class shotmaking skills. He also understands the geometry of the tennis court like no other player in history. That deep understanding, combined with an ability to place the ball EXACTLY WHERE HE WANTS IT. His uncanny, almost paranormal ball placement reminds me of Rod Laver.
While most people attribute this consistency in the BH to Ljubi ... it must also be said that during the time off he had time to work consistently on his shots and get comfy with the new racket. RF always had a killer BH, it just became more inconsistent as he aged, his footwork was slightly off and back injuries affected the accuracy he had in finding that sweet spot using the older 90sqi racket. In combination with the proper rest he gave his body, he got back to nearing his 100% potential and left the rest of the tour trailing once again!
His neo backhand owes very much to Ljubicic one handed backhand. Does anybody believe that RF just called Ivan for "support" or because he's a tennis "connoisseur". Fed wanted a new weapon, wanted desperately a much way far better backhand that truly hurts. A 180° different from his nice looking but stiff and ocasionally winner producer backhand not to mention (poor) consistency. So Ivan had the key but is RF extraordinary genius to select ( at his age!!!) who to call to get the best solution.
The biggest part of Fed's game is being hard to read. He gets to the ball as early as he can so the potential shots he can make are as vast as possible, and he conceals his shot with body movement better than anybody.
Usually Fed on neutral backhands hits slice or just kinda deflects it back, and only really attacks low or short backhands. Here his footwork and preparation enables him to swing through it. Allows him to be much less passive, more aggressive. He even attacked high backhands.
Best thing I like about Roger n Rafa is that they love each other. Not at all easy to love ur biggest rival. Needs to be egoless and recognize the greatness of the other. I guess a peak example of this is Rafa jumping onto Roger when they won the 1st Laver Cup. Zverev loving Roger is fine as they are not direct peers. After they retire the admiration and love I believe will multiply.
If federer had gotten this backhand down earlier in his career it would have changed a lot. He spent so much time running around his backhand and nadal would just hammer his backhand side all day. In 2017 his backhand was a legitimate weapon. You could see Nadal had no idea what to do in the AO final.
What manipulation and planning too, sometimes he pulls them in, or pushes them out to the side, or gets an angle from them so that he's on the run, very often just lovely pure power.
I know. Why? He finally got his takeback right again in 2017, giving him such freedom of strike - I suspect Edberg fixed it - and then lost it again in 2018. Bewildering.....
I think his current backhand is incredible. The way he returns balls to servers feet and the way he drives short hop backhands deep into the court is amazing. Both are skills he didn't have mastered in 2017. Does he hit as many backhand winners as he did in 2017? Probably not but also remember that opponents are going to his forehand more and beating him with it. Players remember getting beat by his backhand in 2017. Just ask Nadal. But if you look at his unforced errors, his backhand errors are still way down. Its a great shot that players can't bully him around anymore.
oh, i wish roger had worked on the backhand like this ten years ago. he would have won multiple same year grand slams, completely changing his already great career. nadal owned him during these years just by hitting to his weak side. but on the other side, this might proves rogers exceptional raw talent level in a ironic way. he achieved all he achieved with such a clear weakness and manages to overcome it at the end of his career. maybe it’s very roger.
In my opinion, this "new" backhand of Fed's isn't anything new. If you watch older footage of him play, he was less apt to slice the backhand and come over it much like he did in the 2017 season. I think over time, he simply became more conservative with the backhand and took less risks with it (which hurt him against players who controlled the baseline). Upon his return, he committed himself to be aggressive with it again. It's not a newly developed stroke like the media is trying to make it sound like...
Or Nadal is just older and a little slower? His style of play has been very wearing. I still think the media just made a bigger deal about Fed's backhand. My opinion, but believe what you want. I'm a Fed fan and all, but there's no way at age 35 did he suddenly develop a new backhand.
Tech Social lemme put it this way, we rarely saw any shanks off Fed's BH this year AT ALL, against anyone. That's pretty unheard of for him in the last 5 years. Yes Nadal is a little older and slower fine, but that doesn't affect how much spin he can put on the ball from a regular groundstroke. The difference between 2017 & the past is that Rafa's regular groundstrokes to Fed's BH would lead to a shank, almost always. Fed would try to counter this by running around for a FH a lot. We saw none of that this year. Furthermore, Ljubicic had a great OHBH, I'd be very surprised if he didn't help improve Roger's. Why is it so hard for you to believe at age 35 he made improvements? He had months & months to practice it. Heck at age 34 he started the SABR & for 2014/15 he was a great volleyer, a better volleyer than he was in his 20s. Are you gonna say there's no way at age 33 did he suddenly develop a better net game? Fed's the exception to "you can't teach an old dog new tricks." You can believe what you want, but I'm sticking with what the tennis commentators, especially the ones who are former professional players (and therefore far more qualified than either of us are), are saying.
This backhand requires a solid base with the dominant foot crossed over and in front of the non dominant one in order to be effective. To achieve this you need to set up the base well ahead of the shot. If your feet are still getting into position when striking the ball, the results will be less than optimal. But it is not easy to be early when you're playing fast at this level. It takes a lot of fitness.
the backhand slice is really what puts him in a position to defend and attack it never gets the attention it deserve. He went away from slicing in later years a damn shame it cost his so many slams should have stayed with smaller racket.
Please try watch the Federer v Ancic Wimbledon match of 20016. He really showed that all that aggression and hard playing not what tennis is all about. He had Ancic running and falling all over the place like a drunken fool. Ancic was grunting, labouring and flailing wildly, whereas Federer just placed the ball and switched up gears every so often. Ancic MUST hate Federer for what he did to him. I thought he was going burst into tears at one point, and that would have been like another Croat. But give credit where it is due, Ancic did not blame his loss on anything.
His backhand technique is not as taught, but the BH is very deceptive, and he could get it very accurate. Maybe that's better than technique, but the trade off is on surface like clay, where deception doesn't help you much because you have no choice but to grind it out, then his BH couldn't stand up to the barrage of the best clay grinders. Maybe that's why he shunned clay altogether now. Can't blame him for that, because his game was not made for the grinding style.
Roger plays a point so fast as if he has to urgently finish it and go to the loo Nole plays fully prepared for a 55-shot rally... loo or no loo. I guess it was 54 b/w him and Rafa @ USO13 :)))
Finally, Federer switched his backhand grip from Continental to backhand Eastern. Nobody seems to teach that. Anyway, it's far better than the two hander.
Determination to be more aggressive and take advantage of about 7% more power. Confidence in cleaner contact with about 7% bigger sweetspot. CONFIDENCE IS EVERYTHING. 7% is YUUGE difference!!! consider the difference in power of a 100 mid vs 106 OS racket....Neo, SABR, GOAT is all Fed Inc marketing.
@@frankmclain3634 I don't know. Sampras backhand is still the ugliest one-handers I have ever seen. This includes McEnroe. A bigger racket wouldn't make any prettier or effective.
0:53 this is my eternal curse, I always pull someone out wide with a sharp shot and then misjudge the open court shot and end up sending it right down the middle of the court.
I don't know why he chose to run around that backhand so much. I think that caused him some problems as he got older -- still running around it. Because when he hit it, it sure was pretty.
The 13 thumbs down are nothing more than pressed haters who couldn’t stand Federer returning to tour to win 7 titles including 2 GS titles. Ha! Ha! arrogant haters thought that Nadal would win by simply hitting to Federer’s BH. Oops!
The way he plays he can finish a point any time he feels like it. He should stop toying so much with his opponents because it is bound to backfire sooner rather than later.
That shot is pretty lethal, but he should be a bit more ruthless playing it. A few time I see him playing cat and mouse with his opponent when he could have closed off the point a lot earlier.
He had that racket size in 2014/2015 and was still shanking backhands like there is no tomorrow. You haven't followed his backhand practice sessions apparently...
Serena is the G.O.A.T 19>16>12; 6>5>0; 302 weeks at number 1. 8 Wimbledon THE CHAMPIONSHIPS. He's surely the best of Open Era, while you are only another insignificant RF hater, maybe the GDOAT (Greatest Dumbass of All Times). Regards
Lorenzo Pasquini 16 slams with 23-15, 9-3. 12 slams with 23-22, 9-6. 19 slams with 15-23, 3-9 and 22-23, 6-9. Maybe he's the GFOAT (greatest fraud of all time) but he ain't the GOAT. Regards 😉
Serena is the G.O.A.T Ah ok, thanks for the info. I thought that RF 95 titles was accomplished in real life, in this world. You are watching tennis in another planet, no doubt about that. Regards
