Greatest shots in tennis history

King of Aces

King of Aces

Banned
These are the greatest shots in tennis history according to Tennis.com....do you agree> Can you add some more?

• The Serve: Pete Sampras
• The Return of Serve: Jimmy Connors
• The Forehand: Roger Federer
• The Backhand: Ken Rosewall
• The Forehand Volley: John Newcombe
• The Backhand Volley: Martina Navratilova
• The Lob: Ken Rosewall
• The Dropshot: Manuel Santana
• The Overhead: Pete Sampras
• Movement: Roger Federer
• Head: Billie Jean King

(I think they mean mind on the last one????).
 
Serve: Goran Ivanisevic
Return: Jimmy Connors
Forehand: Roger Federer
Backhand: Don Budge
Volley: John McEnroe
Movement: Rafael Nadal or Bjorn Borg
Mental: Rafael Nadal or Bjorn Borg

Serve: Serena Williams
Return: Monica Seles
Forehand: Steffi Graf
Backhand: Chris Evert
Volley: Martina Navratilova
Movement: Steffi Graf
Mental: Chris Evert
 
• The Serve: Pete Sampras
• The Return of Serve: Agassi
• The Forehand: Roger Federer
• The Backhand: Jimmy Connors
• The Forehand Volley: Stefan Edberg
• The Backhand Volley: Stefan Edberg
• The Lob: Fabrice Santoro
• The Dropshot: Fabrice Santoro
• The Overhead: Yannick Noah (He invented the Sampras overhead)
• Movement: Rafael nadal
• Head: Billie: Rafael Nadal or Bjorn Borg
 
First serve: Goran Ivanisevic
First/second serve combination: Pete Sampras
Return of serve: Jimmy Connors / Andre Agassi
Forehand: Roger Federer / Jim Courier
Onehanded backhand: Gustavo Kuerten
Doublehanded backhand: Connors / Agassi
Slice backhand: Steffi Graff
Forehand volley: Stefan Edberg
Dropshots: Marcelo Rios
Lobs: Marcelo Rios
Backhand volley: Martina Navratilova
Overheads: Pete Sampras
Movement: Bjorn Borg / Rafael Nadal
Mental: Rafael Nadal
 
• The Serve: Goran Ivanisevic
• The Return of Serve: Andre Agassi
• The Forehand: Roger Federer
• The Backhand: Björn Borg (invented two-handed backhand)
• The Forehand Volley: Patrick Rafter
• The Backhand Volley: Stefan Edberg
• The Lob: Fabrice Santoro
• The Dropshot: Novak Djokovic
• The Overhead: Pete Sampras
• Movement: Björn Borg
• Head: Rafael Nadal/ Björn Borg/ Pete Sampras(always hit an ace when he had breakballs against him)
 
serve: sampras
return: connors
forehand: federer
backhand: borg/safin/guga
volleys: edberg
lob: hewitt
movement: rafa/fed/borg
head: sampras
 
I don't like the idea of mixing up men and women. They play on different tours, don't they? So there should be a list for each, not a combined list. I would give movement and head to Nadal for sure.
 
Mens:
First Serve: Goran
Second Serve: Pete
Return of Serve: Agassi
Forehand: Fed
Backhand: Borg
approach shots (forehand and backhand): Connors
forehand/backhand Volleys: Edberg
Half / Drop / Stop Volleys: Mac
Lob: Agassi
Dropshot: Novak
Overhead: Becker
Movement: Nadal
Ultimate Fighting machine: nadal
Freaky amazing unthinkable shots: Fed
 
King of Aces said:
These are the greatest shots in tennis history according to Tennis.com....do you agree> Can you add some more?

• The Forehand Volley: John Newcombe


(I think they mean mind on the last one????).
Click to expand...

Ironically I remember reading an article in a tennis magazine about 10 years ago written by John Newcombe. He himself rated Lew Hoad as having the best forehand volley.
 
It also depends on what you mean by "best." For instance, Nadal's forehand is far from the best to terminate the points with a sizzling winner, but it is sure as heck one of the best to control them: heavy, safe, well placed and nasty to return. Conversely, González's forehand is a winner machine gun. Federer's is a good balance between them.

Can't tell about history because I was a kid in the 70's, but nowadays I am suitably impressed by:
- Nadal's running shots.
- Nadal's round the post forehand. I have three pages of equations in my desk that demonstrate that this shot is absolutely impossible unless you fill the ball with iron scrapings and use a pocket superconducting magnet.
- Roddick's second kicker serve. How can you make a ball bounce that high from that distance simply escapes me.
- Djokovic's backhand down the line of doom.
- Federer's dipping crosscourt forehand, you know, the one that clears the net by half an inch, dips like a dead weight a couple of meters behind, bounces and rockets happily away of the court at an angle of 45 degrees.
 
• The Serve: Pete Sampras
• The Return of Serve: Andre Agassi
• The Forehand: Roger Federer
• The Backhand: Ken Rosewall
• The Forehand Volley: John Newcombe
• The Backhand Volley: Martina Navratilova
• The Lob: Fabrice Santoro
• The Dropshot: Manuel Santana
• The Overhead: Pete Sampras
• Movement: Roger Federer
Mental: Nadal
 
King of Aces said:
These are the greatest shots in tennis history according to Tennis.com....do you agree> Can you add some more?


• Head: Billie Jean King

(I think they mean mind on the last one????).
Click to expand...

By Head do they mean biggest ego?

Then for sure it is BJK.

But not if it means being the mentally toughest, most competitive, or even smartest.

Just give BJK another "career service award" and we'll call it a day. But she never owned a "greatest shot" in the history of the game, unless it is for her never ending search to pay women pros more than they deserve, especially equal prize money for unequal work at the majors.
 
In the mental category, I'm a bit surprised no one has mentioned Wilander. Here's a famous quote from Jay Berger, who was active at the time, about what the most dangerous weapon on the ATP tour was:

"Andre Agassi's forehand is not the biggest weapon in tennis today. Mats Wilander's brain is". (Jay Berger, Quote of the Year, 1988)
 
Open Era.

• 1st Serve: Goran
• 2nd Serve: Sampras
• The Return of Serve: Agassi
• The Forehand: Federer
• The Backhand: (no one really stands out for me)
• The Forehand Volley: Edberg
• The Backhand Volley: Edberg
• Movement: Federer
• Head: Nadal
• Baseline Half Volley: Federer
• Mid Court Half Volley: Sampras
 
DMan said:
By Head do they mean biggest ego?

Then for sure it is BJK.

But not if it means being the mentally toughest, most competitive, or even smartest.

Just give BJK another "career service award" and we'll call it a day. But she never owned a "greatest shot" in the history of the game, unless it is for her never ending search to pay women pros more than they deserve, especially equal prize money for unequal work at the majors.
Click to expand...

Can't agree with you more.
The best way to help WTA is to ask these women work harder to improve their current poor and boring games, not by spoiling them with the prize they do not deserve.

As for the best shot,

Serve: men: Sampras
women: Venus and Serena

Return: Connors/Agassi
Seles

Forehand: Lendl/Federer/Nadal
Graf

Backhand: Rosewall/Kalfenikov
Henin/Seles/Williams

Slice: Rosewall
Graf

Valley: Edberg
Navratilova

Overhead: Sampras
Navratilova/Graf/Williams

Drop: Rosewall
Evert/Hingis

Lob:Rosewall
Evert

Movement: Borg
Graf

Strengh of Mind: Borg/Sampras/Nadal
Evert/Graf
 
King of Aces said:
• The Serve: Pete Sampras
• The Return of Serve: Agassi
• The Forehand: Roger Federer
• The Backhand: Jimmy Connors
• The Forehand Volley: Stefan Edberg
• The Backhand Volley: Stefan Edberg
• The Lob: Fabrice Santoro
• The Dropshot: Fabrice Santoro
• The Overhead: Yannick Noah (He invented the Sampras overhead)
• Movement: Rafael nadal
• Head: Billie: Rafael Nadal or Bjorn Borg
Click to expand...

wow i actually find myself agreeing with the majority of your post here.

exception

overhead - Roddick
 
cucio said:
It also depends on what you mean by "best." For instance, Nadal's forehand is far from the best to terminate the points with a sizzling winner, but it is sure as heck one of the best to control them: heavy, safe, well placed and nasty to return. Conversely, González's forehand is a winner machine gun. Federer's is a good balance between them.

Can't tell about history because I was a kid in the 70's, but nowadays I am suitably impressed by:
- Nadal's running shots.
- Nadal's round the post forehand. I have three pages of equations in my desk that demonstrate that this shot is absolutely impossible unless you fill the ball with iron scrapings and use a pocket superconducting magnet.
- Roddick's second kicker serve. How can you make a ball bounce that high from that distance simply escapes me.
- Djokovic's backhand down the line of doom.
- Federer's dipping crosscourt forehand, you know, the one that clears the net by half an inch, dips like a dead weight a couple of meters behind, bounces and rockets happily away of the court at an angle of 45 degrees.
Click to expand...

Nadal's heroics on court are the things dreams are made of
Roddick's serve in general (both first and second) escape me... good stuff!
Joker's backahand DTL is one of today's most dangerous shots (IMO)
 
I think Fed does have some of the best movement ever during baseline rallys especially on hard courts. But there's been a lot of players who move better towards the net, or on clay or on return of serve.
 
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