Imitation IS the sincerest form of flattery! What Pro did YOU try to play like?

[BruceD]

For me, a VERY long time ago, it was Bjorn Borg who I first tried to emulate, hitting looping topspin strokes on both sides and all but abandoning my single handed slice backhand. I even bought a Donnay wood-fiberglass composit frem, that LOOKED like Borgs, but was very flexy and while it was years before Prince came along, it's small head and my 15 yr old arm could only muster an 89 mph. serve at a mall that had a speed gun setup for a contest that I knew I wouldn't win, but wanted to know how fast my serve was anyway!
A year or two later it was McEnroes serve I was trying to make work. I took a whole day hitting serve after serve on my own, to get something that looked like it, but at a much less radical sideways beginning than ol' Johnny Mac's was!
Last it was Pete Sampras. The Master.
I strung up my PK Comp. Destiny to 62 lbs. and lead'ed it up to about 13.5 oz or more, like I had heard Pet did on his Pro Staffs.
Got to volley pretty good, but I can remember only ONE "perfect serve", that went up the middle, kicking up on my friends forhand so fast he couldn't react, but said,"WHAT WAS THAT?!!"..I just said, "just my BEST SERVE EVER!".

[BruceD]

Only one clue...it's not a man.
I'll wait a few days to see if anyone come up with the answer and then clue the rest of ya in!

[Mick]

has to be either Evert, Navratilova, Graf, Henin, or Serena (for BruceD)

[ramos77]

Becker

10-char

[mad dog1]

esther vergeer

[BruceD]

Originally Posted by mad dog1

esther vergeer

I guess that wasn't TOO difficult, after all!
Here's more on Esther> http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2008/aug/31/paralympics

[sureshs]

Originally Posted by BruceD

Only one clue...it's not a man.
I'll wait a few days to see if anyone come up with the answer and then clue the rest of ya in!

Sam Stosur?

[basil J]

I got into tennis later in life(37). after I went to the Us open a couple of times in the early 200's the two players that impressed me the most were Tommy Haas and Mark Phillipousis. Haas for his fantastic variety, 1HBH and all court play. I also liked that he showed his emotions on the court, Phillipousis I liked because he had such raw power, and ended points from all over the court with blazing winners, yet still managed to show some finesse up at the net. Obviously as I learned the game, I realized that there were better players out there, but to see these two guys live, early to my intro to the game, really changed my impression of the game, which at the time I thought was a pretty country club sport. Thes two showed me that tennis players are real athletes and from then on I was hooked. I still like and route for Haas to this day, but Fed is the player I feel has the best rounded game.

[BruceD]

Originally Posted by sureshs

Sam Stosur?

no, it's Esther Vergeer!!!! For her PERFECT UNBEATEN RECORD!
Read her story and be AMAZED! Can you imagine a ATP ot WTA player who has NEVER LOST a MATCH?!!
That's Esther's record!

[sureshs]

Originally Posted by BruceD

no, it's Esther Vergeer!!!! For her PERFECT UNBEATEN RECORD!
Read her story and be AMAZED! Can you imagine a ATP ot WTA player who has NEVER LOST a MATCH?!!
That's Esther's record!

She is a great inspiration, but why would you model your tennis after her if you are not a wheelchair player?

[boredone3456]

Originally Posted by BruceD

no, it's Esther Vergeer!!!! For her PERFECT UNBEATEN RECORD!
Read her story and be AMAZED! Can you imagine a ATP ot WTA player who has NEVER LOST a MATCH?!!
That's Esther's record!

She is not unbeaten
Her singles record is 687-25
Her doubles record is 440-35

She is however on a winning streak of like 470 matches.

Did you mean unbeaten at majors? Because she is unbeaten at them, however she is not unbeaten overall.

She is however probably as close to perfect record wise as you can get.

[acura9927]

Mats Wilander, most underrated player.

[Rock Strongo]

Originally Posted by sureshs

She is a great inspiration, but why would you model your tennis after her if you are not a wheelchair player?

Signature suggests that he is?


Anyway, I played like a hybrid between Andy Roddick and Tim Henman as a kid. Started as Roddick immediately after the 2003 AO QF.

I had a big serve with the abbreviated takeback and deep knee bend and almost always came in to volley, and groundstrokes (particularly the backhand) was very Roddick-like.

[LeeD]

Korda's strokes by a mile.
Easy to emulate, very efficient for the amount of energy expended, just powerful enough with some consisentcy, and pleasing to look at.

[CCNM]

I would like to strap Federer, Nadal, the Williams girls, etc. into Esther V's wheelchair and see what they'd do. Saw a wheelchair exhibition and I must say, it's pretty impressive.

[BruceD]

Originally Posted by sureshs

She is a great inspiration, but why would you model your tennis after her if you are not a wheelchair player?

Ohhh...but I AM a wheelchair tennis player!!!
Look at my sig and you'll see.

[Mick]

Originally Posted by CCNM

I would like to strap Federer, Nadal, the Williams girls, etc. into Esther V's wheelchair and see what they'd do. Saw a wheelchair exhibition and I must say, it's pretty impressive.

there's a video of Nadal playing Vergeer on youtube.
before they played, one of the journalists asked Nadal if he would play Vergeer on a wheelchair. Nadal quickly dismissed that idea. He said, he couldn't do that because "Esther is a professional."

[N23]

Originally Posted by ramos77

Becker

10-char

Same here. Even had the rocking motion for a while.

[NLBwell]

All of them. I'd practice every way possible to hit the ball, so if I saw someone new on tour, I'd experiment with hitting the ball like them.

[sureshs]

Originally Posted by BruceD

Ohhh...but I AM a wheelchair tennis player!!!
Look at my sig and you'll see.

Oh then it makes perfect sense. I don't usually read the sigs.