Nadalfan89
Hall of Fame
Who had it?
Best serve of all time
- Thread starter Nadalfan89
- Start date
jonahnaturals
Rookie
Sampras
Has to be Sampras, no? The quality and placement of his second serve in particular would rate him right up there, no?
Has to be Sampras, no? The quality and placement of his second serve in particular would rate him right up there, no?
Nadalfan89
Hall of Fame
Absolutely not. You're pretty stupid for thinking that too! His serve is mediocre at best.
Omega_7000
Legend
Ivo Karlovic?
Ha is this sarcasm or do you really mean this? I admit Nadal's serve isn't anything special but you have to admit he's really improved it.
Taylor Dent=best server ever
Nadalfan89
Hall of Fame
Oh he's improved it, no doubt. To say it's the best serve of all time? No way in hell/
LameTennisPlayer
Professional
sampras- coming from a *******
djokovicgonzalez2010
G.O.A.T.
Karlovic...
drakulie
Talk Tennis Guru
Slow motion serve I took of Ivo at the sony practice courts this year:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0RbHNOCaws
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0RbHNOCaws
drakulie
Talk Tennis Guru
markwillplay
Hall of Fame
I think Roddick has this one. If Sampras had his serve to go with the rest of his game, wow. Don't get me wrong, Sampras had a great serve but he also had guts to use it to get him cheap points on his second serve. Roddicks almost never goes off and he has a GREAT kick serve. That would have been one more weapon in the Sampras arsenal to smother people with.
Falloutjr
Banned
In terms of just pure serving it has to be Karlovic. Karlovic's serve is humongous with pretty solid placement, while Sampras's was big with superior placement. I think the fact that he served to set up his volleys is why I don't think his is the best all time. He's definitely in my top 3 with Roddick in there somewhere (probably #2), IMO.
drakulie
Talk Tennis Guru
Falloutjr
Banned
1. Isner
2. Karlovic
3. Roddick
4. Querrey
5. Verdasco
6. Berdych
7. Hewitt
Too lazy to think of anymore, but those are the few that come to mind atm. Those aren't in any particular order btw.
drakulie
Talk Tennis Guru
T1000
Legend
LOL Hewitt and Verdasco!!!!!!!!!! I'm a huge Hewitt fan but wtf man, I want whatever you're smoking. You can also add Nadal, Montanes, Robredo, Murray, and Donald Young while you're at it. HAHAHAHAHA
TheFifthSet
Legend
Hewitt? Hewitt????????? HEWITT?
Verdasco? Berdych? Are you serious man? But Hewitt is the topper. LOL, how in the hell does Lleyton freakin' Hewitt have a better serve than Roger Federer?
TheFifthSet
Legend
You forgot Olivier Rochus, Richard Gasquet, Tommy Robredo, and of course Nadal, can't forget Nadal.
Falloutjr
Banned
I pay a lot for what I smoke so you can't have any lol.
federerGOAT
Rookie
Federer has a much better serve than SAmpras. Sampras's pathetic 120mph serve is ordinary in this era.
T1000
Legend
Falloutjr
Banned
I'll admit I don't watch as much tennis as you guys, so my list isn't very good (based Verdasco based on what I saw in the first round of Wimby and a match earlier this season and a couple matches I saw Hewitt play where he served very well last year, don't remember which tourney exactly), but I'm certain that Federer's serve is not in the top 20.
TheFifthSet
Legend
Already got Robredo and Nadal dude. Check out the new sig though
Yea sorry wasn't really paying attention my bad.
TheFifthSet
Legend
Karlovic, Isner, Roddick, maybe Soderling, Ljubicic, Delpo, and perhaps Querrey. That's pretty much it.
djokovicgonzalez2010
G.O.A.T.
Hewitt has maybe the worst serve ever of a #1 :lol:
powerangle
Legend
Sampras. Both physically and the psychological/aura he had with his serve.
drakulie
Talk Tennis Guru
Joseph L. Barrow
Professional
The absence of Karlovic is a pretty tremendous oversight here. Isner probably merits inclusion as well after his display in the first round of this year's Wimbledon. Federer doesn't really deserve to be in the poll, frankly; someone like Boris Becker would be a better inclusion.
All in all, I do think that- just in terms of the stroke itself in its capacity for winning points- Karlovic has the best serve of all time. A guy like Roddick has almost as good a serve as Karlovic and is much better in almost all other departments, and Sampras is to Roddick as Roddick is to Karlovic.
All in all, I do think that- just in terms of the stroke itself in its capacity for winning points- Karlovic has the best serve of all time. A guy like Roddick has almost as good a serve as Karlovic and is much better in almost all other departments, and Sampras is to Roddick as Roddick is to Karlovic.
drakulie
Talk Tennis Guru
J
Justdoit10
Guest
lol ease up on the guy man. He said he hasnt been watching tennis for too long.
Joseph L. Barrow
Professional
Sampras regularly hit the 130 range in his big matches, and occasionally serves 140-ish serves on the senior tour right now. He had a little bit more power than Federer does and possessed an absolutely tremendous second serve, which is where the difference between the two really starts to show. I consider Federer to have substantially groundstrokes and baseline play, mind you, this being the primary reason he has been so much more effective on clay and separated himself as the best player of the Open Era, but let us not go overboard and begin declaring him the best at everything. I don't think Federer's serve is among, say, the 15 best of the last 40 years, let alone top four or five.
Falloutjr
Banned
To be honest, I found that gif rather funny, even though it was at my expense.
I find it strange that there are people who haven't voted "other" when there's a guy like Karlovic on tour. He has the best serve ever by far, he easily gets to tie-breaks with some all-time greats of the game (federer, nadal) when he was some of the worst pro groundstrokes I've ever seen.
The only way I can imagine someone reasonably putting Sampras above Karlovic is if they value clutchness on the serve extremely highly. And I'm not even sure if giving clutchness so much weight actually is reasonable.
The only way I can imagine someone reasonably putting Sampras above Karlovic is if they value clutchness on the serve extremely highly. And I'm not even sure if giving clutchness so much weight actually is reasonable.
darthpwner
Banned
Sampras without question.
darthpwner
Banned
There is no way in hell that double faulting choker Verdasco and foot fault slice 2nd serving Hewitt are better than Federer at serving.
darthpwner
Banned
You are a dumbass. Pete has a much better serve than Federer. He has more heat on average than Roger and he generates more topspin on his serves.
darthpwner
Banned
That's too extreme. The worst server that was #1 was Jimmy Connors.
federerGOAT
Rookie
Proof? Link? Or it didn't happen. 130 is no big deal in this era, Soderling and Berdych do that regularly too.
darthpwner
Banned
Yeah, but your boy Federer averages about 118 mph on his serve.
federerGOAT
Rookie
http://www.tenniscruz.com/content/view/451/1/
Average first serve speed Federer: 114-121 mph
Average first serve speed Pete Sampras: 114-123 mph
Fastest first serve speed of Roger Federer: 135 mph 2006 Australian Open
Fastest first serve speed of Pete Sampras: 135 mph 1998 US Open
FAIL!!
Fed paints the lines better than Sampras as well. Deal with it!! 16 slams > 14 slams
