Which Male player had the biggest Forehand ever?

[President]

Originally Posted by always_crosscourt

What does 'big' mean?

With groundstrokes, you either put more effort into swinging horizontally (for mph), or swinging vertically (for rpm).

Berdych isn't the strongest or most explosive guy, but his forehand is fast, because there is so little spin on it.

The guy with the biggest forehand is the guy who accelerates the racket head the fastest.

Think of it like this - if all the pro's had a competition to see who could slam their racket into a metal pole the hardest - the winner of this competition would be the one with the biggest forehand.

Igor Andreev, Fernando Gonzales, or Nadal would win.

[Andres]

In terms of sheer speed, I think James Blake must come up on top.

[power level 800]

Originally Posted by dominikk1985

Fed is up there. gonzos FH was also huge.

Originally Posted by forzamilan90

Fernando Gonzalez

Originally Posted by always_crosscourt

It's hard to tell, because those forehands that visually do not look as fast, may actually be loaded with heavy spin, thus making them very hard to return.

Soderling just looks like a gormless ogre clubbing the sh!t out of the ball. I think he and Gonzo are strong candidates.

Originally Posted by MindoverMatter

Agreed, best that I've personally seen keeping in mind that I haven't been watching tennis for as long as some people here

Originally Posted by Leelord337

I second this

Originally Posted by President

Fernando Gonzales for having massive pace as well as the ability to put huge spin on the ball. Andreev's is lethal as well.

Originally Posted by jwbarrientos

The most I liked was Fernando Gonzalez, could think in many others but Fernando's killer shot was fantastic.

Originally Posted by NLBwell

ABBA's hero:
Fernando

Originally Posted by abmk

Fernando Gonzalez ...

Originally Posted by Paul Murphy

Not sure it was the biggest but if I could have one it'd be Gonzo's.

Originally Posted by forzamilan90

2007 AO Fernando Gonzales is probably best forehand exhibition, along with Del Potro's 2009 US Open run (especially the final)

Originally Posted by Gonzo_style

Fernando Gonzalez

Currently it's DelPo

Originally Posted by achokshi99

Fernando Gonzalez. Just an amazing player overall considering how much he could do playing 80% of the court with his FH and defending his BH by running around it so much. I saw him live, I have seen a lot of players live but Gonzo's FH was like a laser beam.

Originally Posted by jones101

Gonzalez FH was nuclear, loved watching him play, too bad his injuries got the better of him.

Originally Posted by samoah24

Gonzo #1
Soderling #2
Safin #3

Originally Posted by BauerAlmeida

At it's peak, Fernando Gonzalez's maybe.

Originally Posted by Bhagi Katbamna

Yup. Huge forehand.

yup just quoting up to the third page. That savage forehand will surely be missed.

[THE FIGHTER]

Originally Posted by always_crosscourt

What does 'big' mean?

With groundstrokes, you either put more effort into swinging horizontally (for mph), or swinging vertically (for rpm).

Berdych isn't the strongest or most explosive guy, but his forehand is fast, because there is so little spin on it.

The guy with the biggest forehand is the guy who accelerates the racket head the fastest.

Think of it like this - if all the pro's had a competition to see who could slam their racket into a metal pole the hardest - the winner of this competition would be the one with the biggest forehand.

guys who focus on rpm aren't necessarily going to win your who could smash their racquet on a metal pole the hardest competition. Their RPM-mentality-driven technique wont help them in this situation because a more vertical stroke doesn't allow for the maximum force on the racquet upon contact with the pole.



with a more upward/ brushy stroke, the racquet's force isnt being applied directly onto the pole, but instead at an offset. even after contact, the racquet has a higher chance of being deflected because of the upward motion. on the other hand, a flat forehand would make contact with the pole a lot more bluntly, with more direct force being applied to the pole and less chance of deflection.

now, this is considering that players would hit the pole with the same stroke as their forehand. if that isnt a requirement and players are allowed to hit with a more ideal racquet breaking stroke for this contest, then the whole argument you provided with rpm vs mph relative to racquet head speed and swing path can be thrown out of the window.



the argument of best forehand has to be a combination of both RHS and what the ball does after it leaves the racquet, not just RHS.


with that said, vamos nads.