Best forehand of all time?

[The tennis guy]

Roddick has personally said that Verdasco has the biggest forehand in men's tennis today. Verdasco is a lefty to boot. He just unloads on the ball. Very heavy and fast, but of course, with a shot like it, it produces many errors.

Biggest doesn't mean the best.

 

[shavenyak]

I went Courier. Courier built his entire game around that forehand and made it to #1 in the world with 4 slams. Pretty...no. Effective.....yes.

 

[theace21]

Stefan Edberg.

I gotta agree and go Edberg..

 

[ItalianStallion]

Fabrice Santoro

 

[irishbanger]

Lendl's forehand set the tennis world on its ear. It was way ahead of its time tand the model for today's big bashers.

 

[Nextman916]

Roddick has personally said that Verdasco has the biggest forehand in men's tennis today. Verdasco is a lefty to boot. He just unloads on the ball. Very heavy and fast, but of course, with a shot like it, it produces many errors.

I thought he said that....i didnt recall completely so i didnt post about it. FINALLY someone agrees, the only person i think could possibly hit faster is blake, but even then, his balls are way too flat and errors spring as well. Especially when he played federer in uso he was going for so much and dumping half into the net. Verdasco has more topspin but varies his forehand, the best thing is he relentlessly unloads on it without any hesitation. He directs it where he wants and just goes for it, its not smart but it leads to hitting some huge shots. Gonzolez is always hitting pretty hard but him and fed play smarter and take some pace off when they need to.

 

[callitout]

Biggest 1.Sampras 2 Gonzo 3 Blake
Best Federer

 

[JohnS]

Based on recent active and past players:
Standing still: Federer, Agassi, Gonzalez, J. Johannson, Roddick.
On the Run: Sampras, Safin, Nadal, Baghdatis.

 

[tricky]

The kind of things players including Federer do to the ball with
their forehand is unprescedented. This new forehand practically
removing the need to volley. "The forehand" is the name of the game
now...

Yeah, I think it's basically the same situation as Borg and his radical new forehand. Going off Yandell's articles, Federer's FH style is spiritually closer to what Sampras's forehand (i.e. a modified Eastern grip), but then -- like a sidearm pitcher delivery -- he can switch up his arm-bend positions to manufacture different shot angles and spin. But I think it's also dependent on somebody being able to see the ball early enough so that the other player's spin doesn't hose up your shot.

Personally what I like most about Federer's FH is his ability to slingshot pace regardless of how his body is turning or moving.

 

[Swingin Richard]

Overrated? Please. Federer gets in some long points. Sampras blew people off the court. Watch the Wimbledon final against Agassi in '99. His forehand and backhand were enormous in that match. I've never seen a human play better tennis than Sampras did that day. He absolutely hammered the number one player in the world and made it look effortless. I see Federer make some great shots and break people down, but Pete would destroy people. Nobody ever owned Pete like Nadal owns Federer, and Federer has never played anyone as good as Agassi was in '99.

 

[bribeiro]

Overrated? Please. Federer gets in some long points. Sampras blew people off the court. Watch the Wimbledon final against Agassi in '99. His forehand and backhand were enormous in that match. I've never seen a human play better tennis than Sampras did that day. He absolutely hammered the number one player in the world and made it look effortless. I see Federer make some great shots and break people down, but Pete would destroy people. Nobody ever owned Pete like Nadal owns Federer, and Federer has never played anyone as good as Agassi was in '99.

federer owned sampras

 

[superman1]

Actually he didn't, but it's okay to be wrong.

 

[The tennis guy]

Federer gets in some long points. Sampras blew people off the court.
Nobody ever owned Pete like Nadal owns Federer.

Did Sampras blow people off court on slow surface? Could it be the surface generally have slowed down drastically which is why Federer gets in some long points? Could it be Sampras never able to get in deep on clay consistently to play someone like Nadal?

 

[flying24]

Overrated? Please. Federer gets in some long points. Sampras blew people off the court. Watch the Wimbledon final against Agassi in '99. His forehand and backhand were enormous in that match. I've never seen a human play better tennis than Sampras did that day. He absolutely hammered the number one player in the world and made it look effortless. I see Federer make some great shots and break people down, but Pete would destroy people. Nobody ever owned Pete like Nadal owns Federer, and Federer has never played anyone as good as Agassi was in '99.

Not entirely true. Krajicek led Sampras 6-2 at one point, only slightly less lopsided then the 6-1 Nadal had on Federer at one point. Sampras was able to win their last 2 meetings to only end it trailing 6-4.

Although Pete Sampras ended his career 7-6 up on Wayne Ferreria, Wayne won 4 in a row from 95 fall-98.

These guys had the same surface preferences as Pete did, or atleast close to. On the other hand Nadal and Federer have had 4 meetings on clay, Nadals best surface and Federers worst surface, while only 1 meeting on grass, Federers best and Nadals worst. On surfaces excluding clay or grass they are 2-1 Nadal.

 

[Ten_is]

personally I say Federer. He's smooth and he hits that ball nicely. Roddick for instance, has a very nice followthrough and setup beforehand. But tennis is a fast game. With every single followthrough Roddick does he loses time. Hence Fed being so good he catches people when they are following through or least expecting things. Fed is very aware when he's playing.

Federer forehand and backhand are magnificant.
He doesn't need to have a MASSIVE topspin and crush the ball everytime. With him it's racket weight doing the power and his ball placement mixed with technique and most importantly... Mentality. Very focused to the end not losing sight.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9t3auwuvJNk&mode=related&search=

 

[9000tennis]

Where's Magnus Gustafsson?

He had one of the biggest swings ever. That forehand was a hammer! Not a Sampras og Federer forehand, but still pretty amazing.
Any Swedes here to back me up?

 

[shavenyak]

federer owned sampras

If by owned you mean 7-5 in the 5th set, then yeah.

Fed def. Sampras:
7-6(7) 5-7 6-4 6-7(2) 7-5

--Roman

 

[NamRanger]

Safin owned Sampras at the U.S. Open. Although the scores don't show it, if you actually watched the match you could tell that Sampras had just given up about midway into the match because Safin was just dismanteling him.