Best current volleyer on tour?

Who is currently the best volleyer on tour?

  • Federer

    Votes: 40 32.3%

  • Stephanek

    Votes: 29 23.4%

  • Some other Singles player

    Votes: 13 10.5%

  • Bob Bryan

    Votes: 14 11.3%

  • Mark Bryan

    Votes: 3 2.4%

  • Daniel Nestor

    Votes: 2 1.6%

  • Leander Paes

    Votes: 12 9.7%

  • Mark Knowles

    Votes: 3 2.4%

  • Nenad Zimonjic

    Votes: 6 4.8%

  • Some other Doubles player

    Votes: 2 1.6%
  • Total voters
    124
Don't really know. I like Tsonga's volleys. It's defenitely NOT one of the top 4. Federer's volleys aren't among the best in 2008. They were may be in 2004.
 
crazylevity said:
The thing about Federer is this: His volleys can sometimes be sublime, to the point of sick and you wonder with jaws wide open "How the hell did he do that??!!" But he dumps the easiest of forehand volleys into the net.

How this dichotomy exists, I don't know.
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Most likely because he doesn't volley enough to be extremely consistent there, and is lax when volleying often. He was very solid, and very consistent, on volleys when he S&V'ed, and volleyed a lot; before they ruined the grass at Wimbledon.
 
NamRanger said:
These poll results are hilarious. Half the people vote Federer because he's Federer. Roger dumps so many easy forehand volleys it's ridiculous. Sampras, Henman, Rafter, heck even Goran wouldn't make such silly errors.



The Bryan Bros and Nestor/Knowles are by far the best in this poll. I don't even see how this is even a question.
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Doubles players don't count, and can't be compared to singles players. Come on. All the singles players would look great at net too if they could camp there half the time, and didn't have to hustle as much to just get to a place where they need to volley.

But the Bryan Bros up against the insane passing shots on the singles tour, and their volleys won't look as good as even the above-average volleyers in singles.
 
dh003i said:
Doubles players don't count, and can't be compared to singles players. Come on. All the singles players would look great at net too if they could camp there half the time, and didn't have to hustle as much to just get to a place where they need to volley.

But the Bryan Bros up against the insane passing shots on the singles tour, and their volleys won't look as good as even the above-average volleyers in singles.
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The doubles players play at the net all the time, hence they are so good at volleys. IMHO, I think the top 10 doubles players as a group have better volleys than the 'top 10 at volleying' singles players.

Singles players would look great at net too? Singles players rarely go to the net at all .. how great can they be out there without much match practice at the net.

Yes, Fed and Wawrinka beat the Bryan Bros in the olympics but not because of being better volleyers, but because of better returns, better serves, better passing shots and in general being better players
 
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Thank you Sir Cenc!

The fact that 28 (28!!!) people think that Federer is the best volleyer on tour shows you how far some Federer fans are into blind worship of their hero. Not amusing!

Cenc said:
actually i asked conquistador..... really nice that you put such a beautiful answer
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tennisdad65 said:
The doubles players play at the net all the time, hence they are so good at volleys. IMHO, I think the top 10 doubles players as a group have better volleys than the 'top 10 at volleying' singles players.

Singles players would look great at net too? Singles players rarely go to the net at all .. how great can they be out there without much match practice at the net.

Yes, Fed and Wawrinka beat the Bryan Bros in the olympics but not because of being better volleyers, but because of better returns, better serves, better passing shots and in general being better players
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My argument is that the Bryan Bros volleys wouldn't look good at all on the ATP tour, even if they could get into reasonable position in time...because the passing shots have so much more pace, angle, and action on them.

I think it's arguably Fed's volleys are better than the Bryan Bros, when you consider the passing shots and pressure he has to play against, vs. what they do.
 
Most of the time when you are playing doubles you are already in position to volley so it is much easier to volley while playing doubles than singles. You can see a lot of single players doing excelent volleys while playing doubles. My point is that in order to decide who is the best volleying a S&V contest should be done.
 
jmverdugo said:
My point is that in order to decide who is the best volleying a S&V contest should be done.
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Hell no! That way, excelent volleyers like (ret) Henman or Stepanek would not be benefited of a huge huge serve.

A chip n' charge contest should be done. No serve, just approaches and volleys ;)
 
ksbh said:
Thank you Sir Cenc!

The fact that 28 (28!!!) people think that Federer is the best volleyer on tour shows you how far some Federer fans are into blind worship of their hero. Not amusing!
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If we talk only about singles players Federer really isn't that far away from being the best volleyer on tour.This is a baseline bash era,good net players are very,very rare today in singles and Fed is one of the guys that is capable at the net.Now If we include doubles players then it isn't really close but how many people here watch doubles?
 
hyogen said:
agreed. by the way leelord, i saw you sold a diablo tour mp. how was it? can you either reply to me in one of my threads or hyogen at hotmail? thanks
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hey whats up hyogen, actually i was selling it for a friend. i hit with it and it was pretty good, felt great on serve but this sweetspot was small but i could've gotten used to it w/time but it was no 325 ;)
 
dh003i said:
My argument is that the Bryan Bros volleys wouldn't look good at all on the ATP tour, even if they could get into reasonable position in time...because the passing shots have so much more pace, angle, and action on them.

I think it's arguably Fed's volleys are better than the Bryan Bros, when you consider the passing shots and pressure he has to play against, vs. what they do.
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No. Just no. Please stop being a *******.



The Bryan Brothers routinely face the same amount of shots. Do you really think doubles specialists can't crank the ball like a singles player? Tactically the game is different, but both sides of the game are played at the same speeds.


The Bryan Bros, Nestor, Knowles, and other double specialists would make Federer's volleys look subpar. These guys make their living at the net, they aren't just scrubs. Oh, and Bob Bryan was actually a pretty good singles player, he just was that much better of a doubles player.
 
dh003i said:
Doubles players don't count, and can't be compared to singles players. Come on. All the singles players would look great at net too if they could camp there half the time, and didn't have to hustle as much to just get to a place where they need to volley.

But the Bryan Bros up against the insane passing shots on the singles tour, and their volleys won't look as good as even the above-average volleyers in singles.
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And no, singles players would not look great up at the net if they could camp all day. Roddick, Blake, Davydenko, Ferrer, Nadal? These guys have average to below average volleys, and would get killed in doubles (which Nadal routinely does alot of the time).


Federer's volleys have too much swing, and too much slice. Great for the short volleys, but he can't punch and put it away like the doubles players and the oldschool guys can.



Federer/Wawrinka won doubles in gold because Federer has one of the best forehands, and Wawrinka has one of the best backhands. That and they are solid in most aspects of the game (minus Wawrinka's volleys). Overall they have more game then the Bryan Brothers, however as pure volleyers, the Bryan Brothers are FAR superior, by a LONG shot.
 
dh003i said:
Doubles players don't count, and can't be compared to singles players. Come on. All the singles players would look great at net too if they could camp there half the time, and didn't have to hustle as much to just get to a place where they need to volley.

But the Bryan Bros up against the insane passing shots on the singles tour, and their volleys won't look as good as even the above-average volleyers in singles.
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I agree. doubles is completely different than singles in the volley game. I play both and I have a much tougher time volleying and being agressive when I play singles. I don't think much of doubles players as being volley specialists. If they dominate doubles and are crap in singles..that should tell you something. Mac is the exception of course.
 
Azzurri said:
I agree. doubles is completely different than singles in the volley game. I play both and I have a much tougher time volleying and being agressive when I play singles. I don't think much of doubles players as being volley specialists. If they dominate doubles and are crap in singles..that should tell you something. Mac is the exception of course.
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Bob Bryan is no slouch in the singles game, he just discovered that he'd make just as much money as a doubles player. Most of the doubles players are actually quite good singles player (Santoro, Clement, Bob Bryan, Melzer, Bjorkman, Miyrni, etc.) but they focus more on doubles because that is what they are better at.
 
NamRanger said:
Bob Bryan is no slouch in the singles game, he just discovered that he'd make just as much money as a doubles player. Most of the doubles players are actually quite good singles player (Santoro, Clement, Bob Bryan, Melzer, Bjorkman, Miyrni, etc.) but they focus more on doubles because that is what they are better at.
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I am speaking from experience.:) I am not a pro, but can say w/out questio n that being a S&V player is easier in doubles. Are you going to argue this?:confused:

I never said you can't be a good singles player, but my point was its easy to say this doubles player is a good volleyer based on their success in doubles...I look at how good they are as singles players.

None of the players you mentioned are anything special...its a shame what has happened to the volley player. :(
 
I think Llodra is one of the better volleyers on tour. Also surprisingly, when Nalbandian is on he makes a lot of succesful net appearances.
 
I actually love this discussion. The problem with comparing doubles and singles players is that people are now bringing in opponent's passing shots etc into the matter. That wasn't part of the question.

The question simply asked for the best volleyers. Not who gets the most balls, who has the greatest reach, or anything like that.

I think it's truly hard to argue for anyone besides the Bryan brothers. I'm not saying Bob would make a more effective volleyer in singles than Federer but you really just can't compare. Now, I don't have any doubt Federer would win anyway...but Bob trained his whole life to play doubles. The movement is completely different. For all we know he mightv'e been a solid top 10 player if he had grown up focusing only on singles.

But enough for the rambling. This poll asks for the person who hits the best volleys...I vote Bob (he's more solid overall...but I've seen Mike hit some of the sickest volleys I've ever seen)
 
Wow, I can't believe Federer is winning this poll.

Do people even watch matches other than Federer's or Nadal's? Come on, Federer is an amazing player, but to say he's the best volleyer is just wrong.
 
NamRanger said:
And no, singles players would not look great up at the net if they could camp all day. Roddick, Blake, Davydenko, Ferrer, Nadal? These guys have average to below average volleys, and would get killed in doubles (which Nadal routinely does alot of the time).


Federer's volleys have too much swing, and too much slice. Great for the short volleys, but he can't punch and put it away like the doubles players and the oldschool guys can.



Federer/Wawrinka won doubles in gold because Federer has one of the best forehands, and Wawrinka has one of the best backhands. That and they are solid in most aspects of the game (minus Wawrinka's volleys). Overall they have more game then the Bryan Brothers, however as pure volleyers, the Bryan Brothers are FAR superior, by a LONG shot.
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Outstanding post. Agree about Fed's volleys having too much swing and slice; this is why I do not think he's the best volleyer.

I think it's also worth mentioning that we probably shouldn't assume that Federer/Wawrinka are always going to beat the Bryans. I'd bet on the Bryans, if the teams were to meet again.
 
Is this a joke?

Singles: Mahut

Doubles: Nestor

If anyone has any other theories, I'd love to hear them.
 
Azzurri said:
I am speaking from experience.:) I am not a pro, but can say w/out questio n that being a S&V player is easier in doubles. Are you going to argue this?:confused:

I never said you can't be a good singles player, but my point was its easy to say this doubles player is a good volleyer based on their success in doubles...I look at how good they are as singles players.

None of the players you mentioned are anything special...its a shame what has happened to the volley player. :(
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Uh, those players I listed were pretty good singles player. Santoro granted wasn't the greatest singles player, but we all know that he has touch and can out volley most guys on the tour any day of the week. Clement reached an Australian Open Final and was a top 10 player, and Bjorkman is one of the few players in the world to have been both a top 10 singles and a top 10 doubles player. Max is the weakest of the bunch that I listed (outside of Santoro) in terms of net play, but he reached world #18.



And they are all excellent at the net too btw.



Heck, I'd go as far as to say Haas has better volleys then Federer. The guy routinely makes hard volleys look easy.
 
helloworld said:
Federer's volley is the best current on tour??? WOW, tennis has gone into dark ages.....
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They don't know what a volley is anymore. So they just auto-assume that Federer has the best volleys. It's like that poll in 2006 when they were all screaming Federer had the best backhand in the world, and then Nadal came around and exposed it.
 
Doubles: Bryans or maybe Nestor or Paes. That video from earlier is amazing to watch

Singles: Stepanek I think tops it but it's close between him, Mahut, Llodra and Lopez. I think two very underrated volleyers are Muller and Gulbis.

Muller in particular I think has amazing touch, comparable to Mahut but just not as refined but never gets mentioned as he's a relative unknown. His positioning for them is amazing imo
 
NamRanger said:
They don't know what a volley is anymore. So they just auto-assume that Federer has the best volleys. It's like that poll in 2006 when they were all screaming Federer had the best backhand in the world, and then Nadal came around and exposed it.
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There are some people who still think Federer's backhand is a better shot than Nadal's forehand. Surprising?

I don't understand how Federer has so many votes either when there are hundreds of doubles specialists out there.
 
The answer is quite simple, 55! Borrowing from Dr. Watson's method, eliminating all other logical reasons, we must simply deduce that there are too many Federer fanboys on this forum! LOL!

iamke55 said:
I don't understand how Federer has so many votes either when there are hundreds of doubles specialists out there.
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NamRanger said:
They don't know what a volley is anymore. So they just auto-assume that Federer has the best volleys. It's like that poll in 2006 when they were all screaming Federer had the best backhand in the world, and then Nadal came around and exposed it.
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I dont think people are voting for Federer so much because they think he is that great but because there is nobody that good at volleys in singles today. There is probably nobody who would have voted for him in the 90s but todays group of volleyers suck. It is hard to pick anyone to be honest. I dont even watch hardly any doubles as it doesnt interest me and I spend enough time watching singles already, so I cant really comment on the doubles players, but of the singles that I know there is nobody except a group that fit into fairly good which Federer is one of. Very weak overall.
 
Stepanek. Just watch him serve and volley, his pick-ups are amazing and he has awesome flexibility and reflexes at the net
 
thalivest said:
I dont think people are voting for Federer so much because they think he is that great but because there is nobody that good at volleys in singles today. There is probably nobody who would have voted for him in the 90s but todays group of volleyers suck. It is hard to pick anyone to be honest. I dont even watch hardly any doubles as it doesnt interest me and I spend enough time watching singles already, so I cant really comment on the doubles players, but of the singles that I know there is nobody except a group that fit into fairly good which Federer is one of. Very weak overall.
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There are a select few singles players who are excellent volleyers. Michael Llodra, Radek Stepanek, Nicolas Mahut, and Feliciano Lopez are all tremendous at the net.

The people voting for Federer are not doing so because good volleyers are becoming a rarity (which they are), but because they haven't seen enough tennis to know that there are still a few great volleyers out there.
 
Djokovicfan4life said:
There are a select few singles players who are excellent volleyers. Michael Llodra, Radek Stepanek, Nicolas Mahut, and Feliciano Lopez are all tremendous at the net.

The people voting for Federer are not doing so because good volleyers are becoming a rarity (which they are), but because they haven't seen enough tennis to know that there are still a few great volleyers out there.
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Sorry but none of those players except maybe Llodra are "great" at the net. Mahut could be great at the net if he wasnt gangly and completely lacking in agility. Lopez is a player who seems to get alot of love on this forum and I have no idea why, when I saw him play his serving and forehand impressed me more then his volleys (not that even they impressed me that much). Llodra I could see maybe. Stepanek's volleys and backhand are his best shots but they are nothing special by any means.
 
Ripster said:
Stepanek. Just watch him serve and volley, his pick-ups are amazing and he has awesome flexibility and reflexes at the net
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ehhh, I thought he may be the top 3 S&V on the current tour, but he is just above average. what do you mean by "pick-ups"? low volleys?
 
I picked Paes. Not sure if he's the best volleyer (one of the best at least), but his poaching ability (doubles obviously) is 2nd to none.
 
Il say federer but thats not because im a federer fanboy its because i watch more of his matches than the rest of these doubles players i don't even watch doubles the rallies are quick theres no real strategy and players dont get the recognition
 
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