The Frankenstein Monster Player

[Kieran]

Just picking up on a couple of posts on the thread about assembling the greatest player.

topsport1 came up with this idea:

If it was actually Frankenstein's monster who would you have? (meaning the worst/ugliest shots)

of name players I can think of some having bad or at least pretty mediocre ones..examples...

Edberg forehand

Rusedski backhand drive/pass

Agassi volleys

Connors serve could be shaky and average overall

Courier backhand wasn't exactly a weapon, similar to Roddick

of journeyman I'm guessing it gets a lot worse

Murat followed up with:

^ Forehand-Gulbis
Serve- McEnroe ( not talking about effectiveness, it is just ugly looking)
Backhand- Connors (always hated it..it always looks like he is directing the ball)
Overhead- Novak ( He looks panicked whenever he sees one)
Volley- Don't know. Nobody comes to the net. Not enough sample size.

-----------

Now, to me, Mac's serve wasn't only graceful and "aesthetically perfect" but also it was corkscrew sharp and utterly effective, but beauty is in the eye, etc.

So, the worst player (-ish, relatively speaking) might be:

Serve: Connors
Forehand: Connors
Backhand: Isner
Volleys: A million clay court players from the 80's or 90's, but I'll give it to Muster, I think the chap got nosebleeds venturing past the service line
Overheads: Djoker. There's wimmin who have better smashes, I'm sure.
Movement: Raonic
Temperament: Tarango

 

[Fiero425]

Just picking up on a couple of posts on the thread about assembling the greatest player.

topsport1 came up with this idea:

If it was actually Frankenstein's monster who would you have? (meaning the worst/ugliest shots)

of name players I can think of some having bad or at least pretty mediocre ones..examples...

Edberg forehand

Rusedski backhand drive/pass

Agassi volleys

Connors serve could be shaky and average overall

Courier backhand wasn't exactly a weapon, similar to Roddick

of journeyman I'm guessing it gets a lot worse

Murat followed up with:

^ Forehand-Gulbis
Serve- McEnroe ( not talking about effectiveness, it is just ugly looking)
Backhand- Connors (always hated it..it always looks like he is directing the ball)
Overhead- Novak ( He looks panicked whenever he sees one)
Volley- Don't know. Nobody comes to the net. Not enough sample size.

-----------

Now, to me, Mac's serve wasn't only graceful and "aesthetically perfect" but also it was corkscrew sharp and utterly effective, but beauty is in the eye, etc.

So, the worst player (-ish, relatively speaking) might be:

Serve: Connors
Forehand: Connors
Backhand: Isner
Volleys: A million clay court players from the 80's or 90's, but I'll give it to Muster, I think the chap got nosebleeds venturing past the service line
Overheads: Djoker. There's wimmin who have better smashes, I'm sure.
Movement: Raonic
Temperament: Tarango

Throw Rafa's stroke production in there; some of the ugliest in the history of the game! The serve "ain't" that great to look at either! :cry :huh: :s :nono

 

[Kieran]

Hey, Rafa rarely loses serve! He only dropped in 4 times during the US Open. Roger only broke it once in THIRTY service games at Wimbo in 2008. The guy's serve stacks up nicely, merci beaucoup...

 

[Fiero425]

Hey, Rafa rarely loses serve! He only dropped in 4 times during the US Open. Roger only broke it once in THIRTY service games at Wimbo in 2008. The guy's serve stacks up nicely, merci beaucoup...

I never said it wasn't effective; just not pretty to watch! Sorta like McEnroe; it's not the speed of the ball that hurts opponents! I'm spoiled by remember hard hitting left-handers that didn't look like epileptics trying to play the game; Rod Laver, Roscor Tanner, Manuel Orantes, Guillermo Vilas!

 

[Kieran]

Hey, Rafa rarely loses serve! He only dropped in 4 times during the US Open. Roger only broke it once in THIRTY service games at Wimbo in 2008. The guy's serve stacks up nicely, merci beaucoup...

I never said it wasn't effective; just not pretty to watch! Sorta like McEnroe; it's not the speed of the ball that hurts opponents! I'm spoiled by remember hard hitting left-handers that didn't look like epileptics trying to play the game; Rod Laver, Roscor Tanner, Manuel Orantes, Guillermo Vilas!

Ah yeah, all Rafa's growing gang of mannerisms and tics, twitches and wedgies, make this serve a quite long-winded and dramatic affair.

But I loved McEnroe's typically original and unusual serve. I think it suited him. I tried it loads of times and it's utterly unnatural, let alone the fact that you need your shoelaces tied tight when you try it or you might end up on the floor!

 

[Tennis Miller]

For the serve, it absolutely HAS to be Karsten Braasch (spelling?). The guy who took on the Williams sisters, and used to smoke on changeovers. Not sure if he ever made the top 100, but MMAAAAANNN, what an ugly serve.

Cheers

TM

 

[shawnbm]

I absolutely loved McEnroe's service--a thing of beauty to my eye, as was his volleying prowess. Now, in terms of a monstrously bad player, ...

Service--Connors
FH--Edberg
BH--Roddick (couldn't stand even the look of it)
Overhead--Nole; just not good
Volley--any clay courter from the eighties or nineties
Movement--a host of folks, but Karlovic is near the top
Mental strength/grit--Kafelnikov (so sad), Coria, Lendl until '84 FO and Fed v. Rafa post-2008 (that's for my man Kieran)

 

[Front242]

In terms of a monstrously bad player:

Serve - Coria when his serve went awol and he suffered terribly from "service yips"/Nalbandian (I loved him as a player but his serve sucked. As many DFs as Sharapova at times & that says it all)
2nd serve: Murray
Forehand: Connors. In fairness Murray's pre Lendl FH was pretty damn bad at times too. Far improved now so this is only at the time it was originally one of his weakest points at not a dig at his far improved forehand these days and hence the 2 slams since.
Backhand: Blake/Roddick/Fed circa 2013 for much of the year! Just ask Robredo:/
Overheads: Djokovic
Volleys: Muster past. Present: Berdych hits a large number of absolute sitters right into the net. Extremely bad.
Moronic inappropriate net rushes for no reason and from crap approaches: hands down Roddick
Movement: Raonic
Temperament: Tarango/Alex Bogomolov, Jr./Gulbis (he's often been in a position where he had a match by the horns and goes apes**t when he misses a routine shot and straight away game over. (Dis)Honorable mention to Haas also for bottling it far, far too many times.
Allowing himself to get superglued 10 feet behind the baseline and bullied/beaten like a red-headed stepchild: Gasquet
And finally....ridiculous grunting: Ferrer (before and after he hits the ball! WTF?! and Granollers)