Court-coverage GOAT

[borg number one]

Originally Posted by piece

I agree that Borg was a bit faster than Nadal. How would you compare the two at changing direction?

When forced to quickly change directions during a point, anticipation, quickness, speed, and then sheer racquet skills come into play as a player tries to make a difficult get. Nadal does that really well. I do think that Borg was a bit quicker than Nadal, but it's close. In terms of changing directions though, I'd say they're very close with neither having much of an edge over the other.

So, I think that if they had a contest where they had to chase down drop shots, I'd give the edge to Borg. Yet, if you had a rally and a player had to go side to side very quickly and change directions a lot to get balls hit behind him, I think each would perform equally well.

One thing about both players is that they both do have great footwork. Nadal does not get enough credit for his footwork, whereas Federer is often cited for his footwork. Nadal often takes so many quick steps to get in just the right spot, especially to hit his forehand. Borg also had tremendous footwork. Just watch Borg's feet during rallies. He is very active and was always getting in the right position. He would do a lot of work that many others simply could not manage, especially over the course of long matches.