Daniil Medvedev's backhand
Traced frame by frame from real footage.
Medvedev's two-handed backhand is flat and almost unmissable. In 2024 he put 90.2 % of backhands in play, the only top player above 90 %, with 1,496 rpm against a 1,775 average, and he was the only top-20 player to hit more backhands than forehands.
- 1Seen from behind, the backswing is long and low, taken well back with both hands.
- 2Through contact the racquet travels on a long, level path with both arms extended toward the target.
- 3Only after that long extension does the racquet rise to a high finish.
Our own observations from the traced frames. Flip through the plate above to check them.
By the numbers
2024: 53.1 % of his groundstrokes were backhands, the only top-20 player above half. He put 90.2 % in play, the only player above 90 %.
Craig O'Shannessy, ATP Beyond the Numbers, Sep 20242024: 68 mph, exactly the tour average, with 1,496 rpm against 1,775, clearing the net at 0.69 m against 0.73 m. He sliced only 9 % of backhands against a 21 % average.
ATP Beyond the Numbers, Sep 2024He returns first serves from 3 m or more behind the baseline on average, and at times from 6 m.
ATP Beyond the Numbers, Aug 2023
2021 US Open final
Medvedev beat Djokovic 6–4 6–4 6–4 to stop the calendar Grand Slam by locking him into backhand exchanges. Djokovic hit 57 % backhands, against 42 % in Rome that year, and made only 6 groundstroke winners to Medvedev's 16.
Craig O'Shannessy, Brain Game analysis (republished)What you can copy
The lesson is tactical more than technical: a low-risk, flat cross-court backhand that almost never misses can decide matches by making the opponent go for too much.
Our reading of O'Shannessy's 'backhand cage'
What we don't claim
- We found no credible source for his grip, so we don't give one.