3. The Forehand
Now we come to completely subjective territory, otherwise also known as La-La Land or Highway to Insanity. The stats are woefully inadequate from this point on, highlighting the unfathomable failure of tennis officials to market their product in the best possible way.
How could we ever have too many stats? Give me the number of forehand winners, backhand winners, forehand unforced errors, backhand unforced errors, forehand volley winners, backhand volley winners, overhead winners, lob winners and drop shot winners hit by all the players, and I'll be lost in the stats for a week.
Sadly, that's probably asking for too much. So until that day of nirvana arrives, when the ATP decides to appoint actual statisticians for every match, we'll have to make do with opinions and observations for topics of discussion like this.
In the forehand category again there are some very conspicuous candidates. There's Federer, whose forehand made people hunt for superlatives when it first made an appearance. There's Nadal, whose forehand probably made Federer hunt for superlatives when it first made its appearance.
The two lesser known Spaniards David Ferrer and Fernando Verdasco can both turn heads with their forehand, albeit in different ways – Ferrer is consistent and controlled, while Verdasco is fire and brimstone. Then there are the power-packed thunderbolts of the big men – Milos Raonic, Gael Monfils, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Nick Kyrgios and Jack Sock can all inflict a world of pain with their mammoth forehands, and are appropriately feared by the rest of the tour.
But Fedal are Fedal for a few very distinctive reasons, the biggest of which is probably their forehand. If you go by single-surface proficiency, there's no arguing against the idea that Nadal's forehand, with its vicious topspin, is by far the best on clay, while Federer's, with its on-the-rise pace, is the best on grass. However, in neutral circumstances, both these all-time great weapons pale in comparison to the force of nature that Juan Martin del Potro's forehand has turned into.
The Argentine practically doesn't have a backhand in his new post-surgery avatar, and yet he has been storming through the draws the last couple of months, defeating Djokovic, Nadal and Wawrinka along the way. You don't get to do that unless your other wing is the best in the world, and fortunately for Del Potro, he's got that covered.
It's a little difficult to describe just how striking a shot the Del Potro forehand is. I've tried doing that in the past, but it never feels enough. No matter what I say or write, the shot looks more gobsmackingly good with every new match that he plays.
Flat, fast and fantastic – that's probably the best way to put the shot in a nutshell. What Del Potro lacks in versatility and touch with his forehand, he makes up for with power and consistency. Whether hitting it inside-out, down-the-line, inside-in or crosscourt, the Tower of Tandil can use the shot to push his opponents back in a way that no other player can. Even his running forehand is a thing of magnificence; while I think Djokovic and Murray own the best running forehands in the game today, Del Potro is not far behind.
Federer and Nadal will probably go down in history as the best forehand strikers of this generation, because of their sheer career longevity. But if a player wanted to borrow a forehand from the current lot to produce the ‘perfect’ game on any given day, he'd have to choose the forehand of a fully fit Del Potro.
The pick: Juan Martin del Potro
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