[n1_and_uh_noone]

THis is a trivial one. Forehand all the way. If you cannot hit a backhand, you can still control the entire court if you have a great forehand. Impossible to run around the forehand to hit backhands much the same way. Too much room to make and defend. Of course, if you do have a weak wing, you will be a mediocre player, but that is true of forehands as well. On the ATP, all the best players have dominant forehands. Djokovic was a second-tier player till he made his forehand a world-class weapon. Roger's forehand has controlled the tour for years, even when his backhand was not exactly the most lethal out there.

Another one: Anci > JJ achievements-wise .

[Mr.Sharapova]

Forehand no doubt. I could always run around my backhand anyway .

[chuvack]

Originally Posted by Morning Morgan

Case for the forehand: Natural selection above selects for good backhands but rubbish forehands. Having a huge forehand gives one an easy time attacking the forehand wing of the opponent. And in general, forehand has a higher power potential, if done right should be hit harder than the backhand.

You answered your own question. Natural physics makes the forehand the more dangerous and powerful stroke, as well as the harder to develop. A player with a great forehand is always dangerous even if the backhand is shit; if your backhand is great but your forehand is shit, you'll never be enough of a threat to make it as a pro player...

[StoneRose]

Backhand, best players in the world all have good-great backhand. BBB's all have a good if erratic forehand and questionable backhand and in the end that backhand always gets ripped apart against the best.

[Mitten Kitten]

quality-wise we see a lot more players with better BH than FH, so if I had the best BH in the tour I would own probably one of the greatest weapon against the majority of players as they couldn't hurt me with BH CC and I could expose their FH by going BTL.

[moby]

Originally Posted by bobito

I've seen plenty of players run around their backhand and hit a forhand winner. I only recall seeing one run around her forehand and belt a backhand winner and that was Justine up a set and two breaks on clay and in the mood to show off.

Exactly. It's very difficult to run around the backhand the same way as the forehand. The forehand is a more dynamic and linear shot with a naturally bigger strike zone, and one that you can skip around and make a lot of adjustments with even as you are preparing your stroke. On the other hand the backhand requires more stability, and in particular, the double handed backhand is more of a rotational shot and so requires the feet to be set for optimal hitting. As for the one handed backhand, because the stroke requires a large relaxed swing with a lot of room, and the nature of the inside-out stroke is that the ball comes into your body and tends to jam it a little, this makes the already difficult timing even more difficult. It's not surprising that the 1HBH on-the-run out wide is the easiest 1HBH shot for most people to execute, from pros to amateurs.

[miffedmax]

Neither would do me any good as I would completely fail my first doping/drug test.

[Adi1987]

It is traditionally considered that a great forehand can help a player, open up the court with unusual court patterns for e.g the inside out and inside in forehand.




The same can be achieved with a backhand, however not many players with the exception of the Williams sisters have achieved this. Nadal is an example of a player who generates the pattern from the left hand side though from his forehand.

[NashaMasha]

Originally Posted by aselto

Left handed forehand.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shmxc0PnRQs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0i4DOYApdU

[ViennaCalling]

Originally Posted by bobito

I've seen plenty of players run around their backhand and hit a forhand winner. I only recall seeing one run around her forehand and belt a backhand winner and that was Justine up a set and two breaks on clay and in the mood to show off.

Tamira did it twice

[Dominic]

Originally Posted by Fantasy Hero

quality-wise we see a lot more players with better BH than FH, so if I had the best BH in the tour I would own probably one of the greatest weapon against the majority of players as they couldn't hurt me with BH CC and I could expose their FH by going BTL.

This depends on what you mean by quality, if you mean more power, more winners more agressive etc, the forehand thumps the backhand on ATP and WTA.

[Cajka]

Originally Posted by bobito

I've seen plenty of players run around their backhand and hit a forhand winner. I only recall seeing one run around her forehand and belt a backhand winner and that was Justine up a set and two breaks on clay and in the mood to show off.

you'll see players hitting what so-called "inside-out" or "outside-out" backhands, but it's not even similar to inside-out and inside-in forehands, because they don't literally run around their fhs.

[Pie800]

Personally speaking (I'm a lefty), I have/had a wicked backhand, high consistency shot that I hit very flat and hard. My forehand meanwhile isn't the greatest. I suppose I wouldn't change things if I had the choice.

[Shonami Slam]

brilliant BHs are posh, and so am I.

[Corswandt]

Originally Posted by moby

Exactly. It's very difficult to run around the backhand the same way as the forehand. The forehand is a more dynamic and linear shot with a naturally bigger strike zone, and one that you can skip around and make a lot of adjustments with even as you are preparing your stroke. On the other hand the backhand requires more stability, and in particular, the double handed backhand is more of a rotational shot and so requires the feet to be set for optimal hitting. As for the one handed backhand, because the stroke requires a large relaxed swing with a lot of room, and the nature of the inside-out stroke is that the ball comes into your body and tends to jam it a little, this makes the already difficult timing even more difficult. It's not surprising that the 1HBH on-the-run out wide is the easiest 1HBH shot for most people to execute, from pros to amateurs.

I was just going to say that as a rule it's better to be a FH than a BH player since a FH is easier to bring to bear as the footwork required to hit a BH is more complex and much less forgiving of last-minute adjustments in positioning, but in the above paragraph you'll find a much more detailed explanation of this. Bolded part is a very well made and very important point.