Jack Romeo
Professional
seeing how roger diffused isner and raonic this week made me think that he has to be one of the best, if not the best, returner of fast serves. particularly fast right-handed serves. (too bad there aren't any fast-serving lefties like goran ivanisevic playing these days - maybe roger can prove himself against those types of players too). he obviously has the best feel for faster courts and quicker-paced shots. i mean he lost to isner on clay (at home!) but handled him pretty well just now when the conditions should theoretically favor the big server.
nadal said that djokovic has the best return, maybe because he feels his own serve gets threatened more by novak than by roger. i guess roger does have a little more of a problem handling the heavy lefty spin of nadal's serve. but this week, when the court played slicker because of the conditions, the spin wasn't as accentuated and roger took charge with his return, even off the backhand. it was the same thing he does every time they meet at the tour finals. other courts tend to emphasize the effect of spin more so federer has more trouble, but not so on a faster, lower-bouncing court.
i think djokovic also returned isner's serve pretty well but he himself didn't serve as well as roger. novak could be better at handling the spinning serves on a slower court. but if you look at roger's career results against big servers, he seems to own them all. he beat sampras in their only professional match. he totally owns roddick and has a great record against others like karlovic.
how do you think roger's return stacks up against other great returners, namely andre agassi (who played in the era of some of the biggest bombers like becker, sampras and ivanisevic), lleyton hewitt (in his prime), as well as his own contemporaries like djokovic, nadal and andy murray?
nadal said that djokovic has the best return, maybe because he feels his own serve gets threatened more by novak than by roger. i guess roger does have a little more of a problem handling the heavy lefty spin of nadal's serve. but this week, when the court played slicker because of the conditions, the spin wasn't as accentuated and roger took charge with his return, even off the backhand. it was the same thing he does every time they meet at the tour finals. other courts tend to emphasize the effect of spin more so federer has more trouble, but not so on a faster, lower-bouncing court.
i think djokovic also returned isner's serve pretty well but he himself didn't serve as well as roger. novak could be better at handling the spinning serves on a slower court. but if you look at roger's career results against big servers, he seems to own them all. he beat sampras in their only professional match. he totally owns roddick and has a great record against others like karlovic.
how do you think roger's return stacks up against other great returners, namely andre agassi (who played in the era of some of the biggest bombers like becker, sampras and ivanisevic), lleyton hewitt (in his prime), as well as his own contemporaries like djokovic, nadal and andy murray?