University of Georgia Athletics
Two Backhands, Two Different Weapons
May 06, 2019 | Women's Tennis, The Frierson Files
By John Frierson
Staff Writer
One shot makes a sound that immediately gets your attention. The other makes hardly any noise at all. Two Georgia women's tennis players, two very good and compelling backhands, two completely different shots.
For Katarina Jokic, the Bulldogs' No. 1 singles player and the top-ranked singles player in the country for much of this season (she entered the postseason ranked No. 2), her two-handed backhand is in every way a powerful weapon, a knockout punch. When the sophomore from Bosnia rips a backhand, you hear it as much as you see it. WHAP!
"When she goes flat and she's feeling it, it's a scary shot," associate head coach Drake Bernstein said of Jokic's two-hander — and by flat he means when Jokic hits it without any kind of spin, a line-drive strike that frequently results in a winner.
Playing at No. 3 singles for Georgia, the top-seeded team in the NCAA tournament that advanced to the round of 16 with a pair of 4-0 wins over the weekend is freshman Lourdes Carle, ranked No. 69. She can hit a good two-hander but it's her slice that's often a thing of beauty.
"She can go short with it, she can go short down the line, she can do a lot with it," Bernstein said.
Both great shots were on full display during the top-seeded Bulldogs' 4-0 win over Wake Forest in the second round of the NCAA tournament. In fact, they were on display together at No. 1 doubles, where Georgia's top team of Jokic and Carle won 6-4, helping Georgia take the doubles point.
At times there was Jokic, ripping powerful two-handers during the same point in which Carle would change the pace with a sharp, biting slice that got their Demon Deacon opponents off balance.
"Kat has one of, I think, the biggest backhands in all of college tennis," Carle said Sunday, after helping Georgia advance to the round of 16. "I think it's the best and it's so nice to have a doubles partner that has that backhand, you know, and it's nice to play with her."
If Carle could borrow any shot from her very talented teammates which would it be?
"I'd definitely borrow Kat's backhand, but I like my game," Carle said, and she should because it's a crafty, variety-heavy game that's anything but predictable.
Carle grew up playing predominantly on clay in Argentina, and that slice backhand of hers can be very effective on the dirt, staying low to the ground and limiting what an opponent can do against it. It also, clearly, works on the collegiate hard courts.
College tennis is often a power game, with the top players blasting big strokes from the baseline, so Carle's slice game can be effective the way a power pitcher's off-speed offering can. It's part of the reason Carle improved to 17-4 in dual-match play with her 6-1, 6-3 win Sunday. On match point, it was that slice backhand up the line that Wake Forest's Eliza Omirou's couldn't return on match point.
"I think it's definitely a shot that helps me a lot," Carle said. "I train a lot on my slice, I practice a lot; probably it's from the clay courts. I'm from Argentina and I always played on clay courts. It's something that I grow I up with, so that's why I think I have my slice."
Jokic will use a slice from time to time, but it's her two-hander that thunders across the Dan Magill Tennis Complex. Back when she was 13, she said, a wrist injury forced her to use a slice backhand almost exclusively. By the time she was 15 of 16, however, the two-hander was in full swing.
"Depending on the day it's one of the best in college, if not the best," Bernstein said. "I think her forehand's really steady, too, so she's got that double-edged sword and that's what we like."
Jokic, who won the ITA National Fall Singles Championship and is 19-4 in completed singles matches during her sophomore season, was up in her match Sunday against Wake Forest's Emma Davis, ranked No. 35, having won the first set 6-2 and they were even at 5-5 in the second when Meg Kowalski clinched the Georgia victory at No. 6 singles. Jokic sprayed a few more errors than she'd like in the windy conditions but overall was mostly pleased with her game that day.
"I think I played really well in doubles and mostly in my singles match. I was up 4-1 in the second and got a little mad at myself and probably should have locked it down, but I learned something from that and I'll keep working on things until I play next time," she said.
And up next is No. 16 Michigan on Saturday, and the Wolverines' very strong lineup includes the player ranked right behind Jokic nationally, No. 3 Kate Fahey. That backhand will need to be big against one of the best players in the country.
As Jokic has shown many times this season, including in her multiple clinching victories in 4-3 wins at the National Indoors, she likes the big matches and big moments.
"For sure, I love when there's a battle on the court," she said. "I love when I play good people and the next match (against Michigan) is going to be even tougher and I'm looking forward to it."
Saturday's match will be the last at the Magill Complex this season, and the last with the old grandstand that went up in the 1970s, before the new one is installed this summer.
Come and look and listen as two great players hit their great and interesting backhands. Come watch Georgia, now 25-1 this season, try to continue its march toward another championship; come say good-bye to the grandstand that has looked out over so many great Bulldogs and so many great Georgia men's and women's tennis moments over the past four decades.
John Frierson is the staff writer for the UGA Athletic Association and curator of the ITA Men's Tennis Hall of Fame. You can find his work at: Frierson Files. He's also on Twitter: @FriersonFiles and @ITAHallofFame.
