Dominic Thiem picks his top five one-handed backhands in tennis history
Dominic Thiem is still the most recent player with a one-handed backhand to win a Grand Slam title. After falling short in three previous finals, Thiem finally broke through at the 2020 US Open, beating Alexander Zverev to claim his first major title.
Photo by Nicolò Campo/LightRocket via Getty Images Dominic Thiem is still the most recent player with a one-handed backhand to win a Grand Slam title. After falling short in three previous finals, Thiem finally broke through at the 2020 US Open, beating Alexander Zverev to claim his first major title. Since then, Stefanos Tsitsipas has come closest among one-handers, reaching the French Open final in 2021 and the Australian Open final in 2023.
Thiem also collected a total of 17 tour-level titles during his career, adding further weight to his achievements on tour. But despite how effective the shot was for him throughout his career, the retired Austrian doesn’t believe his one-handed backhand belongs among the top five in tennis history. Dominic Thiem leaves himself out of all-time best one-handed backhands Photo by GEORG HOCHMUTH/APA/AFP via Getty Images Speaking on the ‘More Than A Name‘ podcast, Thiem was asked to pick his top-five one-handed backhands ever.
“For me, Stan [Wawrinka] is number one, Richard Gasquet number two, Roger [Federer] number three, Gaston Gaudio number four – unbelievable one-handed backhand,” he said. When pressed to include himself in the list, Thiem replied: “I’m not going to put myself in this; that’s not right. I’ll go with [Lorenzo] Musetti.
” Many players have said publicly that they consider Stan Wawrinka’s backhand superior even to Federer’s. The 40-year-old Swiss is set to call time on his career at the end of this season. Wawrinka won three Grand Slam titles during an era dominated by Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic.