ScentOfDefeat
G.O.A.T.
Describe a few player habits/mannerisms/nervous twitches that you find either amusing, endearing or irritating.
Nadal is a very obvious choice, he seems to have more mannerisms than every player in history combined. Similarly, Bartoli's mannerisms have already become legendary. But let's think outside the box, by looking at past and present, without limiting ourselves to Federer/Nadal/Djokovic.
I'll start with a few players from the 90's, the decade I'm most comfortable with:
1) Kuerten had a strange head twitch/bob: it wasn't very obvious and it usually happened as he was walking back to the baseline between points or when he was ready to serve. I thought it was quite amusing and somewhat endearing.
2) Sampras' tongue is a classic. At first I thought it was disgusting, but after becoming a fan I began to think of it as a distinctive trait and part of his calm and collected demeanor on court, which was one of the reasons he was such a good player under pressure. His shirt pulling was also a classic. I find these quite endearing.
3) Becker's routine ball bouncing with the racquet just before serving was quite amusing.
4) I found Courier's constant adjustment of the cap quite irritating.
5) Bruguera's expression when serving was impregnated with pain and suffering. Notice how he looks like a suffering martyr or one of those extreme penitents from 16th century Spain. Other Spanish players engaged in the same expression: Mantilla among them.
6) Agassi's movement on a tennis court could generally be considered a mannerism. The way he walked back and forth and then settled near the baseline to receive serve; his quick preparation before serve, everything. Probably very endearing for his many fans and unbearable for most of his detractors.
7) Karsten Braasch's serve was an excrutiatingly monstruous nervous twitch that took over an entire part of his repertoire.
8 ) Mary Pierce's sigh-and-blow routine before serving was also a classic. She acted like a fragile princess trapped in a powerful body. It was both amusing and irritating. Arnaud Boetsch had a similar habit, maybe it was a French thing.
Keep them coming!
Nadal is a very obvious choice, he seems to have more mannerisms than every player in history combined. Similarly, Bartoli's mannerisms have already become legendary. But let's think outside the box, by looking at past and present, without limiting ourselves to Federer/Nadal/Djokovic.
I'll start with a few players from the 90's, the decade I'm most comfortable with:
1) Kuerten had a strange head twitch/bob: it wasn't very obvious and it usually happened as he was walking back to the baseline between points or when he was ready to serve. I thought it was quite amusing and somewhat endearing.
2) Sampras' tongue is a classic. At first I thought it was disgusting, but after becoming a fan I began to think of it as a distinctive trait and part of his calm and collected demeanor on court, which was one of the reasons he was such a good player under pressure. His shirt pulling was also a classic. I find these quite endearing.
3) Becker's routine ball bouncing with the racquet just before serving was quite amusing.
4) I found Courier's constant adjustment of the cap quite irritating.
5) Bruguera's expression when serving was impregnated with pain and suffering. Notice how he looks like a suffering martyr or one of those extreme penitents from 16th century Spain. Other Spanish players engaged in the same expression: Mantilla among them.
6) Agassi's movement on a tennis court could generally be considered a mannerism. The way he walked back and forth and then settled near the baseline to receive serve; his quick preparation before serve, everything. Probably very endearing for his many fans and unbearable for most of his detractors.
7) Karsten Braasch's serve was an excrutiatingly monstruous nervous twitch that took over an entire part of his repertoire.
8 ) Mary Pierce's sigh-and-blow routine before serving was also a classic. She acted like a fragile princess trapped in a powerful body. It was both amusing and irritating. Arnaud Boetsch had a similar habit, maybe it was a French thing.
Keep them coming!
