GOAT Returner (Djokovic vs Agassi)

Who was the GOAT returner, Agassi or Djokovic?

  • Andre Agassi

    Votes: 43 50.0%

  • Novak Djokovic

    Votes: 43 50.0%
  • Total voters
    86
C

captainbryce

Hall of Fame
Okay, there have obviously been a lot of discussion concerning who the all time great returners of serve were, and in recent years it seems that Djokovic's name is increasingly on top of that list.

There has been a number of really "great" returner in every generation in the Open Era. The most common names mentioned (the usual suspects) include names like:

Conners
Agassi
Hewitt
Federer
Murray
Djokovic

When it comes to the all-time great returner question, it seems to be that Agassi and Djokovic's name occurs most frequently, suggesting that most tennis fans believe the debate comes down to these two. So I wanted to do a poll over who people think was the GOAT between the two of them and also ask WHY they think that (justification for choice).

My personal belief is that Agassi was the greater returner for two reasons. One, I think Djokovic's popularity on the topic has mostly to do with "recency", the fact that people who watch tennis now have a short memory. When people think of Djokovic being a great returner, they are usually making observations about his matches against his contemporaries (Fed, Nadal, Murray, Wawrinka, Ferrer, Nishikori). With the exception of Federer, can any in that group be considered among the top tier of servers today? Compare that to the caliber of players Agassi often had to contend with in his prime (Sampras, Ivanisevic, Becker, Rafter, Courier, Chang). With the exception of Courier and Chang, most of Agassi's rivals had great serves. And even after Agassi's prime, he had to contend with prime Roddick, to which he has a winning record against, and Agassi also met prime Karlovic once, but beat him in straight sets. Djokovic on the other hand struggled against Roddick and Karlovic. And while Djokovic has a superior record against Raonic and Isner, neither of those players has a very complete game (compared to the likes of Agassi's big serving competition).

The other reason is, while he is indeed a superior returner of serve, one must inevitably consider the advantages of him playing in the era that he does. Racket (and string) technology has made leaps and bounds in the last decade, and it is generally considered easier for players to return huge serves with any accuracy or consistency today than it was before. Agassi didn't have the luxury of luxilon strings. Moreover, so many of the players he had to contend with were serve and volleyers. Djokovic's competition doesn't come to the net at all, so he doesn't have to have the precision that Agassi did in order to win the points. While Djokovic is rangier, and seemingly able to get more balls in play than Agassi, I think Agassi had a more consistently devastating return of serve against players who were often better servers and who followed their serve to the net. To me, that makes Agassi the GOAT returner. What do you guys think? If Djokovic was playing with 90s racket technology, and had to play against Sampras, Ivanisevic, and Becker (players that had huge serves, came to the net, and also had great ground games), would he have been as effective as Agassi was?

 
Couldn't you just bump one of the dozens of prior threads on this topic?
 
It is between Connors and Djokovic , Connors always use to anticipate serve and because he was strong on both side he was a one hell of returner.
Djokovic is similar like Jim and is great on both side so his backhand return is deadly.
Want to add another name Rosewall, saw his some matches and his reflexes at return with his backhand return was great, for a moment I thought him better than Novak.
 
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I would say Agassi when you consider the conditions he played on. The only baseliner to snatch a wimbledon in the 90s

The thing is if you transplant Nole in the 90s he NEVER would have accomplished what Andre did. Yet if you stick Andre in this era he would probably be even better than he was in his era
 
90's Clay said:
I would say Agassi when you consider the conditions he played on. The only baseliner to snatch a wimbledon in the 90s

The thing is if you transplant Nole in the 90s he NEVER would have accomplished what Andre did. Yet if you stick Andre in this era he would probably be even better than he was in his era
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He would accomplish a lot more, don't let the current era blind you.
 
captainbryce said:
No. One, because those are old and I'm not digging for them. Two, because those weren't necessarily "polls".
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Don't you think that the prior opinions expressed in those threads are worth considering and people aren't going to run in here to repost them. It's an endless cycle. Someone could make another identical thread right now and yours would become old and stale. Just saying, there's a lot out there on this topic already, maybe just add to the pre existing discussion
 
captainbryce said:
Okay, there have obviously been a lot of discussion concerning who the all time great returners of serve were, and in recent years it seems that Djokovic's name is increasingly on top of that list.

There has been a number of really "great" returner in every generation in the Open Era. The most common names mentioned (the usual suspects) include names like:

Conners
Agassi
Hewitt
Federer
Murray
Djokovic

When it comes to the all-time great returner question, it seems to be that Agassi and Djokovic's name occurs most frequently, suggesting that most tennis fans believe the debate comes down to these two. So I wanted to do a poll over who people think was the GOAT between the two of them and also ask WHY they think that (justification for choice).

My personal belief is that Agassi was the greater returner for two reasons. One, I think Djokovic's popularity on the topic has mostly to do with "recency", the fact that people who watch tennis now have a short memory. When people think of Djokovic being a great returner, they are usually making observations about his matches against his contemporaries (Fed, Nadal, Murray, Wawrinka, Ferrer, Nishikori). With the exception of Federer, can any in that group be considered among the top tier of servers today? Compare that to the caliber of players Agassi often had to contend with in his prime (Sampras, Ivanisevic, Becker, Rafter, Courier, Chang). With the exception of Courier and Chang, most of Agassi's rivals had great serves. And even after Agassi's prime, he had to contend with prime Roddick, to which he has a winning record against, and Agassi also met prime Karlovic once, but beat him in straight sets. Djokovic on the other hand struggled against Roddick and Karlovic. And while Djokovic has a superior record against Raonic and Isner, neither of those players has a very complete game (compared to the likes of Agassi's big serving competition).

The other reason is, while he is indeed a superior returner of serve, one must inevitably consider the advantages of him playing in the era that he does. Racket (and string) technology has made leaps and bounds in the last decade, and it is generally considered easier for players to return huge serves with any accuracy or consistency today than it was before. Agassi didn't have the luxury of luxilon strings. Moreover, so many of the players he had to contend with were serve and volleyers. Djokovic's competition doesn't come to the net at all, so he doesn't have to have the precision that Agassi did in order to win the points. While Djokovic is rangier, and seemingly able to get more balls in play than Agassi, I think Agassi had a more consistently devastating return of serve against players who were often better servers and who followed their serve to the net. To me, that makes Agassi the GOAT returner. What do you guys think? If Djokovic was playing with 90s racket technology, and had to play against Sampras, Ivanisevic, and Becker (players that had huge serves, came to the net, and also had great ground games), would he have been as effective as Agassi was?

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No debate, Agassi by a distance. Djokovic actually struggles against the really huge servers. But the really huge servers nowadays don't have much of a game.

Contrast with Agassi who had to deal with huge servers who were great players but Sampras apart he had a brilliant record against the other huge servers and dealt with their serves with ease at times.
 
Chanwan said:
Hard to pick, but I don't think Feddy belongs on a shortlist of the top-6 returners to ever play the game.
Click to expand...

I agree, although captainbryce is consistent in his logic. He fundamentally believes in the games evolution, so the best returns of today's era are in his mind the best ever. Having said that he includes Connors. The short list is a little strange to me, I don't think Hewitt-Murray-Federer do get that many nods as being the best returners of all time.
 
NatF said:
I agree, although captainbryce is consistent in his logic. He fundamentally believes in the games evolution, so the best returns of today's era are in his mind the best ever. Having said that he includes Connors. The short list is a little strange to me, I don't think Hewitt-Murray-Federer do get that many nods as being the best returners of all time.
Click to expand...
?? yet he chose Agassi.
To me, Murray def. belongs on any shortlist. His numbers careerwise are as good as Djoko's and he's worse than Djoko once the rally is going. I.e. his returns can't be much worse, if at all. Hewitt's up there too, but just shy of Connors, Agassi, Djoko and Murray to me.
Too young for anything prior to the 90's, so there might be good returners, I'm simply not giving credit. I mention Connors as he's famed for his return.
 
Agassi. Close call though. Novak is a better defender, but Agassi's returns were ripping winners. Not to mention his return of serve, who for me, can never be matched.
 
pc1 said:
He may have been the best returner over Connors. Connors was flashier but Borg was perhaps better. I believe Ashe and Bud Collins thought Borg was the best returner. Ashe thought Borg was the greatest returner of all time.
Click to expand...

That's interesting to hear :) wasn't alive at the time so any historic insight is appreciated.
 
pc1 said:
He may have been the best returner over Connors. Connors was flashier but Borg was perhaps better. I believe Ashe and Bud Collins thought Borg was the best returner. Ashe thought Borg was the greatest returner of all time.
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Interesting for me as well. I knew Borg was a good returner, but my impression was that Connors is more or less universally recognized as that era's best returner. Apparently, I'm wrong in that assumption.
 
Navdeep Srivastava said:
It is between Connors and Djokovic , Connors always use to anticipate serve and because he was strong on both side he was a one hell of returner.

Djokovic is similar like Jim and is great on both side so his backhand return is deadly.

Want to add another name Rosewall, saw his some matches and his reflexes at return with his backhand return was great, for a moment I thought him better than Novak.
Click to expand...

Problem I have with Agassi is that while he was a great attacking returner, especially of second serves I felt he didn't get the returns in play as much as a Djokovic, Connors and a few others like Laver or Federer for example. These guys were very quick and could return big serves. The Connors/Roscoe Tanner Wimbledon semi of 1975 is legendary for Connors blasting back the super fast Tanner serve. I can't see Agassi doing that.
 
Chanwan said:
Interesting for me as well. I knew Borg was a good returner, but my impression was that Connors is more or less universally recognized as that era's best returner. Apparently, I'm wrong in that assumption.
Click to expand...
Sometimes general opinion is wrong. I do have stats for that era that indicate that Borg was the best returner of that time, perhaps in the history of tennis.
 
pc1 said:
Sometimes general opinion is wrong. I do have stats for that era that indicate that Borg was the best returner of that time, perhaps in the history of tennis.
Click to expand...
Stats on points won in return games? Or other stats? Cause if it's the former, I'm not sure I'm buying it by the stats. I mean, no one but his most rabid fans consider Rafa to be one of the greatest returners the game has ever seen, right? http://www.atpworldtour.com/en/stats/return-games-won/all/all/all/
 
Chanwan said:
Stats on points won in return games? Or other stats? Cause if it's the former, I'm not sure I'm buying it by the stats. I mean, no one but his most rabid fans consider Rafa to be one of the greatest returners the game has ever seen, right? http://www.atpworldtour.com/en/stats/return-games-won/all/all/all/
Click to expand...

Borg was the 1st "baseliner" with that mentality of kicking the ball back no matter what! That initially entailed him hanging all the way near the backstop to get a full swing at a person's serve; with topspin, making the incoming net-rushers of the day "tie their shoelaces!" Connors needed a good return; heaven knows he only made news with his serve against McEnroe at Wimbledon when he won in '82! I can remember his 5 set final in '77 with Borg where all but 2 of his serves came back! On treacherous, dead grass, that had to be considered incredible either way! ;-)
 
Those who think that Djokovic has better returns than Agassi have absolutely no clue.It's Agassi and it ain't even close. I wonder what Djokovic would do against the Sampras serve on fast surfaces with Pete hanging on the net within a second. Djokovic is great in putting the return back in play and because he's a way better mover than Agassi he can slowly turn the point around in his favor. If he did the same against someone like Sampras Pete would be putting the volleys away time after time.

And Sampras was just one of many in that era, take any other serve-and-volleyer with a big serve like Krajicek or Becker.

Djokovic also struggles against the best servers on tour. BIG TIME. Both Isner and Karlovic give him fits. Owlderer can push him to the limit on his SERVE ALONE (2014 Wimbledon). Anderson almost beat him at Wimbledon with more than half of his work done from his serve. Roddick led him 5-3 in the h2h despite losing his monster game in 2004 and becoming a pusher with a big serve. Look what happened in Dubai 2008.
 
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tennis_pro said:
Those who think that Djokovic has better returns than Agassi have absolutely no clue.It's Agassi and it ain't even close. I wonder what Djokovic would do against the Sampras serve on fast surfaces with Pete hanging on the net within a second. Djokovic is great in putting the return back in play and because he's a way better mover than Agassi he can slowly turn the point around in his favor. If he did the same against someone like Sampras Pete would be putting the volleys away time after time.

And Sampras was just one of many in that era, take any other serve-and-volleyer with a big serve like Krajicek or Becker.

Djokovic also struggles against the best servers on tour. BIG TIME. Both Isner and Karlovic give him fits. Owlderer can push him to the limit on his SERVE ALONE (2014 Wimbledon). Anderson almost beat him at Wimbledon with more than half of his work done from his serve. Roddick led him 5-3 in the h2h despite losing his monster game in 2004 and becoming a pusher with a big serve. Look what happened in Dubai 2008.
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Djoko's got a problem vs. big servers, true. But vs. anything less than that, including 2nd serves, he's excellent. Also, I don't have stats, but I believe Andre got aced more, because he guessed more and didn't have Novak's flexibility.
 
Chanwan said:
Djoko's got a problem vs. big servers, true. But vs. anything less than that, including 2nd serves, he's excellent. Also, I don't have stats, but I believe Andre got aced more, because he guessed more and didn't have Novak's flexibility.
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Agassi was aced more because he played more matches and he faced big servers on truly fast surfaces. The fastest surface used today would be considered medium fast at most in the 90's. Also, the main difference between Agassi's and Djokovic's return is that Agassi was FORCED to do more because he knew that if he just put it back in play the server would finish the point with a volley winner afterwards.

When Djokovic's reflexes and movement decline his "great" return of serve will suddenly dissapear because he won't have the goods anymore to back it up. Agassi remained a top quality returner until he retired, basically. Look at some of the returns he pulled off against Roddick in Cincinnati 2004 or against Fed in the US finals in 2005.
 
The answer is we just don't know who is the better between Agassi and Djokovic. We have a clear picture of Agassi's ability on a range of surfaces from slow to fast. But we don't have the same picture for Djokovic.

A returners mettle is tested when trying to return on a fast surface - less time to react and the ball is coming through lower. We haven't seen Djokovic play on a fast surface (Cincinnati is perhaps the fastest we see today and that is only classed as 'medium fast)'. Wimbledon is to be classed as medium.
 
Agassi is the most aced man in the history of tennis. He is like kobe bryant on the atp.
 
tennis_pro said:
Agassi was aced more because he played more matches and he faced big servers on truly fast surfaces. The fastest surface used today would be considered medium fast at most in the 90's. Also, the main difference between Agassi's and Djokovic's return is that Agassi was FORCED to do more because he knew that if he just put it back in play the server would finish the point with a volley winner afterwards.

When Djokovic's reflexes and movement decline his "great" return of serve will suddenly dissapear because he won't have the goods anymore to back it up. Agassi remained a top quality returner until he retired, basically. Look at some of the returns he pulled off against Roddick in Cincinnati 2004 or against Fed in the US finals in 2005.
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Point taken on the surfaces, but "aces more" wasn't meant as over their careers, but on number of serves needed to hit an ace for their opponent. Stats don't exist to the general public, but I'm sure Djoko would come out on top in terms of being aces less and getting more returns back in place. But again - part of the reason is that Agassi had to do more with his return.
I doubt Novak's ROS will decline in a massive way. I personally lean slightly towards Andre, but I think there are good arguments for both.
Andre picked Djoko as the better returner of the two btw - and by a margin.
 
Chadillac said:
Agassi is the most aced man in the history of tennis. He is like kobe bryant on the atp.
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I think Agassi's ROS was overrated in comparison to Nole who puts the ball back in play and can put server on the defensive even if another baseline! Agassi going for broke and making a handful of meaningful returns does not compare to the aggressive/restraint of Nole who knows exactly where his return is going while Andre was hopin'! He truly was aced a lot by Edberg, Becker, Lendl, Courier, Sampras, McEnroe; even Chang a couple times and other big servers of the era! ;-)
 
Novak overrated. He played in a slow era anyway. He cant hit many return winners as much as Agassi as well.
 
Nole is just a taller version of agassi, so he returns better.

Theres no way a 180cm guy can reach as many balls as nole does. Thats why agassi got aced a lot more, even though serves nowadays are FASTER.
 
tennis_pro said:
Agassi was aced more because he played more matches and he faced big servers on truly fast surfaces. The fastest surface used today would be considered medium fast at most in the 90's. Also, the main difference between Agassi's and Djokovic's return is that Agassi was FORCED to do more because he knew that if he just put it back in play the server would finish the point with a volley winner afterwards.

When Djokovic's reflexes and movement decline his "great" return of serve will suddenly dissapear because he won't have the goods anymore to back it up. Agassi remained a top quality returner until he retired, basically. Look at some of the returns he pulled off against Roddick in Cincinnati 2004 or against Fed in the US finals in 2005.
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False. Stats show serves are a lot faster these days, regardless of the slower surface. Check sam groth.

Agassi is just too short. So he gets aced a lot more than nole or murray. Its simple.

As to putting the ball back in play, nole hits the ball deep down the middle, thats not easy. If he returned down the middle short, thats a poor return and he'll get punished. Is hitting a winner harder than down the middle deep? Sure is. But it doesnt make returning deep middle easy otherwise everybody would be doing it.

Becker said its harder to return these days because back then returners always go for winners, knowing the opponent must be coming up the net. Nowadays its hard to judge whether a player like federer would come up the net behind a big serve.
 
tennis_pro said:
Those who think that Djokovic has better returns than Agassi have absolutely no clue.It's Agassi and it ain't even close. I wonder what Djokovic would do against the Sampras serve on fast surfaces with Pete hanging on the net within a second. Djokovic is great in putting the return back in play and because he's a way better mover than Agassi he can slowly turn the point around in his favor. If he did the same against someone like Sampras Pete would be putting the volleys away time after time.

And Sampras was just one of many in that era, take any other serve-and-volleyer with a big serve like Krajicek or Becker.

Djokovic also struggles against the best servers on tour. BIG TIME. Both Isner and Karlovic give him fits. Owlderer can push him to the limit on his SERVE ALONE (2014 Wimbledon). Anderson almost beat him at Wimbledon with more than half of his work done from his serve. Roddick led him 5-3 in the h2h despite losing his monster game in 2004 and becoming a pusher with a big serve. Look what happened in Dubai 2008.
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Spot on! Exactly what I said in an earlier post! It's not even close! People on this forum have such short memories!
 
timnz said:
The answer is we just don't know who is the better between Agassi and Djokovic. We have a clear picture of Agassi's ability on a range of surfaces from slow to fast. But we don't have the same picture for Djokovic.

A returners mettle is tested when trying to return on a fast surface - less time to react and the ball is coming through lower. We haven't seen Djokovic play on a fast surface (Cincinnati is perhaps the fastest we see today and that is only classed as 'medium fast)'. Wimbledon is to be classed as medium.
Click to expand...


A "slow surface" only impacts the last quarter of the distance travelled by the ball. We already know that avg serve speed has gone up significantly when measured across the net, this means that the time players have to return is actually LESS, regardless of surface conditions. Players need to react and move BEFORE the ball hits the surface, so that time is a LOT less.

All this talk about slower surface is BS, given that players serve so much faster nowadays. In the 90s the fastest serve was 240k by rusedski, the current record is sam groths 263k in 2012. For comparison there have been 13 guys who can serve faster than 240k since the turn of the century.

Even Andy Murray could serve 240k bombs.
 
Agassi:

“I got news for you: I was aggressive with my return, but you look at a guy like Djokovic and he’s like the best of me, the best of Hewitt, the best of Federer, he plays defensive, he can play offensive—these guys [the big three] have taken different parts of the game and just redefined its standard.”

http://www.tennisnow.com/News/Statisfaction--Who-Is-the-Best-Returner-of-All-Tim.aspx

Wawrinka:

Stan Wawrinka offered his pick taking Novak Djokovic’s return of serve as the shot he’d like to have.

“I will take Novak return,” Wawrinka said. “Because he’s so good. He make you play all the time. He always find solution how to return each player. Always putting yourself under pressure even when you’re serving.”

http://www.tennis-x.com/xblog/2015-07-02/19918.php

Nadal:

“Is something unbelievable how he returns, no?”, “His return is probably one of the best in history. I never played against a player who returns like this”

http://www.worldtennismagazine.com/archives/6281

Brad Gibert:

Gilbert says Pete Sampras and Boris Becker have the best serves and shots ever in the game. He rates Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Ivan Lendl’s forehands as tops in that category.

Former pupil Andre Agassi, Gilbert said, had a better backhand than Wawrinka. He also tabs Novak Djokovic’s return of serve and McEnroe as the best volleyer the game has ever seen.

http://www.tennis-x.com/xblog/2015-07-01/19914.php

Mats Wilander:



Nick Bollettieri:

"Novak Djokovic is the most perfect player of all time. Repeat, of all time. To my mind he is the one player who does not have a weakness in his game", "He is one of the great returners in the history of our sport. And a worthy champion of course."

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/...s-the-games-most-perfect-player-10384178.html

Greg Rusedski:

"Murray is one of the best returners in the game, but he is not at Djokovic’s level. In fact no one is, past or present. Even Andre Agassi in his prime was not as good a returner as Djokovic."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/te...Novak-Djokovic-is-the-best-on-the-planet.html

Darren Cahill:

“The best all-around returner because of his length and his ability to defend and attack, is Djokovic,” said ESPN’s Brad Gilbert. “Andre just behind him at two, Connors behind him at three, and Hewitt a distant four of those four.”

http://www.tennisnow.com/News/2015/September/Cahill-Novak’s-Return-Is-Best.aspx

...

And the King of Best Returners is:

images


To haters, from Djoker with love:

1325848-bigthumbnail.jpg
 
Now I'll tell you why Agassi is not greater (actually I just repeat what is said a thousand times before):D

1. Racquet:

Agassi's stick is 2 times bigger than Nole's. You don't have to play tennis and still know that it's much easier to return with a bigger stick.

2. String:

Agassi used gut but his opponents used gut, too.

Nole uses poly (actually half poly, half gut) and guess what do his opponents use? Poly! Surprise?!

It's ridiculous to say it's easier for Nole than Agassi, unless Nole's opponents all still use gut.

3. If you don't believe 2., just look at the charts below:

http://www.physics.usyd.edu.au/~cross/PUBLICATIONS/46. GrandSlamStats.pdf

You'll see the average serve speed of all 4 Slams keeps increasing and currently it's significantly higher than 20 years ago.

So the myth of Fast courts >>> faster serves is now proven to be BS.

:D
 
6august said:
Brad Gibert:

Gilbert says Pete Sampras and Boris Becker have the best serves and shots ever in the game. He rates Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Ivan Lendl’s forehands as tops in that category.

Former pupil Andre Agassi, Gilbert said, had a better backhand than Wawrinka. He also tabs Novak Djokovic’s return of serve and McEnroe as the best volleyer the game has ever seen.
Click to expand...
Okay, here is why your post is a fail.

A) Appeal to popularity is NOT an argument, it is fallacious logic. Former players and coaches are human beings (just like the posters on this forum). And like the posters here, they are not immune to short memories!

B) The proof of some of the lunacy is in Brad Gilbert's own words. Not only does would many argue that Karlovic, Raonic, and Isner were better servers than Sampras and Becker, but even according to Gilbert's own logic, the BEST servers were Agassi rivals, not Djokovic rivals. So if Agassi faced the best servers, how could Djokovic be annointed as a better returner of serve than Agassi. That is ****** logic 101!
 
They're human beings, like us. It's true.

But they do know about the sport than us.

They live in it. We're outsiders.

They gain knowledge and experience about tennis from spending their whole life with it. We have it through Google, Wiki and some hightlights on Youtube :rolleyes:
 
captainbryce said:
o_O

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Peak federer's first serve return on fast surfaces is one of the best ever. On grass it is be the best ever. Against big servers he likely has the best return ever too. But if we look at the whole return he definitely doesn't stack up to some others in 2nd serve return and on slower surfaces. And all this was at his peak...he's overall been a pretty meh returner since around 07/08.
 
Needless to say anything more unless you can answer my 3 questions above.

OP. You have failed the argument.

...

JK. I'm looking forward to hear your technical analyzing about them.
 
captainbryce said:
Moreover, so many of the players he had to contend with were serve and volleyers. Djokovic's competition doesn't come to the net at all, so he doesn't have to have the precision that Agassi did in order to win the points.
Click to expand...

That's one way of looking at it. The other aspect is when players are coming in all the time, a return doesn't need to be deep, just low and well placed. Actually, even low straight at the toes will do. Even a good serve and volleyer will tire of repeatedly digging out toe-level volleys. Your observation that Nole doesn't seem to hit as many return winners as Agassi used to is also a function of fewer players using serve and volley. Since they stay back, he would have to hit it absolutely out of their reach to win the point on the return. Agassi didn't have to take on that much risk to hit return winners against serve-volleyers.

captainbryce said:
While Djokovic is rangier, and seemingly able to get more balls in play than Agassi, I think Agassi had a more consistently devastating return of serve against players who were often better servers and who followed their serve to the net.
Click to expand...
Agree with the first part of the sentence but Nole doesn't just get balls in play, he sends back deep, strong returns, denying the server the serve-forehand one two he is counting on to get free points. When I say deny, I obviously don't mean deny EVERY time but Nole is quite successful in diminishing the effectiveness of the server's service games and thus puts pressure on them.


captainbryce said:
If Djokovic was playing with 90s racket technology, and had to play against Sampras, Ivanisevic, and Becker (players that had huge serves, came to the net, and also had great ground games), would he have been as effective as Agassi was?
Click to expand...

Impossible to tell because if he had been playing in the 90s, he would have likely also played with wooden racquets at some point and his approach would be different. Further, Nole's flexibility would be a complete unknown in the 90s.
 
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