Best 2nd serve?

[JohnMatrix]

Of the active tour players today, who do you think has the best kick serve?

NOT the best 2nd serve necessarily, but the best Kick serve.
For example: I've seen on many occasions where Roddick and Ljubicic will throw in a huge kick first serve, (usually on the ad side) and take their opponent incredibly wide.

Anyone here have the Nadal Ljubicic 2006 Roland Garros match?
If so, please extract ljubicics 2 kick serves that leave Nadals foot 6 inches from the planters

 

[ShcMad]

I think Nicolas Almagro has one of the nastiest 2nd serves on the tour right now.

 

[Andres]

In my opinion, in order:

Moodie
Ljubicic
Roddick
Karlovic
Federer

 

[TENNIS_99]

Federer had the best 2nd serve percentage won but was just surpassed by Nadal. I think he is going to win it back after the clay. If I can have two things from Fed, first is his foot work, next is his second serve.

 

[Indrid Cold]

Karlovic. Rediculously high bounce with that thing.

 

[thejackal]

djokovic has a pretty good one too

 

[LarougeNY]

If I can have two things from Fed, first is his foot work, next is his second serve.

If I could have two things I'd pick his shot-making ability and his $! All the rest you can work on yourself, but most people don't have that sho-making ability.

Second serves- I think Roddick has the best one mostly, But Federer's is consistently amazing so I'd pick his over roddick's/ljubicic's

 

[DashaandSafin]

Karlovic-serving out of a tree

Ljub + Roddick, massive kick.

 

[Richie Rich]

Karlovic-serving out of a tree

Ljub + Roddick, massive kick.

i saw ljubicic kick one over another players head in practice last year at the Toronto Masters. even normal second serves were up around the guys head and hea was a good 6 ft tall

 

[crazylevity]

Fed's kick serve aced Tomas Zib in Basel on DEUCE COURT. He served to Zib's backhand and it bounced up and away from Zib, leaving him befuddled. Search for highlights on youtube.

Safin's kick serve went over Rochus. Now I know Rochus isn't the biggest guy around, but it's still impressive, considering court positioning and the fact that even the racquet couldn't reach it.

My votes go to Federer & Safin. Roddick's has a good kick, but way too short in the court, way too predictable. He sometimes goes wide with it, but in my opinion doesn't do enough with it.

 

[Fred132]

Another vote for Safin.

Great second serve, and he almost never double faults.

 

[star_of_death80]

I'd go for Safin of the current players,
his second serve is a true kick, where as other players tend to go big at times,
federer got a great second serve but goes big at times and takes risks, roddick goes big at times, same with luby
great pronation on the second ball, just really spinning it in, love it when he serves the kicker on the ad court how he gets to kick so high and wide at times
i think you got to give safin credit for his second serve, it can be predictable at times, at the same time he has won matches because his second serve is never risky but high percentage in terms of tactics, even though the placement may be the same its the penetration he gets is what wins him his matches.
i think in my mind safin is the most successful player winning with a predictable second serve whereas others rely actually mixing up the second serve and almost hitting like a first, imagine fed or roddick not varying the second serve could they still win

 

[kalic]

Roddick..................

 

[Ronny]

in the wta, stosur n molik have dam good ones

 

[MEAC_ALLAMERICAN]

Another vote for Safin.

Great second serve, and he almost never double faults.

I concur with the Safin reference, he almost never double faults but it not that much effective. But I like Federer and Roddicks 2nd serve.

 

[Alexandros]

Fed's kick serve aced Tomas Zib in Basel on DEUCE COURT. He served to Zib's backhand and it bounced up and away from Zib, leaving him befuddled. Search for highlights on youtube.

Safin's kick serve went over Rochus. Now I know Rochus isn't the biggest guy around, but it's still impressive, considering court positioning and the fact that even the racquet couldn't reach it.

My votes go to Federer & Safin. Roddick's has a good kick, but way too short in the court, way too predictable. He sometimes goes wide with it, but in my opinion doesn't do enough with it.

Wait, you say Roddick's kick serve is too predictable and in the same post praise Safin's? Safin may have a difficult to attack second serve due to the rpms he gets on the ball, but his is as predictable as clock work!

 

[latinking]

Novak Djokavic has a awsome second serve. Biggest kick I have seen. Karlovic is just a freak, awsome aswell.

 

[tenniskid3119]

didnt people use to stand furter behind the baseline to returns Roddick's kick 2nd serve. or is it just me?

 

[l_gonzalez]

Remember Albert Costa when he won the French Open?

He stood way to the left on the ad-court, all the players knew he was gonna throw in the kick serve out wide, but nobody could do anything about it.... they'd just return it mid court and Costa would put away the forehand.

Of the current bunch i'd say Federer. He puts lots of work on the ball, but most importantly is that it's very hard to read. Same ball-toss and he can hit it either side.

 

[johnny ballgame]

The best kick second serves are:

Roddick
Almagro
Ljubicic
Karlovic
Amer Delic (yes, very nasty kick)
Safin
Federer

 

[Jonny S&V]

The best kick second serves are:

Roddick
Almagro
Ljubicic
Karlovic
Amer Delic (yes, very nasty kick)
Safin
Federer

Second that. One of the best anonymous serves.

 

[crazylevity]

Wait, you say Roddick's kick serve is too predictable and in the same post praise Safin's? Safin may have a difficult to attack second serve due to the rpms he gets on the ball, but his is as predictable as clock work!

Well in addition I was also critcizing it for landing short a lot of the time.

 

[The Gorilla]

karlovic, end of discussion.

 

[LowProfile]

I'd go for Safin of the current players,
his second serve is a true kick, where as other players tend to go big at times,
federer got a great second serve but goes big at times and takes risks, roddick goes big at times, same with luby
great pronation on the second ball, just really spinning it in, love it when he serves the kicker on the ad court how he gets to kick so high and wide at times
i think you got to give safin credit for his second serve, it can be predictable at times, at the same time he has won matches because his second serve is never risky but high percentage in terms of tactics, even though the placement may be the same its the penetration he gets is what wins him his matches.
i think in my mind safin is the most successful player winning with a predictable second serve whereas others rely actually mixing up the second serve and almost hitting like a first, imagine fed or roddick not varying the second serve could they still win

I saw that ridiculous serve of Federer. It was down the middle, curving towards Zib like a slice, and then when it landed, it completely changed direction, jumping way off to the right away from Zib's backhand.

Absolutely sick. It was like something from Prince of Tennis. I think it may have been Federer's first serve, though.

 

[diegaa]

Moya´s kick is almost perfect.

 

[crazylevity]

I saw that ridiculous serve of Federer. It was down the middle, curving towards Zib like a slice, and then when it landed, it completely changed direction, jumping way off to the right away from Zib's backhand.

Absolutely sick. It was like something from Prince of Tennis. I think it may have been Federer's first serve, though.

Precisely. Fed's kick serve is so good, he doesn't mind throwing it in the mix as his first serve, keeping his opponent on their toes. And when he uses it as a first serve, you can be sure he's going for the lines along with extra spin, so it's by no means an easy thing to deal with.