Most important quality to have as a top 10 player?

Tammo · Dec 28, 2011

Just curious what you the people have to say about what a tennis player needs to have in order to have a top 10 ranking. The pint is that there is much diversity between what each players strength is. Murray has consistency, Ferrer has speed, Tsong has a big serve, or Berdych with a huge groundstrokes.

Please voice your opinions.

[Z]engin · Dec 28, 2011

This is impossible to answer, there is no no.1 weapon in tennis.

Serve is very important, but so is your baseline game or your volleys. You can't be succesful with one without the other. Some are better in receiving than in serving.

I'll choose serve though, but it's highly important to have a good forehand and volleys to win your serves.

Winning your service turns is the first step, than you gotta break the opponent.

Homeboy Hotel · Dec 28, 2011

Mental stability.

Any mid 20-50 player playing really well could stay with a top 5/10 player and match them point for point, but what separates them from the best is all mental.

There's loads of examples where the lower ranked opponent could quite easily be outplaying their opponent:
Verdasco for instance outplaying Nadal in AO'09/Cincy'11
Davydenko over Djokovic Montreal'11/Federer AO'10
Gasquet over Murray Wimbledon '08/FO'10
Isner over Nadal FO'11
etc, etc

What separates mid-ranked player from the best is metal stamina. Top 10 could be outplayed throughout the whole match but when they get the smallest of chances just pounce and manage to find a way to 'win ugly' so to say.

djokovicgonzalez2010 · Dec 28, 2011

I'm inclined to say mental toughness... but Federer is really, if anything, below average but he's just so talented anything close to average is enough
I'm inclined to say consistency, but you do need some degree of mental prowess

AhmedD · Dec 28, 2011

djokovicgonzalez2010 said:
I'm inclined to say mental toughness... but Federer is really, if anything, below average but he's just so talented anything close to average is enough
I'm inclined to say consistency, but you do need some degree of mental prowess

:/ You don't get 16 slams without having mental toughness, if you're talking about Federer currently then yes, his mental strength isn't what it was. But over the span of his career, he's had pretty good mental toughness. 100 finals, 70 of them won, hard to argue that he's mentally weak with those achievements.

anantak2k · Dec 28, 2011

AhmedD said:
:/ You don't get 16 slams without having mental toughness, if you're talking about Federer currently then yes, his mental strength isn't what it was. But over the span of his career, he's had pretty good mental toughness. 100 finals, 70 of them won, hard to argue that he's mentally weak with those achievements.

EXACTLY! If you go back and look at a ton of Federer matches including even some grand slam finals. You can see that he was outplayed for a good portion of those matches. What made him amazing though was how he was able to constantly somehow win those big important points.
I recently saw the Wimby 04 final again and Federer was down a break in every single set but somehow won the match by winning just about every breakpoint he had while saving all the ones against him. That right there is another story. Nadal is clearly a superior clay court player. They met on clay so much at the beginning that it definitely effected Federer mentally for the rest of their matches.

kishnabe · Dec 28, 2011

You can get to top 10 with a good mentality over good strokes~!

AhmedD · Dec 28, 2011

anantak2k said:
EXACTLY! If you go back and look at a ton of Federer matches including even some grand slam finals. You can see that he was outplayed for a good portion of those matches. What made him amazing though was how he was able to constantly somehow win those big important points.
I recently saw the Wimby 04 final again and Federer was down a break in every single set but somehow won the match by winning just about every breakpoint he had while saving all the ones against him. That right there is another story. Nadal is clearly a superior clay court player. They met on clay so much at the beginning that it definitely effected Federer mentally for the rest of their matches.

Each player has a mental limit, even Federer. Good example this year would be vs Ferrer at the WTF, I could see Ferrer was pushing him, and he was clearly the more consistent player and actually dictating points. If Federer was mentally "weak" I doubt he would have one. Ferrer is one of the big fighters in the top 10, not easy to get rid of him.

Federer currently doesn't have a solid mental base, he can get shaky, mostly because he looses concentration nowadays, where in is younger days he could really focus till the end and is a fighter in his own right. He's had over 10 years on tour and was and still is playing at a high level for so long, and still is for a guy at 30.

Anyways, I think the most important quality to be a consistent top 10 player would be mental strength, as well as consistency in performance. Being mentally strong helps you keep your actual performance on court consistent enough to hold your in a match. Ferrer, although he doesn't have many weapons, he has a good mentality, in the sense he has the mindset of the match no being over until its actually over.

Mainad · Dec 28, 2011

To be able to beat any player ranked 11 and below!

stringertom · Dec 28, 2011

Confidence! If you're top 50, you have the package of strokes and strategy combined with the physical preparation to produce wins on the tour. Top 20 means you're able to consistently produce vs the lower echelon with an occasional breakthrough against the top 10. Top 10 means knowing you're capable of a win against anyone, even the elites. At that level, the game is played on the smallest court...sidelines measured by the distance between your ears.

Lsmkenpo · Dec 28, 2011

Playing on surfaces that no longer reward shot making as much as they do defense.

Movement is now the most important quality a player must have to succeed on the tour.

Footwork shouldn't have been left off the poll.

ledwix · Dec 28, 2011

Mental stability or agility/speed. It seems that the best players are the best movers. Murray is mentally a mess sometimes, but he remains in the top 4 for years because of his first couple of steps and because of that return. So I would go with movement overall, not necessarily speed on its own, but speed/agility/anticipation/positioning.

AhmedD · Dec 28, 2011

True, the top 5 players are the best movers on tour currently. Federer, always have great footwork and movements as well as anticipation, it's declines, but still enough. Djokovic, can cover the court really well, great defense, very fast. Nadal, gets as many balls back as possible, moves really well. Ferrer, really great footwork, very fit, one of the fastest players on tour.

nikdom · Dec 28, 2011

Lsmkenpo said:
Playing on surfaces that no longer reward shot making as much as they do defense.

Movement is now the most important quality a player must have to succeed on the tour.

Footwork shouldn't have been left off the poll.

Agree. Plus I dont't understand why everyone is touting the mental aspect so much for ranking. Just look at Wozniacki on the women's side. You need to be mentally strong to win titles, but not necessarily to be in the top 10.

I would say it is movement, and/or strong groundstrokes. Ferrer doesn't have a big groundstroke but retrieves everything. Berdych is not a great mover, but he has huge groundstrokes.

jaggy · Dec 29, 2011

Playing the big points well, thats the difference.

celoft · Dec 29, 2011

Mental Stability for sure.

Tammo · Dec 29, 2011

Now I have another question would it be the same for the WTA? Or is one of the others more important?

TY for all your input.

Logan71 · Dec 29, 2011

I would say it's all mental.As has been said top 50 have the the whole package game wise

For instance

76 Dimitrov
49 Malisse
44 Baghdatis
45 Hasse
40 Tursunov
31 Raonic

These guys have serious game and weapons to boot,all are at different stages of their tennis life but they all could be placed in the the top 10 right now and wouldn't be out of place game wise.

In the case of Baghdatis he has been in there.Which makes a strong case for mental stability.Regardless of injury that players have to deal with over a career.

Henman was always roundly criticized by many for not delivering but he had tremendous mental strength despite some mental lapses he used to have when in good positions in matches.He punched above his own weight really because he didn't have a point ending weapon from the back of the court.

He dropped out of the top 10 after an injury went down to 40 and got back largely by winning the Paris masters against an elite field including then wimbledon champion Federer and US open champion Roddick.

OddJack · Dec 29, 2011

Its consistency

You cannot be consistent w/o mental strength.

Consistency has many things inside it. eg fitness.

You can be mentally strong but struggle with your fitness/injuries. eg Hewitt.

Most of the poll voters got it wrong. This has been asked from the pros several times, and they all think the same

Most important quality to have as a top 10 player?

Most important quality of a top 10 player?

Speed

Mental Stability

Solid Volleys and Overheads

Big Groundstroke

140+ Serve

Stamina

Consistency

Placement on shots

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