The Post Watch: Kei Nishikori blasts one-handed backhand on Roger Federer's birthday appeared first on Tennis World USA Two ...

More than a year after his retirement, Roger Federer remains the poster boy for the one-handed backhand – tennis’s most aesthetic shot. Yet he could also be the key to its decline.

On his next swing, Federer uncorked a backhand winner and broke back. Free at last, he sprinted to the title. Instead of Nadal claiming his 15th major title, Federer won his 18th.

Before he was through, Federer also made his backhand into a point-winning stoke of its own. It happened in the fifth set of the 2017 Australian Open against Nadal.

In the Melbourne final, Federer barely sliced a return at all, driving backhand after backhand, 14 of them for winners, including eight in the deciding set as he won his record 18th grand slam title.