One stroke from any player in history

[scaino]

An interesting question posed by SI to Pete Sampras in an interview which appeared online today (already referenced earlier on this forum). Here was Sampras's response:

SI: The one stroke from any player in history you would like to borrow for one match?

Sampras: How about Goran Ivanisevic's serve? On grass. That was pretty rough.

How about you? Would you too go for Goran's serve, or would you like to try out the first serve of Elly Vines or Pancho Gonzales? Or perhaps the second serve of Jack Kramer or Sampras? The overhead of Ted Schroeder, John Newcombe or Sampras? How about the forehand of Fred Perry, Pancho Segura or Roger Federer? The backhand of Don Budge or Ken Rosewall? The forehand volley of Kramer or John McEnroe? The backhand volley of Tony Roche or Stefan Edberg? The service return of Jimmy Connors or Andre Agassi? Choose a couple if you must, and specify the surface if you like.

[Moose Malloy]

Pretty amazing that the greatest server of alltime wishes he had another players serve. Wimbledon had a pretty tough field in the 90s.

[Ronnie92]

Pete Sampras' on the run forehand. Jimmy Connors' dtl backhand. Roger's normal forehand. Roddick's serve.

[scaino]

To Moose Malloy:

True. I would agree that Goran's first serve was more lethal even than Pete's, when it was on, and I'm guessing a presupposition of the question is that you get to experience the stroke on a good day. Regardless, I imagine many would rather have the Sampras second serve, as it is a better foundation from which to be more aggressive with the first. In an interview with Tennis Magazine several years ago, Sampras named Pancho Gonzales as one of the players from the past he would most like to have faced, asking if he really had the best serve ever. It would be interesting to see a serving contest for some of the all-time servers, Sampras, Ivanisevic, Gonzales, Patterson, Vines, et al, all at their best on grass. Even toss in some trickier serves, like those of Norman Brookes and John McEnroe, to see how they stack up against the more powerful services. Though I've not seen either, I myself am most amazed by accounts of Gonzales, who it is said never missed on break point down, and Vines, who served 30 aces in his 64 62 60 win over Bunny Austin in the 1932 Wimbledon F. The famous quote by Austin, which I pull from Bud Collins's encyclopedia: "I saw him swing his racket and I heard the ball hit the back canvas. The umpire called game, set and match, I knew it was all over, but I never saw the ball."

[Achilles]

Roddick's Serve, Roger's backhand, Roger's forehand, His slices are pretty good too, and Pete's running forhand as well as his jumping smash

[The Gorilla]

lendl's groundstrokes,
goran's first serve,
pete's second,
edberg's volleys,
mcenore's movement around the net and anticipation,
agassi's ability to see the ball and take it early,
connor's returns,
Borg's fitness and speed.

[ShcMad]

I would like to borrow for the rest of my life:

-Sampras's serve.
-Federer's forehand.
-Safin's backhand (during baseline rallies).
-Gasquet's backhand (for hitting on the run).
-Agassi's return of serve.
-Rafter's volleys.

That's all.

[rasajadad]

Sampras' serve (& OH)
McEnroe's volley
Federer's FH
Rosewall's BH
Agassi's return
Lendl's fitness
Nadal's speed

[chaognosis]

The Budge backhand.

[dima]

agassis return isnt a stroke lol

[jaggy]

Gene Mayers dropshot

[travlerajm]

Originally Posted by Moose Malloy

Pretty amazing that the greatest server of alltime wishes he had another players serve. Wimbledon had a pretty tough field in the 90s.

It's arguable that Goran's serve was better than Pete's. The problem was that Goran was wasn't the best volleyer. He serve-and-volleyed a lot because with a serve like his, it would be stupid not to.

[p0w3r]

If it was only one thing, it would be Roddick's Serve...why? because my own sucks so much

If i were to put everything together:

Roddick First Serve
Sampras 2nd Serve
Fernando Gonzales' Forehand from the AU open (the pace is just tooo much)
Gasquet Backhand
Edberg Volleys

[Solat]

santoro's drops shots, man i would have a fun day

on clay

[Trinity TC]

1960 Wimbledon and US Open winner, Neale Fraser's serve.

[dima]

Originally Posted by chaognosis

The Budge backhand.

then you'd have a 4.5 backhand, which is not much, when you could have a 7.0 backhand if you wanted to.

[Nick Irons]

Sampras and his leaping overhead smash.

[Hewitt Aussie]

hewitt's return of the serve. Or even just his normal forehand when he was number 1.

[stormholloway]

Borg's legs or Federer's backhand.

After watching Federer-Roddick at the AO this year, I feel okay in saying it's one of the best backhands in history.

Also take into account what your strengths and weaknesses are. No point in replacing a stroke that is already pretty good.

[chaognosis]

Originally Posted by dima

then you'd have a 4.5 backhand, which is not much, when you could have a 7.0 backhand if you wanted to.

It's very, very sad that you believe that. Have you actually seen clips of this stroke? Do you know that many experts who witnessed Budge's backhand firsthand STILL call it the best ever developed? Pancho Gonzales thought so before his death in 1995; Jack Kramer still thinks so today. These are guys who know tennis inside out, whose opinion is actually WORTH something. Your saying that they're wrong, and calling Budge's stroke the equivalent of a 4.5 player's today, is the equivalent of a kindergartener criticizing Vladimir Nabokov's prose. You really need to learn your place.