- Tsitsi I'd mostly agree with, but a 10 forehand is generous.
- Ruud serve is more 7 than 8 for me off the top of my head (obviously you ran the stats)
- Shapo's baseline variety is weaker than a 7 for me. Forehand offense a 10? Is it offensively as good/reliable as Matteo's? On its day, yes, but he has plenty of bad days.
Overall I liked this analysis and it's pretty spot on.
- Agree Zverev/Med defensive forehands could be 1-2 higher/lower. Think both their net play is comparably exploitable on average but Med has a few outlier great performances in big matches (for eg his 2019 US Open final vs Nadal).
- Could see Tsitsipas forehand as 9 instead of 10, sure. Most of these categories could easily be 1ish up or down and I'd have no argument.
- Ruud's 1st serve has actually posted very solid numbers, unreturned rates, and speed in the last year, although like Sinner I'd prefer to put him as a 7.5, so agree an 8 may be generous.
- Shapo's backhand slice probably doesn't get enough credit, especially in his better performances, but I agree his forehand offence and +1 may be leaning too generous. He's tough to score because of how variable his performances are. I'm probably slightly skewed by how good he was at the ATP Cup and for part of the Australian Open.
Feb 17, 2022·edited Feb 17, 2022Liked by Matthew Willis
It's interesting to me how Shapo and Tsitsi clearly never sliced much as juniors. That shot looks so foreign to them at times for such natural one-handers. They both will struggle to consistently win against the big servers and in big matches unless they get that shot nailed in my opinion.
Shapo's slice and blocked return looks much more natural to me than Tsitsipas'. He used it excellently vs Zverev at the Australian Open this year for eg, although I agree that his selection when to play that shot is often not natural looking and very variable. But completely agree on Tsitsipas, both his footwork to the slice and the actual motion is all over the place for such an elite player. https://twitter.com/mattracquet/status/1321799533781798917?s=20&t=tP7jOKcayyW4JB2fC6l_Og
Have you ever used two of these, with one as a translucent overlay, prior to a match between two of the players?
As a visualisation In my head yup, never otherwise though!
Chart vs. other top 10 should read 43 wins, 12 losses, no?
Yes good catch!
my take:
- Zverev's offensive and defensive forehand is worse than Medvedev's (shameless self plug to my latest on this reason: https://hughclarke.substack.com/p/part-1-forehand-technique-and-swingweight?utm_source=url), but I'd say his net play is better than Meddy's.
- Tsitsi I'd mostly agree with, but a 10 forehand is generous.
- Ruud serve is more 7 than 8 for me off the top of my head (obviously you ran the stats)
- Shapo's baseline variety is weaker than a 7 for me. Forehand offense a 10? Is it offensively as good/reliable as Matteo's? On its day, yes, but he has plenty of bad days.
Overall I liked this analysis and it's pretty spot on.
- Agree Zverev/Med defensive forehands could be 1-2 higher/lower. Think both their net play is comparably exploitable on average but Med has a few outlier great performances in big matches (for eg his 2019 US Open final vs Nadal).
- Could see Tsitsipas forehand as 9 instead of 10, sure. Most of these categories could easily be 1ish up or down and I'd have no argument.
- Ruud's 1st serve has actually posted very solid numbers, unreturned rates, and speed in the last year, although like Sinner I'd prefer to put him as a 7.5, so agree an 8 may be generous.
- Shapo's backhand slice probably doesn't get enough credit, especially in his better performances, but I agree his forehand offence and +1 may be leaning too generous. He's tough to score because of how variable his performances are. I'm probably slightly skewed by how good he was at the ATP Cup and for part of the Australian Open.
Glad you liked!
It's interesting to me how Shapo and Tsitsi clearly never sliced much as juniors. That shot looks so foreign to them at times for such natural one-handers. They both will struggle to consistently win against the big servers and in big matches unless they get that shot nailed in my opinion.
Shapo's slice and blocked return looks much more natural to me than Tsitsipas'. He used it excellently vs Zverev at the Australian Open this year for eg, although I agree that his selection when to play that shot is often not natural looking and very variable. But completely agree on Tsitsipas, both his footwork to the slice and the actual motion is all over the place for such an elite player. https://twitter.com/mattracquet/status/1321799533781798917?s=20&t=tP7jOKcayyW4JB2fC6l_Og
To even think to do this is brilliant. So looking forward to getting into this one.
Is Medvedev's (and Zverev's) forehand defence really that low, compared to a) their backhand and b) their counterparts?
Also what would it take for a player to get a high score on baseline variety? Offensive slices/drop shots/alternating power & spins?