Which women had the greatest 2nd serve of the modern era ?

[tennus]

Sampras is widely recognised as having one of if not the best second serve of the modern era. But which women had the best 2nd serve ? If you look at many of the big serving types like Venus Williams, they had unreliable second serves which broke down under pressure. On the other hand a person like Hingis with a relatively moderate 1st serve, relied on variety and accuracy. I can recall in a semi final of the AO she made 33 consecutive 1st serves in play. Hard to make double faults if you're that accurate. So who's the GOAT of 2nd serves ?

 

[rommil]

Hmm tough one. Tempted to say Kournikova and Dementieva but I get the feeling nobody will support this. Anyways, Henin? Serena maybe?

 

[vive le beau jeu !]

ummm i'm hesitating between kournikova and coria...


i'll probably be punished for that sentence and break my own DF record next time i play !

 

[skiracer55]

Me...

...kust kidding! Probably Serena...

 

[goober]

I would probably go with Serena only because she has one of the bigger serves. No dominant 2nd serves really come to mind.

Brenda Schultz-McCarthy had the biggest first serve, but I have never seen her play so I don't know how good was her second serve.

 

[CEvertFan]

Navratilova had a good 2nd serve, so did Graf. Out of the current players I would have to say Serena Williams.

 

[tennus]

Hmm tough one. Tempted to say Kournikova and Dementieva but I get the feeling nobody will support this. Anyways, Henin? Serena maybe?

You know I cringed when you first mentioned Dementiava but now that I think about her, she has a respectable 2nd serve, that is when she's not going through her bad patch of double fault yips. Her 2nd serve is quite effective on a surface like grass as she heavily slices the ball. She knows her serve will always slice from right to left but she has such a good backhand she has learnt to position herself for the percentage return. That also reminds me of probably the most unorthordox serve of all time in Zanetti. She serves at times less than 120km/h and has more movements in her service motion than a spin bowler, yet she still manages to go 3 sets with a very good grasscourt player like Patty Schnyder, someone who I thought should just jump all over her on return. You see if you're a pro and you don't have weapons you have to compensate with things like accuracy, variation, court speed or positional play.

 

[rommil]

You know I cringed when you first mentioned Dementiava but now that I think about her, she has a respectable 2nd serve, that is when she's not going through her bad patch of double fault yips. Her 2nd serve is quite effective on a surface like grass as she heavily slices the ball. She knows her serve will always slice from right to left but she has such a good backhand she has learnt to position herself for the percentage return. That also reminds me of probably the most unorthordox serve of all time in Zanetti. She serves at times less than 120km/h and has more movements in her service motion than a spin bowler, yet she still manages to go 3 sets with a very good grasscourt player like Patty Schnyder, someone who I thought should just jump all over her on return. You see if you're a pro and you don't have weapons you have to compensate with things like accuracy, variation, court speed or positional play.

Was joking about Dementieva and Kournikova.

 

[galain]

Brenda Schultz?

 

[swedechris]

dutch lady..

betty stove..in the 70s.. she had as i recall a pretty solid serve + volly game going .. she served pretty flat but accurate.

boris becker stung with his 2nd delivery too..

 

[AndrewD]

Navratilova, and it's not even close.

 

[Ljubicic for number1]

2 Aussie girls bye the name of Stousor and Molik have great second serves with massive kick and spin. Pity about the rest of their game.

 

[35ft6]

Serena's second serve is pretty nasty.

 

[freelancer]

Serena's is probably the best, but don't forget about Davenport. Her 2nd serve was pretty dang good.

 

[EZRA]

I don't like the guy but Andy Roddick's 2nd serve is as good as the first serve of 50% of the men in the ATP tour.

 

[rommil]

I don't like the guy but Andy Roddick's 2nd serve is as good as the first serve of 50% of the men in the ATP tour.

Lol somehow I am not surprised to find Roddick's name in a subject about women players.

 

[EZRA]

LOL... crap, I really need to read things better.

cough* ... Serena's 2nd serve and Steffi's ... Oh, and Brenda Schultz-McCarthy of course.

 

[BTURNER]

bumping for a second women's thread on a topic we rarely discuss.

 

[Man of steel]

The answer has always and will always be serena.

 

[hoodjem]

I don't like the guy but Andy Roddick's 2nd serve is as good as the first serve of 50% of the men in the ATP tour.

Which women . . .

. . . unless Roddick went the way of Renée Richards.

 

[Gizo]

The answer has always and will always be serena.

By a million miles. Players like Graf and Davenport had good second serves and among the best in the history of women’s tennis. But Serena’s is on completely different level to that. And that service motion is so fluid.

During her title run at Wimbledon 2010 I had never seen a female player hitting either first or second serves like that, and I think she then topped that herself 2 years later during her Wimbledon 2012 title run.

Stosur’s 2nd serve often sat up nicely for taller players like Venus, Sharapova, Vaidisova, Ivanovic etc to tee off, and Venus’s could be a liability even during her peak years. She said herself that her serve could either be her biggest weapon or biggest liability.

 

[mistik]

Navratilova her placement was amazing in 2 nd serve.

 

[BTURNER]

Mandlikova developed a particularly unpleasant kick second serve in her later career. It induced some errant approach returns from Navratilova, and confused Evert.