Best FH of all time

Best FH of all time

  • Nadal

    Votes: 10 11.8%
  • Federer

    Votes: 55 64.7%
  • Sampras

    Votes: 6 7.1%
  • Djokovic

    Votes: 1 1.2%
  • Murray

    Votes: 2 2.4%
  • Del Potro

    Votes: 8 9.4%
  • Santoro

    Votes: 3 3.5%

  • Total voters
    85
N

Nathaniel_Near

Guest
Other obvious candidates include Borg, Lendl and Nadal.
 

NatF

Bionic Poster
Pancho Segura from the oldies deserves a mention. Murray being there is downright funny :lol:
 

ultradr

Legend
Other obvious candidates include Borg, Lendl and Nadal.

+1.

Many experts in tennis community think Lendl is the start of this power baseline game.

I personally did not see better forehand than Federer's in last 25+ years.

Sampras' forehand was "one of the best" in his era, his 2nd best weapon.
 

Krish872007

Talk Tennis Guru
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Q13_STOUBc - Talented guys for sure (two of the best ever), but given the type of tennis played back then, we hardly ever see them consistently hit fully-fledged forehands from the back of the court.
So, IMO it's fair enough to judge based on this new era of "slower courts" and improved racket technology, in which case I'll go with RF.
 
No love for Fernando Gonzalez?

Federer has the best FH, but I voted for Delpo.

Because I'm a contrarian.

Btw, this 'Of All Time'-mania in every other thread is hilarious. :lol:
 
L

Laurie

Guest
Come on man, what sort of poll is this? Tennis didn't start in 2001. Ivan Lendl would be in my top five.
 

rossi46

Professional
Come on man, what sort of poll is this? Tennis didn't start in 2001. Ivan Lendl would be in my top five.

Finally. I don't understand these people who come up with these stupid polls. Take All Time out of the question and replace with Current Era.

And what the hell are Djokovic and Murray even doing in the poll ?? Santoro is a ****take, I get that one.
 

SystemicAnomaly

Bionic Poster
RF does have one of the best, if not the best, FhOAT. However, I am shocked that Nadal & DelPo and, possibly, Djoko & Sampras don't have more votes. While Santoro, one of my favgorite players, was extremely creative and entertaining, I'm not sure that he belongs ahead of some other names for best FhOAT.

A few names that should have made the list ahead of Murray and Santoro include: Ivan Lendl, Fernando Gonzalez, James Blake, & Fernando Verdasco. Perhaps Tilden, Borg, Tsonga & Monfils should be considered as well.

Two of the best recent flat FHs would include: Berdych and Agassi.
.
 
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pc1

G.O.A.T.
Come on man, what sort of poll is this? Tennis didn't start in 2001. Ivan Lendl would be in my top five.

Laurie, you're wrong, tennis started in 2010. :)

Of course Lendl's up there as would Kramer, Segura, Tilden, Borg, Vines, Perry, Newcombe and others.
 

Doubles

Legend
Gonzo? Delpo? Blake? They might not have had the titles of some of the all time greats, but those guys can/could bomb the ball.
 
G

Golden

Guest
Santoro. No doubt. The sheer power he could put behind it was astounding.
 

captainbryce

Hall of Fame
Best forehand's all time:

1. Roger Federer
2. Ivan Lendl
3. Pete Sampras
4. Fernando Gonzalez
5. Juan Martin Del Potro
6. Andre Agassi
7. James Blake
8. Rafael Nadal
9. Jo Wilfried Tsonga
10. Jim Courier

Djokovic's forehand is "good", but not among the best all time.

Murray and Santoro? Seriously?
 

spinovic

Hall of Fame
Tough call to me between Federer and Nadal.

I can't truly consider a guy like Delpo because I don't think it was ever consistent enough to be on par with some of the others. Sure, when he's on and letting it rip, it's crazy, but how often did we see that?

Federer and Nadal, at their best, decimated opponents with theirs in nearly every match they played.
 

Faker

Semi-Pro
Best forehand's all time:

1. Roger Federer
2. Ivan Lendl
3. Pete Sampras
4. Fernando Gonzalez
5. Juan Martin Del Potro
6. Andre Agassi
7. James Blake
8. Rafael Nadal
9. Jo Wilfried Tsonga
10. Jim Courier

Soooooo how did Rafa win 14 grand slams with a forehand this bad? It must have been his GOAT serve then I guess.
 

D.Nalby12

G.O.A.T.
Is op butthurt Reeshard hater? Murray and Santoro gets their places in poll but no Reeshard? Unbelievable. :lol:

Obvious answer is obvious.
 
Don't see how anyone can debate it was Nadal. He didn't win nearly the free points off his serve that Federer won off his.

Nadal's forehand and his defense were all he really had that made him elite. You're seeing that this year now that his forehand has vanished.
 
Federer

Pete. What he could do on the run with that thing was amazing

hahaha
This guy is hilarious .

Saying that Pete has the best forehand because of his running forehand haha you made my day bro :)


Federer has the best forehand with Nadal second , but in my opinion the difference is small
 
D

Deleted member 77403

Guest
Of all time?

Federer. Nadal a close second.

However Del Potro's forehand when its on is an instant kill shot, and can actually hit straight through his opponent.
 

SystemicAnomaly

Bionic Poster
Top FHs of all time according to tennis historian, Steve Flink (3 years ago):

1 - Federer
2 - Nadal
3 - Lendl
4 - Tilden
5 - Sampras, DelPo, and Borg

http://www.worldtennismagazine.com/archives/8087

Frenchie Durr

Don't recall. Did Francoise that same weird grip for both her BH and FH?
durr2a.jpg
 

Terry Tibbs

Hall of Fame
2 votes for Santoro?? Seriously? I actually put him in there as a joke. He probably has the worst FH of all time. That ridiculous double handed FH swatting and slicing the ball around the court. Ludicrous player.
 

Thetouch

Professional
Sampras had the most effective running FH and probably the most precise inside-out and Inside-in FH that I have seen. McEnroe had a great forehand imo, esp. at returns. He took the ball pretty early and hit it short and fast, it looked as if he was playing table tennis. I also enjoyed when Borg, Lendl and Becker hit their FH.
 
G

Golden

Guest
2 votes for Santoro?? Seriously? I actually put him in there as a joke. He probably has the worst FH of all time. That ridiculous double handed FH swatting and slicing the ball around the court. Ludicrous player.

Don't you understand sarcasm? :lol: You're missing a ton of players, so why take the poll seriously?
 

Jaitock1991

Hall of Fame
Lol. With the hype on Wawrinka lately, I'm surprised his forehand is not in the poll.

Has to be Federer. But you should add some other names there.
 

hoodjem

G.O.A.T.
Best forehand's all time:

1. Roger Federer
2. Ivan Lendl
3. Pete Sampras
4. Fernando Gonzalez
5. Juan Martin Del Potro
6. Andre Agassi
7. James Blake
8. Rafael Nadal
9. Jo Wilfried Tsonga
10. Jim Courier

Djokovic's forehand is "good", but not among the best all time.

Murray and Santoro? Seriously?
Who's the earliest player on this list?
 

kiki

Banned
This is the perfect moment for Hoodjem to throw in his 35 names-long list that will put some perspective in historical sense to this thread.
 

vanioMan

Legend
As much as I love Nadal, I just can't put him over Federer in that department.

Even Rafa himself admitted that he tried to stay away from Rog's FH as much as possible, because if he went there... game over.
 

captainbryce

Hall of Fame
Soooooo how did Rafa win 14 grand slams with a forehand this bad? It must have been his GOAT serve then I guess.
I didn't realize 8th greatest forehand of all time was considered "bad". The reason he is the King of Clay has to do with the "heaviness" of his forehand compared to all of the other great forehands, as well as his speed, endurance, movement, and lack of overall weaknesses on clay. However, on a fast, low bouncing surface, a heavy forehand is less effective than the flatter forehand with more pace (which explains why he's only won Wimbledon and the US Open twice, while Federer and Sampras have won them 7 and 5 times respectively). On clay, a great returner always beats a great server. On the other surfaces, it's the opposite!
 
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