Most talented player of all time
 

Just curious about your opinions on who is the most talented player ever. It doesn't necessarily mean achievement but you can for example name a player like Safin if you think he's the most talented ever. It's all subjective and I'm curious about people's thoughts here. You can name the most talented male player and the most talented female player. No such thing as wrong answer here.

John McEnroe.

I would take Mac easily on the mens side. Although there certainly are a lot of players like Leconte and Pioline that oozed all kinds of talent.

On the womens side, I think Martina, Hana, and Evonne had the most raw talent of the players that I saw.

Most older Aussies would say Lew Hoad, he had the game, the power, the looks. I have seen only short clips, so i cannot really evaluate him. I have never seen a more complete player than Rod Laver. Nastase and Borg had amasing athletic abilities, but in pure technical terms, they had not the complex game of Laver. McEnroe had a more dramatic touch around the net, but not the devastating groundies. From the newer generation, Leconte or Mecir could make the ball talk. Becker had the raw power, but as a tennis player, Michael Stich probably was more complete. Safin is a modern day Hoad, big, dramatic and good looking, and with an eye for the high life.

Magnus Larsson

I'd read a lot of people who would pick Lew Hoad. However I find Ken Rosewall's opinion of Rod Laver to be quite interesting. This quote is from the book "Playing Tennis with Rosewall." When he is playing confidently I cannot think of a more destructive tennis machine than Rod Laver. He is one of the toughest players you could ever have the misfortune to meet. He hits the ball hard, moves like lightning and has no weaknesses--so how do you beat him? To be honest you do not, unless a chink appears in his armour. It used to be his forehand volley but that's no weakness now. Occasionally it is his service which still lets him down at times. However in the last five or six years his service has improve out of sight. He is hitting even harder now than he used to and the wicked spin that he can command and the disguise he can achieve-particularly when running flat out to make his shot, makes him a really hazardous opponent to face.


I would guess in reading that that Rosewall thinks Laver may be more talented than Hoad.

Borg had incredible gifts also along with Nastase, Mecir. McEnroe and LeConte. Stich was a disappointment to me because I thought he was so gifted and would surpass Becker. Sampras praises Stich in his book.

For women, I think Serena Williams, Hana Mandlikova, Evonne Goolagong, Graf and I thought Jennifer Capriati had great talent.

An interesting prospect. Offhand, I would offer Lew Hoad or Pancho Gonzales.

yep. McEnroe at age around 50 playing in senior tour, still makes me wonder "how the hell does he do that?". as a tennis player, i always feel like he is the biggest mystery in my understanding of the game. McEnroe makes me spent the most amount of time to think about "what is tennis after all" if you know what i mean.

then again, i only followed tennis about 20 years. in terms of pure atheleticism, Sampras is the most complete players I've ever seen. (I just have not seen much of Laver or Gonzales. Not in a position to say anything about pre-open era.)

Fastdunn,

McEnroe is one of the most unique players in the history of tennis. He has more talent in a single cell than most players have in their entire body. His hands are so fast and his touch is stunning.

Sampras is a great athlete, one of the finest in tennis history. Sampras in his book wrote that he felt his athleticism give him an advantage over Agassi in their matches or at least he wrote something to that effect.

If we're just talking talent, then Ilie Nastase was, when he was not clowining or ranting, one of the most gifted players on any surface, and had a streak of winning the Masters against the top players of his day.

Stich, Korda, Fed, Safin, Laver,Andre, Mac, Lendl, Pete from a pure talent perspective . There are so many to choose from.

Yep thats a good list including pre open era you have to count Laver, Pancho, Hoad.

Determining who has the most is hard because results can also get in the way. In the future few people will remember Safin for being talented because he did not put up results but when you see Safin at his best it is a wow factor.

That's a nice list. I forgot about Korda. He was something when he was on his game. Andre had great hands obviously and Lendl was underrated as far as talent was concerned. He was more talented than most.

From the things I've read, Ellsworth Vines should be mentioned. And, of course, Tilden.

A lot of people have said that Vines was the most talented and the best ever when on. And Tilden was considered to be virtually the perfect tennis player with the perfect build for the game.

for me whoever you feel is the GOAT is the is the most talented player
Talent = natural skill + lots of work
Roger Federer didnt become as talented as he did by sitting around in his home... he had to go out and work on his presice shots...
And i dont think the GOAT is Roger

Safin for sure

How about adding Rios to the list?

Pancho Gonzalez

Does anyone know of any good youtube clips of pancho?