Are there players who are "only" good at returning? If so, who?

[tennis_hack]

If you gave me the choice between having a GOAT serve and a GOAT return, I'd pick GOAT return, but not because the return is more important than the serve.

I'd pick the return because great returners always seem to be great at a lot of other things in the game (Agassi, Djokovic, Murray, Hewitt...etc...), usually groundstrokes, consistency and movement - whereas a big server can literally only just be pretty much a big server (Isner, Raonic, Karlovic...etc...).

So just like there are 'servebots' - are there any 'returnbots' in the game - pro's that are great at returning serve but average to poor at everything else?

If not, why do you think the return has more transfer to other tennis skills than the serve? And would you pick a great serve or a great return?

 

[Maximagq]

His name is Santiago Giraldo. One of the worst serves I have seen for a pro, but he can do this doe.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBvesji9yOs

 

[tipsa...don'tlikehim!]

His name is Santiago Giraldo. One of the worst serves I have seen for a pro, but he can do this doe.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBvesji9yOs

haha!! funny i was gonna write exactly the same thing !! Giraldo serve is so weak, his return is very good. This kind of player will never achieve anything, too many weaknesses.
I remember Giraldo played a great match against Nadal a few years ago, in US.

 

[Terenigma]

His name is Santiago Giraldo. One of the worst serves I have seen for a pro, but he can do this doe.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBvesji9yOs

I watched all of that video and as amazing as that return is, every oppenent in that video has a weak serve and im including Nadal in that list. A few were clearly second serves and alot of them were on clay which is slow and gives him time to prepare a big FH/BH. All he seems to do is hit it hard when he has the time to hit hard, pretty much anyone can do that imo. But for the purpose of the OP, he certainly fits the bill.

Also i would love to know how many of those matches he actually won, in pretty much all of them he was losing...

 

[TTMR]

Santoro was a phenomenal returner. He was below average or terrible in every other part of the game besides speed and touch (volleys/slice).

 

[egn]

I watched all of that video and as amazing as that return is, every oppenent in that video has a weak serve and im including Nadal in that list. A few were clearly second serves and alot of them were on clay which is slow and gives him time to prepare a big FH/BH. All he seems to do is hit it hard when he has the time to hit hard, pretty much anyone can do that imo. But for the purpose of the OP, he certainly fits the bill.

Also i would love to know how many of those matches he actually won, in pretty much all of them he was losing...

This is a valid point, Giraldo rarely actually breaks serve. Gustafsson kind of fit the bill in the early 90s if I recall, he was always able to track down serves, rarely aced and broke a crap ton. Coria might be the definition of a return game player, but he had a well rounded game. Kucera was another phenomenal returner as well. In terms of only return though nowadays I would honestly say Chela. The guy is very good at stepping in on the serve on the forehand side and giving a tough return, but his movement and groundstrokes are poor overall and I've honestly got zero memory of seeing him hit a volley. However I know Chela is always a tough guy to break and could produce some fantastic return winners. He's the closets to a "returnbot"

 

[Chanwan]

If you gave me the choice between having a GOAT serve and a GOAT return, I'd pick GOAT return, but not because the return is more important than the serve.

I'd pick the return because great returners always seem to be great at a lot of other things in the game (Agassi, Djokovic, Murray, Hewitt...etc...), usually groundstrokes, consistency and movement - whereas a big server can literally only just be pretty much a big server (Isner, Raonic, Karlovic...etc...).

So just like there are 'servebots' - are there any 'returnbots' in the game - pro's that are great at returning serve but average to poor at everything else?

If not, why do you think the return has more transfer to other tennis skills than the serve? And would you pick a great serve or a great return?

Guys like Jordi Arresse and Filippo Volandri are very high on the all time return games won list. But they almost play exclusively on clay, which obviously matters in this respect.
http://www.atpworldtour.com/Matchfacts/Matchfacts-List.aspx?c=9&s=0&y=0

Arresse is less impressive, when you put him on the clay alone return game list:
http://www.atpworldtour.com/Matchfacts/Matchfacts-List.aspx?c=9&s=1&y=0

However, I don't know enough about their games to judge them as returnbots or not. All I can say is, they are very, very good on the all time return list, but still fairly unknown to the common fan -> probably not that good outside the return game.

 

[RoddickAce]

haha!! funny i was gonna write exactly the same thing !! Giraldo serve is so weak, his return is very good. This kind of player will never achieve anything, too many weaknesses.
I remember Giraldo played a great match against Nadal a few years ago, in US.

I tried to look for that match, but it seems all their matches are quite lopsided...would you perhaps be referring to Golubev? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOlndeJzyjI