The most beautiful and deadly shot in Men's Tennis history
- Thread starter Maximagq
- Start date
abmk
Bionic Poster
it wasn't even the 2nd best , agassi's overall and courier's at his peak were definitely better ....
Djokovic2011
Bionic Poster
Agassi's forehand better than Pete's? :shock:
abmk
Bionic Poster
yep ....way more consistent ....pete missed far more with his FH than the highlights would make you believe
NatF
Bionic Poster
Yeah it was...for sure.
helloworld
Hall of Fame
Disagree completely. Brad Gilbert who coached Agassi once admitted that Sampras has better forehand than Agassi, but he said that Agassi is the best when taking into account of the forehand and backhand combination. Agassi can hit equally well off both wings, which is quite rare in any generation. Sampras on the other hand, can hit his forehand much better than his backhand, especially on the run.
smiley_face
Rookie
There's no place for Nadal in this thread because it clearly states Beautiful and Deadly.
My vote goes for Federer's FH though I'm not a fan.
My vote goes for Federer's FH though I'm not a fan.
Russeljones
Talk Tennis Guru
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Laurie
Guest
Very much so. I have the 1999 Cincinnati semifinal between Agassi and Sampras; in the 2nd set when Sampras was having fun at Agassi's expense commentator Frew McMillan said these exact words "I've often thought it for a long and said the Sampras forehand is the best groundstroke in the world and you can see why, he just has much more pace than Agassi, even though Agassi hits the ball so flat". It's a direct quote. Also, in another match they played in Los Angeles the final two weeks prior, Leif Shiras said when "Agassi sets up he might be the best player in the world". But he also went on to say that when Agassi is off balance he is not the same player.
So that's why I think Sampras had the better forehand. Agassi is definitely more consistent because he is trying to dictate play against the other guys but when someone like Sampras moved him out of position, it was more difficult for him to "execute" his forehand to perfection like he did against so many other players like Boris Becker for instance.
I put execute in inverted commas because I really hate that word, and the way commentators use it all the time. Is it an execution out there on the court?
abmk
Bionic Poster
that's because of movement. Agassi was never the best mover. Give agassi pete's movement and pete wouldn't stand a chance against him from the baseline.
agassi's fh was wayyyy better on the slower courts, especially clay and better on other courts.
pete's fh had a little more top speed than agassi of mid-90s and later (young agassi had as much top level speed ) and was better on the run of course, but that's about it.
anyone who thinks sampras had much more pace than agassi on the fh is mistaken, it was only a bit more ....
agassi's fh was wayyyy better on the slower courts, especially clay and better on other courts.
pete's fh had a little more top speed than agassi of mid-90s and later (young agassi had as much top level speed ) and was better on the run of course, but that's about it.
anyone who thinks sampras had much more pace than agassi on the fh is mistaken, it was only a bit more ....
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Laurie
Guest
I remembered we jousted back in the old days a few years ago. In other words, its no problem disagreeing with someone, but the over the top melodramatic stuff is extremely tiresome.
It doesn't matter, the key thing here is Sampras had the better movement, and due to that exposed Agassi's movement often, especially when he got the forehand into play, he put it into areas of the court Agassi couldn't reach.
By the way, what are these "other courts" you refer to? In that era I can only think of rebound ace and indoor carpet which is not used today, Sampras excelled on both. And what is extremely tiresome is this nonsense of fast courts and slow courts. Sampras was good on hardcourts, speed is irrelevant, we know he won in Australia, Indian Wells and Miami all slower surfaces even then.
Anyway we will agree to disagree, as far as I am concerned Sampras had the better forehand. Sampras copied the Lendl motto of camping out on the backhand side and getting either the inside out forehand or inside in forehand as often as possible. It takes a greater talent to do that succesfully than stand in the middle of the court and try to dictate play as Agassi did for many years.
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Laurie
Guest
By the way ABMK, please watch this 38 shot rally between Sampras and Courier in Miami 1994. Sampras and Courier are virtually playing diagonally for most of it, until one of the guys ups the ante. I like how Sampras uses his athlteiciam here to engineer an opening.
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x14pyrq_sampras-v-courier-great-rally-1994-lipton-semi_sport
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x14pyrq_sampras-v-courier-great-rally-1994-lipton-semi_sport
Start da Game
Hall of Fame
i am speaking from experience of watching his grandslam matches live on TV......sure i was a little kid back then but i knew what i was watching.......agassi's forehand was good but it was no match for pete's......
sampras's forehand had commentators screaming and jumping just like it has rob koenig jumping for rafa and mark petchy for fediva these days......you give sampras a ball on his forehand and you can pretty much forget about playing the rest of the rally on your own terms......it would be sampras who would decide your fate in the point......
see this video below......that pass at 2:01, that was one of his routine shots in his career which he made it look so easy whenever he hit......and he did it without pumping fists or yelling emotion for rolex ads......
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVKWNpdd7jk
ARKustom93
Professional
Check #108 ... Same for these two guys ... "overall" don't count, and Courier's FH?? Brutal maybe, but sure as Hell not pretty
ARKustom93
Professional
Thx for posting that clip, enjoyed that. Aside from what you mentioned, this exchange also nicely illustrates, how little damage that 'deadly' FH of Courier's was able to inflict on Pete's supposedly vulnerable BH ...
abmk
Bionic Poster
give me a break with highlight points. I've seen plenty of full matches of sampras and agassi's . Agassi's fh was clearly better.
sampras missed far more with his fh than agassi did. He played a blitzkrieg style of tennis and it worked for him for most part, except on clay.
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Laurie
Guest
Agassi's forehand is not "clearly better".
abmk
Bionic Poster
so this isn;t over the top ?
"he just has much more pace than Agassi, even though Agassi hits the ball so flat"
much more pace than agassi ?
yes, but that was due to movement and not due to the fh itself
no , speed is not irrelevant. Sampras in general was very good on all hard-courts, but most comfortable on medium-fast ones, not slow or extremely fast ones.
what does talent have to do with this ? Sampras was more talented than agassi, but doesn't mean his fh was better than agassi's.
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Laurie
Guest
whinge, whinge, moan groan...
abmk
Bionic Poster
wow ! what an insightful response. I'm stunned and enlightened !
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Laurie
Guest
Well don't be too stunned, it is a tennis forum after all...
In other words, we spend hours on a forum beating up people we haven't met with a metaphorical hammer. This one's better than that one, that one's better than this one, blah blah blah. I think this is one of the reasons you see me post a few posts and then disappear for a week or two, don't know how other posters do this all day every day.
Anyway, I'm off for now.
Shaolin
G.O.A.T.
Agreed. Verdasco fh is one of my all time favorite shots in tennis. I'll forever remember the way he was hitting it in that AO classic vs Nadal especially.
Don't blame us, we are innocent. Blame the Universe that created us
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Capulin Zurdo
Hall of Fame
Thank you for sharing Maximagq! I found that video a few years ago while watching videos of slow motion forehands of the pros. Since then, I've been listening to Einaudi's music avidly. Just the combination of Federer's forehand and Einaudi's music is beautifully amazing.
SamprasisGOAT
Hall of Fame
Sampras serve and second the Sampras forehand
Maximagq
Banned
No problem! I shared this video because of Einaudi's music.
Revenant
Banned
Sampras's forehand looks like he's uprooting a tree. It's ugly. His serve is simply beautiful.
I once made a list similar to that too... after drinking 15 shots of tequila...
Yeah I agree also. He's an underachiever given his talent.
Lovely description, uprooting a tree. +1. I agree.
easywin
Rookie
Its my favorite shot
I already posted this link in another thread with a similar topic some time ago but here it is again
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9zRcboRC-U
helloworld
Hall of Fame
Not his running forehand. His running forehand is a thing of beauty.
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