Player Survey - Best Shots

[Corbon]

Active players
Serve (1st and 2nd):
Forehand:
One-handed Backhand:
Two-handed Backhand:
Return:
Volley:
Smash:
Lob/Drop Shot:


All Time
Serve (1st and 2nd):
Forehand:
One-handed Backhand:
Two-handed Backhand:
Return:
Volley:
Smash:
Lob/Drop Shot:


All time players can be active of course

[Corbon]

My all-time list is going back as far as Becker's rise to power


Active players
Serve (1st and 2nd): Roddick
Forehand: Federer
One-handed Backhand: Federer, Wawrinka (honorable mention)
Two-handed Backhand: Djokovic
Return: Djokovic
Volley: (undecided)
Smash: Federer
Lob/Drop Shot: Nadal


All Time
Serve (1st and 2nd): Sampras
Forehand: Federer
One-handed Backhand: Federer
Two-handed Backhand: Djokovic
Return: Agassi
Volley: Edberg
Smash: Noah
Lob/Drop Shot: Nadal

[Hugo Chavez]

Active players
Serve (1st and 2nd): John Isner
Forehand: Federer
One-handed Backhand: Gasquet
Two-handed Backhand: Djokovic
Return: Murray, Djokovic, Hewitt
Volley: Lopez
Smash: idk
Lob/Drop Shot: Murray


All Time
Serve (1st and 2nd): Ivanesevic
Forehand: Aggasi
One-handed Backhand: idk
Two-handed Backhand: Borg
Return: Djokovic, Murray adn Hewitt
Volley: Sampras, Dent
Smash: Sampras
Lob/Drop Shot: Santoro (haha)

[L Sanchez MD]

Active players
Serve (1st and 2nd): 1st serve)Karlovic/Raonic/Isner. 2nd)Isner
Forehand: Federer, Nadal on slower surfaces
One-handed Backhand: Wawrinka, Kohlschreiber, Haas, Federer (ok he shanks it, but probably one of the most versatile backhands ever.)
Two-handed Backhand: Djokovic, Muzz
Return: Djokovic, Muzz, Hewitt, Baker
Volley: Stepanek, Llodra (on a good day)
Smash: Tsonga, Fed
Lob/Drop Shot: Lob) Hewitt, Murray. Drop) Stepanek, Fed

Don't know enough about the past players to say really, but I'll give it a go

All Time
Serve (1st and 2nd): Probably Karlovic/Isner still in the mix, with Sampras, maybe Becker.
Forehand: Federer
One-handed Backhand: Kuerten? Laver? Edberg?
Two-handed Backhand: Djokovic
Return: Djokovic, Agassi
Volley: Edberg, McEnroe, don't know about the players from 70s and earlier really.
Smash: Sampras
Lob/Drop Shot: I'd probably still put Hewitt for lob, not sure about dropper.

[Rob ITST]

Active players
Serve (1st and 2nd): Isner
Forehand: Federer
One-handed Backhand: Gasquet
Two-handed Backhand: Djokovic
Return: Djokovic
Volley: someone who plays doubles
Smash: Federer
Lob/Drop Shot: Hewitt/Murray


All Time
Serve (1st and 2nd): Sampras
Forehand: Federer
One-handed Backhand: Rosewall or Kuerten
Two-handed Backhand: Agassi
Return: Agassi (Djokovic doesn't have to deal with S&V)
Volley: Edberg
Smash: Sampras
Lob/Drop Shot: Hewitt/Puerta

[Moralspain]

Active players
Serve (1st and 2nd): Federer
Forehand: Tsonga
One-handed Backhand: Gasquet
Two-handed Backhand: Nalbandian
Return: Ferrer
Volley: Llodra
Smash: Bob Bryan
Lob/Drop Shot: Dolgopolov


All Time
Serve (1st and 2nd): Sampras
Forehand: Fernando Gonzalez
One-handed Backhand: Kuerten
Two-handed Backhand: Nalbandian/Enqvist
Return: Ferrer
Volley: Edberg
Smash: Sampras
Lob/Drop Shot: Mcenroe

[Robbin92]

Active players
Serve (1st and 2nd): Söderling
Forehand: Federer
One-handed Backhand: Federer
Two-handed Backhand: Djokovic
Return: Djokovic
Volley: Tsonga
Smash: Federer
Lob/Drop Shot: Murray


All Time
Serve (1st and 2nd): Kraijcek
Forehand: Fernando Gonzalez
One-handed Backhand: Verkerk
Two-handed Backhand: Safin
Return: Agassi
Volley: Henman
Smash: Sampras
Lob/Drop Shot: Agassi

Only players i've seen playing.

[Hugo Chavez]

LOL @ Verkerk best one handed backhand of all time

[Moralspain]

LOL @ Verkerk best one handed backhand of all time

he has a big serve as well, i remember this guy, not a bad player, i'm not gonna comment on his backhand because everyone has their own opinion, nowadays almost all the top 100 players have great strokes, and probably one of the guys ranked 70-80 has better FH than Tsonga, Federer...but none of us knows him so...we tend to pick the players we watch on TV more often.

[Moralspain]

Return: Agassi (Djokovic doesn't have to deal with S&V)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TdDzhENhMXs&feature=g-vrec

what a super player, great era

[L Sanchez MD]

LOL @ Verkerk best one handed backhand of all time

he has a big serve as well, i remember this guy, not a bad player, i'm not gonna comment on his backhand because everyone has their own opinion, nowadays almost all the top 100 players have great strokes, and probably one of the guys ranked 70-80 has better FH than Tsonga, Federer...but none of us knows him so...we tend to pick the players we watch on TV more often.

If they did have a better stroke, it's probably not as consistent, though.
Look at Rosol ripping FH winners against Rafa. Then watch him get trashed by Kohlschreiber.

Good call on Nalbandian for BH though, forgot about him.

[Ali-Iqb93]

Yes exactly there's too many guys out there who hit unbelievable shots with their fh and bh like tsonga, rosol, ferrer, etc but they are never as consistent as federer and nadal

[L Sanchez MD]

Also, watching Gulbis take out Berdych in 3 sets, you'd think Gulbis was the top 10 player, with the massive power and FH, but then what rank is he? And he loses to Janowicz next round.

[Ali-Iqb93]

Also, watching Gulbis take out Berdych in 3 sets, you'd think Gulbis was the top 10 player, with the massive power and FH, but then what rank is he? And he loses to Janowicz next round.

Too much effort in one match clearly like rosol did. These guys can cause big upsets but can never be consistent throughout the whole tournament. Their level will eventually drop after a match or so. Take federer for example he plays on the same moderate level whether it's 1st round opponent or it's the final. Or he might save his energy in the early matches to play at high level in the final. That's what great players do. To use their abilities and skills at appropriate times

[Corbon]

Yes exactly there's too many guys out there who hit unbelievable shots with their fh and bh like tsonga, rosol, ferrer, etc but they are never as consistent as federer and nadal

This is why I didn't pick Gonzo as having the best forehand. When it was on, it was brutal. When it was off (which happened often enough), plenty of balls would be lost to the crowd. Federer had (and has) a much more consistent forehand. His backhand may be prone to shanking but I didn't feel like giving Wawrinka the all-time spot.

Like Ali said, the key word is consistency.