Potential Player to defeat Federer is ------

G

GGForehander

New User
Has anyone ever noticed Sebastien Grosjean da No.1 Frenchman on the tour? for some reason he's not alot mentioned in the public although he's quite a high seeded player. the only time he's noticed is when he's played to stages such as quarter finals and semi-finals.


I am not a gigantic fan of his but starting to notice him after watching him live in australian open and in 2001 the sydney masters. Although he's not too young anymore (26) but still i reckon he has full potential to become an extremely high ranked player and only player to have a chance against federer.

Although he's already lost in this year's 2005 australian Open to Liznard, another frenchman. But still i have faith in him. I really hate it when all these malakas keep mentioning that "CARLOS MOYA HAS THE BEST FOREHAND ON TOUR. FERERRO DA MOSQUITO WITH A P-NIS CAUSES AMAZING STING WITH HIS FOREHAND, RAFAEL NADAL HAS AN AMAZINGLY STRONG FOREHAND. JAMES BLAKE, KILLING FOREHAND, JOHANSSON (JOACHIM), HUGE FOREHAND". Becoz the truth is, these are all wrong and i reckon they're all only average (actually i once thought moya had the best forehand on tour as well lol). The only players with truely good forehand is rare, and i would only recomment two - Sebastien Grosjean as best and Roger Federer as second.

Has any of yous ever seen Grosjean play at his best? (which is rare for some reason). The forehand he's able to whack is by far the best out of all players on tour. Velocity no doubt the quickest i've seen (the match against felix mantilla in 2003, 170km/h forehand by grosjean). What really impresses me is not only the speed of the ball, but also the angle that he generates. What really makes him unique is his wrist, his wrist rolling is bloody abnormal and i have to say is the strongest wrist i've ever witnessed. He's short and looks small (only 175cm), but i can assure you he does have the best forehand on tour although he's not greatly mentioned). it's bloody rasping, his forehand along with his strength and flexible wrist makes his forehand invincible when he plays in full form, any angle with his forehand he'll return in extreme velocity and power. If you ever seen him played Andre Agassi, you will see agassi virtually 99% hit to grosjean's backhand (becoz grosjean has the craziest, most unstable, crappiest backhand which needs craploads of improvements on tour and which 80% of the reason why he loses his matches.) I have many tapes of him playing in many tourneys, while his unstableness amazes me like hell, his forehand amazes me way more whenever he makes the shots he wants. Matches of him playing moya proves he has a better forehand than moya, becoz moya keeps thinking he will be able to defeat grosjean by whacking powerful forehands, it costed him the match becoz grosjean was returning his forehand in a even more powerful and quicker paste with extreme accuracy (actually there was this interview with moya in the australian open 2001 and he admitted grosjean had one of the best forehand he's seen and one of the best shotmaker). He's quick, and is the strongest and trickiest player on tour, there's no reason why he cant win a grand slam, or defeat any player. he has just gotta overcome his unstableness and keep his mind focused. There's reasons why he is able to maintain in the same ranking spot for 5 years (around 10 - 12). Becoz he's too unstable but at times he's able to defeat alot of players and even top players. As mentioned i have many tapes of him (not only him actually), and from so many matches he always tends to win first set, and that is becoz players are not use to his style and forehand. So after they keep hitting to his backhand which has so much flaws. I reckon if he truly can improve his backhand, atleast up to normal standard, he would be able to defeat anyone. and from so many players i've seen, he's the only one with style and talent that can defeat Roger Federer. (the time when he played Federer was totally ****, not in form at all, unforced errors everywhere, totally disappointed).

With his Unique and best forehand, if he improves his mind and backhand, i reckon he'll have ability in which no one has, and match the current superior world number one - Roger Federer

Thx ^_^
 
B

BLiND

Hall of Fame
I watched him play Federer in Wimbledon... in EVERY area Federer had the upper-hand. The ONLY thinh Grosjean had to combat Federer was his speed around the court, other than that, is forehand, backhand, volleys, serve, everything was no match.
 
G

GrahamIsSuper

Semi-Pro
Dont forget Henman...If Henman could work on his serve and get the equivalent of even Roddick's SECOND serve....whew, watch out. We could just have a killer S&V on tour. He has the net game to do it, all he needs is a weapon to get there.

Regardless of how good his forhand was, and how "Average" his bh was, Why would Federer NOT hit to Grosjean's backhand? Even a club player has the smarts to do that. I'd like to see the match, where federer NEVER hits a ball to somone's forhand. How aggravating would that be?
 
G

GGForehander

New User
yeah, very true that federer has upper hand in serve, volley, backhand everything. But really you gotta admit grosjean was playing pretty bad and not in good form that day... his errors were just too many. About grosjean having a best forehand i wont change that fact though. Federer had too many weapons against grosjean, therefore the only weapons in which grosjean had, speed and forehand, weren't enough to match federer. Understanding the geometry of the tennis court federer does, didn't really allow grosjean to use his forehand to the max. Again, therefore becoz federer has too many upper hand against grosjean, except forehand and speed (but federer is bloody fast as well actually), he was able to use all his other upper hands to dominate grosjean's game and defeat grosjean's speed and forehand. Therefore i reckon if grosjean improves on his backhand (he does have the worst i've seen on tour) and his mind focus (becoz his inconsistency and errors is also unbelieve) i think he may be a match to federer. Of course i dun mean he'll definitely beat him, but im just saying he may be a match if he can improve on those points, or may JUST match federer if he plays his best form (becoz he really is crazy if he's in best form). Too tired of people blinded and not noticing his small frenchman really. and bored of people only mentioning potential players to beat federer are eg: agassi, roddick and hewitt and moya and stuff. They're all obviously chanceless against federer, especially roddick, who can only serve and whack the ball out. Sometimes a naturally gifted talent cant be improved too much. Therefore all roddick can do is improve on his power, which has no impact whatsoever on federer, so face it (im american!!!).

Potential players to beat federer and stop his streak? I'll say:

Marat Safin, Sebastien Grosjean, David Nalbandian (maybe...) and Hewitt (Maybe after he loses so much to federer that he becomes even more determined and come up with some magic change)
 
Astennix

Astennix

Rookie
GAUDIO is my pick to beat Federer...he always has been extremely close to defeat him and also stole a set from Fed in the previous tournament (the only one in 2005 so far). He might be able to do it if he is motivated.
 
S

splink779

Guest
Gaudio got beaten pretty bad by Fed in 2004 TMC. Gaudio said himself he should have lost to Coria at Roland Garros. Anyway these are my picks to challenge Fed -
1) AGASSI! So much experience here and he seems to be hitting harder at least in the match I saw him play.
2) Safin - the match at TMC was very very close
3) Roddick - if he keeps playing clean tennis and being succesful at net he has a big chance
4) Hewitt - Don't like him but he seems stronger and he's got Fed in his sights
5) Henman - if he plays his best
 
davey25

davey25

Banned
Nobody is very likely to at all, in other worlds all are a "real long shot" to do so. The most likely situation is Federer winning the title again. However if I had to rate them in order this would be mine, at the moment:

1)Hewitt-I was very impressed with him last night. Blake was playing unbelievable tennis and Hewitt responded beautifully. It may be that Federer has a gap on the rest, for the moment, another of the "next best" needs the home crowd advantage to beat Federer. With that in mind the U.S open biggest threat might be Roddick, Wimbledon might become Henman if he learns to use the crowd to his advantage rather than feeling all its pressure, and here it might be Hewitt for much the same reasoning.

2)Roddick-The fact he is my(and some others) second choice pretty much illustrates how unlikely somebody beating him here may be. Still I think he has more chance than Safin or Agassi since he is more reliable to play to his potential than Safin, and has a huge serve that could keep him in the match, unlike Agassi despite Agassi being superior to Roddick in so many other facets off the game.

3)Agassi-He has given Federer all he can handle their last two matches. It will be interesting to see how his hip injury from the warmup holds up when he starts playing real competition, who can hit the ball hard enough to potentially put pressure on it. If that holds up his odds my increase. Still he doesnt have Hewitt's home crowd assistance, and Roddick's wild card weapon of a serve.

4)Safin-too unreliable, and even at his best Federer has risen to Safin's potentialy tremendous level and beaten him.

Lets face it though. Right now, among the current players, at their current abilities, it is Federer's to win or lose in any non-clay court tournament. He plays his best against his chief rivals, with their current abilities, he wins, period. However there are people who have "a chance" against him on a day he is off his game, and he is human.
 
davey25

davey25

Banned
As for Grosjean, as most would know, he is out now. I wish he had beaten Clement in the 2001 semis, which he had on his plate, but couldnt quite digest. He definitely was worthy of making a slam final, he has been a top ten-bordeline type contender for a long time. I am not sure if he will ever get another chance like that again. He will get close, semis maybe again, he has been in four in his career after all, but will likely fall to a superior talent, with respectability but decisiveness, in future attempts.
 
el_mago

el_mago

Semi-Pro
Nalbandian, Safin, Agassi, Henman have all given him a bit of trouble sometimes, and on clay I think Coria could beat him even if Federer beat him last time on the stuff, just hoping that Coria can prevent injuring his shoulder so he can keep improving his prowess on all surfaces.
 
G

GGForehander

New User
very true guys, grosjean is getting old and maybe hasn't got the heart to improve too much lol. As said he was always remaining in the same ATP ranking every year :p (around 10 - 14). But saying he's an average player, ****ass player, awesome player, they're all acceptable facts. becoz he is bloody unstable. But really, if he can suddenly improve (LIKE AGASSI SUDDENLY JUMPING FROM 128 TO 1!!!), or just improve his backhand and mind, lol then hopefully he might become a high ranked player. But still i wont change the fact he would be a dark horse to defeat federer :)
 
S

spinbalz

Hall of Fame
Aykhan Mammadov : Grosjean highest ranking was better than 10, he was 5 or 6, after his victory at the Paris master event and his final at the master cup the same year, he then stayed inside the top ten for a respectable amount of weeks, so, 1 master event final victory, 1 final at the master cup, 4 or 5 1/2 finals in slam events, a best ATP ranking at 5 or 6, and numerous weeks inside the top 10, while beeing almost constantly injured, and a killing weapon with his forehand which is one of the very best forehands currently, and you call him an average player?
 
D

devila

Banned
Having a few wins in the past doesn't make a player a great contender.

Agassi struggled against Dent.
He can't volley well.

Henman is just too weak.

Hewitt had to play his best to avoid a straight set loss to Blake, a player with not much more than a forehand.
C'mon, the courts are cow dung!!!!!!

Dent beat Hewitt, but Hewitt said that he was in control for 1 1/2 sets. Embarrassing.

Safin is just a ball basher who needs to serve well just to win a set.

Nalbandian - Can he win easily again?? I doubt it.
He smashed his racket when he almost lost a 5 setter.
 
P

pound cat

G.O.A.T.
Only qualifier Marcos Baghdatis has no fear of Federer. He's already taken a set off him, he's ripped through ljubicic and Robredo, and will face Federer next. a former world junior cahampion, he has a huge serve, wheels, great baseline game & forehand, and NO FEAR. Go MARCOS
 
Feña14

Feña14

G.O.A.T.
Ferrero could, He wasn't subjected to the Federer genius last year and beat him on hard courts at Madrid 03.

Ferrero on form does have some very big weapons and amazing speed.

It will be interesting to see if, and who can step up and challenge.
 
P

pound cat

G.O.A.T.
"Safin is just a ball basher who needs to serve well just to win a set"

If this is what it takes to end up in the top 5 3 of the last 5 years, I guess Safin does what he has to do. You're very observant of his game drexeler.
 
Tomo

Tomo

New User
I think the order goes something like this:
1. Agassi - He has the potential to beat anyone, no matter what
2. Roddick - If he got his act together a little
3. Henman - Serve and volley seems to mess with Fed (ex. Suzuki at AO)
4. Coria - Second only to Fed in serving up bagels in '04, even though he was plauged with injuries
 
D

drexeler

Rookie
pound cat said:
"Safin is just a ball basher who needs to serve well just to win a set"

If this is what it takes to end up in the top 5 3 of the last 5 years, I guess Safin does what he has to do. You're very observant of his game drexeler.
Click to expand...

I didn't say that. It was devila. Read her last post where she trashed all the top players probably because she is frustrated that they can't beat Fed.
 
G

GGForehander

New User
LOL finally someone says some good points about Sebastien Grosjean's forehand which is somewhat very unnoticible to numerous people!!! SPINBALZ you're the only person here who understands me lol and realise Grosjean is not an average player and is a unique, special superb typa player. He's just a little inconsistent.

And Safin is so not a ball basher. the only ball basher in top 10 ranking is Andy Roddick, the cheap point king. If you even watched the wimbledon finals against Federer, that match i was just sitting there laughing imagining how bad he would lose after the first set becoz he'll be exhausted. He just whack the ball anywhere with great velocity and power and try to use up all his energy. Which eventually leads to failure. I remember there were few extremely important points, like break points as well for roddick. He had the chance to close it down but he was being a ****** and just whacked the ball on the net with FULL STRENGTH. For if he hit the ball with normal paste it still would have been a winner and earn the break. Roddick can get to the ball and hit so hard it's all becoz it's on a slow surface and low bouncing surface. He's got nothing but strength and a talent in earning cheap points. He's a snail when it comes to speed as well, which makes him totally formidable when it comes to hard surface. It could be seen from the way he hits the balls. He cannot generate alot of power and speed on the ball when it's hard surface, he's not a talented baseline player AT ALL. I'll tell yous why he can win the games so easily. It's becoz he mentally breaks down people with his cheap points (serve). Other players who are mentally weak, during their service game, are in hell of a load of pressure becoz they would keep on thinking "I HAVE TO HOLD THIS GAME, OTHERWISE IT'S TOOOOO HARD TO BREAK HIM". Therefore continuously making unforced errors and which leads to critical error of being broken and which would lead to the mind of "giving up a set". There are also times when a mentally weak player are on the edge of breaking roddick, but then roddick serves couple of aces or just serve some fast ass serve too hard to return and caught back up and eventually claims the game back. In these situations the other player would be totally annoyed becoz they would keep thinking "THAT WAS ONE IN A LIFE TIME OF EARNING A BREAK POINT OFF THIS FRIGGIN 15 INCH ROD" and when it comes back to their service game they crap themselves and lose their service game. That's Andy Roddick, Cheap point artist. It can be proven becoz it's VIRTUALLY IMPOSSIBLE for him to defeat the likes of Lleiyton Hewitt and Roger Federer (especially on hard court). If Roddick is to play hewitt on hard surface i would put over 1000000 bucks on hewitt. Becoz Hewitt has the mentallity that can hold himself on ground and kick roddick's ass. A-Rod's Cheap Point Art can only earn himself in the place of number 3 max. There's no way he can surpass Federer or Hewitt or maybe even Agassi and im pretty sure in the future Safin will become "FARKING AWESOME" and reach number 2. Roddick, All he does is he give other player mental pressure, nothing else. It's always said RODDICK IS A GREAT BASELINE PLAYER. But watch and observe the game more carefully please people, it's obvious we can only give credit to roddick and not the other player becoz he wins his service game always in like 30 seconds while he can receive the other player's (who is mentally weakened) serve and play some normal tennis (have some rallies). And Becoz of that, even a normal passing shot, or normal winner, or even an unforced error from the other opponent turns out to be A FABULOUS SHOT from roddick. That's why Roddick seems like such a CRAP ASS player to us against federer or hewitt, becoz they can all return his serves and start rallies with Roddick while Roddick is serving. And becoz they can start rallies with roddick in roddick's service game, they can break roddick and kick his ass becoz he's such a average baseline player (hewitt and federer are awesome baseline players although federer is crapload better than hewitt).

SO AGAIN - RODDICK IS AN AVERAGE BASELINE PLAYER AND AN AWESOME CHEAP POINT ARTIST.

And i have nothing against him by the way, it's just that people keeps pointing out that he has the potential to defeat federer, therefore im stating out this truth.

Safin is not a ball basher, he knows his game and whoever said he was a ball basher it is obvious he just dislikes Safin. It can be seen he's not a ball basher from his backhand, which is friggin awesome and the way he hits the ball always so close to the baseline. His service, and his baseline play, makes him atleast top 5 in the world. and if federer was not there i reckon he would be able to clench to number 1 atleast for a couple of days. And Safin is also awesome when the time he gets frustrated, it's bloody entertaining. It's not as good as the old Ladbadze, but still bloody awesome.

Fererro, i dunno, he's good player. one of the best baseline player when he's in good form, good forehand, and **** awesome backhand. But he needs to improve his game alot more to defeat federer. HE NEVER SLICES OR VOLLEY. His Volley skills are terrible lol and he needs to improve mentally as well. But yes i would say he is also another potential player to defeat Federer.

But Grosjean is always another to have a chance! :D
 
V

Vlad

Professional
GGForehander I agree with pretty much 95% of what you said.
You know, It always amazes me how much weaker Roddick's opponents look on the big points. Everytime I watch Roddick play relatively average player, I can describe the situation on the court without even watching it and that's why I just hate to watch him play. It is so predictable, it is not even funny.
Example: He is playing Melzer right now and I tried not to look for the score just to pretent it is "LIVE". While watching I am thinking Melzer, please don't play a crappy game in the beginning, because Roddick is not gonna beat you from the baseline, there is no way, only you can lose it. The next thing I see, while it is 1-1, he plays horrible service game and is down the break. Next game he got to 30-40 on Rodik's serve and second serve coming up. I am thinking, just be consistent, put the ball deep and don't **** it. He did blew it. Then he wasted another 2 chances and it is pretty much game, set and match rodik.

The next time he plays Chela's, Robredo's,Melzer's and other average players, I am pretty sure the scenario will be very very similar.
 
G

GGForehander

New User
lol exactly, it's a mental thing. If yous saw Joachim vs Roddick in the US Open you woulda been able to see how average of a baseline player he is. Joachim's serve was hard to break, and he was mentally there, he believed he could break and defeat roddick. Therefore roddick was unable to win, and roddick he was in good form that day and he appeared crap becoz joachim was tall and was able to return his serves to start rallies. To defeat big servers you just have to be mentally strong, dun let the mind "I HAVE TO WIN AND HOLD MY SERVICE GAME, OTHERWISE I WILL LOSE FOR SURE BECOZ HIS SERVE IS IMPOSSIBLE TO BREAK" stop you.
 
U

ucd_ace

Semi-Pro
Grosjean seems to have played his best tennis unfortunately. I liked his game. He was a crafty guy and a real fighter.

I think the two players that have the best shot at beating Federer are Safin and Haas. These guys have the most natural talent to Federer.

When you get him on a clay court, I think there are still a number of players that could knock him off on a given day.
 
D

devila

Banned
GGForehander said:
lol exactly, it's a mental thing. If yous saw Joachim vs Roddick in the US Open you woulda been able to see how average of a baseline player he is. Joachim's serve was hard to break, and he was mentally there, he believed he could break and defeat roddick. Therefore roddick was unable to win, and roddick he was in good form that day and he appeared crap becoz joachim was tall and was able to return his serves to start rallies. To defeat big servers you just have to be mentally strong, dun let the mind "I HAVE TO WIN AND HOLD MY SERVICE GAME, OTHERWISE I WILL LOSE FOR SURE BECOZ HIS SERVE IS IMPOSSIBLE TO BREAK" stop you.
Click to expand...

Do you really believe that Rodd was mentally strong???
He was busy eating junk food, cancelling tournaments and playing baseball in the rain.
The last time he trained right was when he was 15 yrs. old.
That's what he said.

He didn't hit his shots that hard until Gilbert manipulated him.
I wonder why the clown coach is whining when he's on ESPN.

We know that anyone with a brain can beat Rodd and we know that Federer will never lose.
The world will be a better place if only Hewitt could win on grass and avoid bagels.
Agassi may be experienced, but will he lose in quarterfinals again?
Hewitt, Agassi and Safin are baseline geniuses, of course.

Just because Henman, Ferrero and Nalbandian had success doesn't mean they'll be successful this year.
 
G

GGForehander

New User
Did i mention anything about Rod being mentally strong? But anyway when it comes to tennis who cares about "doing things right". that junk food eating and playing baseball stuff, who really cares. mentally strong in tennis is just about a person on the court, or in another words - Focus of mind. If you have the skill, you have the skill. Focus your mind, and you'll raise your skills up to the max. Actually Roddick does have that focus otherwise he would not have been able to complete that match with el younes which lasted for ages. And he doesn't hit the ball hard AT ALL on HARD SURFACE, stop saying he does, loads and loads of players out there that are obviously not as physically strong as him can whack the ball harder than him. well atleast he tries to hit the ball hard and does come up with one once in a while, so it's alright. It's about how effective your style of swing is, and how much of your muscle would be able to be used in your body out of your style of swing, which leads to how much power can be generated out of your swing. Therefore sometimes more muscles doesn't necessary mean you can hit harder than someone who hasn't got as much muscles. Best example is Federer, Federer can hit harder forehands than roddick becoz of his beautiful swing, the style of gripping counts as well. Another good example is Grosjean, who i recommended as a potential player to stop federer's streak. If you seen him swing his forehand in full blast, it's obviously naturally gifted and it's friggin rasping (his crazy wrist rolling is naturally gifted!!!). A style of swing, once you start it, and use it for many years, you cannot really change the style of swing you have. Like hewitt, it's so bloody obvious he trained himself in the gym like a mad dork. But from his hitting of the balls, there hasn't seem to be much change in the speed and power of the ball he whacked. Well of course it did improve! afterall more muscles, stronger physique does improve your swing. But improving YOUR STYLE OF SWING would be even more effective than improving your physique ( a friend of mine before could only hit 130 k max forehands improved to 140k max when he changed to a more effective style of swing.)

and yes i agree with you devila, people having success last year doesn't mean ****. Which makes players having a good record against federer all ********. Becoz Federer truly did all of a sudden turn into a invincible malaka when the tennis masters in houseton started. Best example is hewitt!!! who had like a 8-1 record against federer at the end of 2003 and now!? what is it!? i think 8-8 or 8-7. they played each other like 6 times in 2004, and hewitt has lost them all. So players against federer who had a good record, which means ahead of federer in head to head, don't mean anything. So people should just look towards POTENTIAL of a player and not past successes against a player. so still i recommend these talents:

Safin, Grosjean, Agassi, Hewitt (rare ass chance).

But of course, as we know federer really did suddenly turn extremely good. although he was already a top 10 quality before, but he was no where as good as now. It could be proven when he lost to hewitt in davis cup, he was nowhere as good then. Therefore what im trying to say is other players may suddenly have a psychological and style change and have a sudden change in the level of tennis in which they play. And just may give us a surprise and match up with Roger Federer :D
 
P

pound cat

G.O.A.T.
"I didn't say that. It was devila. Read her last post where she trashed all the top players probably because she is frustrated that they can't beat Fed."

I apologize drexeler. I'm glad you didn't say that, & for pointing out that it was devila who made such a ridiculous comment.
 
S

Superior_Forehand

Rookie
devila said:
Having a few wins in the past doesn't make a player a great contender.

Agassi struggled against Dent.
He can't volley well.

Henman is just too weak.

Hewitt had to play his best to avoid a straight set loss to Blake, a player with not much more than a forehand.
C'mon, the courts are cow dung!!!!!!

Dent beat Hewitt, but Hewitt said that he was in control for 1 1/2 sets. Embarrassing.

Safin is just a ball basher who needs to serve well just to win a set.

Nalbandian - Can he win easily again?? I doubt it.
He smashed his racket when he almost lost a 5 setter.
Click to expand...

Wow, you really know what you're talking about, lol.
 
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