The most beautiful tennis movement

skaj

skaj

Legend
The fitness level in the game today is probably higher than ever, but apart from Federer, Gasquet and Hsieh Su-wei I can’t think of a player whose movement I find to be aesthetically pleasing(maybe Simon and Dimitrov to an extent).

Who are the most beautiful movers you have seen? Any active players you would include here?

My picks:

1) Mecir - elegant, balanced, smooth, comfortably covering the entire court with an easy gait.

2) Okker - natural, fluid, casual... poetry in motion.

3) Pioline - light, harmonious, effortless all-court perfection.

4) Federer – floating footwork, ballet like body motion, marvelous transition.

5) Rosewall – aka Fred Astaire in sneakers.

6) Goolagong – breezy, nonchalant , fairy like.

7) Edberg – always with a graceful posture; fabulous forward movement.

8) Hingis – lovely “hovering” around the baseline area, seamless transition to the net.

9) Borg – speedy glider.

10) Ashe - neat, sharp, beautifully understated.

Honorable mentions: Krishnan, Mandlikova, Sampras, Stich.
 
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Sysyphus

Sysyphus

Talk Tennis Guru
Active players?

I like the footwork of Rublev. He is not the fastest or fittest out there, but the quality of his footwork is very good to my eyes. His light shuffles looks a bit like that of a boxer (he has a boxing background). Said footwork is a big part of what allows him to be in the correct position to take the ball so ridiculously early.


Tiafoe is fun to watch moving around. Maybe not so elegant, but compelling in his explosiveness and athleticism. Fognini's nonchalant way of moving is fun to watch as well, and he is also light on his feet.
 
metsman

metsman

G.O.A.T.
Sysyphus said:
Active players?

I like the footwork of Rublev. He is not the fastest or fittest out there, but the quality of his footwork is very good to my eyes. His light shuffles looks a bit like that of a boxer (he has a boxing background). Said footwork is a big part of what allows him to be in the correct position to take the ball so ridiculously early.


Tiafoe is fun to watch moving around. Maybe not so elegant, but compelling in his explosiveness and athleticism. Fognini's nonchalant way of moving is fun to watch as well, and he is also light on his feet.
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Rublev has a lot of the qualities of top players that his peers lack with his quick/light feet and big head speed, but it seems like physically he may never mature enough to get there. Also lacks feel as well.
 
M

mental midget

Hall of Fame
i'd put edberg at the top of this list. guy was lightning quick and like NEVER off balance, you could cast a bronze of him anywhere, anytime on the court and it would stand. borg was similar in that respect. another guy i might throw in was rios, not the absolute fastest of the bunch but very balanced and elegant w his movement.
 
Shaolin

Shaolin

G.O.A.T.
skaj said:
A couple of people mentioned Rios, and I agree he definitely belongs here. Here's a clip of him and another lovely mover, Bruguera - beautifully vertical with a neat footwork:



I would also include Noah, Kucera and Venus on grass.
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Thank you for posting this...I had never seen it and Rios is my favorite player.
 
Gary Duane

Gary Duane

G.O.A.T.
TheGhostOfAgassi said:
Rafa FH is beatiful and sexy
Plus w the grunt

Perfection
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He's a force of nature, but to me nothing about his game is beautiful, and most of all the grunt to me is awful. But easier to tolerate than the grunts of women because they are an octave higher.

Just watching Nadal makes me sweat. When the sweat gets so bad that he can't even stop it from dripping off his nose, to me it's actually a bit disgusting. I don't see why any woman finds that in any way beautiful.

I would love to see another ATG play silently again in the Fed manner, although these days you do hear him grunt a bit on long, hard points, and most definitely on serve.
 
TheGhostOfAgassi

TheGhostOfAgassi

Talk Tennis Guru
Gary Duane said:
He's a force of nature, but to me nothing about his game is beautiful, and most of all the grunt to me is awful. But easier to tolerate than the grunts of women because they are an octave higher.

Just watching Nadal makes me sweat. When the sweat gets so bad that he can't even stop it from dripping off his nose, to me it's actually a bit disgusting. I don't see why any woman finds that in any way beautiful.

I would love to see another ATG play silently again in the Fed manner, although these days you do hear him grunt a bit on long, hard points, and most definitely on serve.
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Tennis is a snobbish sport not for real men...
i watch other sports a lot which is much tougher and hard competition.
Rafas sweating and grunting is masculine and also show he is fighting.
Ive just watched downhill skiing... there you see healthy fierce athletes. Watching tennis after is a bit... Hm..
it put things into perspective.
The whole "gentleman sport" thing is not for me. Its a reason why I prefer baseline fights above Feds type of play.
 
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George Turner

George Turner

Hall of Fame
Raonic; the drunk bull

raonic.gif
 
Djokodalerer31

Djokodalerer31

Hall of Fame
Steffi Graf for me as far as women's game goes! Another pick, that most likely would be dubbed as unpopular as Justin Henin! That backhand is pure poetry in motion and i thoroughly enjoyed spectating her footwork as well! But to each his/her own! As for men - gotta be a tie between McEnroe and Edberg (Aka Volley Masters!)...And that comes from Djokovic fan!
 
Gary Duane

Gary Duane

G.O.A.T.
TheGhostOfAgassi said:
Tennis is a snobbish sport not for real men...
i watch other sports a lot which is much tougher and hard competition.
Rafas sweating and grunting is masculine and also show he is fighting.
Ive just watched downhill skiing... there you see healthy fierce athletes. Watching tennis after is a bit... Hm..
it put things into perspective.
The whole "gentleman sport" thing is not for me. Its a reason why I prefer baseline fights above Feds type of play.
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I spend up to 5 hours a day teaching people how to play piano, and playing piano is about moving fast with a minimum of effort, regardless of the style of the music. In other words, the best traditional players and jazz players and all kinds of players try to make it look as easy as possible, and the best players in the world, in general, make things that are harder look easier. That's just what we do.

In any sport I'm pulled towards the people who make it look easiest. That's my personal model. I tell my students what we do is the same thing great athletes aim for, results with the least amount of effort. For me this not only works for things like golf (which I have no interest in) and pool/billiards, which I suppose you can say is not really a sport, to my favorite team spot, basketball. It seems to me that the best basketball players just seem to flow more.

So know, I don't want to watch the people who sweat more, grunt more, make it look harder. I'm not fixated on Fed. Djokovic moves like greased lightning, so there is a huge amount of flow to his game, which I can appreciate.

I do enjoy Nadal's fight and fierce competitive streak. But I don't see anything wonderful or "sexy" about the way he grunts. Dunno. Is this a woman thing? :oops::rolleyes:
 
TheGhostOfAgassi

TheGhostOfAgassi

Talk Tennis Guru
Gary Duane said:
I spend up to 5 hours a day teaching people how to play piano, and playing piano is about moving fast with a minimum of effort, regardless of the style of the music. In other words, the best traditional players and jazz players and all kinds of players try to make it look as easy as possible, and the best players in the world, in general, make things that are harder look easier. That's just what we do.

In any sport I'm pulled towards the people who make it look easiest. That's my personal model. I tell my students what we do is the same thing great athletes aim for, results with the least amount of effort. For me this not only works for things like golf (which I have no interest in) and pool/billiards, which I suppose you can say is not really a sport, to my favorite team spot, basketball. It seems to me that the best basketball players just seem to flow more.

So know, I don't want to watch the people who sweat more, grunt more, make it look harder. I'm not fixated on Fed. Djokovic moves like greased lightning, so there is a huge amount of flow to his game, which I can appreciate.

I do enjoy Nadal's fight and fierce competitive streak. But I don't see anything wonderful or "sexy" about the way he grunts. Dunno. Is this a woman thing? :oops::rolleyes:
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It’s definetly a woman’s thing ;)
 
Gary Duane

Gary Duane

G.O.A.T.
TheGhostOfAgassi said:
HEhe
Rafa has brought thousands of women watching tennis, like Borg did back in the days.
I like female grunting as well. Some sweat and passion!
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That doesn't match with my personal experience. For instance, I know a lady who is an excellent pianist who has only a tiny interest in tennis, and she only like watching Fed because he is so graceful playing. I can totally understand why young Nadal appealed to a lot of people re his looks, but not how.

I don't at all connect Nadal and Borg. Borg never got tired. He was famous for that. He also quit while he was still quite young. I think Borg moved beautifully. Connors was more like Nadal, and he also played slower. Borg played very fast. JMac played faster against Borg. Conners/JMac was slow, lot of time wasted between points.

Laver played fast. My mother loved watching Laver, later Edberg. Edberg was a graceful mover.
 
TheGhostOfAgassi

TheGhostOfAgassi

Talk Tennis Guru
Gary Duane said:
That doesn't match with my personal experience. For instance, I know a lady who is an excellent pianist who has only a tiny interest in tennis, and she only like watching Fed because he is so graceful playing. I can totally understand why young Nadal appealed to a lot of people re his looks, but not how.

I don't at all connect Nadal and Borg. Borg never got tired. He was famous for that. He also quit while he was still quite young. I think Borg moved beautifully. Connors was more like Nadal, and he also played slower. Borg played very fast. JMac played faster against Borg. Conners/JMac was slow, lot of time wasted between points.

Laver played fast. My mother loved watching Laver, later Edberg. Edberg was a graceful mover.
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Do you sometimes watch these players live?
Maybe my friends are younger than yours and like different kind of men?
You must be blind if you don’t understand that Rafa w his body is popular with the women ;);)

This is a dumb discussion anyway, ?

I grew up playing the piano too! And I am into classical music. So is Rafa :)
It’s no contradiction here.
 
Gary Duane

Gary Duane

G.O.A.T.
TheGhostOfAgassi said:
Do you sometimes watch these players live?
Maybe my friends are younger than yours and like different kind of men?
You must be blind if you don’t understand that Rafa w his body is popular with the women ;);)

This is a dumb discussion anyway, ?

I grew up playing the piano too! And I am into classical music. So is Rafa :)
It’s no contradiction here.
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I'm not sure the site is working now. I just had a post hang the way it does when things start not getting posted until way late. It's been a while since it happened here.
 
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