What women in tennis history do you think has the most aesthetically pleasing games?

[Tennis_Hands]

But why did Goolagong not need to make all of those small steps and still was able to get to the ball in good position?
She just glided smoothly on air.
Much prettier movement than Graf's.

I actually didn't say that Graf's movement was beautiful per se. It is highly effective and well it has a different kind of "rhythm". Comparing Goolagong's movement to Graf's is like comparing Waltz to Tango.

 

[austintennis2005]

It's not elegance that IMHO is the issue. It's efficiency. Hitting without a looped backswing and with little torso rotation--arming the ball--can produce consistent tennis. But efficient tennis? I think that's another story.

Were his serve and volley also inefficient ? Mac in 84 came close to playing perfect tennis

 

[1stVolley]

Were his serve and volley also inefficient ? Mac in 84 came close to playing perfect tennis

No, Mac's volleys were the pinnacle of efficiency. Minimal racquet movement, maximum accuracy and consistency. His serve was effective but not quite efficient in that his take back briefly went into a waiter's tray position before he corrected it going into the racquet drop position. Other than that, it had great disguise as he could easily go up the T or wide with the "can opener" slice.

 

[Ronaldo]

Francesca!!!

 

[Dolgopolov85]

But why did Goolagong not need to make all of those small steps and still was able to get to the ball in good position?
She just glided smoothly on air.
Much prettier movement than Graf's.

One part of it was tennis was slower, evidently so, in the wooden era.

But the other part was Graf was not a great anticipator. I did another thread about how she frequently got caught flat footed just running from the center mark to the forehand corner because she was leaning towards moving to the backhand corner (and run around) all the time and didn't anticipate soon enough to correct. When you take a bit longer to identify where you need to be, you are going to fidget with small steps.

Look at 7:53. Terrible footwork. Waited way too long to decide to move up the court for a short ball and then didn't just use two-three hop steps to get there with momentum and instead took several smaller steps and ended up overplaying the shot.

There is no player, on either tour, whose game is so mythologized and whose flaws are as glossed over as Graf.

 

[toby55555]

You wot mate?
Her BH is at least top 5 of all WTA players have watched

Wooosh!

 

[Tennis_Hands]

There is no player, on either tour, whose game is so mythologized and whose flaws are as glossed over as Graf.

The reason might be that she won some tournaments. Dunno.

 

[skaj]

There isn't any.

The case of person who thinks Nadal's forehand is beautiful calling someone aesthetically challenged...

 

[_GOATbis]

Anisimova
Hsieh

 

[heninfan99]

 

[ForehandRF]

Justine Henin.

 

[urban]

Some honorable mentions: Lili d'Alvarez, Karol Fageros, Gussie Moran, Lesley Turner, Helga Schultze, Bettina Bunge.

 

[bitcoinoperated]

davenport

Super clean hitting with easy power but aesthetic only as long as she didn't have to run because she moved like Pliskova.

 

[toby55555]

One part of it was tennis was slower, evidently so, in the wooden era.

But the other part was Graf was not a great anticipator. I did another thread about how she frequently got caught flat footed just running from the center mark to the forehand corner because she was leaning towards moving to the backhand corner (and run around) all the time and didn't anticipate soon enough to correct. When you take a bit longer to identify where you need to be, you are going to fidget with small steps.

Look at 7:53. Terrible footwork. Waited way too long to decide to move up the court for a short ball and then didn't just use two-three hop steps to get there with momentum and instead took several smaller steps and ended up overplaying the shot.

There is no player, on either tour, whose game is so mythologized and whose flaws are as glossed over as Graf.

That's what tends to happen when you get a Golden Slam.

 

[Dolgopolov85]

That's what tends to happen when you get a Golden Slam.

Which is great, of course. But Serena got a straight slam against much tougher competition. There's no reason for the tennis world to still live in 1988 when it comes to the WTA.