Challenging Novak

The task is to build a perfect player who can beat that rather arrogant Novak Djokovic. Now don't get me wrong this isn't an attempt at bad mouthing Novak. I'm beginning to warm to the Serb and, after all, when you're that good a little bit of arrogance is understandable.

So bearing in mind the % improvement across the board that Novak has enjoyed we need the individuals with the best following facets to their game so we can build a tennis hybrid to ultimately give the Serbinator the kind of tough match he regularly needs on tour next year. Long dead or retired players can be resurrected for the purposes of acquiring their body parts/skills. Let's also say the match would be on a hard court so you can't just wheel in Nadal to play on clay.

Best first serve?
Best second serve?
Best forehand?
Best backhand?
Best net coverage/volleys?
Best returner?
Best retriever (i.e. always gets the ball back in the rally)?
Most mentally tough?
Fittest physically?
Best mover?

In case you dismiss this as pure fantasy I'm sure there are parallel worlds where such a player exists and Novak has recently become the first British player to win Wimbledon (interesting article with that hypothesis below-

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/tennis/frenchopen/8524452/Novak-Djokovic-if-only-Britain-had-adopted-the-Serbinator.html

Best first serve? Karlo
Best second serve? Karlo/Federer
Best forehand? Federer
Best backhand? Nalbandian
Best net coverage/volleys? Federer
Best returner? Nalbandian/Davydenko
Best retriever (i.e. always gets the ball back in the rally)? Nadal
Most mentally tough? Wilander
Fittest physically? Nadal
Best mover? Federer

But honestly....Federer has all it takes. Just needs to be a bit focused next time.

"But honestly....Federer has all it takes. Just needs to be a bit focused next time."


Not quite all, Tenez...now this will surprise you, but I have just (literally) got a hunch that Fed will never beat Nole again.

Yep - Nole certainly can even improve...he is still young. But his body might start to show some wear and tear.

[quote="Tenez"]Yep - Nole certainly can even improve...he is still young. But his body might start to show some wear and tear.

[/quote]

Yes, that would be very sad, but I hope not. Too much tennis this year, too many finals against Nadal. I said it many years ago, that guy is the death of tennis.

Tenez wrote:
But honestly....Federer has all it takes. Just needs to be a bit focused next time.

Yes, despite NITB's hunches , which very curiously are always in favour of her idol, I too believe that Fed has all it takes to challenge Djokovic. Provided he he can make the most of the opportunities arising to finish off the matches.

A younger Federer & perhaps the current one.

I wouldn't surprised if Novak's career is pretty short, it's Injury Watch from now on.

Actually Fed had the last match under control for 2 sets but his feet were leaden after that. I think it was more luck than anything that he got ahead in the 5th. Anyhow, it's finely poised and who knows what might tip the balance.

Fed 06... GSM

Building a robo player, can we use Djokovic himself because I would love to put Novak's returns into robo player.

1st: Roddick
2nd serve: Sampras
Return: Agassi
forehand: Federer
backhand: (again would use Novak here if I could) Nalbandian
speed: Nadal
fitness: Nadal
Volleys: Johnny Mac
Mental toughness: James Scott Connors

Best first serve? Karlovic by a long shot. Only Goran perhaps comes nearest, Pete,Federer not too far.

Best second serve? Pete above all. Federer comes nearest to my mind.

Best forehand? Federer by far in every single dimension for a how good a forehand can be. No one comes near.

Best backhand? SHBH for the smoothness and beauty :Gasquet, Wawrinka, Federer, Youzhny. DHBH for power and solidty: Nalbandian, Davydenko, the current Djokovic

Best net coverage/volleys? Johnny Mac. But those were days of S&V game unlike today. Current players can't much show great skill with net coverage/volleys.

Best returner? Nalbandian, Agassi (perhaps the best aspect of his game)

Best retriever (i.e. always gets the ball back in the rally)? Nadal, Djokovic they are far above all.

Most mentally tough? For me hard to point one out.

Fittest physically? Nadal is above all when its fitness, strength and stamina and power play. Federer is also very fit generally, but that is on a difference dimension to fitness which is more to do with putting less strain on the body.

Best mover? Federer is at supreme level in this department.

Some interesting candidates so far.

Federer's forehand of course but no-one mention Del Potro? Also Nalbandian 's backhand better than Gasquet's?

Serve is a difficult one but can anyone match Pete's second serve? Andre's return takes some beating so both those "oldies" need consideration.

Net coverage McEnroe or maybe Henman?

Wilanders' mental strength? Well he did say "tennis is not about the shot making; it’s about the mental battle. It needs to be more warrior-like to me." Sounds like a good candidate but , if your life depended on it, wouldn't you want Connors fighting in your corner?

Retrievers I'm not sure as I would say a the moment no-one comes close to Djokovic in this department not even Nadal.

Mover yes Federer by a country mile.

Good choices Raiders...very similar to mines. I think Federer is a better returner than Agassi though but probably not scoring as much on the return as Agassi. Federer is more concerned in putting the serve back but returned more of those. However the dynamic was different then cause at Agassi's time, you had to try your chance returning..unlike at Federer's time.

However Federer did very well against great servers, including Sampras, Goran, Kraji and Karlo to put him at the very top of the returners list. A much under rated part of his game.


Wilander, the most unassuming player, never putting himself under pressure, never seen him nervous and unlike connors did not need the crowd and gamesmanship to win matches. He is the player that did most of his talent and therefore the strongest player mentally to date.

Volleys..Edberg over McEnroe.

I love Gasquet's backhand but in the modern game would take a good two hander over a good single hander anyday, the modern heavier spinning shots become harder to handle with a one hander.

socal there's still a place for the one handed backhand for the following reasons

very difficult to play a sliced backhand with two hands and slice gives you variety

ditto with drops shots

Of course if we could have conditions that don't make the ball bounce up like a kids bouncy ball the SHBH would come back into it's own.

Once upon a time the game was dominated by SHBHs; McEnroe, Lendl, Edberg, Becker, Sampras. At the same time Wilander and Agassi also featured but is anyone saying the game played by those guys was less interesting than now (the only arguably boring time with Pete at Wimbledon also featured Andre, so........).

Just by speeding the conditions up a bit , it woudl considerably bring back some balance between S and D HBHs.

Of course we could consider Justine for special inclusion here (I'm all for equal opportunites). McEnroe considered her single handed backhand "the best in both the men's and women's game".

Her backhand is very sweetly struck I agree, but rarely does she have a high success rate, i've seen her net the backhand more times than mono Fed! Surely consistency >>> looks?

Well newballs, I have a double handed backhand and I don't have a problem hitting a slice backhand with one hand. Murray has a double hander he can hit a very nice slice backhand and has good feel on his backhand volley as well. With the heavy spin and higher bounces I just don't feel like the one hander unless spectacular like gasquet, a one in every 10 million type shot is going to cut it. Even Gasquet when he goes cross court backhand v. cross court backhand against a real top of the line two hander like Novak, Nalby, or Murray usually comes out on the shorter end. And I love Gazza, my second favorite current player. We are talking about how the conditions currently are, not how we like them to be. So I would take a great two hander in current conditions over a great one hander anyday of the week and twice on sunday.

1st serve: Goran
2nd serve: Sampras
Best looking serve/efficiency: Stich
Best kick serve: Krajicek (kicked like a mule)
General forehand: Federer
Cross-court FH: Gonzalez
Running FH: Sampras
SHBH: Kuerten
DHBH: Nalbandian
Down the line BH: Agassi
Return: Agassi
Volley: Edberg or Rafter
Lob: Murray or Agassi
Smash: Sampras
Drop shot: Djokovic(!)
Retriever: Nadal
Mover: Federer
Speed: Nadal
Fitness: Nadal
Hot-Dog: Federer!
Squash shot: Federer's not bad at those...

A couple of points.

socal you misunderstand me. Of course DH backhands are becoming more than norm and there's nothing to stop those players using one hand where necessary for reach,dropshots, variety inc. slice but you can't deny those with a natural one handed shot have more variety and touch. On the other hand, quite often there isn't the power a two handed shot can generate plus with two hands it's easier to control a high bouncing ball on a service return than with one hand.

Both shots have their advocates so don't expect either to be cosigned to the history books.

lydian yep squash shots are something you never used to see but have become more and more used against those power players like Del Potro when the ball has already gone past you and there's no time to swing. For example I don't recollect (I'm sure I'll be corrected on this one if wrong) McEnroe every playing them but Federer is the undoubted master.

The squash shot is teh result of slower conds, especially balls slowing down drastically past the baseline.

At McEnroe's time, if a ball had past you, you simply could not retrieve it as it carried its pace better. Nowdays the ball slowing down gives the player a better chance to retrieve it and even get it while past him.

I have a SHBH and probably the only one in my club and that's also because I refused to put the other hand on the racquet even while my coach pleaded me to.

When sweetly struck, it gives me the most satisfcation on court (along with down the 'T' ace)

Fedex_the_best wrote:I have a SHBH and probably the only one in my club and that's also because I refused to put the other hand on the racquet even while my coach pleaded me to.

When sweetly struck, it gives me the most satisfcation on court (along with down the 'T' ace)

Good for you Fedex!

I also have to admit bias hanging on to my sliced backhand (like Steffi I'm stubborn to change it) in the forlorn hope wooden rackets make a comeback.

Best first serve? The Swiss Maestro, when on his way to gold back in the 90s some time. Bullets.
Best second serve? B.F Becker, when facing match points against
Best forehand? Rog Fed
Best backhand? Not so fat Dave (i count nadal/connors as having cheating backhands lol)
Best net coverage/volleys? Steven Edberg
Best returner? Richard Krajieck, the year he won Wimbledon
Best retriever (i.e. always gets the ball back in the rally)? Murray (just as good as Nad and the Djoker at retrieving, though with less interest
Most mentally tough? Connors, if you're into that kind of thing
Fittest physically? Rafael Nadal
Best mover? Mecir - for aesthetic reasons. (Federererer for efficiency)

1st serve - karlovic
2nd serve - Sampras
Return - Agassi
FH - Federer
BH - Nalb/Safin
Volleys - Edberg
Overhead - Sampras
Movement - Federer
Mental - Connors/Nadal
Fitness - Nadal/Borg
Defense - Nadal/Djokovic
Transition - federer
Ball bouncing - Djokovic
Butt picking - The Nadull

Looks like Mr Andy Murray is not on anyones list.......

Don Corleone187 wrote:Looks like Mr Andy Murray is not on anyones list.......

Best first serve? Name ends with an "ic" or an "ek" Ivanisevic/Karlovic/Krajicek for 2 weeks in 1996
Best second serve? Sampras
Best forehand? Fed
Best backhand? Kuerten
Best net coverage/volleys? Rafter/Mac
Best returner? Djokovic
Best retriever (i.e. always gets the ball back in the rally)? Djoko/Nadal
Most mentally tough? Connors/Nadal
Fittest physically? Nadal
Best mover? Fed

Best British tennis player since Fred Perry? Murray
Best exponent of MTO? Djokovic/Nadal