Assemble the Greatest Possible "Hybrid Tennis Player"

[brokenshoelace]

Forgot to add Nadal for passing shots. A no brainer.

 

[rafanoy1992]

Serve: Andy Roddick or Ivo Karlovic
Forehand: Roger Federer
Backhand: Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray
Return: Novak Djokovic and Andre Agassi
Mentality: Rafael Nadal
Movement: Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, the way they move around the court is beautiful to watch
Volleys: Stefan Edberg
Slice: Ken Rosewall
Passing shots: Rafael Nadal

 

[Kieran]

Who's gonna coach this genius?

Three names spring to mind: Harry Hopman, Lennart Bergelin, Toni Nadal.

I'll go with Uncle T!

 

[Front242]

Who's gonna coach this genius?

Three names spring to mind: Harry Hopman, Lennart Bergelin, Toni Nadal.

I'll go with Uncle T!

This fella needs no coach We're talking RoboFed or RoboRafa right there "Your move creep!"

 

[brokenshoelace]

Who's gonna coach this genius?

Three names spring to mind: Harry Hopman, Lennart Bergelin, Toni Nadal.

I'll go with Uncle T!

Why would he even need a coach?

 

[shawnbm]

Forgot to add Nadal for passing shots. A no brainer.

I agree that his passing shots are superlative, but I think Borg was as good or better.

 

[Kieran]

Who's gonna coach this genius?

Three names spring to mind: Harry Hopman, Lennart Bergelin, Toni Nadal.

I'll go with Uncle T!

Why would he even need a coach?

Has to have a guy in the crowd scratching his nose, which translates as "lop it into his backhand, you idiot!"

 

[Fiero425]

Forgot to add Nadal for passing shots. A no brainer.

I agree that his passing shots are superlative, but I think Borg was as good or better.

...and Borg was better even with inferior equipment; wood racket and strings at 85# of pressure! The most accurate passer of all time; regardless of era! He had to deal with many serve and volleyors where Nadal has no one that great at rushing the net! How many times does he really have to pass players like Nole, Roger, Andy, and DelPo? So Nadal is getting more props than he deserves!

 

[brokenshoelace]

Forgot to add Nadal for passing shots. A no brainer.

I agree that his passing shots are superlative, but I think Borg was as good or better.

...and Borg was better even with inferior equipment; wood racket and strings at 85# of pressure! The most accurate passer of all time; regardless of era! He had to deal with many serve and volleyors where Nadal has no one that great at rushing the net! How many times does he really have to pass players like Nole, Roger, Andy, and DelPo? So Nadal is getting more props than he deserves!

That's a pretty narrow way of looking at it. Borg passing with inferior equipment means his opponent was also approaching with inferior equipment. In other words, the approach shot was often sliced, or not hit nearly as hard as today's players do.

Today, players approach with a monster forehand taking opponents completely off the court, and yet someone like Nadal still passes them with obscene precision from preposterous angles. So no, Nadal is not getting more credit than he deserves at all.

I'm not saying he's incontestably the better passer (though he probably is once you factor in his ability to pass equally well from both wings), but you can't simply pass him off as the inferior passer because of equipment. It's a limited view.

 

[Kieran]

Most of the time now they pass easily because the approaches are so inferior. I know there are occasions where the monster forehand drives the other fellow off court, but a lot of the time the approach is straight into the pocket. And bouncing nicely. In Borg's day the art of the approach was to narrow the options of the opponent and the slice was fairly hair-raising. But yeah, they were approaching off limited speed and Borg could chase it down. I'd say Rafa is at least his equal in this department...

 

[rafanoy1992]

I don't know if you can consider it here but how about Tennis IQ? I know having great technique is great, but knowing how to construct a point is a good asset too.

 

[Garro]

First Serve: Karlovic
Second Serve: Sampras
Forehand: Fed
Backhand: Djokovic
First serve return: Murray
Second serve return: Djokovic
Mental Game: Rafa

Here are Berdych's picks for the perfect player: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f53HPjUwoFg

 

[shawnbm]

Most of the time now they pass easily because the approaches are so inferior. I know there are occasions where the monster forehand drives the other fellow off court, but a lot of the time the approach is straight into the pocket. And bouncing nicely. In Borg's day the art of the approach was to narrow the options of the opponent and the slice was fairly hair-raising. But yeah, they were approaching off limited speed and Borg could chase it down. I'd say Rafa is at least his equal in this department...

And I view Rafa's passing FH far better than his passing shot on the BH side, whereas Borg was lethal off of both wings. I mean, when I think of the best passing shot player I ever saw Bjorn Borg immediately springs to mind--and I have not watched him from those years in a long time. Rafa and Andy Murray are excellent at passing shots though and two of the best of this era for sure.

 

[Haelfix]

Most of the time now they pass easily because the approaches are so inferior. I know there are occasions where the monster forehand drives the other fellow off court, but a lot of the time the approach is straight into the pocket. And bouncing nicely. In Borg's day the art of the approach was to narrow the options of the opponent and the slice was fairly hair-raising. But yeah, they were approaching off limited speed and Borg could chase it down. I'd say Rafa is at least his equal in this department...

And I view Rafa's passing FH far better than his passing shot on the BH side, whereas Borg was lethal off of both wings. I mean, when I think of the best passing shot player I ever saw Bjorn Borg immediately springs to mind--and I have not watched him from those years in a long time. Rafa and Andy Murray are excellent at passing shots though and two of the best of this era for sure.

Federer and Hewitt were or are ridiculously good passers as well and i'd put both above Murray (but less than Rafa). The latter in particular is probably the most accurate passer of all time.

 

[brokenshoelace]

I think people forget Nadal's game in 2006, when he literally almost never missed a passing shot. Other areas of his game improved after that, but his passing shots actually started regressing after say, 2008, though they remain the best on tour.

 

[britbox]

Serve: Pete Sampras (although if isolating first serve then Karlovic)
Forehand: Roger Federer
Running Forehand: Pete Sampras
Backhand: Novak Djokovic
Slice: Ken Rosewall
Movement/Court Coverage: Rafael Nadal
Forehand Volleys: John McEnroe
Backhand Volleys: Stefan Edberg
Overhead: Pete Sampras
Dropshot: Fabrice Santoro
Lobs: Hewitt / Rosewall / Edberg
Passing: Lleyton Hewitt
Return: Novak Djokovic

Mental Strength: Rafael Nadal
Tactical Prowess: Mats Wilander

 

[Fiero425]

Serve: Pete Sampras (although if isolating first serve then Karlovic)
Forehand: Roger Federer
Running Forehand: Pete Sampras
Backhand: Novak Djokovic
Slice: Ken Rosewall
Movement/Court Coverage: Rafael Nadal
Forehand Volleys: John McEnroe
Backhand Volleys: Stefan Edberg
Overhead: Pete Sampras
Dropshot: Fabrice Santoro
Lobs: Hewitt / Rosewall / Edberg
Passing: Lleyton Hewitt
Return: Novak Djokovic

Mental Strength: Rafael Nadal
Tactical Prowess: Mats Wilander

Sampras' running forehand against Agassi was a sight to behold! All Andre could do was scream "f#@k me" as he was passed while the net! :snigger - They usually had one point in the match that went well over 20 strokes and Pete would break it open with a big forehand running Andre way off the court! All Sampras had to do was stroke an easy backhand into the open court with Agassi in the front row of seats! :laydownlaughing - Nowadays points like that are common place making matches take well over 3 hours for best of 3 sets; ridiculous! :nono :cry

Nole's backhand and service return are "for the ages" great; solid, penetrating, and very consistant! Nadal is so accustomed to hitting high balls into players backhands, but Nole handles them easily and it really hasn't been "broken down" by anyone! You're better off going at his forehand!

 

[Kieran]

Yeah, Pete's running forehand - especially when he was playing possum and leaning on his racket between points as if close to death - was a thing of beauty. Ping! Point over! It was the original clipper. His opponent's like the guy on a jungle expedition leaning too close to the water, danger came sweeping up and killed him. That's how Pete closed off points: dangerously, unexpectedly and irrefutably!

 

[bobvance]

I think people forget Nadal's game in 2006, when he literally almost never missed a passing shot. Other areas of his game improved after that, but his passing shots actually started regressing after say, 2008, though they remain the best on tour.

It's possible his passing shots have regressed but I don't think his opponents have noticed much. You can see the complete unwillingness by most guys to even attempt an approach. The only guy I'd say has had success in the past couple of years at the net against Nadal is Novak, and even then Novak has to hit a bruising, deep shot to get a chance at a volley winner.