The sound of the ball smashing off the racket when it hits the sweet spot, a wonderful slice that bamboozles the opponent or a swing that generates so much top spin; there’s so much to admire about a sweetly-struck forehand in tennis.
Given that we’ve been blessed to live in an era containing some the best players we have ever seen—all of which have fearsome forehands to say the least—putting this list together took hours of debating.
However, we have reached our verdict: here are just some of the tennis stars that truly have magical forehands.
Roger Federer
It would almost seem wrong in a way if we didn’t start with a certain Mr Federer; after all he is considered by many to be the greatest player of all time. The Swiss’ forehand is synonymous with impeccable timing and technique and there’s no doubt in our minds, despite his plethora of other amazing shots, that without this fearsome weapon he may not have won as many major titles as he has.
He may be getting on now, but as his recent Wimbledon final with Novak proved, he still has what it takes to compete at the highest level and his stunning forehand is integral to that success. If his body holds he could well be in with a great chance of claiming victory at the end-of-season US open so, if you had a flutter on him to win Wimbledon, and fancy his chances at Flushing Medows but don’t want to be let down again, then have a glance over some bookie no deposit free bets and offers that you’ll find at betandskill.com.
Rafael Nadal
It’s hard to mention Roger without then mentioning Rafa, who, depending on what team your supporting, is also regarded by some as the greatest of all time.
Unlike Federer, who also relies on his stunning and elegant backhand, without doubt the biggest weapon in Rafa’s repertoire is his forehand.
An interesting fact you might not know about Nadal is that his is actually right-handed but he plays with his left but when he first burst on the scene the one thing that stood out (aside from his grit and mentality) was his unique, extreme grip forehand.
Because the Spaniard has such an unconventional hold on his racket he can generate an
unbelievable amount of spin on the ball, which is extremely difficult to face. It’s not just the spin too, the thing that makes Rafa’s forehand stand out is the fact that he can hit it with spin but with such power too.
On clay, where he is unquestionably the best player ever to have graced Roland Garos, this combination of speed, plus spin, makes his forehand nearly unplayable and given that the ball bounces higher on the clay surface it’s very hard to generate a return that will hurt him.
Juan Marin Del Potro
Dogged by injury problems, which has probably been the biggest reason why he hasn’t won many majors, the Argentine has one of the quickest and most powerful forehands the sport has ever witnessed.
The Argentine in his prime could crack a flat forehand at close to 150 km on a regular basis from all sides of the court and, as even some of the best defenders over the years have found, even if you do mange to return one of these rockets, 9/10 you will sending a ball back at Del Potro.
Honorable mentions
As we alluded to at the start it was always going to be tough to pick just three so we have to give shout out’s to Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray and even Gael Monfils; all of who have stunning forehands for different reasons that are unplayable at times.
