What is it?
A stroke in tennis where the ball is hit between the legs. It’s mostly a last resort, typically used when a player runs down a lob and has no time to turn. It’s sometimes performed at the net, facing the opponent, when a player is rushed or cramped.
When did it appear?
Four-time major winner Guillermo Vilas and 1983 Roland Garros champion Yannick Noah were among the first to play it, in the 1970s. Vilas was, reportedly, inspired by an advertisement in which a polo rider hit a shot between his horse’s hind legs.
Not to be confused with
The basketball player capable of playing two different positions; the stage in human development between early childhood and adolescence; or even that rare character in popular fiction who’s neither good nor evil, but morally ambiguous.
Who played it best?
Roger Federer’s winner in the 2009 US Open – “the greatest shot I’ve ever hit” – dropped jaws. Other famous versions over the years include Gabriela Sabatini’s ‘Sabatweenie’ and Mary Pierce’s front-facing, leaping adaptation.
