U.S. Open Player Spin (Page 5)

In general the top players hit their backhands with significantly less topspin compared to their forehands with some interesting exceptions, including Pete Sampras as noted below.

As with the forehand, on the men's side Sergi Bruguera was the king of topspin on the backhand with his 2-handed shot. His average was 2382rpm, but this was still almost 1000rpm, or 30% less than his topspin forehand.

Interestingly among the men, 3 of the 4 highest spin rates were players who hit the backhand with 1-hand rather than 2 hands. This was surprising because it is widely considered more difficult to generate topspin with a one-handed shot. Tomas Muster, for example, averaged 2264rpm with his one-handed shot, second only to BrugueraUs two hander. Still, this was 20% less topspin than his forehand.

Pete Sampras was unique among all the players, both men and women, in that he hit significantly more topspin on his backhand drive compared to his forehand. His average of 2204rpm was the third highest we recorded, and 20% higher than his forehand topspin average of 1842rpm. Although not among the leaders in spin rate, Petr Korda, known for his exceptional 1-handed backhand, averaged 1553rpm on that shot, a little more than 10% more topspin than his forehand.

Andre Agassi was an exception among the players because of the even balance between sides, hitting the ball with virtually identical amounts of topspin on the backhand as the forehand. Agassi averaged 1754rpm on the backhand, compared to 1718rpm on the forehand.

Shot: Men's Backhands

Player:	Type	No. of Backhand	RPM Range:	Avg RPM:
Sergi Bruguera	2H	6	1667-3000rpm	2382rpm
Tomas Muster	1H	6	1500-3333rpm	2264rpm
Pete Sampras	1H	8	1875-2830rpm	2204rpm
Mark Philippousis	1H	3	1667-2419rpm	2029rpm
Andre Agassi	2H	14	790-2500rpm	1754rpm
Jim Courier	2H	4	1000-2143rpm	1606rpm
Petr Korda	1H	9	833-2727rpm	1553rpm
Michael Chang	2H	11	1154-2055rpm	1437rpm
Todd Martin	2H	1	1304rpm	1304rpm
Marcelo Rios	2H	2	833-1765rpm	1299rpm
Tim Henman	1H	1	1250rpm	1250rpm

Topspin on Women's Backhands

Many women also showed substantial decreases in the amount of topspin hit on the backhand, compared to the forehand. Venus Williams hit the most spin of the women studied, at 1429rpm, but this was also significantly less, about a third less spin, than on her forehand. Anna Kournikova was even more extreme. Her backhands averaged 999rpm, about 60% less spin than her forehand at 1713rpm.

On the women's side, however, there were more players with equal spin rates on both sides. Lindsay Davenport averaged 1332rpm on the backhand, versus 1346rpm on the forehand. Monica Seles was only slightly higher on the backhand at 1321rpm compared to her forehand at 1215rpm. Martina Hingis backhand averaged 1147rpm, which exactly equalled her forehand statistical average.

Shot: Women's Backhands

Player:	Type	No. of Backhand	RPM Range:	Avg RPM:
Venus Williams	2H	8	1000-1875rpm	1429rpm
Lindsay Davenport	2H	5	882-1875rpm	1332rpm
Monica Seles	2H	9	938-2143rpm	1321rpm
Mary Pierce	2H	4	938-1875rpm	1316rpm
Arantxa Sanchez-V.	2H	2	938-1500rpm	1219rpm
Martina Hingis	2H	15	600-1667rpm	1147rpm
Anna Kournikova	2H	8	535-1500rpm	999rpm
Mary Jo Fernandez	2H	10	375-1304rpm	790rpm