Forehand Says It All?

I too had a peek at v2 and the thread that caught my eye was the one talking about Djokovic and Murray.
I skimmed over the comments, and most parroted off  pundits' usual hype.


I have never been in doubt that Nole is a better player.
Not because he has won more, not because he has a better BH...simply because he has a better forehand.

That is the only reason why he is more aggressive, why he takes it early, why he muscles it a lot less than Murray, why he has success against Nadal.

That then got me thinking...is the forehand that pivotal shot we can judge every player on?

Slowed down conditions and the rise of DBH has only diminished, but not eliminated its key role.

Yes I think Djoko's FH has always been doing more damage than Murray's. But recently the difference between those 2 is essentially on fitness.

Djoko has a better FH, serve, mouvement, fitness
Murray has a better BH, volley, touch.

This easily explains the difference in results...between themselves and against the rest of the field.

Murray's volleying is a myth. I can't even recall an image of him doing it.
Nole is not a natural at the net, but has improved his volleying greatly.
He comes to it  at least 20 times per match these days.

On the other hand, Murray is beginning to play like Nadal, quite happy to stand a few metres behind the base-line and lasso the FH.
I even think he s better at scrambling than him (Nadal).

He definitely has better BH slice than Nole.

All in all, both play percentage tennis: Nole the aggressive and Murray the pushing version.

Except that Nole can raise the bar and go into full on attacking mode esp on clay against Nadal. He also played quite well in the last Wimbledon final.

noleisthebest wrote:Murray's volleying is a myth. I can't even recall an image of him doing it.
Nole is not a natural at the net, but has improved his volleying greatly.
He comes to it  at least 20 times per match these days.

On the other hand, Murray is beginning to play like Nadal, quite happy to stand a few metres behind the base-line and lasso the FH.
I even think he s better at scrambling than him (Nadal).

He definitely has better BH slice than Nole.

He volleys much better than Djoko. he is not a great volleyer but he is pretty solid. And yes because he stands so far back I woudl not call him a natural volleyer however he is good at the net.

Murray has always stood very far back.

I'll take your word for it. You must have watched him more than me.

I only saw him play well a couple of times. He can be a stubborn and difficult player to deal with.

He'd probably be a better player if he was a lighter, esp on clay. As he is now, he is too energy consuming to last.

I liked this Murray.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zTnjCZr35NI
He had great touch and feel here.

yes this clip shows that even at 20, Murray had some good volleys and a good touch.....however his FH was so bad then.

Once again nadal finishing thanks to a better fitness. Murray coudl have won that one in 3.

It is obvious how much tennis has moved on since. Both Nadal and Murray have hugely progressed since 2007.

Thanks for the clip.
Yes, Murray very natural at the net and his complicated game which was compensating for the lack of a decent FH.

Now, he has muscles and with them he can really hit the ball hard, but attacking still doesn't come easy to him as it requires so much energy.

Nadal looks hilarious with that mega moon-ball FH...how on earth did he win that match....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBOeQayp26A

There you see how much better was Gonzo FH compared to Murray....and Nadal. Up to 2010 most of Nadal shots were not passing the T line. He woudl be murdered today if it happened again. In fact he just did ....by Berrer!