Listen to the greatest tennis player about his backhand

Q.  Speaking of your backhand, many people feel it's one of the great strokes, one of the most beautiful strokes in tennis history.  You always seem to have time, a lot of rhythm, a lot of balance.  Can you break it down for a minute?  What are the keys to your backhand and then how do you like to use it?

ROGER FEDERER:  Well, I mean, clearly it all starts with the footwork, you know.  Without footwork you aren't going to be able to hit a backhand or you're going to be stretched so much you're not going to be able to hit one.

You've just got to be able to react.  Important is to set yourself up that you have multiple options and you're most dangerous for your opponent.  I think it's important to not always hit it in the same spot so you  I mean, you can disguise it to some degree, but what you want to be able to do is show your opponent that you can hit it all so when it gets important he doesn't know where it's going to go.

Then with me, I can manage with a slice and then the topspin and the flat backhand.  I try to mix it up as much as I can.  But at the same time, I also need to be able to just make enough in a row just for consistency and also for my confidence.

So it's an interesting shot, and it's been one I have worked on a lot throughout my career.  And many have played throughout, which I'm very happy about.
 
Q.  Finally, Stefan has such a fabulous backhand.  Has he made any comments or helped you at all with that stroke?

ROGER FEDERER:  Yeah, I'm just, you know, staying aggressive with the footwork, you know, not sort of leaning back too much, not getting too passive on it, because you can have tendency to do that with a one handed backhand because you can bail out and go to the slice.
I know everybody can, but a double hander usually doesn't.  The one hander, it's so natural for us to play the slice that you almost have to tell yourself to always stay on the front foot and play aggressive.
On a quicker court like here it's definitely one thing you want to do.