38 Cross Court backhands in a row then I stopped counting

Del Po did a lot of good things, but frankly I was a bit disturbed by one aspect of his play. I had always noticed his lack of the up the line backy, half way through the first set I had seen him to my recollection hit a single one. So I started counting how many backhands in a row he would go cross court. I counted 38 in a row and stopped counting because I wanted to watch the match and not count anymore. If he doesn't change this tendency I don't think he will ever win another slam. This is how important that shot is in the modern game where players leave space in that forehand corner in order to more effectively run around their forehands. I find it to me the easiest shot to produce winners with on the court. You don't even need to hit very hard if you catch it early and hit it really flat. As good as his forehand and cross court backhand are against the absolute best in a five set match, they will make him pay for this weakness. It is one of the most important shots in the game, I personally have never found it difficult to change direction on either side so I find it perplexing when you see a player of that quality lack the belief or technique to hit that shot. Every high backhand I get short on that side I flatten up the line and take it early, if I hit it I almost always win the point with an outright winner or do big damage to the opponent. For a right handed power baseliner that shot is integral to your attack, and to be so deficient in that area as a world class pro is really mind boggling.

Yes, a guy like Federer should just hit inside-out forehands to Delpo's backhand all day long, without having to move much, as Delpo will hit it back where he wants it. Then it's just waiting till Delpo's backhand breaks down. I don't understand how Federer managed to lose against this guy four times.

I agree Chydremion. I mean not being able to go up the line with that shot leaves you so susceptible to that pattern of inside out fh v. cross court bh, you just aren't going to win many of those battles. Del Po does a good job of hiding in that he does run around the inside out forehand if it is hit without enough angle but again then he exposes his own forehand corner by running himself off the court. I know they are changing direction on a much bigger ball than I ever face, but I just have never seen why it is so difficult for some top pros to go up the line and change direction with that shot. Berdych has the same issue in reverse with his forehand.

Socal, just watching the first set and you are right. I haven't seen a backhand down the line so far.

Well let us know when you lose patience with counting HB. This is the biggest hole in Del Po's game that I see right now. Not his movement, that is pretty good for his size, his net play is improved. But the backhand up the line is crucial and he just doesn't have it in the bag.

Perhaps DelPo is making 95% sure, before pulling the trigger.

He won today in spite of this failing. I counted 3 backhands down the line in the whole match, and two of those were drop shots.

Didn't watch every point in the match, but there can't have been many more today.

Henman Bill wrote:He won today in spite of this failing. I counted 3 backhands down the line in the whole match, and two of those were drop shots.

Didn't watch every point in the match, but there can't have been many more today.

Like LF mentioned he relies heavily on inside out forehand to win the point and backhand to keep it on play, he actually do have great backhand down the line just watch USO 2009 vs. Rafa some mind boggling backhands down the line, he just needs some more confidence before he execute all the shots in his arsenal.

Not hitting a backhand up the line lessens the effectiveness of your forehand by allowing your opponent to pin you in your backhand corner so that is non-starter of an argument IC. Hitting down the line more will open up the forehand on the next shot as his opponent will be forced more less to hit del Po's forehand on the next shot. If he has it in his arsenal I haven't seen it and neither has anyone else. I hope he does work on that because the rest of his game is very impressive.

I didn't see the match, but he can hit great backhands down the line yet also refused to do so against Murray... so it must have been tactical rather than a failing. Hard to criticise him for it when he has beaten Murray and Djokovic back to back.

It's a very high bouncing court which is ideal for Delpo as it makes it nigh on impossible to keep the ball low, which is how Murray usually beats him... But you can't really take away from him what he's done. I'd like to know the last player who has beaten 2 top 4 players back to back. I bet it hasn't happened many times over the last 4 years.

Much as Murray and Djokovic fans may hate it, we might finally have a 5th person dining at the top table. That's great news for tennis. They were both long matches and yet he outlasted Murray and Djokovic.... That's an incredible achievement.

Yep and we always felt Delpo should be at that table too...just that he's had some setbacks since 2009. Since then he's been knocking on the door though, giving Roger and Novak tough matches at RG for example. Lets see...I still worry that his body can't take the punishment like the top 4 though. He's some ball striker and has all the shots in the book, I agree if he's not using DTL then it's probably tactical. Plus diagonal shots are longer so he can hit them harder and they stay in!

Danny, there is nothing great about not being able to hit the ball down the line on either side or particularly on your backhand. Nothing at all, if he doesn't address the problem he has a very small chance of winning another slam. It isn't tactical because it would be a stupid tactical decision with no value as I explained above. Not hitting the down line backhand lessens the impact of his best weapon the forehand and allows him to be more often pinned in the backhand corner.

Now as I said he has a lot of great things in his game, but this isn't one of them, and I hope he changes it. You stating that not going up the line with his backhand is a tactical decsion is like a murray fan saying that Andy arming in meatball second serves is a tactical decision.

Socal - Delpo has just beaten Murray then Djokovic on slower courts...he's not lacking for much! Occam's Razor!

Perhaps his thinking was that a BH down the line was an aggressive shot, but both Murray and Djokovic are lightning so likely to get it and exploit the open court? Also, he has a left wrist injury so maybe he was nervous of unleashing on it.

Whichever it was, he managed to extract errors from Murray and I assume the same from Djokovic. And he managed it by playing mainly to both players strength - the DHBH. Kamikaze plan maybe, but it worked against both.

I've seen him hit his backhand flat DTL, so I don't think it's a case if 'he can't do it'.... Tactical or injury, he didn't do it and it worked twice. Is that worthy of criticism or praise? The latter I think.

Great, explain me the tactical advantage of no down the line backhands from a right handed player playing another right handed player who has the arguably one of the best backands in the game. Maybe I am just too dense and dumb to understand it. He won despite this weakness, just like Berdych wins matches not being able to hit his forehand up the line. Great he is having a great week of tennis, in the long run and over 5 sets it is a losing strategy. This isn't the only time I have noticed this issue with him. The up the line backhand is a critical and crucial shot particularly in the modern game do you deny that?

Wrong Danny, the down the line backhand is the best way to insure you get a forehand on the next shot because your opponent is forced virtually to hit to your forehand on the next ball. A terrible play tactically like whipping your man sausage out on a first date at hello, it might work occassionally but generally it isn't an effective dating strategy. In general sucking at something or being predictable isn't good in a tennis match.

Yeah but if it relentlessly goes backhand to backhand it's a case of who cracks first. I would never have thought it would have been Murray and Novak rather than Delpo, but it was. Down the line, and then having to cover the forehand side is the traditional play but it does bring movement into the equation. Once movement comes into play he's unlikely to beat Murray or Novak.

I agree with you in a a sense because if you gave me that plan before playing those 2 players I'd have said it was crazy. But it's all about the bottom line. You can criticise it all you like, but it worked... Twice... Against 2 great players!

Ok great, I hope he does the same thing against Novak from here on out he will continue the trend of losing 9 out of 12 matches. He minimizes his best weapon by this tactic, if this is a good thing and strategic decision I hope he continues to do it. He won't win many matches against Novak or andy by hitting his weaker wing at their stronger wing, and there is no complicated answer to make this decision right despite a couple of good results. What is del po now 14-5 lifetime against the two? Wow that is wonderful a winning percentage in 30s for a guy who has a bigger serve and a bigger forehand than both Murray and Djoko.

I don't agree. Quite a few times Delpo hit a BH DTL, but Novak simply ran across to it in his stretched wide way and then hooked a FH cross court leaving Delpo stranded. Murray is also good at running cross court FHs. I actually thought the cross court slice worked really well too.

There is more than 1 way to play the game, just because Novak drills DTL shots doesn't mean you can't win in other ways too. Ok yesterday wasn't a Bo5 match but it was a long match nonetheless...Delpo has all the shots but he picks what works best for him and his movement...DTL is risky if you're not the best mover, plus Delpo is accomplished at running around his FH.

Agreed Lydian.

Whether you agree with his tactics or not, they worked.

If he beats Rafa, will he be the first player ever to take a title beating 3 of the big 4 along the way? I can't think of another player that has done it.

socal1976. Great spot! An inability or extreme reluctance to go down the line is only a liability however if the opponent takes advantage. From my experience of watching Murray who rarely hits the forehand down the line I know that not all players appear to notice these things.

I agree hawkeye, again if you look at the best backhands in the history of the game everyone of them was known for the up the line backhand. Agassi, connors, Djokovic etc. There is a reason for it because that shot is the high risk/high reward backhand. But to simply to go cross court 95 percent of the time where your opponent can sit on the cross court or run around and hit it inside out with the forehand is nothing but liability. Predictability on a tennis court is not good, and however you want to coach it I just can't agree.

After today I can see why Juan didn't use that shot at all against murray and sparingly against Djoko. It is the weakest link in his baseline game. It did little to no damage to Nadal when he used it. Most of his up the line backhands barely cleared the service line, and had little or no pace. So much so that Nadal had time to run around it and hit a forehand off of his down the line backhand. When your oponent is running around your up the line backhand and cranking it inside out for a winner you don't have a good up the line backhand. He was forced to use it today and it is way more uncomfortable a shot than his cross court backhand. Clearly the weakest shot in an otherwise deep arsenal of baseline shots. To me he needs a much better topspin backhand up the line to make the next step. It is highly deficient at the world class level.

Nadal abused his up the line backhands had time to turn most of them into forehands because they were so short and lacked pace.

It was interesting to see that DP used the slice probably more than Murray, who seemed to be intent on overhitting the ball all the time (probably because he wasn't quite tuned to the conditions)

Not certain Murray or Nole are going to be sucked in to making so many errors, simply because they've been mentally blown away by DP's new patient game!!

Not certain, that DP has the body to play like that all the time against these guys

banbro, both Murray and djoko are in my mind a level above Del Po as a whole. However i was very impressed with how much Del Po has improved his variety and his volleys. He has areas he needs to get better at fitness being one of them, the up the line on the other hand. I think he could win another slam but he needs to get up in to the top 4 and have a draw open up for him.