Nadal supports elimination of two serve rule

mrzz

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hmmm... currently, yes, Raonic would not make the cut, but when he was "in his prime", he routinely served above 120 MPH on his second serve, that's why I had him so high. Not coherent with that, though, when I thought of Federer, I thought of "current" Federer. He surely served better in other parts of his career and those "versions" could be right up there with Kyrgios at #1.

I am pretty sure Muller at least deserves to be in the list. His has a lot of variety in his serve, and his placement is very good. Even if he can serve 135 MPH bombs, he varies a lot. I checked Muller's serve stats and they are good -- but not that good. Probably he got better in the last part of his career, which is exactly when I saw him (occasionally) play. In those opportunities, his percentage of landed first serves was extremely high, and that is maybe the most important indicator of how well one guy would fare in this new rule.

So, yes, for Muller and for Raonic I considered the best that they can do, while maybe for others I didn't...

Ah, just remembered: one guy who could do quite well in such a situation would be Dolgopolov. He has an unorthodox serve (his toss is a bit lateral), so I always had the impression that his first and second serves were almost the same..
 

Moxie

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You're moving around between theoretical "whenever" and now. I think you have to pick a time-frame. I rather like your insistence of Muller, because it's so random, as he's retired, and he's only really a good pick, late-career. But I think it would be best to focus on a parallel future, given that it may never happen, but only would in the future. Just my thought.
 

mrzz

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You're moving around between theoretical "whenever" and now. I think you have to pick a time-frame. I rather like your insistence of Muller, because it's so random, as he's retired, and he's only really a good pick, late-career. But I think it would be best to focus on a parallel future, given that it may never happen, but only would in the future. Just my thought.

Oh, sure I had to pick a time-frame... but let me just be a little not-too-coherent for a while, ok? :)

And, yes, a parallel future would be more, well, realistic. Just that I know better older players than younger ones. But we could try and play around with that. This resets all to current form, and takes also into account ability to adapt.
 
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monfed

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dull should stop moonballing and play normal tennis shots and everything will be fine.
 
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Nadalfan2013

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dull should stop moonballing and play normal tennis shots and everything will be fine.

Fraud should stop servebotting and ruining tennis and everything will be fine.
 

Nadalfan2013

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Not sure who "Fraud" is but if you're referring to Federer then he plays classical tennis which everyone enjoys watching. :whistle:

Unless you throw him a “moonball” then his classical game collapses completely for a decade. :laugh:
 

mrzz

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My revised list of who would be the top 10 serves by the end of 2019 if that rule were implemented from January 2019 onwards:


1) Kyrgios
2) Federer
3) Anderson
4) Djokovic
5) Isner
6) Raonic
7) Zverev
8) Karlovic
9) Kachanov
10) Nadal (because he would just train like a dog and look for answers harder than the rest)
 
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Front242

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I'd probably have Del Potro and Dolgopolov in that list too and even Cilic.
 

Moxie

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Yes, Del Potro. Dolgopolov is an interesting choice, but I think he's too erratic in general results to make any top 10. (Shame about his health issues. He's such a funky player, in a good way.) As for Nadal, I think he'd make it anyway, @mrzz . His serve is underrated in that he's pretty consistent with it, plus he has a lot of nerve in the clutch, so he'd have that advantage over some players who'd be inclined to conservative play, with only one serve. The one I wonder about is Khachanov, on your list. Mostly because he was more erratic than he's starting to be. He's young, so he might be freed by that (youthful fearlessness,) but he might also go for it too often, and drop serve too much. He'd get used to it though, and be top 10, I do think. Not dissing him at all...I think he's going to be dangerous AND more consistent in 2019.
 

mrzz

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As you guys see from my post above (#81), I agree about Dolgopolov's potential... but I have not included him in my list exactly for his health issues, which end up not letting him consistently play to his own level. Given that my table was a realistic one, I had to realistically leave him out.

As for del Potro... strange, but I never saw him not even as a particularly good server, specially if you take his size and his forehand as a measure. Maybe because I root for the guy I am always expecting more, but I hardly watch a del Potro's match without complaining about his serve (actually I hardly miss a game on that regard).

Completely agreed on Kachanov, which is basically why I included him.
 
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The_Grand_Slam

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As you guys see from my post above (#81), I agree about Dolgopolov's potential... but I have not included him in my list exactly for his health issues, which end up not letting him consistently play to his own level. Given that my table was a realistic one, I had to realistically leave him out.

As for del Potro... strange, but I never saw him not even as a particularly good server, specially if you take his size and his forehand as a measure. Maybe because I root for the guy I am always expecting more, but I hardly watch a del Potro's match without complaining about his serve (actually I hardly miss a game on that regard).

Completely agreed on Kachanov, which is basically why I included him.

JMDPs 2nd serve is relatively given his height