Roger Federer was in a hard place.
He was down 3-1 and facing another staggering defeat against Rafael Nadal. Yet as we all know now, Fed summoned the full wealth of his weapons and staged a comeback. He reeled off five consecutive games to win the 2017 Australian Open title, an incredible feat, even for him, in that he did so six months after last playing a tournament and four-and-a-half years after last winning a major title.
It was nothing short of striking to witness how well Federer flipped his backhand during that fifth stanza of the championship match. Indeed, that particular shot awakened a side of Fed that we haven't seen for some time. He had to whip it cross-court—yea, even for winners on Rafa's formidable forehand side—to claw his way back into that final set. He showed grit beyond all his usual grace. He visibly sweated. He prowled the baseline, advanced on the net and smashed serves and forehands with authority.
But back to that backhand. In a post titled "The Federer Backhand That Finally Beat Nadal," Jeff Sackmann of the TennisAbstract blog notes some tantalizing numbers about Fed's backhand potency (BHP) over the years—and how its best-ever result arrived in this particular match, which happened to be a Grand Slam final. Concrete numbers don't lie: In terms of points with outcomes determined by backhand efforts, Federer has never in his professional playing days enjoyed such a positive spread of winners/unreturned versus errors on that side.
Consider the bevy of data—so meager in the sport of tennis overall to date—in Sackmann's dispatch. Then consider just how brilliant it was of Federer to take all those Nadal forehands, normally so penetrating to Fed's one-fisted backhand wing, on the rise, take time away from his longtime friendly foe ... and seal the deal for one of the greatest victories of his GOAT career.
Hat tip to Deadspin.*
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