Is Fed the most TALENTED player ever?

Is Federer the most talented player in tennis history?

  • Yes/Jawohl/Chumjetzt

    Votes: 48 68.6%

  • No/Nein/Gurufils or someone else

    Votes: 22 31.4%
  • Total voters
    70
N

ND-13

Hall of Fame
Nadalgaenger said:
Simple question: Is Roger the most talented player ever?

Even though I now am convinced that Nole is going to be GOAT (greatest in winning matches with all chips down), I would say Federer is the most talented player ever to pick up a racket.
Click to expand...

I agree that this is a consensus view. Djokovic or Nadal will likely cross Fed's slam count but Federer will end up as being recognized the most talented ever to play the sport.

Needless to say, Laver and McEnroe will have a claim as well.
 
ForehandCross

ForehandCross

G.O.A.T.
Eh no.
If talent is Racquet headskills and creativity, then he is good but may not be the best.

Loads of guys with talent don't make it big so people don't speak of them.

Federer's fitness, training and winning mentality has a lot more to do with his success than talent. Just another ploy from Fed fans to push the idea that "Roger is all talent and could have been better if he trained harder."
 
Nadalgaenger

Nadalgaenger

G.O.A.T.
My personal experience: I got to watch both guys practice at Indian Wells a couple of years ago.

Probably nobody would be surprised to hear that Nadal practice was full throttle intensity, as if Rafa accomplishes his great feats through sheer force of will. Fed’s practice looked extremely casual. He was just hitting the ball around like a Sunday in the park and shooting the breeze with Lubicic.
 
skaj

skaj

Legend
Definitely one of, alongside Rios, Laver, McEnroe, Nalbandian... Hingis on the women's side.
 
Winners or Errors

Winners or Errors

Legend
I voted, yes, but McEnroe, to do what he did with a racquet... was a true artist. Heck, he still is. In full flight, he was truly something to watch. That said, his time at the top was so short. Still, Mac matches between 1980 and 1984 were a sight to be seen, even when he lost. He made ugly look pretty.
 
ForehandCross

ForehandCross

G.O.A.T.
Nadalgaenger said:
My personal experience: I got to watch both guys practice at Indian Wells a couple of years ago.

Probably nobody would be surprised to hear that Nadal practice was full throttle intensity, as if Rafa accomplishes his great feats through sheer force of will. Fed’s practice looked extremely casual. He was just hitting the ball around like a Sunday in the park and shooting the breeze with Lubicic.
Click to expand...

Anyone who has ever seen Rafa practice will agree that if he played with the same intensity in matches as does in practice ,his matches will come with the disclaimer

" Viewers discretion advised ,extreme ball abuse"

The guy murders , I mean murders the ball. One of my friend saw him practice in Melbourne, and he was really really shocked about it.
 
M

mental midget

Hall of Fame
Winners or Errors said:
I voted, yes, but McEnroe, to do what he did with a racquet... was a true artist. Heck, he still is. In full flight, he was truly something to watch. That said, his time at the top was so short. Still, Mac matches between 1980 and 1984 were a sight to be seen, even when he lost. He made ugly look pretty.
Click to expand...

yeah, him and roger are probably top two. nastase like a few people mentioned, rios and leconte, all honorable mentions.
 
Winners or Errors

Winners or Errors

Legend
mental midget said:
yeah, him and roger are probably top two. nastase like a few people mentioned, rios and leconte, all honorable mentions.
Click to expand...
Leconte may have been super talented, but every single time I turned on the tube to watch he turned in a stinker. I think there have been a lot of super talented mental midget French players over the years. So.... frustrating.
 
Nadalgaenger

Nadalgaenger

G.O.A.T.
ForehandCross said:
Anyone who has ever seen Rafa practice will agree that if he played with the same intensity in matches as does in practice ,his matches will come with the disclaimer

" Viewers discretion advised ,extreme ball abuse"

The guy murders , I mean murders the ball. One of my friend saw him practice in Melbourne, and he was really really shocked about it.
Click to expand...
Cool story: Within minutes of wandering into I Diana Wells Tennis Garden back on my first trip there in 2016 I randomly stumbled onto a practice court with Nadal practicing! So my first experience watching live ATP action ever in life was a Nadal practice at sunset at IW.
 
Noleberic123

Noleberic123

G.O.A.T.
Federer Is the most talented tennis player in history in terms of offense. There is nothing he can't do offensively. He is the Messi of tennis.

That being said. Djokovic Is the BOAT
 
metsman

metsman

G.O.A.T.
AnOctorokForDinner said:
clay
Click to expand...
Other factors there including era which has nothing to do with Pete. Pete has GOAT serve among legit talents, GOAT or co-GOAT athleticism, and is within the top 2-3 or so for ballstriking and feel.

I think Fedr is slightly more talented than Pete due to footwork (Pete better footwork when going to net though) and ballstriking/variety and Fed's natural 6th tennis sense, but I can't really put anyone else above Pete. GOAT serve and athleticism is just an absurd starting package for talent. You can go so far with that and Pete had even more with great touch and ballstriking.
 
The Blond Blur

The Blond Blur

G.O.A.T.
ForehandCross said:
Anyone who has ever seen Rafa practice will agree that if he played with the same intensity in matches as does in practice ,his matches will come with the disclaimer

" Viewers discretion advised ,extreme ball abuse"

The guy murders , I mean murders the ball. One of my friend saw him practice in Melbourne, and he was really really shocked about it.
Click to expand...
He probably hits the ball 10-15% harder in practice. It's definitely frustrating since he only plays that way when he's uber confident.
 
G

game..set..match

Semi-Pro
Federer is the most consistent and all time and arguably the most mentally tough along with nadal/novak.

but definitely not the most talented.

in terms of pure, raw talent it has to be Kyrgios.
 
metsman

metsman

G.O.A.T.
The Blond Blur said:
He probably hits the ball 10-15% harder in practice. It's definitely frustrating since he only plays that way when he's uber confident.
Click to expand...
Nadal has extreme racket head speed and a very violent FH swing so that view makes it look like he's hitting the ball a lot harder than he is since that racket is so close to your field of view while the ball is much further away (because a lot of that head speed goes to spin). Also people don't realize how hard pros hit the ball from the overhead match views, court level view is totally different and thus greatly exaggerates the true difference.

Nadal certainly hits the ball more carefree in practice but you have to consider the types of balls he's hitting against. I don't think difference between practice and real matches is as big as people claim to be just by watching those practice videos.

Also most of the guys he practices against have no shot tolerances for the types of balls he hits which makes them look more devastating (which they are, but I'm talking about people's perception). Put a legit pro on the other side and you'd see the difference.
 
Z

Zoid

Hall of Fame
Been a lot of talented players:

talented in terms of raw power: safin, monfils, kygs, pete, blake, nadal

talented in terms of ball-striking - safin, Djokovic, Agassi, Nalbandian

talented in terms of improvisation - fed, kyrgios, monfils,

talented in terms of movement/athleticism - monfils, dimitrov, djok, nadal, pete, fed

talented in terms of feel - rios, fed, santoro, Mac, Murray, Arazi, Paire

Talented in terms of anticipation - murray, Fed

But if I have to pick one it's Fed - I tend to think players with head-light racquets have an advantage as they can more easily maneuvre and adjust late, hit the backhand overhead, flick shots more etc. No surprise that fed and kyrgios both have such set-ups.

Fed has incredible feel, ball-striking, have seen him hit literally every shot - backhand flick passes, fake drop shots, backhand overheads, tweeners, drop volleys, jump smashes, SABR etc. On top of that he can slide into defensive balls, rip winners from deep, serve with pin-point accuracy, and returns big servers quite well - anticipation.

Second? Of current era definitely kyrgios for me
 
N

nicklane1

Rookie
Yes. As great as he looks on TV, you can't appreciate his genius until you see in play in person.
I saw him hit angles which looked mathematically impossible from his position on the court. I kept saying how is that possible.
 
N

nicklane1

Rookie
game..set..match said:
Federer is the most consistent and all time and arguably the most mentally tough along with nadal/novak.

but definitely not the most talented.

in terms of pure, raw talent it has to be Kyrgios.
Click to expand...
Remember the look on Kryrigios' face when Fed hit a forehand winner around the net post?
 
Nadalgaenger

Nadalgaenger

G.O.A.T.
Zoid said:
Been a lot of talented players:

talented in terms of raw power: safin, monfils, kygs, pete, blake, nadal

talented in terms of ball-striking - safin, Djokovic, Agassi, Nalbandian

talented in terms of improvisation - fed, kyrgios, monfils,

talented in terms of movement/athleticism - monfils, dimitrov, djok, nadal, pete, fed

talented in terms of feel - rios, fed, santoro, Mac, Murray, Arazi, Paire

Talented in terms of anticipation - murray, Fed

But if I have to pick one it's Fed - I tend to think players with head-light racquets have an advantage as they can more easily maneuvre and adjust late, hit the backhand overhead, flick shots more etc. No surprise that fed and kyrgios both have such set-ups.

Fed has incredible feel, ball-striking, have seen him hit literally every shot - backhand flick passes, fake drop shots, backhand overheads, tweeners, drop volleys, jump smashes, SABR etc. On top of that he can slide into defensive balls, rip winners from deep, serve with pin-point accuracy, and returns big servers quite well - anticipation.

Second? Of current era definitely kyrgios for me
Click to expand...
Superb post.
I like ow you compartmentalizations the various talents.
 
The Blond Blur

The Blond Blur

G.O.A.T.
metsman said:
Nadal has extreme racket head speed and a very violent FH swing so that view makes it look like he's hitting the ball a lot harder than he is since that racket is so close to your field of view while the ball is much further away (because a lot of that head speed goes to spin). Also people don't realize how hard pros hit the ball from the overhead match views, court level view is totally different and thus greatly exaggerates the true difference.

Nadal certainly hits the ball more carefree in practice but you have to consider the types of balls he's hitting against. I don't think difference between practice and real matches is as big as people claim to be just by watching those practice videos.

Also most of the guys he practices against have no shot tolerances for the types of balls he hits which makes them look more devastating (which they are, but I'm talking about people's perception). Put a legit pro on the other side and you'd see the difference.
Click to expand...
That's what I mean, he's less concerned about missing since there are no consequences vs a real match.
 
megamind

megamind

Legend
He is more talented than Nadal and Djokovic

Or at least, he makes tennis look easy/effortless (whereas they tend to act like they're putting in more effort)

A lot of people refer to that perceived effortlessness as talent, so yes, Roger is the most talented of this generation, but I haven't seen so much tennis from earlier gens to say about them
 
megamind

megamind

Legend
game..set..match said:
in terms of pure, raw talent it has to be Kyrgios.
Click to expand...

giphy.gif
 
Hit 'em clean

Hit 'em clean

Semi-Pro
It sure why people are putting so much weight on practice sessions (Nadal). As I recall o my thing that counts is in a real match. I’ve seen Nadal practice and I wasn’t blown away like I’ve heard some people state. Yes he hits the ball hard, but outside of the type of ball he hits it reminded me of Agassi practicing. Andre would walk on the court and almost with no warm up would start throttling the ball.

Fed is the most talented period. The number of different shots he can hit is absolutely in credible from any situation. To the point where I think it maybe has hurt him. Yes, I know it sounds ridiculous but stay with me for a moment. Nadal and Djoker will pass Fed, but they have fewer options of shot in most situations than Fed. Not that any of them dont have great options or options that one or more of them don’t have, but the number of options. Djoker and Nadal have clearer choices and styles than Fed which sometimes makes things easier.

No one I’ve ever seen has the variety of shot or playing style variety that Fed has. If I had one player I could pick to watch on top form and it would be the last match I would ever see it would be Fed, Agassi (big Agassi fan), Sampras for me as my top three.

Also full disclosure I like Nadal and Djoker better than Fed as a fan when I’m rooting for any of the big 3 with Nadal at the top. I’m not a Fed homer.
 
Subway Tennis

Subway Tennis

Legend
Mac, Nadal, Laver, Rios, Federer, Hoad, Nastase

Kyrgios is the closest to a modern day Mcenroe, not in playing style, but in terms of a mixture of otherworldly touch, racquetwork skill and desire to create theatre around how much talent and ability he has, and thus the deficit with his opponent.

Unfortunately, Nick has nowhere near Mac's ability to construct or work a point. Here we are again contemplating the reality about notions of talent.
 
flanker2000fr

flanker2000fr

Hall of Fame
Happy to see that some people are remembering Nastase. Too undisciplined to consistently win big tournaments, but he could do just about anything with his racquet. Outrageous talent.
 
DjokoGOAT

DjokoGOAT

Semi-Pro
“most talented player ever”:

11-21 vs main rivals at slams
0-3 peak for peak vs Djokovic at Wimbledon
0-6 at rg vs nadal
1-4 at ao vs djokovic
2-10 at slams vs Djokovic since 2011
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

peRFection
Annacone: Kyrgios is the most talented player since Roger Federer arrived
2 3
Replies
124
Views
6K
msc886
M
ARIARAIDEN
Who do you think is/was more talented than Federer?
2 3
Replies
139
Views
14K
Fabresque
Fabresque
T
Wow, Fed just hit the most amazing return...
Replies
28
Views
3K
Rock Strongo
Rock Strongo
M
At almost 40, Fed shows why he is the most talented player of all time.
Replies
32
Views
1K
Sunny014
Sunny014
F
Does anybody has doubt that federer is most talented player EVER?
3 4 5
Replies
201
Views
12K
fastgrass
F
Top