GOAT of Drop Shots

[hoodjem]

1. Drobny
2. Santana
3. Orantes
4. Pietrangeli
5. Mayer
6. Panatta
7. Laver
8. Segura
9. Rosewall
10. Coria
11. Riggs
12. Portas
13. McEnroe
14. Evert-Lloyd
15. Rios
16. Tilden
17. Nastase
18. Gerulaitis
19. Navratilova
20. Leconte
21. Rostagno
22. Ramesh Krishnan
23. Stich
24. Nadal
25. Federer
26. Djokovic

 

[BTURNER]

the interesting thing is that when you rate the dropper you are inclined to rate the lower percentage successes better than the high percentage successes, as they look more dramatic . In other words if someone hits it a little further back, vs a harder hit shot, or a great volleyer, faster player etc, are they better or worse than someone who uses better discretion and more discipline with a less showy result, against more select opponents but higher success.

 

[pc1]

1. Drobny
2. Santana
3. Orantes
4. Pietrangeli
5. Mayer
6. Panatta
7. Laver
8. Segura
9. Rosewall
10. Coria
11. Riggs
12. Portas
13. McEnroe
14. Evert-Lloyd
15. Rios
16. Tilden
17. Nastase
18. Gerulaitis
19. Navratilova
20. Leconte
21. Rostagno
22. Ramesh Krishnan
23. Stich
24. Nadal
25. Federer
26. Djokovic

If you rank pure skill Evert could be number one.

 

[BTURNER]

If you rank pure skill Evert could be number one.

Certainly on the forehand side she was the best and most consistently successful I saw. Chris did not loose a lot of points after she hit one.

 

[urban]

On the ladies side, there once was an Italian lady, Lea Pericoli, who was all lobs and drops. And Francoise Durr was a interesting touch player, who had a very unconventional backhand grip.

 

[Borg Number One]

On the ladies side, there once was an Italian lady, Lea Pericoli, who was all lobs and drops. And Francoise Durr was a interesting touch player, who had a very unconventional backhand grip.

That's a good call with Francoise Durr. I remember reading about her and wondering just how she actually hit shots with that grip she used. She is often mentioned as a great touch player. As mentioned, Evert had that feather touch on drop shots. Plus, her takeback on both wings was disguised so well, that it was very hard to read her drop shots.

 

[TMF]

I am a Federer fan, and not much of a Djokovic fan, but I think Djokovic has a better drop shot than Federer. Yet there have been no mentions of Djokovic in the thread.

There's no way Nole is above Fed. Many times his DS failed to get it over the net. I'm sure his DS win/loss ratio isn't that good.

 

[hoodjem]

There's no way Nole is above Fed. Many times his DS failed to get it over the net. I'm sure his DS win/loss ratio isn't that good.

I agree. When his name was suggested, I thought that he misses more than he makes--by alot. (IMO Nole misses three for every one he makes.)

 

[pc1]

I agree. When his name was suggested, I thought that he misses more than he makes--by alot. (IMO Nole misses three for every one he makes.)

It does seem like he misses a lot.

 

[Fugazi]

I'm glad Gene Mayer made the list. The first time I saw him play, when he had already become a top ten player, I was shocked at his ability to disguise his drop shots. The fact that he was two handed on both sides made his shots even more difficult to read. I believe that he hit drop shots fairly effectively from both wings. I recall that he'd often set up as if he was about to hit a normal backhand or forehand and then out of nowhere, here comes a drop shot with all the "air taken out of it". I haven't watched as much of Orantes (primarily from video clips years later), but from what I've seen, that guy was great with drop shots as well.

Is is me or John Mayer (the singer) looks like Gene Mayer? Are they related?

 

[kiki]

1. Drobny
2. Santana
3. Orantes
4. Pietrangeli
5. Mayer
6. Panatta
7. Laver
8. Segura
9. Rosewall
10. Coria
11. Riggs
12. Portas
13. McEnroe
14. Evert-Lloyd
15. Rios
16. Tilden
17. Nastase
18. Gerulaitis
19. Navratilova
20. Leconte
21. Rostagno
22. Ramesh Krishnan
23. Stich
24. Nadal
25. Federer
26. Djokovic

That is nice¡.But talking about Portas, I´ve seen him a couple of times live and I do not remember he was so good in drop shots.Was he really? it´s been a long ago and I honestly cannot recall anything special about Portas game.

I think Lacoste was a very good one back in the 20´s.

 

[kiki]

Navratilova used the drop shot to come to the net.¿Shall we call it a " drop shot" approach? many pros did it ocasionally, but Martina almost always used that shot to come to the net.

 

[BTURNER]

Navratilova used the drop shot to come to the net.¿Shall we call it a " drop shot" approach? many pros did it ocasionally, but Martina almost always used that shot to come to the net.

So did Edberg, Both on the back hand wing where it looked exactly like their deep slice . Opponents were inevitably back-pedaling expecting that DTL approach into the corner.

By the way, Seles hit great droppers off both wings and Hingus if she was not already mentioned, but she sometimes overused hers. Hingus got a little too cute when other parts of her game were not winning.

 

[kiki]

So did Edberg, Both on the back hand wing where it looked exactly like their deep slice . Opponents were inevitably back-pedaling expecting that DTL approach into the corner.

By the way, Seles hit great droppers off both wings and Hingus if she was not already mentioned, but she sometimes overused hers. Hingus got a little too cute when other parts of her game were not winning.

Hingis was one of the most talented and best shotmaking women to ever play tennis.She had almost all the shots textbook talking.I agree on your comment about her DS.

Seems there have been great drop shoters either one handed or two handed.It does not make any difference, although I must say the disguissing factor is very important on drop shots, and the two handed players could have an edge on this subject.

 

[NonP]

1. Drobny
2. Santana
3. Orantes
4. Pietrangeli
5. Mayer
6. Panatta
7. Laver
8. Segura
9. Rosewall
10. Coria
11. Riggs
12. Portas
13. McEnroe
14. Evert-Lloyd
15. Rios
16. Tilden
17. Nastase
18. Gerulaitis
19. Navratilova
20. Leconte
21. Rostagno
22. Ramesh Krishnan
23. Stich
24. Nadal
25. Federer
26. Djokovic

Are we sure about some of these old-timers' rankings? Most of them are admittedly before my time, but I did happen to catch this Riggs clip some time ago:

http://www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=50406

See how Riggs takes Budge completely by surprise with his drop shots at :38 and 1:29. They were so well disguised Budge had no time to react at all. You really couldn’t tell when Riggs was gonna hit one of his regular strokes or go for a DS right until the contact point.

I know this is just a short clip, but given its reputation I just find it hard to believe ten players have had an even better drop shot than Riggs'. And it makes you wonder how good his equally legendary lob might have been.

 

[NonP]

Forgot to add, among those I've seen I'd say Mac's was the best. And good call on Rios. Such a smooth operator, when he wasn't beating himself.

 

[jaggy]

Gene Mayer was the best I ever saw.

 

[Shaolin]

he overdoes more than a few times. Even nadal, who's always had a decent dropshot (under-rated/un-noticed IMO ) has better judgement of when to use it.

Plus I've rarely seen djoker use the FH drop shot . federer's is easily better. djoker's is one of the better ones today, but I don't think it should really be there in a discussion among the best of all time

Sorry but Nadal has not"always had a decent dropshot". In fact when he first came out on tour I thought his drop shots were some of the worst I've seen a pro hit. Very little disguise and way too high over the net. Nadal would still get away with it and make his spectacular passing shot anyway so it wouldn't really matter how bad his drop was but he had hands of stone.


Note: good call to the poster above on Hingis, she had amazing touch.

 

[gamesetmats]

Alberto Portas "the Drop Shot Dragon" should maybe be higher? Remember seeing some of his matches and the drop shots were brilliant.

 

[kiki]

Gene Mayer was the best I ever saw.

I agree.If he hadn´t had those injuries, I wonder how far could he got.I´ve seen him beat - and easily- Borg and Lendl on an indoor supreme court where Borg and Lendl won many tourneys....he also wipped out Mac at the 1980 Masters... the only guy that really gave him a big trouble was Connors ( who beat him at he 1979 WCT Finlas and, as well, at the 1980 Phily event-.