Design A Perfect Tennis Player

[ClayDeath]

Let us have some fun with this. Can you design a perfect tennis player?

I can get things started anyway. I would take Rafa's forehand and his movement when he was in his prime.

I would want the Pete Sampras serve (both the first and the second serve) and the Roger Federer net game. next I would take the Djokovic backhand.

 

more on this later. lot more to add.

 

 

[ClayDeath]

my return of serve: Djokovic

my sliced backhand: Roger Federer

mental toughness: Muster, Rafa in his prime, and Sampras

 

[ClayDeath]

the ideal height of my perfect tennis player is 6 foot 3.

the average height of a touring pro in the top 100 is 6 foot 2 now and slowly inching up.

 

 

[britbox]

Good thread, I was thinking of getting something like this going, but you beat me to to it.

I assume we can use players from any era?

 

[shawnbm]

We have bantered this about in the past.  Sampras and his service at all times gets my vote.  Federer's forehand from this prime years when he was number one was the next best weapon, although Sampras' running forehand was as good as any I have seen (along with Borg's).  Rosewall's slice backhand may be the best we saw, but would take Federer's as well.  Volley shot?  John McEnroe and Stefan Edberg, with Mac's deft touch being it for me.  Driving backhand is a tough one.  I thought both Connors and Borg had magnificent backhands, both as rallying shots and as passing shots, with a slight edge to the Swede because he had more topspin.  Agassi's backhand was also stellar.  Overhead?  Federer and Connors had fabulous overheads that they hardly ever missed.  ROS?  Agassi and Connors if we are in a serve and volley era. Nole if we are talking the post-Sampras world.  I would like to see a guy with Marat Safin's size have all of these gifts.

 

[ClayDeath]

I think Safin was 6 foot 4. what a talent he was.

he just did not bother to maximize his potential.

 

6 foot 4 is most likely to be the ideal height going forward into next 10-20 years.

 

[ClayDeath]

Muscles (Rosewall) slice and the johnny mac volley is pretty hard to beat.

 

[britbox]

First Serve as an isolated shot... Dr Ivo (nobody close IMO)
Service game in general... Sampras

Forehand Groundies... Bit of a wash between a prime Federer and prime Nadal. I'll go with Federer as I prefer shotmakers.

Backhand Groundies... Novak Djokovic. Forget Nalbandian, Forget Edberg... Nole is as as solid as it gets and his signature DTL, one of the most effective shots in tennis history.

Forehand Volley: McEnroe

Backhand Volley: Edberg

Lob: Hewitt

Overhead: Sampras

 

We could of course, break the strokes down... Like CD's choice of Rosewall with the backhand slice for instance...

 

[ClayDeath]

 

[calitennis127]

Nalbandian serving at 70% and not hitting double faults. Perfect player.

 

[Mastoor]

There are many of these perfect player design discussions in other tennis forums and even in articles, but before you start with them, think about this: There is a consensus among tennis fans that the tennis player with most elegant shots is Federer, yet there's no one who can mime his forehand, so why would anyone bother including something that is unique. On the other hand, there are two other similar forehands that people are more likely to emulate, Novak's and Rafa's (except that you are unlikely to match Rafa's balls rpm).

Next issue is whether player is right-handed or lefty.  If the player is lefty, seems there's only one choice, everything Rafa's should be copied except maybe net game and doubles skills from McEnroe. If the player who should emulate others to make a perfect one is right-handed, then there are obviously more choices.

 

 

 

[Moxie]

I think Safin was 6 foot 4. what a talent he was. he just did not bother to maximize his potential. 6 foot 4 is most likely to be the ideal height going forward into next 10-20 years.

The average height of the current top 10 is still 6'1 (185.6cm).  (And if you do the Big Four, you're still just over 6'1.  Murray pushes the number.)  Those hitting below the average are Wawrinka, Ferrer and Nishikori.  Those above are Djokovic, Murray, Berdych, and Tsonga.  Right in the sweet spot are Federer and Nadal, with Murray and Djokovic not off of it by much.

I get the notion that tennis will get taller, (which it has,) but I wonder how long it will take.  Safin is well pointed out here.  It turns out he was an anomaly.  Everyone thought he was the future of Big Man tennis, but it has not so much proven to be so.  None of the big guys has the same movement and game as Safin.  He's actually shorter that a lot of the men we put in his category. The only other two very tall Major winners are Del Potro and Clilic, both 6'6", and both, as far as it goes now, very potentially one-slam winners..  I do think the average height will get higher,  though not so fast as we imagine.

 

[brokenshoelace]

First serve: Karlovic

Second serve: Isner

Return of serve: Djokovic

Inside out forehand: Federer

Cross court forehand: Nadal

Running forehand: Sampras

Cross Court backhand: Djokovic

Down the line backhand: Nalbandian

Slice backhand: Laver

Drop Shots: Federer (both wings)

Forehand passing shots: Nadal

Backhand passing shots: Djokovic

forehand volleys: Mac

backhand volleys: Edberg

overhead: Sampras

forehand lobs: Nadal

backhand lobs: Hewitt/Murray

defensive lobs: Djokovic

Footwork: Federer

Movement/Athleticism: Nadal

Mental strength: Nadal

 

[calitennis127]

First serve: Karlovic Second serve: Isner Return of serve: Djokovic Inside out forehand: Federer Cross court forehand: Nadal Running forehand: Sampras Cross Court backhand: Djokovic Down the line backhand: Nalbandian Slice backhand: Laver Drop Shots: Federer (both wings) Forehand passing shots: Nadal Backhand passing shots: Djokovic forehand volleys: Mac backhand volleys: Edberg overhead: Sampras forehand lobs: Nadal backhand lobs: Hewitt/Murray defensive lobs: Djokovic Footwork: Federer Movement/Athleticism: Nadal Mental strength: Nadal

I'm sorry, but I don't see how the lobs of Djokovic and Nadal can be listed here given how infrequently they have hit them throughout their career, particularly Nadal. Nalbandian was frankly just better than both of them at this, to the point that his lobs were pretty much offensive weapons.

 

 

[brokenshoelace]

Broken_shoelace wrote:
First serve: Karlovic Second serve: Isner Return of serve: Djokovic Inside out forehand: Federer Cross court forehand: Nadal Running forehand: Sampras Cross Court backhand: Djokovic Down the line backhand: Nalbandian Slice backhand: Laver Drop Shots: Federer (both wings) Forehand passing shots: Nadal Backhand passing shots: Djokovic forehand volleys: Mac backhand volleys: Edberg overhead: Sampras forehand lobs: Nadal backhand lobs: Hewitt/Murray defensive lobs: Djokovic Footwork: Federer Movement/Athleticism: Nadal Mental strength: Nadal

I’m sorry, but I don’t see how the lobs of Djokovic and Nadal can be listed here given how infrequently they have hit them throughout their career, particularly Nadal. Nalbandian was frankly just better than both of them at this, to the point that his lobs were pretty much offensive weapons.

Nalbandian's backhand lob is up there with anyone. But, he isn't the mover the other two are, so often times they're able to make lobs that he wouldn't get to with as much time. If he has his feet set, I'd take his backhand lob over Djokovic.

But I find it hilarious that you make a post like this after calling Nalbandian the perfect player (well, Nalbandian with a serve). Yes, would have been the perfect player with an imperfect forehand, movement, defense, etc... Not that he couldn't do all of those things when playing well but there are literally dozens who did them far better.