Greatest Strokes of All Time - new book

[Moose Malloy]

just got Steve Flink's 'The Greatest Matches of All Time,' its a must read for any fan.

at the end he has a section titled Greatest Strokes of All Time for men & women, with thoughts on each pick. I will list his choices for the men.

1st Serve
1. Sampras
2. Gonzales
3. Becker
4. Ivanisevic
5. Federer/Isner

2nd serve
1. Sampras
2. Kramer
3. Newcombe
4. Roddick
5. Rafter

Return of Serve
1. Agassi
2. Connors
3. Djokovic
4. Hewitt
5. Murray

Forehand
1. Federer
2. Nadal
3. Lendl
4. Tilden
5. Borg/Sampras/Del Potro

Backhand
1. Budge
2. Rosewall
3. Connors
4. Djokovic
5. Hoad/Kuerten

FH Volley
1. Kramer
2. Newcombe
3. Emerson
4. Rafter
5. McEnroe

BH Volley
1. Edberg
2. Roche
3. Rosewall
4. Laver
5. Sampras

Overhead
1. Sampras
2. McEnroe
3. Gonzales
4. Federer
5. Trabert

Lob
1. Nastase
2. Borg
3. Santana
4. Wilander
5. Connors/Murray

Passing Shot
1. Nadal
2. Borg
3. Agassi
4. Hewitt
5. Djokovic

mental toughness
1. Nadal
2. Connors
3. Gonzales
4. Sampras
5. Laver

[Limpinhitter]

Some of these are supportable. Others lead me to think that Steve Flink was smoking dope when he compiled his lists.

[BTURNER]

don't suppose you'll print them for the women?

[FedericRoma83]

Ivan Lendl's passing was definitely a top-3 stroke, I can't understand why he excluded it.
He also excluded Tilden's serve, probably the greatest ever, he was able to serve around 200 km/h in the 20s!
I disagree with lobs too: Lendl's and Newcombe's had to be there.


Other lists are pretty nice tough: I agree with return, backhand and mental toughness.

[Nadal_Power]

Can you give list of pre Open era men's matches in the book

[pc1]

Originally Posted by Moose Malloy

just got Steve Flink's 'The Greatest Matches of All Time,' its a must read for any fan.

at the end he has a section titled Greatest Strokes of All Time for men & women, with thoughts on each pick. I will list his choices for the men.

1st Serve
1. Sampras
2. Gonzales
3. Becker
4. Ivanisevic
5. Federer/Isner

2nd serve
1. Sampras
2. Kramer
3. Newcombe
4. Roddick
5. Rafter

Return of Serve
1. Agassi
2. Connors
3. Djokovic
4. Hewitt
5. Murray

Forehand
1. Federer
2. Nadal
3. Lendl
4. Tilden
5. Borg/Sampras/Del Potro

Backhand
1. Budge
2. Rosewall
3. Connors
4. Djokovic
5. Hoad/Kuerten

FH Volley
1. Kramer
2. Newcombe
3. Emerson
4. Rafter
5. McEnroe

BH Volley
1. Edberg
2. Roche
3. Rosewall
4. Laver
5. Sampras

Overhead
1. Sampras
2. McEnroe
3. Gonzales
4. Federer
5. Trabert

Lob
1. Nastase
2. Borg
3. Santana
4. Wilander
5. Connors/Murray

Passing Shot
1. Nadal
2. Borg
3. Agassi
4. Hewitt
5. Djokovic

mental toughness
1. Nadal
2. Connors
3. Gonzales
4. Sampras
5. Laver

All subjective rankings but nothing totally outrageous. I am surprised Federer was there for serve considering guys like Roddick who have better serving stats with lesser all around games aren't on there. Lot of great servers were left out.

Segura's forehand and Perry's forehand, both regarded by many to be the greatest forehands in the history of tennis were left out. Laver called Segura's forehand the best he had faced. Kramer, Riggs and Vines called Segura's forehand the greatest single shot in the history of tennis. Perry's forehand was named by World Tennis years ago as the greatest forehand ever.

Frank Sedgman, arguably the greatest volleyer ever was not named on the either BH or FH volley list.

Yannick Noah was forgotten on the overhead list.

None of the picks were downright awful and there are so many players in the history of tennis Flink was bound to forget a lot.

[CRWV]

No love for Feds passing shot? Some of the passes from wimbledon 02 against Sampras are god-like...

Also, he might want to revise the mental toughness list after this wimbledon :lol

[Q&M son]

Thanks for the info Moose

[kiki]

Originally Posted by Moose Malloy

just got Steve Flink's 'The Greatest Matches of All Time,' its a must read for any fan.

at the end he has a section titled Greatest Strokes of All Time for men & women, with thoughts on each pick. I will list his choices for the men.

1st Serve
1. Sampras
2. Gonzales
3. Becker
4. Ivanisevic
5. Federer/Isner

2nd serve
1. Sampras
2. Kramer
3. Newcombe
4. Roddick
5. Rafter

Return of Serve
1. Agassi
2. Connors
3. Djokovic
4. Hewitt
5. Murray

Forehand
1. Federer
2. Nadal
3. Lendl
4. Tilden
5. Borg/Sampras/Del Potro

Backhand
1. Budge
2. Rosewall
3. Connors
4. Djokovic
5. Hoad/Kuerten

FH Volley
1. Kramer
2. Newcombe
3. Emerson
4. Rafter
5. McEnroe

BH Volley
1. Edberg
2. Roche
3. Rosewall
4. Laver
5. Sampras

Overhead
1. Sampras
2. McEnroe
3. Gonzales
4. Federer
5. Trabert

Lob
1. Nastase
2. Borg
3. Santana
4. Wilander
5. Connors/Murray

Passing Shot
1. Nadal
2. Borg
3. Agassi
4. Hewitt
5. Djokovic

mental toughness
1. Nadal
2. Connors
3. Gonzales
4. Sampras
5. Laver

Flink is a newcomer and a second rate tennis journalist.This list is completely ridiculous.It is biassed and only rates last 15 or 20 years players.LMAO¡¡¡

[The-Champ]

Wow Agassi's backhand is not mentioned. I think Agassi's backhand is a lot better than djokovic.

[The-Champ]

The list is ridiculous. Nadal and Djokovic have never faced serious serve and volleyers to test their passing shots.

Should they be on that list?

[pc1]

Originally Posted by The-Champ

Wow Agassi's backhand is not mentioned. I think Agassi's backhand is a lot better than djokovic.

Do you really think so? Djokovic has a great backhand. I can see a person picking Agassi's backhand over Djokovic but I really don't see it as much better. Here a question, do we including Djokovic's ability to hit a backhand winner on the run since he has more mobility than Agassi or perhaps we shouldn't consider that?

If anything I would put Agassi's backhand over Lew Hoad's backhand.

[TomT]

Originally Posted by The-Champ

Wow Agassi's backhand is not mentioned. I think Agassi's backhand is a lot better than djokovic.

That's a tough call. Worthy of consideration, imo. Then there's Connors' backhand. I saw him play in person in his prime. Really quite awesome. But I love the apparent ease and compact fluidity of Agassi's strokes. I also really like to watch Rosewall. Maybe they should separate backhands into one-handed and two-handed.

Anyway, from my experience, perspective, and limited judgement, I like Agassi's backhand better than Djokovic's. But the Djoker's power and placement is amazing. Like I said, tough call.

[The-Champ]

Originally Posted by pc1

Do you really think so? Djokovic has a great backhand. I can see a person picking Agassi's backhand over Djokovic but I really don't see it as much better. Here a question, do we including Djokovic's ability to hit a backhand winner on the run since he has more mobility than Agassi or perhaps we shouldn't consider that?

If anything I would put Agassi's backhand over Lew Hoad's backhand.

Standing on just one spot, I've never seen Agassi lose a bh to bh battle even on his worst days. At this year's AO, Djokovic vs Murray, Djokovic had to rely on backhand slices every now and then because Murray was overpowering him on that side. You are right though when you said that Djokovic mobility enables him to hit great shots on the run from the bh side. Agassi's ability though to hit on rise with that bh is still unequalled today IMO.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b3uiZvHN9f8

[The-Champ]

Originally Posted by TomT

That's a tough call. Worthy of consideration, imo. Then there's Connors' backhand. I saw him play in person in his prime. Really quite awesome. But I love the apparent ease and compact fluidity of Agassi's strokes. I also really like to watch Rosewall. Maybe they should separate backhands into one-handed and two-handed.

Anyway, from my experience, perspective, and limited judgement, I like Agassi's backhand better than Djokovic's. But the Djoker's power and placement is amazing. Like I said, tough call.

Power-wise, I'd still pick Agassi's over Djokovic'.

[abmk]

Originally Posted by kiki

Flink is a newcomer and a second rate tennis journalist.This list is completely ridiculous.It is biassed and only rates last 15 or 20 years players.LMAO¡¡¡

yeah because gonzales, laver, kramer, newk,tilden,hoad,budge,emerson, mac,roche,rosewall,trabert,borg,santana,connors all are from the last 15-20 years ..., oh wait

you are ****ed only because he didn't rank laver in the top 5 in almost every category ....

[abmk]

I'd take

karlovic's first serve over federer's
edberg's 2nd serve over rafter's
agassi's BH over djoker's/hoad's/kuerten's
cash's FH volley should be up there too
courier's FH should be ahead of borg, sampras, delpo ......
noah should be in the list for overhead .....

the worst is djoker's passing shot in the top 5 ....... LOL, that one had me cracking up ....... I can name atleast ten players better in the open era alone :

borg, connors, lendl, agassi,nadal, federer,hewitt,wilander,laver,rosewall

[abmk]

Originally Posted by pc1

None of the picks were downright awful and there are so many players in the history of tennis Flink was bound to forget a lot.

two of them are awful IMO ..

1) djoker's passing shots in the top 5 ???? they are not special ....

federer who is in the same era and isn't in the list was far better at his peak

and then of course you have lendl, wilander, connors , laver, rosewall etc ...

2) agassi's BH not being in the list and having djoker/hoad/kuerten ahead of him, really ?????

[TomT]

Originally Posted by The-Champ

Power-wise, I'd still pick Agassi's over Djokovic'.

You might be right. It's hard to tell just from videos and TV. I just like the way Agassi strokes the ball a slight bit more than the way Djokovic does. I guess I just need to watch more videos.

[galain]

Originally Posted by abmk

you are ****ed only because he didn't rank laver in the top 5 in almost every category ....

It's a great testament to Laver though, that he's only on two lists yet still the one many think is the best who ever played the game.