Oh, it comes easier for some than others. Look on page 9, for instance.
Roddick and Hewitt are two of my favorite players. I would say they are pretty close all around.
Hewitt has more majors, but Roddick was consistently good for a decade.
With a bit more luck, Roddick could have won a few more slams.
I tire of people saying Hewitt had no power and Roddick was a bad mover (and that both weren't extremely talented.)
Hewitt could hit the ball very hard and flat when he wanted to, but it doesn't fit his style. Roddick was athletic and had very fast raw speed, but his footwork was not federer-esque. Roddick would often give up on some of his defensive shots out of frustration and/or to conserve energy for his service games. This gave people the impression that he was slow, which is not true.
Both guys were extremely talented and hard working. I can't see how you could argue against either of those things.
Roddick was the third best player of the 21st century, after Safin and Federer respectively.
Just off the top of my head, other players who achieved more than Roddick in the 21st century besides Federer and Safin include Nadal, Djokovic, Murray, and Agassi...
Do you think Roddick was better than those players?
Roddick was the third best player of the 21st century, after Safin and Federer respectively.
Hewitt lucked out in '02 Wimbledon, otherwise Roddick would be considered the better player.
Hewitt is also the more accomplished Doubles player, which shows versatility, does versatility translate to talent? I'd say so.
I think he meant 2000-2004.
Federer, Safin, Haas, Mahut, LLodra, Djokovic, Nadal, Murray, Ancic, Nalbandian, Cilic, Ljubicic, Fish, Hanescu, Dent, Gimelstob without me thinking about it are better volleyers, or have a better net game than Hewitt
Federer - NO
Djokovic - Are you kidding me?
Nalbandian - NO
Cilic - NO
Gimelstob - Some of these names are ridiculous!
Yes, Safin, Haas, and Murray all have good volleys for singles players who are mostly baseliners. Mahut, Llodra, Ancic, Fish and Dent are all serve and volley players. Consequently, they are expected to be good volleyers (since that is their primary weapon, and only viable option). But that is still a short list of names that could be considered "better" than Hewitt at the net. When you look at the current list of top 20 players, Hewitt would be among the best volleyers (even though he's outside the top 20). In fact Federer, Murray, Tsonga, and Haas are the only ones that I'd consider "good" volleyers. Nadal's volley is highly overrated, and Djokovic's volley is just terrible!
Interestingly, there is a new book coming out this year, to be titled "Facing Hewitt." This is an excerpt from that book... should be a fun read. Hewitt sure is/was a colorful player to have to battle.
http://www.tennis-prose.com/articles/facing-hewitt-book-excerpt/comment-page-1/
Spadea's story is the best, of course. I'd like the chance to talk with Spadea sometime. The guy is pretty insightful and seems like a good story-teller.
Fact is, as explosive as Roddick's serve could be, he won only one Slam. With, OTH, Hewitt, I just still feel like his character flaws mitigate his spirited pluck. He is not sports man like.