Federer or Nadal's forehand?

Which one is the greater shot? I am a Federer fan but sometimes I am in awe of Rafas forehand. But then when you look at winners hit its not even close between the two, Federer is miles ahead. Which is more devastating?

For this tournament, I have to say that the Nadal forehand has been imperious. The Federer forehand has been okay, but Rafa's forehand has allowed him to transition from defense to attack almost seamlessly. I think his musculature may have something to do with it.

Nadal generates more 'forced errors' while Federer gets more clean winners, but also more UEs generally.
They are both incredible in their different ways. Nadals is meant to be more reliable, but on Feds days is forehand can be destructive.

Defensively Nadals is better as he can topspin his way back into the point, plus have you seen his amazing banana shots! But Federer can shorten the point with his.

For me they are as good. In different ways.

Are we talking historically or right now?

Historically, Federer by a long shot. Easily the most consistently devastating FH ever.

Right now, Nadal on clay, on grass pretty equal, still Federer on HC's.

Overall the Fed FH is a better shot. He can hit it with huge amounts of top spin and also flat when he chooses to. He can go dtl or cc with crazy angles. He also has great FH squash shot and he can play drop shots from the baseline with it.

Rafa struggles to hit the dtl FH with consistency outside of clay courts.

Rafa does have a better running FH now and of course he makes less errors but then he does play with much greater margins.



emancipator

"Nadal's forehand is the best shot in tennis" said Andy Murray, 2008 at Hamburg.

It's unique in technique, 5000rpm through massive SSC whip which takes unreal timing not just strength. The spin level gives Nadal access to angles other players simply can't reach or rather keep the ball in. It can be hit as high-loop, recovery shot, or 110 mph flat winner. Probably the best running and passing FH shot. It's a shot that dominates matches and has it has so much spin he can vary it remarkably to create different types of FH. But it's that huge spin that makes it disappear away from players after bouncing, esp. on grippy surfaces like clay and grass. The parabola it creates in the air also makes the timing of their shot back all the harder.

Federer's shot is also amazing but it is a more 'regulation' FH. He can hit it at 3000rpm (2nd highest on tour) but the thing that stands out is how early he hits it taking time away. The SW grip makes it adept across all surfaces. It is THE text-book shot as are most of Feds shots. It is a very pacy shot but I don't think has quite the same variety as Nadal's. Technically has a lot in common with Nadal's. Both are very different to Djokovic's.

Which of Nadal's forehands are we talking about, he's pretty much got two of them?

CAS wrote:Which one is the greater shot? I am a Federer fan but sometimes I am in awe of Rafas forehand. But then when you look at winners hit its not even close between the two, Federer is miles ahead. Which is more devastating?

Yes if you look at errors it also isn't close. nadal will hit less winners but he will also hit a lot less errors. I mean he will get his big shots and winners just less often. I mean it is really close, much closer I think than a lot of fed fans believe. I think both guys along with Sampras, Agassi, and lendl have the best forehands of all time. Roger's probably has the edge. But Nadal hits his on the run much better than Roger. He passes much better than Roger as well.

Nadal generates unbelievable angles with his forehand. I'd say it's about equal. For sheer devastating power, it doesn't get bigger than Del Potro and Fernando Gonzalez.

Lol Lydian. Quoting Murray as if that means anything. We know how much in awe of Nadal Murray is.

What about quoting Mac: 'Roger's Forehand is the greatest shot in our sport'.

Basically you're saying Rafa gets an unbelievable amount of top spin. I'll give you that.

But more variety than Roger? Now you're just being silly. Where are these 110mph flat FH's? He'll be lucky to hit one per season. Roger flattens his FH out with regularity and that's why he finishes off so many more points with outright winners. How often does Rafa hit flat dtl winners? It's a rare occurance and something he can only pull off when he's at the peak of his confidence. Against Novak last year he desperately needed that shot to change the dynamic of the cc exchanges but just couldn't pull it off with any success.

Where are all the crazy CC angles? Sure he hits some but more than Roger, I don't think so. Nadal basically hits his FH with as much top spin as he possibly can. He struggles to flatten it, which is why he struggled so much against Djokovic last year. His tendency to hit with so much top spin was hurting him against Novak who had no problem dealing with the high bouncing ball.

Federer's FH in his peak years was a much more feared shot than Rafa's has ever been. Fed could hit winners at will from any part of the court. Heck, even Rafa knows that. Which is why he never goes there!

Of course, I'm talking about peak Fed vs peak Nadal. Today, I agree there isn't much in it.



emancipator

Come on lets analyze this

1] Backhand - Nadal's better
2]Movement - Pretty equal, Fed got the best court coverage and Nadal is the fastest runner and rotation and recovery on running is just amazing.
3]Serve - Federer, but Nadal got a very strong serve too if not for Ace, Nadal's serve is as good as Fed's one, but yes Fed's serve better
4]Stamina - Fed is very good at it, but Nadal got unbelievable super human stamina.
5]Volley - currently they both are equal
6]Mental Strength - Ofcourse Nadal is way better.
7]Spin - Nadal is a beast
8]Strategy - Nadal has the better strategy on Fed than fed has on Nadal.
9]Smashes - pretty much equal


So if you look at it Nadal got equal or better at most of the things, but Fed still beats him and mostly by his dreaded Forehand, Nadal have to be super good in every other department to compensate the forehand Fed got.

Nadal got one of the best forehand, but he don't win matches by it, he wins matches by several other reasons, Fed's 80% A-game forehand will win the match on its own against most players.

So yes Fed's forehand on his prime is the most destructive shot ever in the game.

DP got a very fierce forehand and if it last consistent might take over as the most dreaded shot in the history of the game.

Well emancipator I'd rather take a current pros word on technique than an ex-pro who's FH was nearly an agricultural machine, lol.

It all depends on how you define greatness of FH. Winners? Rallying? Spin? Movement? Variation? Speed?
If you want to look at pure winners then that to me is a small way of looking at it. Yes, for Nadal when they give times for his FH often hits between 165-175kmh, even with spin...sometimes the heavy spin makes it look slower. I saw one timed at 176kmh at Rome. People say when they watch him practice they are staggered at how hard he hits it. On court FHs aren't timed that often. But we know he doesn't use the flatter hit more often than Federer but the shot is equally if not more dominating...he waits for the opportunity then let's rip with it.

Angles wise he uses loads...last he suffered from this abit and was one reason his wasn't clicking. And yes he was overspinning at times but also stood too far behind the baseline. But he can flatten it out when he needs to...but thats not his style of play. But this year the angles are back (confidence)...and the huge spin allows for that, some can move people around with his FH more than Federer in my opinion. And that's all they are here...opinions...they're both defining shots in tennis right?

Oh give it a rest Emancipator... when lydian says Nadal's forehand is better you have to give up and agree that it is better. Afterall when did a technically sound or a FH with a better variety became better? It's Nadal all the way...

BTW, wasn't it Murray who called all three at the top "greatest of all time" on three separate occasions?

Oh give it a rest Lydian... when Spuranik says Federer's forehand is better you have to give up and agree that it is better. Afterall when did a technically sound or a FH with a better variety and more topspin become better? It's Federer all the way...

BTW, wasn't it McEnroe who called all three at the top "greatest of all time" on three separate occasions?

That post ^ was irony btw.
Everyone has different opinions, accept it

Murray talks lot of ****

lol spuranik, its just my opinion...we can all disagree right?
,,,Agassi, a candidate for best FH himself, said that Nadal had the "nastiest" forehand in tennis. I presume he meant the most difficult to play against.

If you look across forums on this people swing either Federer or Nadal for best FH of all time. Its not clear cut either way...but for sure the 2 of them stand out alone with the shot, they both took the game forward with it.

LOL... Once a few members on this forum were accused of saying the same thing over and over again. And on the slightest of difference in opinion, posters threatened to leave the forum only to stay here and post with gay abandon...

Now that the trend has reversed and we hear everyday how Nadal is best thing to happen to the sport nobody cares.

lol...oooh the sarcasm. Feeling better now?
I'll not expect a Xmas card then.
Happy Posting

Feds forehand anyday, could hit a winner from anywhere when at his best. Speed, angles and spin, he had the most variety and could do anything with it. Aside from the spin on Nadal's forehand adding to the weight of shot, I'm not sure what he does with it that even compares. I'll admit though that he's taken the running forehand that curves around the net a level further than Fed but those shots are rare for anyone anyway.

Just for the consumate ease I would always go with Federer. That is why it is such a shot to behold. The speed of it too. It seems to come across as more precise.

For just the ridiculous angles and spin and variation, Nadal all day.

If spuranik will allow me the courtesy of gratuitously posting with further gay abandon - here's a comparison of 2000-2010 FHs on Bleacher Report. Some interesting points...

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/616272-top-shot-ranking-the-top-18-forehands-in-mens-tennis-2000-2010

spuranik wrote:
Now that the trend has reversed and we hear everyday how Nadal is best thing to happen to the sport nobody cares.

So far in this article it has been a 50-50 split between the two players...
Is this hard to take?

On clay Nadals is superior, on grass I would go Federer as its part of the 1, 2 punch with his serve

Nadal for the simple reason it doesn't break down as easily as Federer's & has more variation

Well today Fed's forehand didn't do him any favors. On a fast surface I would take fed's forehand on slower surfaces I would take Nadal's superior spin and safety like ALpanorak mentioned. It isn't just how many winners you hit, it is also how few errors you hit as well.

socal1976 wrote:Well today Fed's forehand didn't do him any favors. On a fast surface I would take fed's forehand on slower surfaces I would take Nadal's superior spin and safety like ALpanorak mentioned. It isn't just how many winners you hit, it is also how few errors you hit as well.

That is a very pertinent point.

Thanks Craig as we saw today that on clay Nadal's forehand is better than fed's forehand. You can't go wrong with either forehand but Novak really broke down Fed's forehand today which I thought was bit odd. The Fed backhand I felt held up pretty well. But towards the end of the match Novak was directing traffic more and more to the fed forehand and getting more and more joy from the play.

socal1976 wrote:Well today Fed's forehand didn't do him any favors. On a fast surface I would take fed's forehand on slower surfaces I would take Nadal's superior spin and safety like ALpanorak mentioned. It isn't just how many winners you hit, it is also how few errors you hit as well.

It took a while but at last we've got a sensible comment - rather than the fight that always gets in the way of discussing comparisons with these two greats

We saw Murray hit some of his best ever forehand winners, against Ferrer and he still lost due to the fact it was so inconsistent

No-one is going to win owt, by having so many errors

Roger's is the most beautiful one, in full flow. However, Rafa's is the best

Thanks banbro, I think it also has to be taken in the context of how both players play. Nadal's forehand is the cornerstone of everything he wants to do out there. But because he gets it done with huge work on the ball and getting angles and bite on the ball he needs time for a bigger swing. And the clay courts give him that little extra second that really allows him to uncork the forehand the way he wants. Then when that lefty spin does hit the clay court it is also aided by the slingshot effect on clay. So its a double whammy he both has more time to generate extra spin on the ball and that spin is going to get an extra shot of zip from the surface.

On grass I would take Roger's forehand as it is better at hitting earlier and on fast surfaces. But on clay no question Nadal's forehand is the ultimate weapon in the history of clay court tennis.