The late Bud Collins, a journalist and a TV presenter, was the one who first took to calling her ‘Fräulein Forehand’ . The connect seemed ...
The late Bud Collins, a journalist and a TV presenter, was the one who first took to calling her ‘Fräulein Forehand’. The connect seemed rather obvious. She was German, she had a forehand one simply couldn’t take the eyes off and she hit it with mechanical precision.
When Steffi Graf was playing really, really well, she would bring out the topspin backhand. The go-to shot on the backhand wing at all other times was the backhand slice.
But that wasn’t why people would flock to the stadium to watch her. They weren’t there to see that incredibly hit ball toss for her serve either. Rather, they would wait to see her run around the backhand and then put her forehand to good use. She could hit it inside out, inside in, down the line or simply power it down the middle. It was power tennis way before it became the vogue in the women’s game.
The reason she could do this was down to her footwork. She was incredibly light on her feet and seemed to almost naturally be making small adjustments right up to the point she played her shot. These constant adjustments meant she wasn’t thrown off by the uneven bounce on grass or clay.
Still, running around...
