Who is the best returner of all time
- Thread starter steenkash
- Start date
travlerajm
Talk Tennis Guru
You beat me to this.
clayqueen
Talk Tennis Guru
The answer is here
www.atptour.com
ATP Leaderboard of ROS of all time
ATP Leaderboard of ROS last 52 weeks
Leaderboard | ATP Tour | Tennis
Statistical measures of the best-performing players in three key categories in men's professional tennis.
www.atptour.com
ATP Leaderboard of ROS of all time
ATP Leaderboard of ROS last 52 weeks
Red Rick
Bionic Poster
Imagine posting this, every single time, every single time without context, while everyone knows how dumb it is to look at without context. Like seriously how did you pass the Turing test?The answer is here
Leaderboard | ATP Tour | Tennis
Statistical measures of the best-performing players in three key categories in men's professional tennis.
ATP Leaderboard of ROS of all time
ATP Leaderboard of ROS last 52 weeks
clayqueen
Talk Tennis Guru
Q. Who is the best returner now or of all time.
Answer: Check the official ATP leaderboard.
Are you saying the ATP Rankings table is out of context?
Last edited:
clayqueen
Talk Tennis Guru
Wrong. Novak is 6th of all time.
clayqueen
Talk Tennis Guru
Is clay not a surface? There are far more opportunities to move up the board on hardcourts which form the majority of the tour. Clay or no clay, what's Novak\s excuse for being 6th of all time?
clayqueen
Talk Tennis Guru
Which other ATP statistic is out of context? As long as posters appear uninformed, I will continue to post the facts.
Last edited:
RF-18
Talk Tennis Guru
Nadal shouldn't be in the poll. A guy returning from the stands with the goal to just get the ball back in play is not part of this conversation.
I think it's close between Djovak and Murray, Agassi is there aswell. But overall it's Djoko. Ferrer is very underrated aswell.
I think it's close between Djovak and Murray, Agassi is there aswell. But overall it's Djoko. Ferrer is very underrated aswell.
clayqueen
Talk Tennis Guru
So, tell me where the boundary is behind the baseline for return of serve. Standing far away from the baseline obviously works. Just watch how many players are now copying Rafa's ROS position including Djokovic.
Last edited:
InsideOut900
Legend
Nadal is teaching the likes of Thiem, Zverev, Tsitsipas, Medvedev and the rest very well with when it comes to returning from the stands. It has proven very effective for the NextGen so far.So, tell me where the boundary is behind the baseline for return of serve. Standing far away from the baseline obviously works. Just watch how many players are now copying Rafa's ROS position including Djokovic.
skaj
Legend
There's enough room in the poll for more. You are clearly missing Nalbandian and "someone else" option. There were other great returners, like Hewitt, Rios.
LoveTheGreatOne
Semi-Pro
Agassi due to the court conditions he played into
Hitman
Bionic Poster
Connors was very good also, he was considered the best before Agassi came onto the scene. But yes, Djokovic is overall the greatest runner of all time as it stands now.
Wurm
Professional
The problem with return stats based on points/games won is that they don't tell you only about the return. The top clay court players typically have inflated return stats because it's an easier surface for them to return on.
Also, Novak's a better/more consistent player than Murray so Novak can put slightly fewer balls into play and still end up winning a higher percentage of points than Murray does. It's a large part of why Murray's record against Raonic is a bit of the odd one out when it comes to the huge servers as Raonic is a much better player off the ground than the likes of Isner.
The way I see it is that the main thing Novak has over Murray when it comes to returning is his own serve, which allows him to be that little bit more aggressive on returns (particularly first serves) as it matters less to him than Murray if he overcooks a few he could've got into play with a more conservative shot. The psychological pressure Novak's able to exert on an opponent by being able to hold his own serve with minimal fuss, thus freeing him up to be as aggressive as he is, therefore making them feel that anything less than a quality serve may well get buried shouldn't be underestimated.
Overall I think Murray is, by a hair's breadth, on balance the better raw returner, albeit not now with the hip restricting his movement, obviously.
I have no issue with people choosing Novak, but I do take issue with this recent trend, largely among commentators, of talking about Novak's return as the best ever as if it's unquestionable... nah.
Agassi's returning was in a different technological era where topspin was harder to come by and standing well back to return Sampras' (for example) serve was not going to go well, so he'd stand right up on the baseline and get aced a lot. Anything in his reach, off either wing, he'd have back at them before they could blink though, which was mightily impressive.
I didn't watch Connors play enough to comment.
Also, Novak's a better/more consistent player than Murray so Novak can put slightly fewer balls into play and still end up winning a higher percentage of points than Murray does. It's a large part of why Murray's record against Raonic is a bit of the odd one out when it comes to the huge servers as Raonic is a much better player off the ground than the likes of Isner.
The way I see it is that the main thing Novak has over Murray when it comes to returning is his own serve, which allows him to be that little bit more aggressive on returns (particularly first serves) as it matters less to him than Murray if he overcooks a few he could've got into play with a more conservative shot. The psychological pressure Novak's able to exert on an opponent by being able to hold his own serve with minimal fuss, thus freeing him up to be as aggressive as he is, therefore making them feel that anything less than a quality serve may well get buried shouldn't be underestimated.
Overall I think Murray is, by a hair's breadth, on balance the better raw returner, albeit not now with the hip restricting his movement, obviously.
I have no issue with people choosing Novak, but I do take issue with this recent trend, largely among commentators, of talking about Novak's return as the best ever as if it's unquestionable... nah.
Agassi's returning was in a different technological era where topspin was harder to come by and standing well back to return Sampras' (for example) serve was not going to go well, so he'd stand right up on the baseline and get aced a lot. Anything in his reach, off either wing, he'd have back at them before they could blink though, which was mightily impressive.
I didn't watch Connors play enough to comment.
Tennis_Freak99
Legend
KaratsevGOAT
Beckerserve
Legend
Agassi by some distance.
Nadal_Django
Legend
Nalbandian
3loudboys
G.O.A.T.
Just no.
Nadal_Django
Legend
Yup, who can forget that beast Guillermo Perez Roldan and his monstrous return.
Hitman
Bionic Poster
Yup, who can forget that beast Guillermo Perez Roldan and his monstrous return.
I just spat out my green tea.
MichaelNadal
Bionic Poster
Davydenko at least on Topspin 4 lol
at least on Topspin 4 lol
RF-18
Talk Tennis Guru
Yeah basically all those in the poll are skilled aggressive returners and there isn't much difference between them either. But I personally would choose Djokos. Maybe cause I've seen him play the most but the stuff he is capable of on the return is mindboggling. Just latest against Medvedev. You can just tell how huge of a weapon it is and a nightmare to serve against.
Hitman
Bionic Poster
Agree.
clayqueen
Talk Tennis Guru
If someone was compiling a quiz show and one of the questions was 'who is the best returner of serve in men's tennis', they would go to the the official ATP leaderboard for the answer not to a tennis forum for opinions from fans.
Atennisone
Hall of Fame
Why is the Dennis Novak chosen?
clayqueen
Talk Tennis Guru
Hold on. If clay is that easy why can't all players capitalise on it. It's not as if only those players who do well on clay play on it. Everyone plays on clay.
3loudboys
G.O.A.T.
The point is we are not on a quiz show and we are on a tennis forum where opinion is everything.
Btw - I rest my case....
3loudboys
G.O.A.T.
You need to be a game show host to answer that question.
clayqueen
Talk Tennis Guru
So you disregard the facts.
RF-18
Talk Tennis Guru
Best server. Roger 5th, Rafa 6th, Djokovic 10th
So Nadal has a better serve than Anderson?
StrongRule
Talk Tennis Guru
No way Murray's return is anything close to Djokovic's.
mike danny
Bionic Poster
At this point, you're no better than Lew.Best server. Roger 5th, Rafa 6th, Djokovic 10th
Checkmate
Legend
Nadal better server than Karlovic, confirmed!!
NatF
Bionic Poster
She's definitely got less brain cells than Lew lol.
I don't know who you're talking to, but that's a really low blow.
aliceinpains
Rookie
Agassi
MeatTornado
Talk Tennis Guru
Obviously winning matches on clay isn't easy. But returning serves on clay courts is undeniably the easiest of the 3 surfaces. So the more opportunities you get to play clay matches, the better your return numbers are going to look. And likely the worse your serving numbers will too.
Credit to those clay court specialists and Rafa for doing everything on clay courts so well that they win more matches and give themselves more opportunities to play on the surface. But that doesn't make them more skilled in the act of returning serve than your typical player who spends more time on hard courts.
Similar threads
