Shots that I miss

Well it is slow go till the next slam so I thought I would do this thread as a dedication to the golden not so oldies. When a player leaves the game he takes with him his talents and those wonderful signature shots that he could execute like no other or in a unique way that captures the imagination. We all miss the players, the bygone greats but what shots of the greats do you miss? I put together a list of a few:

Fernando Gonzales' forehand: I miss how from almost any place on the court he would just use every ounce of his body to generate massive pace and spin on that shot. He hit every forehand as if his life depended on it and built a nice career out of it.

McEnroe's serve: yes I love Mac's volleys and half volleys as well but there was something so beguiling about that lefty delivery with all that whip and disguise. No one since has played with a delivery so difficult to read and so well disguised.

Agassi's return: For sheer aggression on the return no one can top Andre, I love the way he would slap a winner on the return then look over at his opponent like hey there is a lot more of that coming and then penguin waddle to the other side non-chalantly

Lendl chip backhand return cross court and short: Lendl was a pretty dull player for much of his career however I used to love watching his chip returns on the backhand the best I have seen. Especially, devastating against a net rusher because he would drop it cross court and low and force the volleyer to dig his little dink out with a desperate lunge, you couldn't get to the net fast enough to pick it off above the net and usually the next shot was a rifled forehand right at your dome or right past you

Sampras' overhead: It was like watching Michael Jordan slam dunk a basketball often it seemed he took of from just inside the baseline hit the ball at the service line straight down into the court, incredible natural athletic coordination and something that you obviously can't just coach

Jim Courier's forehand: The luxilon forehand before the luxilon strings, big red would unload with massive pace and spin you could almost feel the ball howl out in pain and outrage

Please feel free to add shots that you will miss and to comment on my list as well, lets look back and give some the old guys their due

socal1976 wrote:

Agassi's return: For sheer aggression on the return no one can top Andre, I love the way he would slap a winner on the return then look over at his opponent like hey there is a lot more of that coming and then penguin waddle to the other side non-chalantly

Penguin waddle  love it!

This is the shot I miss most. Wimbledon '92 was one of the highlights. I'm sure Becker hadn't even finished his service action before the ball was back and the point won. I also remember Mac lying on the ground shaking his head in disbelief about how he couldn't get past Agassi's defences. All the time Agassi was just examining his racquet strings like he didn't have a care in the world. Brilliant, brilliant stuff.

Yes Carrie, he really did take blasting winners off the return to another level, well we won't see that ever again but thank god for you tube I suppose. Interesting in his book how he talks about the fact that he never really liked Becker.

Great thread.

I echo your sentiments on the Sampras overhead. The master.

Funny thing is, my first adult-ish tennis memories are from when Sampras was at the top and I assumed the overhead was an easy shot. Watching some of Novak's recent travails reminds me that it really isn't!

You're right though, there was something so natural about it. No conscious calculation was apparent at all, it was just a shot he totally 'felt' instinctively.

Overhead is an easy shot for players who instinctively good servers typically Murdoch as it is a very similar motion. But Sampras' overhead was something different no coach would ever try to teach that technique. I mean it was simply suicide to throw a defensive lob at Pete unless you hit that damn thing pretty much perfect. My favorites were the ones where he would leap off on leg and almost look like he was running in mid-air.

Henman's backhand overhead - he was one of the best at that shot. C'mon Tim!

Good call on that Julius a very difficult shot and Henman did excel in that regards.

The Santoro slices were fun to watch. Especially the forehand ones.

But even though its already been said, I have to agree the Agassi return is the one I miss most. Wow what a shot. He never celebrated a winner either. Just bang... And walk off. Brilliant.

Yes Fabrice was quite an artist with that slice Danny and he always played with a smile on his face, I very much miss him on tour.

I miss the pinpoint accuracy of Evert's line painting, the backhand of Henin among others.

Quite agree with you about the hypnotic quality of the McEnroe serve socal.

In my case shots that I miss tend to include forehands, backhands and especially smashes.

In relation to pro players:

Edberg's backhand volley
Goran's serve
Agassi's lobs

Yes TP, I have often wondered why Mac's serve has never been imitated, turning your back like that helps you generate both incredible torque on the ball for slice and spin, also it really prevents your opponent from reading the direction and intention of the server. For awhile Agassi early in his career seemed to try to adopt a right handed version of it although not as extreme as Mac's.

Bornslippy, totally agree on Edberg's backhand volley and his backhand in general was a thing of beauty but the volley really was spectacular if he got his racquet on it he was most likely winning the point.

Roddicks service motion, extremely unorthodox and violent. Skipping all the build up to the serve and just placing his arms where they needed to be and crunching the ball with raw power, and he wasn't a giant either.

- Agassi topspin lob (would land well inside baseline)
- Guga CC BH on the stretch whilst sliding
- Sampras DTTee serve (study the back arch on that)
- Stich serve motion
- Agassi FH ROS DTL (swatted away like an errant fly)
- Henman low volley with pace (as good as Edberg)
- Rafter high BH smash
- Agassi BH dropshot (with ridiculous back/side spin)
- Sampras running FH, DTL or CC
- Goran outwide serve
- Berasategui's weird/amazing SHBH
- Braasch serve motion!



Things I don't miss:
- McEnroe, Edberg or Gustafsson FH
- Lendl FH volley
- Cash general on-court persona (cocky, thought himself as GOAT, 7 career titles said otherwise)
- Rusedski pointing for his towel/comfort blanket

Hi Lydian, am not 100% sure but from my memory I thought it was berasategui's forehand grip that was weird (some sort of super extreme western grip that gave him loads of spin but was not very useful outside of clay). he had tons of power has well. I miss that type of freak player though and wished he could have ended bruguera reign in RG.

lydian wrote:- Agassi topspin lob (would land well inside baseline)
- Guga CC BH on the stretch whilst sliding
- Sampras DTTee serve (study the back arch on that)
- Stich serve motion
- Agassi FH ROS DTL (swatted away like an errant fly)
- Henman low volley with pace (as good as Edberg)
- Rafter high BH smash
- Agassi BH dropshot (with ridiculous back/side spin)
- Sampras running FH, DTL or CC
- Goran outwide serve
- Berasategui's weird/amazing SHBH
- Braasch serve motion!



Things I don't miss:
- McEnroe, Edberg or Gustafsson FH
- Lendl FH volley
- Cash general on-court persona (cocky, thought himself as GOAT, 7 career titles said otherwise)
- Rusedski pointing for his towel/comfort blanket

Good list Lydian particularly the Sampras running forehand I thought of as well but tried to limit it to one shot per player, also loved Pete's second serve as well not much of a drop off there. And Rafter in general is another player I miss all around a great guy on tour and a huge talent one of the last true serve and volleyers. Pat Cash was a bit of a self promoter, he did start the tradition of running into the stands after a wimby victory though if I do remember although I don't know if I like that tradition as much anymore now that it has lost its uniqueness.

Absolutely whocares, an Hawaiian FH so extreme he hit FHs and BHs using the same face of the racquet!
 
In a way socal we're talking about signature shots of players. If a player can leave tour with a signature shot/style that really worked then they made their mark on tennis. As we go forward I suspect there will be less and less signature shots for lots of reasons.

I don't know lydian, I think we see quite a few nice signature shots today. I can think of quite a few. Benoit Paire's backhand is like a rifle shot as a two hander, Richie G has that elegant swashbuckling one hander, Djokovic the backhand from full split, Mayer the leaping backhand. On the forehand side we have Ernest Gulbis' epileptic seizure looking monstrosity, just kidding. But we have Nadal who has the most revolutionary of all fhs, fed who has that classical and beautiful forehand, and Del PO's hammer of the gods.

Nastase's topspin lob.
Pioline's slice backhand.
Graf's forehand DTL.
Bates' backhand return across the body.
Leconte's backhand overhead.
Evert's legs - I mean her drop shot from the baseline

Look out Jubba you are dating yourself with this list, I think I was in grade school when you were drooling over Chrissie's legs. A very interesting list.

Some great nominations so far. A few to add for me:

Henman's half volleys - in particular I remember a forehand half volley dropshot that he liked to play on hard courts and carpet. DC tie against the US (Todd Martin IIRC), he played 2 for winners in the space of about 10 minutes.

Becker's diving volleys.

Mauresmo's backhand groundstroke

Gabriela Sabatini  

It would be interesting to take the shots nominated and try to construct the aesthetically perfect player (say Sampras's serve, Fed's forehand, Henin's BH groundstroke, Edberg's BH volley etc) and the bludgeoning great (Roddick's serve, Courier or Nadal's forehand, Becker's net play, Seles's double handed groundstrokes etc).

Great minds think a like dummy, on this very site I did a thread on constructing the perfect player out of various shots, a Robocop type player. That is a good discussion as well.

Have to concur about Sabatini, she looks incredible even now and she has to be in her late 40s but she still looks like a run way model.

Also have to agree on Boris' diving volleys, he really was an explosive player and athlete when he first broke on the scene. One of my all time favorite players to watch especially on a grass court.

HM Murdoch wrote:Great thread.

I echo your sentiments on the Sampras overhead. The master.

Funny thing is, my first adult-ish tennis memories are from when Sampras was at the top and I assumed the overhead was an easy shot. Watching some of Novak's recent travails reminds me that it really isn't!

You're right though, there was something so natural about it. No conscious calculation was apparent at all, it was just a shot he totally 'felt' instinctively.

I remember my coach telling me that it was a unique ball; the only time you'll ever hit an accelerating ball. I think that's what causes many club players to mess it up, you have to be early on it.

bogbrush wrote: I think that's what causes many club players to mess it up, you have to be early on it.

Not just club players - the current world number 1 seems to have difficulty with it too!