Greatest Grass Court Player of All Time.

[NadalDramaQueen]

Originally Posted by pc1

I wouldn't want to tell what Nastase would want to do. lol.

Trivia-Did you know that Fred Perry, number one player in the 1930's was also the World Table Tennis aka Ping Pong champion?

In all seriousness, it would be interesting to see how Federer would have adjusted to a wood racquet. His whole tennis swing would have to change and his general style of play. He couldn't hit the heavy topspin angles he hits now and he probably would mishit far more with a small wood racquet unless he flattens out his swing. I think he would adjust but it would be fascinating to see how his style would have changed.

It was a weak table tennis era. I remember reading about that somewhere. He was the only player to win major tournaments in both tennis and table tennis.

I actually think Fed would have more issues with his backhand than forehand. I think he would be able to get by with a forehand stroke that wasn't too different from the one he has now with a bit more drive through the strike zone. It would obviously be a bit less lethal from the baseline.

From my own experience, the most difficult thing I find about hitting modern strokes with wood is getting heavy top spin with my one handed backhand. I can adjust pretty quickly off the forehand side (and still hit with decent spin), but I have to make a much bigger adjustment off the backhand side.

I just don't find that you have to start hitting drives with a continental grip when you hit with wood.

[kiki]

Originally Posted by TMF

The top 10 greatest grass court tennis players are:

1. Roger Federer
2. Pete Sampras
3. Björn Borg
4. John McEnroe
5. Boris Becker
6. Rod Laver
7. Jimmy Connors
8. Stefan Edberg
9. Rafael Nadal
10. William Renshaw

You got Rosewall with 52 titles, but he doesn't make the top 25.
Best grass-court tennis player ever (male)

Based on what?

First, in current grass I agree it is Federer.

Old grass, Laver sweeps them all, except maybe Tilden and, on peak play, Kramer , Budge and Hoad.He was even better than Borg and Sampras if one has to go by the records...

Federer style of play wouldn´t adapt to old grass, while many excelent grass courters like Kramer or Newcombe wouldn´t be as succesful as they were if they played in current grass.

BTW, Newcombe has faaaar more grass court titles than Edberg.tennis has some years, you know?

[kiki]

Originally Posted by pc1

You're amazing. You pull up these lists and act like these rankings are set in stone. Is there any surface besides clay you don't rank Federer by far number one?

Nsdal in top 10 is a joke.Only 2 titles...and on clay grass...he is completely clueless about the sport.

[beast of mallorca]

[quote=kiki;7042848]Nsdal in top 10 is a joke.Only 2 titles...and on clay grass...he is completely clueless about the sport.[/QUOTE]

Stupid post is stupid..........

[pc1]

Originally Posted by NadalDramaQueen

It was a weak table tennis era. I remember reading about that somewhere. He was the only player to win major tournaments in both tennis and table tennis.

I actually think he would have more issues with his backhand than forehand. I think he would be able to get by with a forehand stroke that wasn't too different from the one he has now with a bit more drive through the strike zone. It would obviously be a bit less lethal from the baseline.

From my own experience, the most difficult thing I find about hitting modern strokes with wood is getting heavy top spin with my one handed backhand. I can adjust pretty quickly off the forehand side (and still hit with decent spin), but I have to make a much bigger adjustment off the backhand side.

I just don't find that you have to start hitting drives with a continental grip when you hit with wood.

You can't hit the heavily topspined sharp angled shots many of us can hit now with wood although you can hit some topspin. The racquets and string won't allow it with a few exceptions like a Laver and Borg. The racquets were also a lot heavier and it is tougher on the arm.

And yes I agree he would have problems with his backhand drive. It would be far more defensive than it is now. It's a major difference.

[TMF]

Originally Posted by kiki

Nsdal in top 10 is a joke.Only 2 titles...and on clay grass...he is completely clueless about the sport.

2 Wimbledon titles including 5 finals, in case you didn't notice.

[NadalDramaQueen]

Originally Posted by pc1

You can't hit the heavily topspined sharp angled shots many of us can hit now with wood although you can hit some topspin. The racquets and string won't allow it with a few exceptions like a Laver and Borg. The racquets were also a lot heavier and it is tougher on the arm.

No, I can do all of those things.

At the very least, I won the only set I played against the guy who used to coach me when I used a wooden racquet and he did not.

[pc1]

Originally Posted by kiki

Based on what?

First, in current grass I agree it is Federer.

Old grass, Laver sweeps them all, except maybe Tilden and, on peak play, Kramer , Budge and Hoad.He was even better than Borg and Sampras if one has to go by the records...

Federer style of play wouldn´t adapt to old grass, while many excelent grass courters like Kramer or Newcombe wouldn´t be as succesful as they were if they played in current grass.

BTW, Newcombe has faaaar more grass court titles than Edberg.tennis has some years, you know?

Newcombe was some great grass court player. He beat Connors, Roche, Rosewall, Ashe, Kodes (that was for you Kiki), Smith and just about all the greats in his time on grass courts. As great as Edberg was I would favor Newcombe on a grass court. Better serve (one of the greatest ever), better forehand and a great volley but not as great as Edberg's volley. Edberg moved better and of course had the superior backhand.

[TMF]

Originally Posted by kiki

Based on what?

First, in current grass I agree it is Federer.

Old grass, Laver sweeps them all, except maybe Tilden and, on peak play, Kramer , Budge and Hoad.He was even better than Borg and Sampras if one has to go by the records...

Federer style of play wouldn´t adapt to old grass, while many excelent grass courters like Kramer or Newcombe wouldn´t be as succesful as they were if they played in current grass.

BTW, Newcombe has faaaar more grass court titles than Edberg.tennis has some years, you know?

We just let the fans to decide. Okay?

You don't know that. Fed played serve/volley during his teen, and beat Sampras. There's no evidence to suggest that he can't adapt on fast grass, whether from the baseline or attacking style.

[NadalAgassi]

Originally Posted by TMF

The top 10 greatest grass court tennis players are:

1. Roger Federer
2. Pete Sampras
3. Björn Borg
4. John McEnroe
5. Boris Becker
6. Rod Laver
7. Jimmy Connors
8. Stefan Edberg
9. Rafael Nadal
10. William Renshaw

You got Rosewall with 52 titles, but he doesn't make the top 25.
Best grass-court tennis player ever (male)

That list is inanely bad. Pancho Gonzales, Bill Tilden, and Ken Rosewall not even top 10 all time? Bjorg, McEnroe, and Becker ahead of Laver?!?! No way would Edberg, Connors or Nadal be top 10 either, top 20 probably.

[pc1]

Originally Posted by TMF

We just let the fans to decide. Okay?

You don't know that. Fed played serve/volley during his teen, and beat Sampras. There's no evidence to suggest that he can't adapt on fast grass, whether from the baseline or attacking style.

TMF,

I think Federer would be excellent on old grass but everyone points out his defeat of Sampras on grass. Pete was losing to a lot of bad players at that stage. Federer also lost to an over the hill Michael Chang on grass too.
http://www.atpworldtour.com/Players/...=F324&oId=C274


Neither of these matches mean anything. I think Federer would have done well with wood but his game would have to be revamped in my opinion.

[NadalDramaQueen]

Originally Posted by pc1

TMF,

I think Federer would be excellent on old grass but everyone points out his defeat of Sampras on grass. Pete was losing to a lot of bad players at that stage. Federer also lost to an over the hill Michael Chang on grass too.

Neither of these matches mean anything. I think Federer would have done well with wood but his game would have to be revamped in my opinion.

I agree that those matches don't mean everything. However, the point is that there is no use speculating that a certain player wouldn't be as good on a faster grass as they adapted their game to the current conditions. Nobody knows how a certain player would adjust to new conditions.

[pc1]

Originally Posted by NadalDramaQueen

I agree that those matches don't mean everything. However, the point is that there is no use speculating that a certain player wouldn't be as good on a faster grass as they adapted their game to the current conditions. Nobody knows how a certain player would adjust to new conditions.

I can go with that.

[Rattler]

So this is only about me....cause Billie Jean King has 20 combined Wimbly titles alone and they played two other majors on grass, Margaret Courtwon a bit on the surface, Martina Navratilova was no scrub, either was Steffi.


Just food for thought.

[BobbyOne]

Originally Posted by TMF

The top 10 greatest grass court tennis players are:

1. Roger Federer
2. Pete Sampras
3. Björn Borg
4. John McEnroe
5. Boris Becker
6. Rod Laver
7. Jimmy Connors
8. Stefan Edberg
9. Rafael Nadal
10. William Renshaw

You got Rosewall with 52 titles, but he doesn't make the top 25.
Best grass-court tennis player ever (male)

TMF, With every post you send I'm hoping you would improve. But you disappoint me every time.

Rosewall not among the top 25? Are you aware that Rosewall won eight grass court majors? That's third behind Laver (12) and Tilden (11)....

[timnz]

Originally Posted by Talker

There's been Federer and Sampras talked about lately, largely ignoring the earlier ERA's before Borg.

In those earlier ERA's grass was more prevelant so there may be other players who have some solid claims.

It isn't just looking at titles, grass used to come in variations that could change the court conditions quite a bit.

Here's some stats that I hope are accurate and give some idea what Sampras and Federer are up against.


Bill Tilden: 10 Grass Court Titles, Including 10 Majors on Grass

Roy Emerson: 10 Grass Court Titles, Including 10 Majors on Grass

Rod Laver: 39 Grass Court Titles, Including 9 Majors on Grass

Roger Federer: 12 Grass Court Titles, Including 7 Majors on Grass

Pete Sampras: 10 Grass Court Titles, Including 7 Majors on Grass

John Newcombe: 10 Grass Court Titles, Including 7 Majors on Grass

Fred Perry: 7 Grass Court Titles, Including 7 Majors on Grass

Ken Rosewall: 6 Grass Court Titles, Including 6 Majors on Grass

Bjorn Borg: 6 Grass Court Titles, Including 5 Majors on Grass

Don Budge: 5 Grass Court Titles, Including 5 Majors on Grass

Frank Sedgman: 5 Grass Court Titles, Including 5 Majors on Grass

Jack Crawford: 5 Grass Court Titles, Including 5 Majors on Grass

Tilden won at least 30 to 40 Grass titles titles all up. See

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Ti...eer_statistics

(Over and above the 30 to 40 grass tournament wins....A lot of tournaments the surface is unknown - but probably a good chunk are grass).

[SQA333]

Originally Posted by 90's Clay

I wasn't all that impressive since Murray or Djokovic aint exactly indoor fast grass surface type dynamos.. Hell, Nole isn't all that great on grass regardless. If Fed drew say Tsonga with the roof closed he probably would have had more issues there then he did with Pusher Murray because Tsonga knows how to attack. Serve BIG and put some pressure on the opponent. Murray just plugs and plugs away from the baseline until his opponent hits an error. Thats target practice for Roger indoors (as it kind of showed when they closed the roof) who can do what he wants vs. Murray under faster grass conditions.

Murray and Djokovic are SLOW COURT players.. They aren't faster condition type players like we have at wimbledon with the roof closed. Fed should be able to beat Djokovic and Murray under faster grass indoors playing at 50 percent.

Moot point. The numbers say it all. Federer > Sampras, at almost every criteria in the record books.