Much has been said/written about Roger Federer's exquisite forehand, his power-serve-nullifying chip return, his balletic footwork. But often overlooked is the 20-time Slam champ's backhand slice, a shot that's been part of his arsenal since his days as a promising junior at the Swiss National Tennis Center.
Rafa Nadal's two-fisted punch it is not, but it's long been one of the toughest shots in tennis to defend. Federer says it hasn't changed much since those teenage days back in Biel.
"I don't know if it's evolved, ever," he explained. "It's the only shot I could hit when I was younger because of a lack of power in my shoulder. I struggled to come over [the top] when I was little. I remember when I went to play in front of the National Tennis Center, the coaches, if they were going to pick me or not, I was like, 'Well, I better come over my backhand, otherwise they think I can only slice,' which I could only really do."
"They picked me," he continued. "Then, as I grew stronger, my backhand started to evolve in terms of my coming over the backhand. But my base, in a way, has always been my slice. I always enjoyed playing that shot."
Federer credits Aussie great Tony Roche, himself a practitioner of the backhand slice in the '60s and '70s, with stressing its importance, not merely as a defensive shot, but an offensive one, a potent groundstroke varietal than can be used to set up something with a bit more pace.
"Some conditions allow you to hit it better than others," said the 38-year-old Federer, who's into the Round of 16 at the US Open for the 17th time. "Nowadays, with slow conditions, it's sometimes harder to utilize, but I still think it has a great place in the game today."
Ashleigh Barty, who in June briefly became the first Australian woman in more than four decades to assume the No. 1 ranking on the WTA Tour, is also a fan of the backhand slice, though she insists hers doesn't hold a candle to Federer's.
"On the women's side, it's just rare," she said. "There aren't too many girls that have a slice backhand. It was something that I learned when I was seven or eight years old. My coach, Jim [Joyce], taught it to me. It wasn't perfect. It wasn't anywhere near even looking like a slice backhand at the start. We kept chipping away. I kept trusting in him that he knew what he was doing."
"It's a shot I love to hit now, a shot that I feel like I can back myself more times than not, that I can trust it and put the ball wherever I want with it."
Federer and Barty surely aren’t the first to employ the shot as a bait-and-switch tactic, lulling their opponent, then going for the winner. Steffi Graf jumps to mind. Stefan Edberg, too. But it is somewhat of a rarity these days. Makes you wonder if the shot will experience a renaissance.
