Best returner with a one handed backhand
- Thread starter Maximagq
- Start date
tennis_hack
Banned
Haas immediately springs to mind.
Federer and Wawrinka chip too much, Gasquet stands as far back as Nadal, Almagro goes for broke and misses usually.
Federer and Wawrinka chip too much, Gasquet stands as far back as Nadal, Almagro goes for broke and misses usually.
Team10
Hall of Fame
Like.....? Some examples would cool.
chjtennis
G.O.A.T.
I don't keep records of what I hear or read every time(and I read/watch quite a lot of stuff about tennis) so I don't remember where I got that from, but I remember some interview/article where players mentioned about Federer's return. I'll let you know when I see it next time. ;-)
Team10
Hall of Fame
Yeah, I was just looking to see if you knew exactly who said that because I remember hearing the same thing.
chjtennis
G.O.A.T.
I remember he uses same grip for both forehand and backhand(was it western?) which was unique. Didn't he use to stand far behind the baseline and smack the ball(even on return)? His match against Agassi in AO one year was so memorable. His forehand was deadly that night.
THE FIGHTER
Hall of Fame
+1 haas. effective and great looking return.
TeamOB
Professional
So in your book Goran and Krajicek had great returns? No. Just no.
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stringertom
Bionic Poster
Old-school...Ken Rosewall; open era...Lendl; current...Federer.
D
Deleted member 512391
Guest
Krajicek's backhand return was insanely good during Wimbledon in 1996, though.
Stich's bh return is also underrated in this discussion.
Devilito
Hall of Fame
lol yeah. Go watch the Wimbledon's they won. There is a reason they were getting breaks and beating players that others could not. If all it took was a serve, Karlovic would have 10 Wimbledon's by now. Especially on fast grass where returns were insanely difficult. Just putting the ball in the court doesn't make a great return. It's also what you do with it. In the years they won Wimbledon both Krajicek and Goran were returning very very well.
Probably Haas. I'm not sure you can include any of the current chip returners. Sure they get in a higher percentage but the flow of the point really doesn't work in their favor afterwards.
Karlovic and F Lopez have very nice looking slice returns but those guys are usually toast afterwards as the other guy dictates all the play. Federer breaks serve in spite of his slice because of his great movement, fh, god like skills. To me his slice bh return never seems to bother any of the top guys.
Karlovic and F Lopez have very nice looking slice returns but those guys are usually toast afterwards as the other guy dictates all the play. Federer breaks serve in spite of his slice because of his great movement, fh, god like skills. To me his slice bh return never seems to bother any of the top guys.
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jelle v
Hall of Fame
Can't remember about Goran, but when Krajicek won wimbledon, he was returning insanely good that tournament.
In general, yes Krajicek's returns weren't that well, but he played chip and charge a lot, so returns generally were sliced.
heninfan99
Talk Tennis Guru
Tommy Haas has an excellent return game.
djokovicgonzalez2010
G.O.A.T.
In the past it was quite good, right now it's pretty mediocre. Statistically, it's actually Volandri
Sid_Vicious
G.O.A.T.
Haas? Excellent return game? Hell no. I have never been impressed by his returning ability. Heck, I more vividly recollect being amazed at the mediocrity of his return game. I remember his match against Djokovic at the FO last year where he won under 20% of return points and thinking how he managed to reach the QFs with that return.
But yeah, Federer has better return stats than Haas so far in 2014 and career overall.
But yeah, Federer has better return stats than Haas so far in 2014 and career overall.
jersey34tennis
Professional
are we looking solely at the quality of the return, or return games won. players like fed get a lot of returns back to a somewhat neutral position by blocking them but aren't as offensive on the return and let their groundstrokes carry them through the point. i think most of us when we think of best return think of connors/agassi/djokovic (to a lesser extent hewitt , davydenko, and nalbandian) to not only neutralize the serve but turn it to offense. i don't think any one handers i can recently think of really can be up there with the same type of return. they have more variety with the return but most of the time they don't flat out spank the ball back as much as a two hander. blake tried but his consistency was questionable. even though he had his stint in top 10
True and ppl forget that Goran had a fantastic all around game. He wasn't even really a serve and volleyer. His problem was his head and Sampras. There was one Wimbledon (I can't remember which year) that the big news was how often he broke in the first 2-3 matches.
Krajicek was on fire that year he won, including on returns. He was clocking Sampras serves often enough that it almost made you question if they were playing on grass.
edberg volleys
Hall of Fame
Fed's block returns!
abmk
Bionic Poster
yeah, for another example Haas in his best Wimbledon form in 2009 had zero BPs vs federer in the entire match ( who admittedly was serving & playing brilliantly )
PhrygianDominant
Hall of Fame
+1 Haas
Honorable mention Federer
Honorable mention Federer
captainbryce
Hall of Fame
Chip return (to put the ball back in play): Federer
Flat return (for the winner): Blake
Flat return (for the winner): Blake
THE FIGHTER
Hall of Fame
sure, but the return game is a different beast all together from the return.
Sid_Vicious
G.O.A.T.
True, but Haas is still not the best.
anantak2k
Semi-Pro
Agree with Blake especially for second serve returns (not so much the first serve).
Federer for the first serve return back in the days (not so much the second serve).
Unfortunately, return games won doesn't have as much to do with how good your return is. You can have a great return and still lose more return games, and vice versa. For example, Nadal has terrible returns, but makes up for it with his feet after the ball gets into play. Djoker and Murray have great returns, but after the returns, Djoker shines more. Fed gets back serves that no other player does, including Nadal, Murray, and Djoker, but once the ball is in play he doesn't win as many points as Nadal.
Sid_Vicious
G.O.A.T.
delete post.
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