If Djokovic was truly the greatest returner ever, shouldn't it stand to reason that they should increase surface speed to truly challenge his return?

[NAS]

He was already at the tail end of up his career by then with a bad back. Means nothing

A end where he was makimg us open semi or final and lossing in epic fashion or winning AO

 

[Villain]

Nice try deflecting instead of addressing the point. Average serve speeds, ace averages and hold percentages have nothing do with it either (ALONE). A 130MPH serve today is not necessarily the same in terms of difficulty to return as a 115MPH serve in the 90's. Bounce and court speeds are also factors.

But regardless, merely claiming "S&V having nothing to do with it" doesn't mean it doesn't have anything to do with it. It stands to reason LOGICALLY that if returning is more difficult today, servers will have extra motivation to finish off points quicker in the net more often than ever before. But such is not the case here, proving returning if anything, is easier than ever before.

How is that deflecting? Don’t give me that returners are bad nonsense, that is deflecting. Hold percentages are up and it is harder to break than in the 90s. This is because servers are better. This would be magnified even more if 90s court speeds were common today. Your argument doesn’t hold any water and you are an obvious Djokovic hater that is grasping at straws. I would say you are trying to twist the truth, but you don’t even have any semblance of truth to start from.

 

[Forehanderer]

To Novak fans who think this year's AO is fast, you clearly have not watched tennis before 2011. USOs in the 00s were quick enough until they slowed it down so bad that even AO looks quicker to USO. One could see how fast Roddick's serve was off the court. It was almost like it just kissed the surface. Today its more like clay for Novak to set his feet like a skater in the ice rink and put it back in play. Raonic was surprised that his 220kmph serves are back on his feet.

 

[Ganstaz003]

How is that deflecting? Don’t give me that returners are bad nonsense, that is deflecting. Hold percentages are up and it is harder to break than in the 90s. This is because servers are better. This would be magnified even more if 90s court speeds were common today. Your argument doesn’t hold any water and you are an obvious Djokovic hater that is grasping at straws. I would say you are trying to twist the truth, but you don’t even have any semblance of truth to start from.

Nah, you're still deflecting. You're seemingly getting all emotional and into your feelings because you can't address my simple point. If it's harder to break today and if return was so much more difficult, my point still stands, that servers will be bull-rushing the net more frequently than ever before instead of trying to play a suicide game of playing from the back where they have barely any chance to win anyway against today's baseline-bots. So if anything, it's you who doesn't have any grounds to stand on in this debate / discussion with the position of 'returning is more difficult today DOE'.

Returning evidently has never been any easier, but aside from a select few, most players suck at returning today LMAO! And facing 'better' servers means nothing, when the surfaces significantly favor the returners more than ever before. Never have any player today, had to face a combination of 90's grass speed + Pete Sampras level serve, not even Djokovic.

That's why Agassi's career slam = greatest career slam ever.

 

[Villain]

Returning evidently has never been any easier, but aside from a select few, most players suck at returning today LMAO!

Yes, because this makes sense…
Players have better ground strokes than they’ve ever had in an era we’re returning is apparently easier than it’s ever been, on the easiest possible surfaces to return on, and yet professional players who are more athletic and in better shape than they’ve ever been somehow suck at returning in spite of all this. Haha.

 

[Ganstaz003]

Yes, because this makes sense…
Players have better ground strokes than they’ve ever had in an era we’re returning is apparently easier than it’s ever been, on the easiest possible surfaces to return on, and yet professional players who are more athletic and in better shape than they’ve ever been somehow suck at returning in spite of all this. Haha.

Players being better athletes today is an unproven assertion. It takes just as much athleticism to volley and to employ high-level hand-eye coordination as it does for playing like a robot all day from the baseline, maybe even more. So no, I don't believe players are necessarily more athletic today.