Most memorable shots in the open era

kiki

kiki

Banned
Since this is a forum to interchange well based opinions, here is my choice for the best or nicest shots I recall out of my 40 years experience with top players.

I peg pardon for all of those I´ll possibly forget.But I´d like to have the opinions of those long time tennis supporters that have, more or less, the same prime hand experience.

SERVE

1/Sampras
2/Newcombe
3/Edberg
4/Becker
5/Mc Enroe

beautiful, almost perfect textbook motions for Pete and Newc; Becker used his upper body and mighty legs to get extrapower , while I always enjoyed of Edberg´s kick and Mac´s slice were sued to settle their attack.

VOLLEY

1/Edberg/Roche/JMac
4/Rosewall/Laver
5/Panatta/Rafter

Panatta drop volleys and Rafter FH volley were great watching, so was the textbook backswing Rosewall took.Laver volley was so complete and devastating...still, Mac,Edberg and Roche had the most versatile and natural net game and, each one within his style, were a joy to watch settle the attack and knock it down

FOREHAND

1/Borg
2/Federer/Sampras
3/Bruguera/Nadal
4/Lendl
5/Courier/Newc

Borg´s top spin was great to watch because of his very personal spin, stance, hip movement and, as a resumee, his very particular style of play.

Fed´s and Pete´s are great shots, overwhelming when they are/were at their best, almost flat and with great angle.So was Lendl´s.Bruguera, Nadal ( and somewhat Courier) had a terrific top spin FH, but Bruguera´s was nicer to watch because more fluent and uncanny.

Newc´s FH approach was the best I´ve seen ( better than Pete´s or Becker´s IMO)

BACKHAND

1/Rosewall
2/Laver
3/Connors
4/Edberg
5/Ashe/Vilas/Agassi

well, the GREATEST single shot I´ve seen from the early 1970´s is the Rosewall BH.He couldn´t miss it even if he wanted to.I´ll just say that it was even nicer to " listen" to it than to watch it.Perfection, beauty, smoothness...Laver had the msot versatile Bh, could hit it in anyway, could use it to pass, come to the net, drop shot, open angles...amazing.

Ashe´s sliced was a fluent shot, and his flat one was very good.Vilas top spin one fell short only to Laver´s.

Connors has the nicest and cleanest 2 H BH ever, closely followed by Agassi.Both, the best returners of the open era ( closely followed by laver and Rosewall).Edberg´s slice approach was as good as anybody´s...and his topspin was great ( possibly, the most complete range of backhands after Laver)

LOB

1/Nastase
2/Orantes
3/Rosewall
4/Laver
5/Newcombe

lobbing isn´t a tactic anymore, since there is no volley anymore.But thsoe guys used it, both defensively and offensively with a great security margin and Nastase´s was, IMO the best, sinc ehe had that surprising loop spin, he learnt from great Manuel Santana.

DROP

1/Orantes
2/Mayer
3/Nastase/Panatta
4/Laver/Rosewall

Orantes and Mayer could hit´em anywhere, no matter what ball was coming at them.Even if you knew they were doing it, you just couldn´t reach the ball.

Connors could have been included but he lacked the proper judgement to take as much advantage of his drops as those 5 players.Nasty amd, specially Panatta, played the drop shot as an approach shot, that is, a volley settler.

OVERHEAD

1/Becker
2/Vilas/Newcombe
4/Sampras
5/Noah

Just for his almost flawless smash, Becker deserves the nº 1, but Sampras,Newcombe or Vilas never came back.I put Noah as a fifth best because of his athletic abilities.I heard of Stockton, but I can´t recall him playing, so I outed him off my list

FOOTWORK

1/Borg
2/Connors
3/Rosewall
4/Laver/Wilander
5/Federer/Nastase

I didn´t pick the fastest guy ( Gerulaitis or Kriek were the fastest probably) but , rather, the most flashy, uncanny, natural and precise footwork.Borg danced on the court, unbelievable, while Connors anticipation and hand eye coordination made him take the ball on the rise in an unmatched way.Rosewall,Mats,Federer and Nastase were very agile and precise, never wrong footing.

Laver , on the other hand, lived on his raw speed, he crossed the court like a storm and reached the most unreachable balls, something Gerulaitis and Kriek also could do, but not in such way.

As for all court game, I have no doubts that Laver has been the best I´ve seen and tha is why he ranks as my GOAT ( from 68 onwards).Not only did he have the shots and the arm and legs, he also had the boldest mind I´ve seen on court ( in his prime he went for the most unexpected shot ) combined with an uncredible strategic mind.he used the unexpected to recover and was a man you´d never know what could he bring to you

LADIES

In short, I´d say

Martina Navratilova´s serve ( and Sharapova´s and Serena´s as a second choice), Graf and Mandlikova´s FH ( closely followed by Hingis and Martinez), Evert,Henin,Seles, Sabatini and Cawley´s BH ( altough Evonne´s sliced one was just dashling, the others being powerful or ultraconsistent), Wade and Navratilova´s volley, Evert´s drop shot,Martina´s overhead and Mandlikova´s , Hingis ,Graf movement (Evert was not as good as a mover but her anticipation and concentration were first class)

The most complete player in terms of all round game would be Court,Navratilova and, then, and far from them, Hingis and Mandlikova
 
kiki said:
Since this is a forum to interchange well based opinions, here is my choice for the best or nicest shots I recall out of my 40 years experience with top players.

I peg pardon for all of those I´ll possibly forget.But I´d like to have the opinions of those long time tennis supporters that have, more or less, the same prime hand experience.

SERVE

1/Sampras
2/Newcombe
3/Edberg
4/Becker
5/Mc Enroe

beautiful, almost perfect textbook motions for Pete and Newc; Becker used his upper body and mighty legs to get extrapower , while I always enjoyed of Edberg´s kick and Mac´s slice were sued to settle their attack.

VOLLEY

1/Edberg/Roche/JMac
4/Rosewall/Laver
5/Panatta/Rafter

Panatta drop volleys and Rafter FH volley were great watching, so was the textbook backswing Rosewall took.Laver volley was so complete and devastating...still, Mac,Edberg and Roche had the most versatile and natural net game and, each one within his style, were a joy to watch settle the attack and knock it down

FOREHAND

1/Borg
2/Federer/Sampras
3/Bruguera/Nadal
4/Lendl
5/Courier/Newc

Borg´s top spin was great to watch because of his very personal spin, stance, hip movement and, as a resumee, his very particular style of play.

Fed´s and Pete´s are great shots, overwhelming when they are/were at their best, almost flat and with great angle.So was Lendl´s.Bruguera, Nadal ( and somewhat Courier) had a terrific top spin FH, but Bruguera´s was nicer to watch because more fluent and uncanny.

Newc´s FH approach was the best I´ve seen ( better than Pete´s or Becker´s IMO)

BACKHAND

1/Rosewall
2/Laver
3/Connors
4/Edberg
5/Ashe/Vilas/Agassi

well, the GREATEST single shot I´ve seen from the early 1970´s is the Rosewall BH.He couldn´t miss it even if he wanted to.I´ll just say that it was even nicer to " listen" to it than to watch it.Perfection, beauty, smoothness...Laver had the msot versatile Bh, could hit it in anyway, could use it to pass, come to the net, drop shot, open angles...amazing.

Ashe´s sliced was a fluent shot, and his flat one was very good.Vilas top spin one fell short only to Laver´s.

Connors has the nicest and cleanest 2 H BH ever, closely followed by Agassi.Both, the best returners of the open era ( closely followed by laver and Rosewall).Edberg´s slice approach was as good as anybody´s...and his topspin was great ( possibly, the most complete range of backhands after Laver)

LOB

1/Nastase
2/Orantes
3/Rosewall
4/Laver
5/Newcombe

lobbing isn´t a tactic anymore, since there is no volley anymore.But thsoe guys used it, both defensively and offensively with a great security margin and Nastase´s was, IMO the best, sinc ehe had that surprising loop spin, he learnt from great Manuel Santana.

DROP

1/Orantes
2/Mayer
3/Nastase/Panatta
4/Laver/Rosewall

Orantes and Mayer could hit´em anywhere, no matter what ball was coming at them.Even if you knew they were doing it, you just couldn´t reach the ball.

Connors could have been included but he lacked the proper judgement to take as much advantage of his drops as those 5 players.Nasty amd, specially Panatta, played the drop shot as an approach shot, that is, a volley settler.

OVERHEAD

1/Becker
2/Vilas/Newcombe
4/Sampras
5/Noah

Just for his almost flawless smash, Becker deserves the nº 1, but Sampras,Newcombe or Vilas never came back.I put Noah as a fifth best because of his athletic abilities.I heard of Stockton, but I can´t recall him playing, so I outed him off my list

FOOTWORK

1/Borg
2/Connors
3/Rosewall
4/Laver/Wilander
5/Federer/Nastase

I didn´t pick the fastest guy ( Gerulaitis or Kriek were the fastest probably) but , rather, the most flashy, uncanny, natural and precise footwork.Borg danced on the court, unbelievable, while Connors anticipation and hand eye coordination made him take the ball on the rise in an unmatched way.Rosewall,Mats,Federer and Nastase were very agile and precise, never wrong footing.

Laver , on the other hand, lived on his raw speed, he crossed the court like a storm and reached the most unreachable balls, something Gerulaitis and Kriek also could do, but not in such way.

As for all court game, I have no doubts that Laver has been the best I´ve seen and tha is why he ranks as my GOAT ( from 68 onwards).Not only did he have the shots and the arm and legs, he also had the boldest mind I´ve seen on court ( in his prime he went for the most unexpected shot ) combined with an uncredible strategic mind.he used the unexpected to recover and was a man you´d never know what could he bring to you

LADIES

In short, I´d say

Martina Navratilova´s serve ( and Sharapova´s and Serena´s as a second choice), Graf and Mandlikova´s FH ( closely followed by Hingis and Martinez), Evert,Henin,Seles, Sabatini and Cawley´s BH ( altough Evonne´s sliced one was just dashling, the others being powerful or ultraconsistent), Wade and Navratilova´s volley, Evert´s drop shot,Martina´s overhead and Mandlikova´s , Hingis ,Graf movement (Evert was not as good as a mover but her anticipation and concentration were first class)

The most complete player in terms of all round game would be Court,Navratilova and, then, and far from them, Hingis and Mandlikova
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Nice list. A lot of beautiful strokes there. I might throw in the Miloslav Mecir backhand and movement as very memorable too as well as his angles.
 
That Evert lob was just as beautiful as that forehand dropper. It also won her at least as many points. I'll also mention the King backhand volley, and the Navratilova overhead.
 
BTURNER said:
That Evert lob was just as beautiful as that forehand dropper. It also won her at least as many points.
Click to expand...

Sometime touch shots are the nicest to see. I loved watching Orantes kill people with drop shots. Whenever I try a drop shot I think of Orantes. I just wish I had the success rate of Orantes.
 
pc1 said:
Nice list. A lot of beautiful strokes there. I might throw in the Miloslav Mecir backhand and movement as very memorable too as well as his angles.
Click to expand...

true, as for 2 HBH, Mecir is just a bit below Connors and nicer to watch than Agassi´s.Very good remark.
 
BTURNER said:
That Evert lob was just as beautiful as that forehand dropper. It also won her at least as many points. I'll also mention the King backhand volley, and the Navratilova overhead.
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Yep¡ I missed women´s lob and overhead.Another big one was Shriver or Stove for the OH.But, definitely, as for the lob, Chris Evert´s remains the best ( it also helps that she could perfection it since there were far more volleyers in her time than nowadays, even in the women´s game)
 
pc1 said:
Sometime touch shots are the nicest to see. I loved watching Orantes kill people with drop shots. Whenever I try a drop shot I think of Orantes. I just wish I had the success rate of Orantes.
Click to expand...

Disguissing was Orantes key to success, as well as touch.Mayer´s 2 handed motion helped him , too.Orantes learned the " minor arts" ( lob, spins, drop, strategy) from all time great Manuel Santana, who also inspired much of Nastase´s game...
 
You lost me when you mentioned the Hingis forehand as being one of the best - not true IMO. Capriati, Davenport, Henin to name a few had better forehands than Hingis did. Yes it was steady for the most part, but ultimately unspectacular and could get overwhelmed rather easily. She had a far better backhand than forehand.
 
Some don't like it but I thought Borg's two handed backhand with one handed release was very nice to see.
 
jean pierre said:
Leconte too. But Vilas is the king of this shot !
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Vilas had a very good backxourt game aided by a great physichal condition, after so much training with Tiriac.You could feel he was never afraid to engage in a very long match, he was sure his top form would pay off.If he had only had a good serve¡¡¡
 
I'd put Kuerten on the list with footwork. Guy didn't have the greatest strokes but was in position for every single shot.
 
kiki said:
Vilas had a very good backxourt game aided by a great physichal condition, after so much training with Tiriac.You could feel he was never afraid to engage in a very long match, he was sure his top form would pay off.If he had only had a good serve¡¡¡
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I heard stories about Vilas practicing for I think 3 or 5 hours before playing his match in 1977 against Connors. That boggles the mind if it is true.

When you look at Vilas you see a guy with muscles on his muscles. You get the feeling he could bend an iron bar with ease. It goes to show that strength doesn't mean you can have a great serve.
 
Pat Cash's volleys. I would like to know why he isn't considered at a par with Edberg and Mcenroe as a volleyer. The magic of Mcenroe perhaps puts him one step ahead of the rest of the pack, but, were Edberg's volleys better than Cash's...? If so, why?
 
Some other memorable shots that I've enjoyed

Stan Smith's backhand overhead, the best I've seen.
Ilie Nastase's running forehand
Federer's forehand
Tony Roche's backhand volley
John Newcombe's forehand and forehand volley
Harold Solomon's moonball's-Don't ask me why but I liked them.
Ken Rosewall's footwork-It may not be a shot but it is related to tennis.
Arthur Ashe's slice serve
John McEnroe's slice serve
Roscoe Tanner's flat first serve
Goran's first serve
Jimmy Connors' backhand
Rosewall's backhand
Laver's backhand
Djokovic's backhand
Nadal's forehand
 
Some shot's not yet mentioned:
Laver's swinging volleys
Nastase's topspin backhand lob
Edberg's low driving forehand volley
McEnroe's drop and angle volleys
Borg's backhand passing shot
Federer's and Nadal's inside out forehands

PS: pc1, yes, Stan Smith's backhand overhead. That's why Nastase gave him the nickname "Godzilla." He couldn't get his famous topspin backhand lob over Smith's backhand overhead.
 
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Hard to disagree with anything on the list. I second Krosero's opinion - if you're talking aesthetics, you have to include Noah in the serve category.
 
pc1 said:
I heard stories about Vilas practicing for I think 3 or 5 hours before playing his match in 1977 against Connors. That boggles the mind if it is true.

When you look at Vilas you see a guy with muscles on his muscles. You get the feeling he could bend an iron bar with ease. It goes to show that strength doesn't mean you can have a great serve.
Click to expand...

Vilas was a classic cc backcourter.He never figured out ( neither did Tiri) what a good first serve helped him, specially on all those titles he neve won...
he was unidimsensional, and Tiriac never made him progress...possibly, both were satisfied enough to win the 2 greatest cc events in 1977...French and USO
 
pc1 said:
Some other memorable shots that I've enjoyed

Stan Smith's backhand overhead, the best I've seen.
Ilie Nastase's running forehand
Federer's forehand
Tony Roche's backhand volley
John Newcombe's forehand and forehand volley
Harold Solomon's moonball's-Don't ask me why but I liked them.
Ken Rosewall's footwork-It may not be a shot but it is related to tennis.
Arthur Ashe's slice serve
John McEnroe's slice serve
Roscoe Tanner's flat first serve
Goran's first serve
Jimmy Connors' backhand
Rosewall's backhand
Laver's backhand
Djokovic's backhand
Nadal's forehand
Click to expand...

T.R. forehand volley was just as good as his BH volley.Promised, I´ve seen him enough and both strokes equalled.
 
kiki said:
Vilas was a classic cc backcourter.He never figured out ( neither did Tiri) what a good first serve helped him, specially on all those titles he neve won...
he was unidimsensional, and Tiriac never made him progress...possibly, both were satisfied enough to win the 2 greatest cc events in 1977...French and USO
Click to expand...

He was not unidimensional, he won 3 great tournaments on grass : 2 Australien Open + 1 Masters (beating Borg, Newcombe, Nastase).
 
BTURNER said:
The Sabatini backhand
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That's was a great shot.

Memorable shots in the Women's game
Goolagong's backhand
Evert's backhand
Henin's backhand
Navratilova's volley
Graf's forehand
Serena's serve
Wade's serve
Seles' return
 
some for the women.

Everts Lob: amazing shot, didn't Martina devote an entire chapter to it in her book and say it was the reason she finally decided to get into better shape? that thing was fierce

Serena's serves: both her first and 2nd serves are deadly, 2nd serve may be the best ever in the womens game

Davenports Forehand: This shot is kind of underrated. When she was clicking the thing was like a cannon, she could push everyone around with this thing. It looked and just sounded beautiful coming off her racket.
 
boredone3456 said:
some for the women.

Everts Lob: amazing shot, didn't Martina devote an entire chapter to it in her book and say it was the reason she finally decided to get into better shape? that thing was fierce

Serena's serves: both her first and 2nd serves are deadly, 2nd serve may be the best ever in the womens game

Davenports Forehand: This shot is kind of underrated. When she was clicking the thing was like a cannon, she could push everyone around with this thing. It looked and just sounded beautiful coming off her racket.
Click to expand...

And she did, leading the best overhead the sport ever saw. Chris still got plenty over her at crucial times. I don't know how many Navratilova straight setters, turned into three set nail biters directly or indirectly due to that lob going in at 3-4 or 4-5 in the late stages of a set. Real pain in the ass that lob.
 
pc1 said:
That's was a great shot.

Memorable shots in the Women's game
Goolagong's backhand
Evert's backhand
Henin's backhand
Navratilova's volley
Graf's forehand
Serena's serve
Wade's serve
Seles' return
Click to expand...

to this I would add:

Davenports Forehand
Dementieva's Return
Sukova's Volley
Martina's overhead smash
Martinez's Topspin forehand


and Shrivers Forehand- but not for a really big reason except it was just weird looking.
 
In women's tennis:


Graf's forehand

Serena's serve

Henin's and Hingis' backhand

Court,'s King's and Martina's volley

Graf's slice
 
dannykl said:
In women's tennis:


Graf's forehand

Serena's serve

Henin's and Hingis' backhand

Court,'s King's and Martina's volley

Graf's slice
Click to expand...

Steffi's forehand has to be in the top ten most influentail shots of all time either gender! No single stroke of any woman, so dominated the tactics and outcome on both sides of the net ( hers and her opponents) in so many majors for so long. If it was going in, you had little hope of winning, whatever the surface you were playing on, or whatever you tried or whatever your ranking. She built her game on it and opponents altered theirs in reply.

To this day, all groundstrokes are compared to the Graf forehand as the ultimate weapon. It sets the standard. Absolutely singular in scope and influence on the entire field for 15 ?years.
 
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Stockton and Vilas were mentioned earlier. Mid 70s I thought Dick Stockton had the best overhead in men's tennis, and I thought Vilas the best backhand overhead although Nastase's was excellent as well. Connors had a very underrated lob. He was an excellent lobber, although I'm not sure he was ever among the top couple lobbers in the game.
 
So many good ones have already been mentioned, these are the ones that are most memorable for me, on the men's side:

Becker Serve
Sampras serve/forehand
Laver forehand/backhand
Vilas forehand/backhand
Borg forehand/backhand
Connors backhand
McEnroe serve
Ashe backhand
Tanner serve
Agassi backhand
Edberg backhand
Wilander backhand
Lendl forehand
Djokovic backhand
Murray backhand

I'm sure I've leaving off many for now....

On the women's side, the Graf BH, Evert's BH, Navratilova's serve and volley (both sides), the Seles BH, Henin BH..
 
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BTURNER said:
Steffi's forehand has to be in the top ten most influentail shots of all time either gender! No single stroke of any woman, so dominated the tactics and outcome on both sides of the net ( hers and her opponents) in so many majors for so long. If it was going in, you had little hope of winning, whatever the surface you were playing on, or whatever you tried or whatever your ranking. She built her game on it and opponents altered theirs in reply.

To this day, all groundstrokes are compared to the Graf forehand as the ultimate weapon. It sets the standard. Absolutely singular in scope and influence on the entire field for 15 ?years.
Click to expand...

Grafs forehand is one of the best shots ever in the history of the womens game. It was feared by every single woman in the game and not one of them wanted to clash forehands with her (as if many of them could anyway). I didn't mention it because it was just so obvious, but it may be the best shot EVER in the womens game, and a top 10 shot in all of tennis all time.

Only a few other women had a shot as deadly/feared by opponents as the Graf forehand:

Serena's serve, both first and 2nd
Evert's Lob

I can't really think of any others that in their time were as deadly as the Graf's forehand was during hers. It was just stellar.
 
pc1 said:
That's was a great shot.

Memorable shots in the Women's game
Goolagong's backhand
Evert's backhand
Henin's backhand
Navratilova's volley
Graf's forehand
Serena's serve
Wade's serve
Seles' return
Click to expand...

I always loved the serve motion of Ginny Wade, one of the best women´s ever server.It reminds me, somehow , of John Newcombe, who is arguably at top 3 or top 5 GOAT server within men´s ranks.
 
boredone3456 said:
some for the women.

Everts Lob: amazing shot, didn't Martina devote an entire chapter to it in her book and say it was the reason she finally decided to get into better shape? that thing was fierce

Serena's serves: both her first and 2nd serves are deadly, 2nd serve may be the best ever in the womens game

Davenports Forehand: This shot is kind of underrated. When she was clicking the thing was like a cannon, she could push everyone around with this thing. It looked and just sounded beautiful coming off her racket.
Click to expand...

Well said.Evert lob was very deep, and very acurate.It was a major stroke and killed off many hopes of the oncoming volleyers, like martina,Wade,Mandlikova,Cawley,King or Casals.
 
WCT said:
Stockton and Vilas were mentioned earlier. Mid 70s I thought Dick Stockton had the best overhead in men's tennis, and I thought Vilas the best backhand overhead although Nastase's was excellent as well. Connors had a very underrated lob. He was an excellent lobber, although I'm not sure he was ever among the top couple lobbers in the game.
Click to expand...

Good post.I don´t recall Stockton, but he ahd a pretty good record, one of the classical 1970´s players.I saw many times that Vilas BH OH and it was amazing, full of power, placement, he had a big jump because of extremely strong legs...as for Connros, I posted several times here that his lob was not just underrated, but possibly the best of his time along Orantes,Nastase and the aussies ( almost all of them gave great importance to that shot).In the 1980´s, lendl´s lob was very effective, probably the best of that decade.
 
boredone3456 said:
Grafs forehand is one of the best shots ever in the history of the womens game. It was feared by every single woman in the game and not one of them wanted to clash forehands with her (as if many of them could anyway). I didn't mention it because it was just so obvious, but it may be the best shot EVER in the womens game, and a top 10 shot in all of tennis all time.

Only a few other women had a shot as deadly/feared by opponents as the Graf forehand:

Serena's serve, both first and 2nd
Evert's Lob

I can't really think of any others that in their time were as deadly as the Graf's forehand was during hers. It was just stellar.
Click to expand...

Agreed.The msot effective or determinant one single shot , at least in the last 30 years.Men or Women.
 
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