Novak "the baker" Djokovic hits maybe the hardest backhand I have ever seen tonight

The guy cranked a backhand up the line for a winner on Wawrinka in the second set today at 154 kph which is about 95 miles an hour. The fans stood up and cheered and wawrinka who was standing on that side of the court dove at it happlessly. Stan served lights out in first set 74 percent first serve percentage, 4 aces and zero doubles. He still got beat in a real tight set. Then he just completely wilted while Djokovic unleashed a flurry of winners in the second set. The baker should have served up a bagel in the second set, but had to settle for an order of breadsticks. I know I wrote an article about how you can't go at Novak's forehand, but after witnessing that backhand today from outside the sideline and behind the baseline zipping by poor Stan at nearly a hundred miles an hour, on second thought if you are playing Novak hit it to his forehand. So much for the slow courts of Rome cramping his style. Although I think Novak has the toughest quarter of anyone tomorrow. Soderling has been playing well and is always a threat with all that power and the big serve.

I think, socal, you'll find that this is the hardest backhand you've ever seen. 159 kph, take that

Having said that, 154 kph down the line (thus over the highest part of the net) is indeed impressive. Hope we get to see a Murray Djokovic semi, would be interesting to see which tactics Mrray uses...

Yes, Mad for Chelsea Andy has a great backy as well, I find it perplexing when people claim he has no weapons. They said the same thing about Djoko at the tail end of last year. It certainly would be a highly entertaining semi. I tell you what outside of the AO if novak does manage to keep his streak alive in Rome with the murderous draw he has been dealth Ill be real surprised. Novak plays ever dangerous Sod, while andy plays Florian Meyer. For Novak to win the title he will have to beat Wawrinka, Soderling, probably Murray, and probably Nadal all on consecutive days.

To be frank; i thought until 4-4 Stans shots were more powerful, even his single H BH against Djoko's double. In fact; Djoko got a little worried there.
But the 30+ shots rallies took al lot out of Stan, while at the moment Djoko can play those all night long if he has to.

About that one shot, naah, i guess Gonzalez did it before (single handedly!)

Novak's has had the toughest quarter in Madrid, too (Ferrer), unlike Murray who has had an unbelieavable cupcake draw.

There is no such thing as an unbelievable cupcake draw in a Masters 1000!!!!

Nadal if anyone has the toughest one, and he isn't 100% fit.

Anyway could this be the end of Djokovic winning run

Hey socal.

I saw the game last night and that first set was some of the best tennis I have seen on clay. Wawrinka will probably sit there today and think how did I lose that first set. His defence play was superb. Djokovic again showed the class and composure to see out the set and save break points. I think Djokovic is looking the player to beat on clay.

Galleryplay fernando hits hard on the forehand but have never seen him hit a backhand that hard, the only guy I have ever seen hit a one handed backhand nearly that hard, is James Blake. There you go Stealth there is you james blake reference for the evening.

Sportslover with Federer and bellucci getting beat nadal has a cupcake draw, what Cilic who is a slumping hardcourter? For Novak to win this tournament he will have to beat 3 top 5 players in consecutive nights including most likely the world #1. While Nadal who will have to beat basically nobody.


Legendkillar, Stan played about as well as he played all year in that first set. Imagine hitting 74 percent of your serves in and striking the ball cleanly from the baseline only to lose the set. In the second set Stan lost a bit of focus and Novak kicked it into 5th gear and Stan just couldn't keep up. At one point it looked like target practice.

Socal, of course he's known for his forehand but as one of the few guys who strives for the hardest shot possible and although he used the slice most of the time, he has the power and temper to produce a rocket from the BH side.

Blake is comparable with Gonzalez in many ways, probably a better "early hitter".

BTW: Ljubicic has a pacey SHBH on his day and don't count Wawrinka out.

galleryplay, all I said was Djoko hit the hardest backhand I have seen tonight. Gonzo certainly is a big hitter, I haven't seen him hit harder on the backy, the forehand for sure he cranks it, but then again maybe I missed it. Still the award for the hardest single hander I have seen goes to jimmy blake. He also hits probably the most errors of anyone on that shot as well, sorry Stealth. Maybe there are other guys who have hit harder backhands, this was the hardest one I remember seeing.

Djokovic torturing Soderling with the drop shot tonight, must have won about nine or ten points with it tonight. Now he has really caught fire 4-0 second set.

Yep. this has the same pattern as yesterday's match.

The baker strikes again, dishing out another bagel to the world #5 and two time french open finalist. Djokovic won the last 15 points of the match in a row. Robin Soderling one of the best servers on tour won exactly 17 percent of points on his second serve.

Soderling should be embarassed with his performance in that second set IMO. From the moment he went 0-2 down he basically gave up, reminded me of when he got bagelled (and beaten) by Benneteau at the FO a few years back. He had that same sort of "I just want to get off court" look. Unacceptable for the world n°5, very disappointed.

Having said that, Djokovic after a slightly up and down first set played some lovely stuff in the second.

I think the drop shots were like chinese water torture, sort of like Roberto Duran quitting from the sheer humiliation of Sugar Ray leanords trickery. Mad for Chelsea when he went down a double break all resistance faded, but you have to give the opponent the credit, he took Soderling out of the match with great variety today. The return was again epic, the up the line back ferocious, the defense incredible, and don't even get me started on the lobs and the drop shots. The second set Djokovic made soderling realize that he had no chance and soderling folded. 15 straight points to finish the match! He did the same thing to wawrinka last night.

I give Djokovic plenty of creddit socal, he was excellent again today, but for me Soderling stopped trying once he failed to get the break back in the second game of the second set, and for me that's not acceptable. 1( straight points can thus be taken two ways...

Once again though, all credit to Djokovic, and really looking forward to Murray's tactics tomorrow. Suspect it will be slightly more varied than Sod's approach...

I think Murray is one of the few players with his variety of shots that can actually stop Novaks run.

The long rallies at this year AO final didn't work for him but I think (hope!) that he has learnt from that and will try to keep the points as short as possible.

Should be entertaining.

That's maaaa boy

Let's boogie Socal:

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

GO NOLEEEEEEEEE

NITB, he is looking so good out there he is doing it all Soderling was totally intimidated in that second set. He made the #5 player in the world look like the 505 player in the world. It certainly is time to boogie, love that clip!

Sportslover, Murray has the variety but frankly I don't think he can beat Novak on current form. Andy has the talent, but on clay, with the way Novak is playing I think it is a tough ask. Andy got broken with regularity against Florian Mayer, a good player but nothing particularly special. I think Novak is just going to make minced meant out of Andy's serve.

Djokovic has won 9 sets this season with a scoreline of 6-0 and 12 more sets with a scoreline of 6-1. When he finds that higher gear nobody can keep up with him. And twice this season he has beaten top 30 players with a scoreline of 6-0, 6-1. Victor Troicki and Ernest Gulbis seemed to enjoy the bagels served up by the baker so much that they then proceeded to order a serving of breadsticks. God its good to be a Novak fan right now.

"Andy got broken with regularity against Florian Mayer"

First set only when he got out of second gear and took sets two & three both at 6 - 1 there was no looking back.

I agree that his serve is crucial in order to get a result and I hope that he can start producing Aces as he is well capable of doing.

Anyway Novak is my second favourite tour player but hey it's somebodys elses turn to go for the Silverware!

Either way let's hope for an exciting match, something similar to Murray v Nadal at the WTF finals last year would do nicely.

Sportslover, Andy I think has overperformed as most people felt he would continue to slump on clay and so far he has performed reasonably well this clay court season. That being said, I think Andy would have a better chance on a hardcourt, although a hardcourt is Novak's best surface. Novak has 2 clay court master's and 6 tournament wins on clay in his career and Murray has zero. I could see Andy beating Novak if he plays well on grass possibly on a hardcourt. But right now on current form playing on clay I don't see it. If Florian Mayer breaks you three times what do you think the best returner in the game is going to do to your serve on a slow clay court? For Andy to win this match Novak will have to play really poorly and Andy would probably have to serve in the 70s in terms of percentage of first serves in. And good luck with hitting a bunch of aces on this slow surface against Djokovic, if soderling can't what makes you think murray will be able to.

Soderling broke Novaks serve in the first game played a few good shots in the third and then disappeared to get a bagel in the 2nd set.

I doubt if he was capable of serving aces far less anything else.

But no doubt "Ironman" would have been able to stop them had he.