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I'd always pictured it as like Courier's BH or Evert's serve; it didn't really break down under normal circumstances because he was never too ambitious with it, but I do remember being surprised when it held up against Safin's because it was legitimately one of the best backhands on tour.

I remember the 04 QF between Roddick and Safin being very tightly contested, which was surprising considering the massive gap between their BH wings. You'd have thought that on Rebound Ace it would have been a big liability in this particular matchup, but Roddick's two-hander somehow managed to...

There are many, many old matches out there that were indeed phenomenally exciting. That said, none of them will involve Brad Gilbert and that was 100% by design. His style of play was built entirely around maximizing his chances of winning/making money and he was more than happy to leave the...

Roddick S&V'ing was great as an occasional change up tactic - his serve generated weak returns from like 95% of the tour and his volleys were reasonably competent when he had time - but IMO calling it a weapon is a bridge too far considering how much more comfortable he was either blasting or...

On that we agree 100%, and it ticks me off when people see YT highlights and think all he did was charge the net. Peak Sampras could bomb the hell out of you with the serve or his groundies, and if you somehow survived that one-two punch? You had to contend with his sharp as hell volleys, or in...

He was absolutely a fast court attacker even under Gullikson (EDIT: and Annacone), the entire S&V playstyle was made possible by the speed of the courts on everywhere but clay (coupled, of course, with lighter balls and no poly until much later on). His two biggest weapons in his ridiculous...

I'll grant that's possible, but I'm also one to say that even if he did have those resources I genuinely doubt he'd use them. Being hypothetically able to grind for hours on end doesn't mean he'd be comfortable or proficient enough at doing it to take down the one major he couldn't conquer...

I could see him winning one with added stamina (1996 most probably), but at least three? I doubt that, especially considering that Pete himself laid out multiple reasons why he couldn't get it done at RG that weren't related to his stamina issues. His game plan and mindset, as effective as they...

As scary as Pete was literally everywhere else, I don't think giving him Rafa's stamina (which ostensibly removes all the drawbacks from his thalassemia) would have necessarily been enough to guarantee him a FO - there were other issues he had to deal with as well. In Pete's own words from his...

Not the greatest baseline basher in the world but still definitely capable nonetheless! IMO It was absolute butter when it comes to the transition/net game though, plenty maneuverable with great stick on volleys and nasty slices. A perfect match for Rafter, 100%.

Wait, I get that some folks are mad at Tiafoe for playing a couple of hard body shots but why in the world is Sock getting dragged by association? From what I recall all he did the whole match was play high quality dubs - was there a moment where he tried to go for either Fed/Rafa that I can't...

Are they playing on 2005 hardcourts or 2022 hardcourts?

This video does a great job of showing off young Roddick's smash-mouth brand of tennis, though admittedly there are probably better examples to show off Ferrero's groundstroke prowess. While his FH wasn't as huge as the pure blasters of the generation in terms of raw MPH, it was still an elite...

I'm not surprised in all honesty. Fed and Rafa seem to share a pretty similar relationship to the one that Magic and Bird have, with a dose or three of added sentimentality. There's a genuine respect, warmth, and camaraderie that'll forever exist between the two - anyone with eyes watching Laver...

I'm kinda surprised Fed didn't include his 2003 Davis Cup encounter with Hewitt (losing from two sets up) in the heartbreak category as well. Might be a bridge too far even now, he still gets noticeably emotional whenever Peter Carter gets brought up in interviews.

I've always been of the opinion that Wallace's best work came in short form; while the article in the OP might skirt a tad too close to hagiography for some tennis fans (and can come off as utterly blasphemous for fans that actively dislike Roger Federer) pieces like that and String Theory are...

I wish I could remember where I saw this (maybe here on TT, who knows?) but apparently a while after their USO match Mac was asked about Pete and he said what surprised him the most at the time was his capability from the baseline; while it wasn't uncommon to see excellent S&V guys who could at...

Injuries and illnesses drastically cut Ferrero's prime down and it's a damn shame, he deserves far more credit than he gets nowadays. Too many people look at his Wikipedia article or a few highlights on Youtube and dismiss him as a bog-standard claycourter when in reality clay was merely his...

Roddick abusing umpires and Safin crashing cars are both so on-brand it hurts.

David Foster Wallace wrote this footnote about Chang in String Theory (written before the widespread emergence of poly, mind you): "Some tennis writer somewhere observed of Michael Chang that whereas all pros up at net will run back to retrieve a lob placed over their heads, Chang is the only...

If tennis pundits can rate the serve and the service game as two distinct entities (Guys like Karlovic and Isner would lead the first category, guys like Sampras and Federer would lead the second), I see no real reason why you can't do the same for forehands as standalone strokes VS forehands in...

Both Ginepri and Malisse played quite well that USO, though. Ginepri in particular was zoning, hitting a level far above his average that he'd never again quite match during his time on the tour. Agassi handled that final exceptionally well in all honesty, even if he came up on the losing end...

Chang was absolutely better than all three as a competitor but his lack of reach (not power, the anyone who thinks the dude couldn't belt it when he wanted to never watched Michael Chang) and height was just a bridge too far. Watching Sampras spread the court time and again the result really did...

Not a lot of people would, but it bears noting that even during the 90's - the peak of fast court tennis in terms of prevalence - very few matches were actually pure bang-bang to the extent that you're putting forth. Sure, highlight packages can give that impression and certain match-ups (like...

Variety = better tennis. Have some courts lightning fast, have some courts brutally slow. Throw in some medium speed surfaces that slightly skew toward either end of the spectrum along with a range of bounces across the board and you've got the recipe for a good time.

In all fairness regarding the bolded, so did Pioline and I'd wager that even young Djoker and Murray had enough mental composure to far surpass Cedric in that department even back then. He was a player with a beautiful, flowing, brilliant all court game but without the grit or focus to make the...

And the same bet placed over a year ago would have leaned heavily toward her never winning a major, period. Look how that ended up working out. Playing the odds is all well and good - it's where the smart money is for a reason - but if watching sports my whole life has taught me anything it's...

I remember when all BG did was come up with corny nicknames for players and go on sports tangents during commentary that had nothing to do with tennis. I miss that. He should have stuck with that instead of pivoting to the Novak thing.

While there's clearly no guarantee he'd dominate without Roger (wayyyyy too many variables in that equation, though if I had to gamble on him having a better or worse career without Fed I'd feel a lot safer laying down money on better*) I'd say that Roddick at the peak of his powers was a decent...

Had to go 5-5. While 2015 Federer would still be able to blunt Roddick's serve/exploit his BH wing like no one else could (oftentimes with the exact same chip), the other part of what made Federer so capable of dealing with Roddick's power off the ground during the early years - the insanely...