Gael Monfils best athlete among the tennis players ?
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ojo rojo
Legend
Incidentally, current decathlon world record holder is fellow Frenchman Kevin Mayer
ProStaffFanatic
New User
I love the guy. Now more then ever, actually. He no longer "needs" to play, he just likes it. And it shows. He enjoys the game so much, it's great to see.
I was blown away by his last match in australian open, where he had to forfeit with cramped up legs against Shelton.
That last set.... He was already completely cramped up and barely was able to move. And STILL he manages to push his opponent to a tie-break, just by mere strategic genius play.
It was absolutely incredible. Tennis IQ through the roof. Sending Shelton running all over the place, hitting winners, aces, what-have-you... all while barely moving and walking instead of running.
Simply incredible.
I was blown away by his last match in australian open, where he had to forfeit with cramped up legs against Shelton.
That last set.... He was already completely cramped up and barely was able to move. And STILL he manages to push his opponent to a tie-break, just by mere strategic genius play.
It was absolutely incredible. Tennis IQ through the roof. Sending Shelton running all over the place, hitting winners, aces, what-have-you... all while barely moving and walking instead of running.
Simply incredible.
Aabye5
G.O.A.T.
Mythical peak Monfils was always my favorite player, although he barely edged out mythical peak Safin.
Tennis Devolution
Professional
No, although gael monfils had athletic talent in his movement, gael monfils simply lacked the kinesthetic talent to be a true all-time great.
Kafel69
Rookie
apparently, it took svitolina (lol) to have appeared in his life to reignite his passion... they're the most diametrically opposite people (character/personality wise), but i guess love is like that sometimes.
ghostofMecir
Legend
Physical talent but not overwhelming racket talent. That’s why he can’t stand on the baseline nor can he return instinctively.
ojo rojo
Legend
5 ‘11 is not the optimal height for pole vault
Hitman
Bionic Poster
He at least had enough to win a few masters series titles. This was a guy who in his junior year won the first three junior slams.
The fact he doesn't have a single big title to his name of any kind is sad, because he wasted his potential.
Hitman
Bionic Poster
I don't feel Gael was meant to be a true all time great, but he should have done better than what he did also.
RaulRamirez
Legend
To your question, he could be the best athlete we've seen on tour. By "athlete", I think of attributes OTHER than tennis-specific skills, including strength, speed and quickness, coordination, jumping ability, reflexes.
Monfils would rate very high, as would (as I see it, not necessarily in order): Rafa, Alcaraz, Fed, Sampras, Djokovic, possibly Borg.
Among those considered ATGs on this board, I don't see quite that level of athleticism from: Lendl, Connors, McEnroe, Agassi, Wilander. Perhaps, Edberg or Becker belong in that first group.
Monfils would rate very high, as would (as I see it, not necessarily in order): Rafa, Alcaraz, Fed, Sampras, Djokovic, possibly Borg.
Among those considered ATGs on this board, I don't see quite that level of athleticism from: Lendl, Connors, McEnroe, Agassi, Wilander. Perhaps, Edberg or Becker belong in that first group.
FlatShot_V
Rookie
Monfils not having won a Masters 1000 is tough to accept. Even popyrin has one…
RSJfan
Hall of Fame
Chipotle Jack has one too.
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ghostofMecir
Legend
You know, I used to think this in the beginning, but then I watched him live a few times when he plays someone like a Nadal or a Djokovic and he is behind in just about every single baseline rally because he can’t take the ball early enough and so he has to stand far back, which might not be the end of the world, but the problem is is that his serve also wasn’t that good commensurate with his height. If he had a much better serve and was able to hold easy and then play defense and use his athleticism, it might work, but he never developed any of this game and his racket talent just was never good enough to beat anyone with good racket talent.
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Musterrific
Hall of Fame
Tennis Devolution
Professional
Well gael monfils has had a pretty long successful career so I believe gael monfils is doing a pretty decent job at maximizing his talent since gael monfils was never consistent enough to win a grand slam.
Poisoned Slice
Bionic Poster
The best pure athlete in the history of our great sport, King.
Rosstour
Talk Tennis Guru
Not sure about this. What's in a decathlon lol
I'm not even sure about this either and there is a wide range of sprints...
Ding ding ding
His long arms give him incredible reach and heavy shots. He is up there with Murray for fastest recorded forehand speeds. But he's built more like a basketball player which is a blessing and a curse. And although he can dunk, he doesn't do it with the lift and violence of an NBA player his size. He does it more like a small guard who doesn't dunk much.
Look who he was same-age with though. Two of the absolute GOATs. And he wasn't really getting by Fed either, one of those 4 wins was a DC match as well
FlatShot_V
Rookie
I don’t think he maximized his talent. He often played for the crowd and could have won more important matches and titles if he had been a bit more selfish. But we love him for it.
Underachieved is kind of brutal when the big 3 built their entire careers on denying players like Gael (and even a whole other generation afterwards !) big titles and their time in the sun. It’s what they did, for 20 years.
Gael was busy working on his fancy shots vs winning. He would have been more focused if Svitlova was his age. I think his main issue has been that he was a defensive player, out lasting his opponents. He never was the primary aggressor.
I've been a fan, but see his lack of career drive. He seems to have focused more on a joie de vivre than career wins
gamelovergold
Professional
If if if does not exist. If nadal was always healthy?
If fedrer was same age as nadal ?
If monfils worked hard enough?
If fedrer was same age as nadal ?
If monfils worked hard enough?
Tennis Devolution
Professional
Wrong, gael monfils maximized his talent in tennis because gael monfils never had the consistent shotmaking abilities of the big 3.
mike danny
Bionic Poster
Even Jack Sock has one
Gazelle
G.O.A.T.
Is that Hikaru?
My money is on peak Rafa.
mental midget
Hall of Fame
i guess this gets into the 'what's athleticism' debate which has popped up around here many times. for sure he's one of the fastest, great vertical leap no doubt...but if we're factoring hand-eye, reflexes etc., i don't know who'd be the best all-around athletic package. For me, if we're looking for a blend of physicality, along with the kind of overall coordination and body control where you feel like they'd probably have been a world-class ping-pong player, skier, shortstop, hockey player, F1 driver etc etc...I'd say:
- nadal
- pete
- roger
- mac (not physically overpowering, but he was really quick in addition to the hands)
- laver
- carlos
- agassi
- edberg
- rafter, maybe
- cash?
edit, dark horse:
- dolgopolov. that guy was just fast-twitch muscle fiber, quick, crazy live arm, good hands...just got the sense he'd be really good at just about any sport even if he didn't burn it down on tour.
- nadal
- pete
- roger
- mac (not physically overpowering, but he was really quick in addition to the hands)
- laver
- carlos
- agassi
- edberg
- rafter, maybe
- cash?
edit, dark horse:
- dolgopolov. that guy was just fast-twitch muscle fiber, quick, crazy live arm, good hands...just got the sense he'd be really good at just about any sport even if he didn't burn it down on tour.
