Biggest hitters of all time!

[vive le beau jeu !]

19 yo Flipper, such promise.

that match was scary...
(and pete was already warned... after their 1995 USO match)

at that time, i thought rios and philippoussis were going to dominate the tour... how wrong i was !
(or... how jinxing i am ?!)

ummm... lots of other good names have already been mentioned (gulbis, soderling, delpo, wawrinka, johansson, blake, etc.) but i'm tempted to put gonzalez at the top of the list. that FH was something !!!

 

[existential dread]

that match was scary...
(and pete was already warned... after their 1995 USO match)

at that time, i thought rios and philippoussis were going to dominate the tour... how wrong i was !
(or... how jinxing i am ?!)

ummm... lots of other good names have already been mentioned (gulbis, soderling, delpo, wawrinka, johansson, blake, etc.) but i'm tempted to put gonzalez at the top of the list. that FH was something !!!

I sat down and watched that whole match one day and yea... poor Pete lol. Gonzalez has to be in the top 5, it's as if his very existence was to hit forehands as hard as humanly possible, and he was no weakling.

 

[Shaolin]

that match was scary...
(and pete was already warned... after their 1995 USO match)

at that time, i thought rios and philippoussis were going to dominate the tour... how wrong i was !
(or... how jinxing i am ?!)

ummm... lots of other good names have already been mentioned (gulbis, soderling, delpo, wawrinka, johansson, blake, etc.) but i'm tempted to put gonzalez at the top of the list. that FH was something !!!

Gonzo really destroyed that FH. I wish there was hawkeye then so we could see the speed and spin rate!

A quote I remember from Gonzalez was him saying that people asked him if he was abused as a child because of the brutal way he hit that fh!

 

[PMChambers]

Surely a few TWF members should be on here, I've read 3.0 hitting 200km/h servers and like. Must be a few self proclaimed 5.5 breaking 250km/h serve and 200 km/h off both wings.

 

[tennis_pro]

Soderling.

LMAO at Sampras (and his backhand).

 

[J011yroger]

1) Robin Soderling
2) Stan Wawrinka
3) Nick Kyrgios

Those are the only three players that I can think of who had legitimate “weapons” off the serve, forehand, and backhand. Many of the other players you listed have at least one weakness. Having said that, I tend to believe that power off of both sides is more indicative of raw power than power off the serve (by a small margin). In that regard, I finish out the list as follows:

4) Marat Safin
5) Rafael Nadal
6) Andre Agassi
7) James Blake
8) Thomas Berdych

All of those players hit with power off both wings (Safin and Nadal with more spin/control and therefore more power with margin, while Agassi, Blake, and Berdych being very flat hitters off both wings). After that, we get into the power servers who have one huge ground stroke to go with it,

9) Juan Martin del Potro
10) Andy Roddick

I give honorable mentions to Sam Querrey, Mark Philippoussis, John Isner, and Goran Ivanisevic.

Some of the other players you mentioned like Becker and Sampras I think are probably among the most “athletic” players we’ve seen in the sport (along with players like Gaël Monfils, Roger Federer, and Dustin Brown), but I don’t necessarily view them in terms of “raw power”.

I'm sorry, are you saying Safin had a relatively weaker serve?

J

 

[axlrose]

Lendl used to hit monster Forehands with that table-tennis racquet.

 

[The Green Mile]

Fernando Gonzalez will always be at the top of my list, especially pre 06 Gonzo.

I made a playlist of full Gonzo matches that are available on YouTube, so entertaining. Only Federer and Simon are more so IMO.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDN1V5j1uHKQ2RajaBVepmZQ3utZ3aE_u

 

[BlueB]

1) Robin Soderling
2) Stan Wawrinka
3) Nick Kyrgios

Those are the only three players that I can think of who had legitimate “weapons” off the serve, forehand, and backhand. Many of the other players you listed have at least one weakness. Having said that, I tend to believe that power off of both sides is more indicative of raw power than power off the serve (by a small margin). In that regard, I finish out the list as follows:

4) Marat Safin
5) Rafael Nadal
6) Andre Agassi
7) James Blake
8) Thomas Berdych

All of those players hit with power off both wings (Safin and Nadal with more spin/control and therefore more power with margin, while Agassi, Blake, and Berdych being very flat hitters off both wings). After that, we get into the power servers who have one huge ground stroke to go with it,

9) Juan Martin del Potro
10) Andy Roddick

I give honorable mentions to Sam Querrey, Mark Philippoussis, John Isner, and Goran Ivanisevic.

Some of the other players you mentioned like Becker and Sampras I think are probably among the most “athletic” players we’ve seen in the sport (along with players like Gaël Monfils, Roger Federer, and Dustin Brown), but I don’t necessarily view them in terms of “raw power”.

It's comical that Nadal made the list and no less then No5 He's got only one weapon, his FH. Hell, even Fed can hit a bigger BH.

Birdman, good BH but nothing special...

Andre could hit big, but neither wing was a monster. He bullied his opponents by early taking and redirection, not by shear power.

I like first 4 a lot.

Both Delpo and Rod had rotten BH...

Gonzo, that so many people like (me included), had probably the biggest FH ever, however I don't remember his BH as particularly big...

Sent from my SM-G930W8 using Tapatalk

 

[tegg96]

Andy Roddick's forehand in his early years was quite powerful but he evolved it into a very loopy-spinny high percentage type ball. It lacked real court penetration and seemed to sit up for opponents. So other than his serve he really shouldn't be considered any where near top ten in this list.

 

[Shaolin]

Andy Roddick's forehand in his early years was quite powerful but he evolved it into a very loopy-spinny high percentage type ball. It lacked real court penetration and seemed to sit up for opponents. So other than his serve he really shouldn't be considered any where near top ten in this list.

Early Roddick was a monster…hit lots of winners off of both wings. Then Stefanki cut his nuts off and he got all safe and spinny.

 

[True Fanerer]

Andy Roddick's forehand in his early years was quite powerful but he evolved it into a very loopy-spinny high percentage type ball. It lacked real court penetration and seemed to sit up for opponents. So other than his serve he really shouldn't be considered any where near top ten in this list.

I agree. Shoulder injury killed the FH.

 

[True Fanerer]

Early Roddick was a monster…hit lots of winners off of both wings. Then Stefanki cut his nuts off and he got all safe and spinny.

Maybe it was Stefanki, I've heard shoulder too. Either way its a shame cause that FH was deadly.

 

[FD3S]

Maybe it was Stefanki, I've heard shoulder too. Either way its a shame cause that FH was deadly.

From what I understand Roddick's grinding game was the way he played in junior - he was apparently pretty undersized, and had the scrappy style to match. It was BG that really got him to start unloading on the FH wing after he took over from Tarik Benhabiles, but that only lasted two years; after he was fired, he seemed to slowly revert. Comparing Roddick's forehand from the start of Gilbert's tenure to say, mid 2008 is jarring to see, but there was no doubt it was a massive weapon in his big hitter days. There weren't a whole lot of players that could deal with that one-two combo.

 

[BlackSilver]

Tursunov > everyone listed here (or nearly everyone).

 

[captainbryce]

I'm sorry, are you saying Safin had a relatively weaker serve?

J

Safin has a good serve. Definitely above average even by today’s standards.

 

[George Turner]

Andy Roddick's forehand in his early years was quite powerful but he evolved it into a very loopy-spinny high percentage type ball. It lacked real court penetration and seemed to sit up for opponents. So other than his serve he really shouldn't be considered any where near top ten in this list.

These two matches against the same opponent tell you everything you need to know about how his forehand changed for the worse. I'm talking about the 2004 Roddick not the 2011 one!

 

[NatF]

2017 Federer has to be on that list. Hitting the ball bigger and better than ever.

 

[heninfan99]

In terms of raw power, which players had the biggest all round games ever at their best? Is this list accurate?

1. Juan Martin Del Potro
2. Marat Safin
3. Robin Soderling
4. Andy Roddick
5. Pete Sampras
6. Boris Becker
7. Ivan Lendl
8. Tomas Berdych
9. Stanislas Wawrinka
10. Fernando Gonzalez

Honourable mentions to James Blake, Nick Kyrgios, Marin Cilic and the next gens prodigal ballbasher, Dominic Thiem.

Good list I would replace Berdych with Verdasco or St.Nick.

 

[captainbryce]

It's comical that Nadal made the list and no less then No5 He's got only one weapon, his FH. Hell, even Fed can hit a bigger BH.

Agree to disagree!

Andre could hit big, but neither wing was a monster. He bullied his opponents by early taking and redirection, not by shear power.

I agree that he most often took the ball early. But who else (besides those I mentioned) hit bigger off both wings?

 

[AiRFederer]

Gonzales needs to be placed way higher than that

 

[SafinSucks]

Gonzales needs to be placed way higher than that

Agree, bro.
@AiRFederer

 

[SafinSucks]

Lendl used to hit monster Forehands with that table-tennis racquet.

Hi @axlrose
I know technology plays its part, but it is probably overvalued as a whole to explain modern tennis as more powerful.
Physical preparation has been revolutionized last twenty years, and modern players are just more powerful overall, that is also why tennis surfaces have been slowed down a lot, otherwise there would be no rally with servers such as Raonic, Karlovic and modern forehands like Del Potro.