Which player is most fun to watch when they're in the zone?

For me, it's between Wawrinka and Federer, and I might give the slight edge to Wawrinka when he's in his God mode.

Who do you think is most fun to watch when they're in the zone and hitting all their shots?
 

Livedeath

Professional
@Inanimate_object I have only seen Tsonga play full to his potential twice only, once against Rafa in 2008 (he made Rafa look many notches below him, Rafa must have felt the same against Delpo in 2009 US Open), and other was against Roger in Wimbledon. Masterclass performance.
 
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Krish872007

Talk Tennis Guru
Any of the Top 4 zoning really - they're all great in their own ways

Federer - he's destroying you with great all round play, floating around the court, etc.
Nadal - out hitting you, making insane gets
Djokovic - consistent, wiping you off the baseline, possibly teasing with some dropshots
Murray - surprisingly aggressive, unloading his massive BH
 

Wynter

Legend
Federer and Kyrgios

Fed is pure art as stated, Kyrgios is just an utter monster, wicked serve, powerful groundstrokes and lovely touch, at full flight he steams through his opponents.

His match vs Robredo at last years USO was a prime example, for a set and a half Robredo could barely touch him, infact for one set he had to make 0 UEs just to win it if memory serves
 

mightyrick

Legend
For me, it was Federer, Nalbandian, and Agassi. Basically, when any of those guys would run their opponents back and forth on a string constantly changing the direction of the ball. Very fun stuff.
 

La_Para

Rookie
Any of the Top 4 zoning really - they're all great in their own ways

Federer - he's destroying you with great all round play, floating around the court, etc.
Nadal - out hitting you, making insane gets
Djokovic - consistent, wiping you off the baseline, possibly teasing with some dropshots
Murray - surprisingly aggressive, unloading his massive BH

Funny actually, today I was thinking about ways to describe them when their game isn't clicking.

Djokovic- Wall, just returns every ball deep in the court.
Nadal- Retriever, spins every ball in, often short. Opponent runs him from side to side.
Murray- Pusher(for lack of a better word), does the same as Djokovic, but with a lot less pressure.
Federer- Junkballer? Often he shanks, then plays conservatively with lots of slice and variation.
 
Nadal- when he's in the zone you get crazy inside out FH's, down-the-line FH's, killer angle BH's (usually when least expected), touch volleys, solid slice, some of the best defensive skills ever, some of the best offensive skills (aggressive serve to set up FH winner on next shot.) The only thing you don't get is tons of aces, which is fine by me because aces do nothing to excite me.

Federer- Graceful as hell, can hit every shot in the book (almost.) Though aces bore me, his spot serving in pressure is amazing.

Stan- as a 1HBH guy myself, my jaw just drops when his BH is really clicking. That alone is worth the price of admission. When the serve and FH are also on, he's like a freight train that can't be stopped.

Dolgopolov- Like Monfils, Kyrgios etc., he often does very ill-advised things, but when he's on they land in and are usually spectacular. Unfortunately, these days are pretty rare.

DelPotro- that huge forehand, nuff said. Hope he comes back.

Tommy Haas was always fun to watch when he was on. I got to watch him practice at Indian Wells and even that was cool.

Anyways those are some (not all) of mine.

On the WTA side, I love watching Cibulkova, Halep, C. Garcia, Giorgi, Lisicki, and of course Serena, on their good days.
 

dlk

Hall of Fame
Nadal- when he's in the zone you get crazy inside out FH's, down-the-line FH's, killer angle BH's (usually when least expected), touch volleys, solid slice, some of the best defensive skills ever, some of the best offensive skills (aggressive serve to set up FH winner on next shot.) The only thing you don't get is tons of aces, which is fine by me because aces do nothing to excite me.

Federer- Graceful as hell, can hit every shot in the book (almost.) Though aces bore me, his spot serving in pressure is amazing.

Stan- as a 1HBH guy myself, my jaw just drops when his BH is really clicking. That alone is worth the price of admission. When the serve and FH are also on, he's like a freight train that can't be stopped.

Dolgopolov- Like Monfils, Kyrgios etc., he often does very ill-advised things, but when he's on they land in and are usually spectacular. Unfortunately, these days are pretty rare.

DelPotro- that huge forehand, nuff said. Hope he comes back.

Tommy Haas was always fun to watch when he was on. I got to watch him practice at Indian Wells and even that was cool.

Anyways those are some (not all) of mine.

On the WTA side, I love watching Cibulkova, Halep, C. Garcia, Giorgi, Lisicki, and of course Serena, on their good days.

Yes, always liked Tommy. And on WTA side, Cibulkova has been my favorite. Currently, I like Goffin.
 
V

VexlanderPrime

Guest
This is gonna sound weird but for me I really get a kick out of a zoning Nadal. He just brings such a crazy intensity to defense and offense. I don't like when he's PURE defense and pushes a bit but when he's zoning and blasting monster FHs and BH passes/DTL shots he's fun to watch. (Assuming you can fast forward 30 secs every time he begins his serving BS).
 

Gary Duane

Talk Tennis Guru
Funny actually, today I was thinking about ways to describe them when their game isn't clicking.

Djokovic- Wall, just returns every ball deep in the court.
Nadal- Retriever, spins every ball in, often short. Opponent runs him from side to side.
Murray- Pusher(for lack of a better word), does the same as Djokovic, but with a lot less pressure.
Federer- Junkballer? Often he shanks, then plays conservatively with lots of slice and variation.
That's actually quite good - otherwise great players in choke mode.

Add to that:

Wawrinka - sort of sulks and either half or fully tanks.
Agassi, takes of at least a year off doing drugs.
Sampras - coasts and gets lazy...
 

Talker

Hall of Fame
Davydenko. When he was zoning get out of the way, beautiful and exciting tennis.

Fed too........ ;)
 
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tipsa...don'tlikehim!

Talk Tennis Guru
For me, it's between Wawrinka and Federer, and I might give the slight edge to Wawrinka when he's in his God mode.

Who do you think is most fun to watch when they're in the zone and hitting all their shots?
Find it strange to pick Wawrinka over Federer, when zoning Federer is 100 times more pleasant to watch than Wawrinka.
Murray, Kohlschreiber, Gonzalez, Youzhny, Nalbandian, Grosjean, Gasquet, Nishikori all of these guys are/were a joy to watch when zoning.
 
N

Nachiket Nolefam

Guest
Haven't seen what Zoning Wawrinka means. He may beat top guys but players like Federer and Novak can get on hot streak where they are winning almost all points.
 

Druss

Hall of Fame
Federer for sure. Even when he play's those like Ferrer or Isner, makes it interesting to watch.
 

BVSlam

Professional
Hmm...I've got to go with:

Fed - in the zone combines everything and is very crafty, which is always fun
Nalbandian - pretty much same actually, his 2007 run in Madrid/Paris was beautiful
Wawrinka - it's amazing to see him hit those ridiculously powerful groundstrokes from both wings

Those stand out to me, the former two especially because zoning+strong ground game+endless variety = gawkfest. However, I also agree with Mainad that basically anyone zoning is fun to watch, because it obviously means they're producing outstanding tennis. I also, for example, love to see Rafa's overwhelming intensity (on forehand especially) and perfect passing shots, or Delpo's/Gonzalez' gigantic forehands. Tsonga's AO 2008 against Rafa and Brown's Wimby 2015 against Rafa were special performances that constantly left me in awe. Verdasco's AO 2009 play (which was, considering the rest of his career, definitely a case of "being in the zone") was amazing as well.
 
This is gonna sound weird but for me I really get a kick out of a zoning Nadal. He just brings such a crazy intensity to defense and offense. I don't like when he's PURE defense and pushes a bit but when he's zoning and blasting monster FHs and BH passes/DTL shots he's fun to watch. (Assuming you can fast forward 30 secs every time he begins his serving BS).
Doesn't sound crazy at all, to me. There's a reason the tennis world was very excited to see Nadal come on to the scene. It wasn't just his youth or potential to challenge Federer. There's a reason that the crowd will be stacked 6-7 rows deep just to watch him practice. His crazy spin, angles, boundless energy...it's amazing to watch.

Generally agree with above comment that ANY player in the zone is fun to watch. Heck, I've enjoyed the hell out of watching Andreas Seppi and Gilles Simon on outer courts when they were really dialed in.
 

Noleberic123

G.O.A.T.
Of course, that loss to Djokovic at Wimbledon a few years ago... wow, one of my favorite all time matches.
Yeah same. I loved that match and will never forget it. But will always prefer that it didn't happen so that Djokovic could have been fresher for the final
 

Talker

Hall of Fame
Yeah same. I loved that match and will never forget it. But will always prefer that it didn't happen so that Djokovic could have been fresher for the final
Djokovic had to give everything he had to win that one, DelPo was about as good as he ever had been on grass then. The shotmaking was so dramatic.

I'm sure it took a lot out of Nole, running after those bombs for hours.
 

Noleberic123

G.O.A.T.
Djokovic had to give everything he had to win that one, DelPo was about as good as he ever had been on grass then. The shotmaking was so dramatic.

I'm sure it took a lot out of Nole, running after those bombs for hours.
They literally were bombs. They could have taken Hiroshima out. I mean delpo could have definitely beaten murray in the final.
 
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