Build the worst player out of former n°1 'parts'

Shaolin

G.O.A.T.
You can keep repeating the same line about no one having seen him play but I saw him play quite a few times in person (and I suspect before you were born, dude), https://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/ind...ero-one-two-slam-winners.616247/post-12253637

Most of them made no impression. This match was memorable:

https://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/index.php?threads/really-how-great-was-mcenroe.517411/post-8865009

Ok well you have your opinion and I have mine. Just dont see how you can dislike his game in any way. His attitude was horrible but his game was amazing. To each their own.

His matches against Henman and Agassi at Miami to become #1, his win at the Grand Slam Cup over Agassi and his Hamburg title run really stick out to me in terms of brilliance.

Ps I am an extremely old man...I was born was before that match you referenced!
 

lud

Hall of Fame
What about best one?

Forehand: Lendl
Backhand: Safin
Serve: Roddick
Volleys: Edberg
Footwork: Hewitt
Mental strength: Wilander
Overheads: Roddick
Return: Connors
Dropshots: Rios
Lob: Hewitt
 

FD3S

Hall of Fame
Ferrero was becoming quite consistent before injuries wrecked him. But anyway, I apologise - I jumped the gun.
Agreed. Ferrero was a very, very tough out before the illness cut his peak short; he was one of the few guys back then who was a legitimate threat on both slow clay courts and medium/fast hard courts. He even managed to make two QF's at Wimby well after his best days were in the rearview mirror despite not being a grass courter of note.
 

Shaolin

G.O.A.T.
What about best one?

Forehand: Lendl
Backhand: Safin
Serve: Roddick
Volleys: Edberg
Footwork: Hewitt
Mental strength: Wilander
Overheads: Roddick
Return: Connors
Dropshots: Rios
Lob: Hewitt

My picks

Forehand: Fed
Backhand: Safin or Agassi
Serve: Sampras or Fed
Volleys: Edberg
Footwork: Fed or Rios
Mental strength: Hewitt or Nadal
Overheads: Sampras, Fed
Return: Novak
Dropshots: Rios
Lob: Hewitt
 

lud

Hall of Fame
My picks

Forehand: Fed
Backhand: Safin or Agassi
Serve: Sampras or Fed
Volleys: Edberg
Footwork: Fed or Rios
Mental strength: Hewitt or Nadal
Overheads: Sampras, Fed
Return: Novak
Dropshots: Rios
Lob: Hewitt
Well, obviously I didn't include Big 3 here.
 

2ndServe

Hall of Fame
We sometime try to build the best player by taking shots from x and movement from y. Let's try to build the worst player taking only players who reached n°1.

Forehand: Edberg
Backhand: Courier
Serve: Kafelnikov/Wilander
Volleys: Muster
Footwork: Safin
Mental: Rios
Overheads: Djokovic
Return: Roddick
Dropshots: ?

What do you think?

usually these list are highly arguable but I think you've hit nearly all of them
 

George Turner

Hall of Fame
Inreresting thread! A few possible alternatives.

Forehand; Rafter. Rafter was a worse version of Edberg.
Backhand; Roddick. Couriers was a bit more solid.
Volleys; Courier. Courier had no net game. Maybe as bad as muster here
Footwork; Becker. Becker was the slowest out of any number one, this one is quite clear cut.
Drop shots; Connors. I've never seen Connors attempt a drop shot in any clip I've seen of him.
 

Kalin

Legend
I can. And I am. He is so artificial and fake and it is so obvious. Talk to any professional psychoanalyst and see what happens.

A professional psychoanalyst is like a jumbo shrimp or a captivating accountant; an inherent contradiction.

Most top performers in every sports/entertainment have to be fake to a degree; you can't always say what you think. Just follow the news and see what happens nowadays to people who freely speak their mind.

I'd rather watch a fake gentleman than a genuine, chip-on-narrow-shoulder lunatic like the two I quoted in my original poast.
 

tennisfan2015

Hall of Fame
A professional psychoanalyst is like a jumbo shrimp or a captivating accountant; an inherent contradiction.

Most top performers in every sports/entertainment have to be fake to a degree; you can't always say what you think. Just follow the news and see what happens nowadays to people who freely speak their mind.

I'd rather watch a fake gentleman than a genuine, chip-on-narrow-shoulder lunatic like the two I quoted in my original poast.
Blah blah blah

You are insecure, mate. You are not qualified to call anyone a lunatic. You are immature and insecure and in denial. Talk to a pro psychoanalyst and see where your father and mother stuffed up.
 

TennisBro

Professional
The way I understand the topic is that tennis coaches copy styles and apply the design to their pupils which is what I mostly see in China (the copycat kingdom). To most, as it seems, any creativity is scary for the extremely tough and demanding competition and market. The ones who wish to make it in tennis are in a dreadful rat race. Using the parts of former or existing players is a safer way than inventing new parts.
 

Flash O'Groove

Hall of Fame
Inreresting thread! A few possible alternatives.

Forehand; Rafter. Rafter was a worse version of Edberg.
Backhand; Roddick. Couriers was a bit more solid.
Volleys; Courier. Courier had no net game. Maybe as bad as muster here
Footwork; Becker. Becker was the slowest out of any number one, this one is quite clear cut.
Drop shots; Connors. I've never seen Connors attempt a drop shot in any clip

Thanks for the input. I'm not sure on Roddick's backhand. Becker I didn't cross my mind at all, but I only saw his 1996 Master cup final and a few clips . I will replace Safin with him. Connors for dropshots. Would be nice if someone could confirm. Rafter's forehand I'm not sure, I will had him as co-worst forehand.
 

Bobby Jr

G.O.A.T.
Volleys; Courier. Courier had no net game. Maybe as bad as muster here
Not even close: Agassi.

Courier was solid at the net, better than you might imagine. And he was not scared to come in at all. Saw him do tons of great volleys live and on TV in his prime. Agassi was the former #1 who struggled with volleys enough that he made popular the swinging forehand and backhand volleys in a time when few other top players did them as a matter of course.
 

BeatlesFan

Bionic Poster
@Flash O'Groove Great thread!

But I'm shocked to see so many ranking Courier's BH so low. It was a perfectly good shot. Not as great as his FH, but it wasn't prone to errors and he could direct the BH anywhere on the court with disguise. A better BH than Roddick.
 

NatF

Bionic Poster
@Flash O'Groove Great thread!

But I'm shocked to see so many ranking Courier's BH so low. It was a perfectly good shot. Not as great as his FH, but it wasn't prone to errors and he could direct the BH anywhere on the court with disguise. A better BH than Roddick.

On the flip side Roddick's backhand wasn't that bad. He wasn't afraid to go DTL with it, passed decently and didn't really give away too many errors. In his later career after working with Connors it was definitely better than Courier's IMO. Arod's biggest problem with the backhand was the return where he could drop it a little short.
 

J011yroger

Talk Tennis Guru
On the flip side Roddick's backhand wasn't that bad. He wasn't afraid to go DTL with it, passed decently and didn't really give away too many errors. In his later career after working with Connors it was definitely better than Courier's IMO. Arod's biggest problem with the backhand was the return where he could drop it a little short.
IMO it's ok to have a backhand that just keeps the ball in the court when you are murderifying forehands.

It was when late career Roddick stopped pulverizing forehands that the backhand became a downer because he wasn't really attacking off either side.

J
 
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