I remember vividly in 2011 in the tournament in Rome for you guys who are fans of intuitive
tennis you know that I'm a huge Rafa fan and at the tournament in Rome in 2011 Novak Djokovic
beat Rafael Nadal in the final and it was in this particular match where I understood the quality
of Novak Djokovic's forehand because in my opinion it is the most versatile and the most
consistent forehand in the history of tennis and that has to be taken into account when we judge a
forehand most people when they think who has the best forehand in the history of tennis of course
they're going to go with somebody like Federer Nadal or maybe Alcaraz and yes those forehands
might be more powerful than Novak's forehand they might be flashier there might be more stylistic
but I'm gonna present you with a scenario let's say you take these four guys Alcaraz Nadal Federer
and Djokovic and you have a ball in the middle of the court and you have to put your entire life's
savings on a player to make this forehand and hit a winner who would you choose out
of these four guys in my opinion even though I'm the biggest Nadal fan of all time I'm gonna
put my money on Djokovic let me go back to the match in 2011 in Rome when Djokovic beat Nadal
in straight sets and where I realized how good Novak's forehand was and it's the fact that he
is so versatile where he can flatten the ball out if he wants to but he can also play with a
tremendous amount of spin in that particular match I felt like Djokovic's spin on the
forehand was just as lethal as Nadal's spin who arguably has the best topspin forehand in the
history of tennis so Djokovic has the ability to flatten the forehand out and also has the
ability to hit with an extreme amount of topspin he does something on his forehand That You Don't
See from some of the other greatest forehands of all time Nadal Federer or alcaraz where on those
three guys on 100% of their forehands you're going to see the tip of the racket go towards
the outside as they're going across the body so they are applying topspin on every forehand now
the trajectory might change sometimes especially on someone like Federer who hits the ball with
spin but also sometimes there's a tendency to play lower than someone like a Nadal but regardless of
the trajectory of the ball both Nadal and Federer play with a tremendous amount of topspin Novak on
the other hand will sometimes have the tip of the racket go through this way this is something that
you see on the WTA tour quite frequently which I categorize as flat topspin you will not see this
on the ATP too much but you do see it from time to time on Djokovic on the vast majority of Novak's
forehand however he will go across the ball where the tip of the racket goes from the outside across
the body this way what most ATP players do on the forehand so the fact that he has this ability to
hit the ball flat and he has the ability to play with a tremendous amount of topspin makes his
forehand more versatile than any other player in the top hundred but that's not the main reason why
I think that Djokovic has the greatest forehand in the history of the game it is simply the fact
that he's the only player that I can think of they can play mistake free tennis I'm sure you
wouldn't disagree with me if I called Novak Djokovic the greatest baseline player of all
time what is a baseline player someone who has a an incredible forehand and an incredible backhand
now Djokovic will often run around his backhands to hit forehands so you can make an argument that
70 percent of the time when he's playing Baseline rallies Djokovic hits forehands so if you call him
the greatest baseline player in the history of tennis it is because of his forehand that
his Baseline game is so strong why is his baseline game so strong because he's the only player
that I can think of that can play mistake free tennis I recently did a podcast with Emma who
I frequently feature on my channel and you should subscribe to Emma she has a YouTube channel of her
own called tennis with Emma and in this podcast Emma was asking me rapid fire questions who has
the best forehand who has the best backhand and I said the name Djokovic a lot and she asked me why
did you say Djokovic to all these shots are you serious that you think that Djokovic has the best
forehand of all time and I want you to listen to my response you said Djokovic a lot yeah it
was like Djokovic really you think Djokovic has the best forehand yeah I do think so it's not the most
powerful forehand it's not the forehand that produces the most winners the greatest forehands
Djokovic have the best forehands now if you want to add like alcaraz he's his forehand is
incredible too if you want to add players from the past like Fernando Gonzalez in my opinion the
best three forehands in the history of the game are Djokovic Nadal and Federer and if you compare
Djokovic's forehand is better again at that Elite level I feel like Djokovic's forehand
is the one that's least likely to break down in pressure situations I feel like sometimes Federer
will shank a forehand here and there I feel sometimes nadal will leave his forehand short
I feel that djokovic's forehand is the most reliable one it might not be as lethal as
aggressive as Nadal and Federer but I feel like it's more consistent you see I'm surprised that
you didn't mention any of the newer uh younger generation you know like Alcaraz Ruud I think uh
hoger rune's forehand is like a monster forehand but I think we have to wait and see like yeah how
consistent these guys are but obviously like all the youngsters have amazing forehand's now yeah
but you know having said this about the big threes forehand I do feel there are technical reasons
why this is the case or why I believe that this is the case I'm not going to say issues because
they're not issues but technical characteristics that make Djokovic's forehand less likely to break
down compared to Federer and Nadal I feel like Djokovic's forehand is more consistent
okay can you tell me two or three characteristics on djokovic's forehand that that separate him from
the others okay this is kind of a complex answer but let's just say has a tendency he can flatten
his forehand out too if he wants to he can hit very hard long and strong when he wants so you
can flatten the forehand out but when he hits it with spin I feel like there's a similar amount of
spin between him and Federer Nadal of course has the most spin even though I've seen things where
Federer's spin was measured similar to Nadal's as well when you look at Federer when he strikes
his forehand at his at his worst when you look at Nadal when he strikes his forehand at his worst I
feel the fact that they are completely extended at the moment of contact gives them less area
to make adjustments I feel like because Djokovic has a slight bending in his elbow at the moment
of contact I think it's a little bit easier for him to make adjustments if there's a bad bounce
if there's some kind of change to the ball because I feel that both nadal and Federer are locked in
at the moment of contact and so because they have incredible footwork maybe two of the best movers
in the history of the game and this Djokovic they rarely have issues on the forehand but they do
sometimes like every now and then Federer will frame some every now and then Nadal will leave
some short and also frame some and hit some long again this is also connected to their mental state
at the time so I'm not gonna like put it all down to the technique but I feel like Djokovic
rarely has these little all ups and downs on the forehand I feel like the forehand is always going
in yeah always going in and when he wants to he can flatten it out and go hard because I feel
like technically it's a more simple movement I feel like the movement of Federer and Nadal
is more complex it's more difficult and when something is more complex it can break down
sometimes now of course a stroke depends on other factors that don't have anything to do
with technique in other words the mental game of a player there are other factors that will
contribute to somebody making a shot or missing a shot there's no doubt about that and I also do believe
that Novak Djokovic is mentally the strongest players that will ever have seen on the ATP Tour