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5 Forehands With Deadly Finishing Power and Consistency In the Clutch

13K views 129 replies 56 participants last post by  Naudio Spanlatine 
#1 · (Edited)
we have lots of new people here or lots of double accounts or both. either way, its best to start a new discussion on the most important of the 2 strokes.


have at it. you have the floor.

make it fun.

i have no use for voting. discussion is far more important.
 
#90 ·
Re: Let Us Decide On The 5 Greatest Forehands Ever Seen In The Sport

sampy`s forehand was not too shabby but it was no match for lendl` forehand.

people also have to remember that sampy`s serve set up a lot of his forehands.

how big is the forehand in rallies? and how clutch is it when it really counts?

does it have deadly finishing power? and finally the most key criteria: consistency.

and you have to guage its true consistency by placing on clay and see if somebody can produce it over and over and again where even 10 good forehands may not be good enough to win a point.

this is why nadal`s forehand has to rate higher than fed`s forehand.

in fact the more i think about it the more i am wondering if lendl`s forehand should be also near the top.

lend started out as a touring pro without a backhand. all he could do was hit a slice and then he developed a consistent topspin backhand as he knew he had to.

he did not like the net and he did not have a dominating serve. in short, he was a grinder and that is why he took his fitness as high as he could possibly take it.

conclusion: lendl`s forehand had to be deadly and it was. and it had machine like consistency. 8 slams and a total of 19 slams finals suggest that it was more than consistent enough.

so i am now making it the 2nd greatest forehand with fed as the 3rd greatest.

so for me, my revised top 3 :

1. nadal
2. lendl
3. fed
 
#98 ·
Re: Let Us Decide On The 5 Greatest Forehands Ever Seen In The Sport

sampy`s forehand was not too shabby but it was no match for lendl` forehand.

people also have to remember that sampy`s serve set up a lot of his forehands.

how big is the forehand in rallies? and how clutch is it when it really counts?

does it have deadly finishing power? and finally the most key criteria: consistency.

and you have to guage its true consistency by placing on clay and see if somebody can produce it over and over and again where even 10 good forehands may not be good enough to win a point.

this is why nadal`s forehand has to rate higher than fed`s forehand.

in fact the more i think about it the more i am wondering if lendl`s forehand should be also near the top.

lend started out as a touring pro without a backhand. all he could do was hit a slice and then he developed a consistent topspin backhand as he knew he had to.

he did not like the net and he did not have a dominating serve. in short, he was a grinder and that is why he took his fitness as high as he could possibly take it.

conclusion: lendl`s forehand had to be deadly and it was. and it had machine like consistency. 8 slams and a total of 19 slams finals suggest that it was more than consistent enough.

so i am now making it the 2nd greatest forehand with fed as the 3rd greatest.

so for me, my revised top 3 :

1. nadal
2. lendl
3. fed
And you're telling people to lay off the bourbon LOL. Nadal has a tremendous forehand, but it mainly relies on consistency, placement and spin. Hell, without technology in the strings and racket development, Nadal's forehand wouldn't exist as it is today. Nadal will go through matches barely hitting winners off that wing. It isn't his forehand that wins matches, it is his intangibles that make him great. What an utter joke post. Lendl forehand can obviously be argued over other players, but Nadal's to be over players such as Federer and Lendl, LOL.

You should rename this thread "which forehand benefits most from a runner and technology"
 
#105 ·
Del Potro's forehand is very consistent. He lacks variety and placement however.
 
#97 · (Edited)
I am surprised nobody has mentioned Nole's forehand. He can finish a great topspin forehand as well as flat.
 
#99 ·
and i am the one who is at fault with that general T.

nole has one of the most devastating forehands in the game today.

and it has the machine like consistency that is one of my criteria here.

and of course it absolutely has deadly finishing power.

finally everybody got to find out how tough his forehand is in the clutch last year.
 
#108 ·
Too one dimensional and not even even sustained for 1 year.
 
#112 ·
who has seen a few of borg`s matches in person?

any idea on the average speed/velocity of his forehands? i understand he played with donnay wooden racquets that were strung at about 80 pounds.

ball does not look like it is moving very fast from some of the highlight reels i have seen.
 
#114 ·
Roger,Rafa or GONZO-but I will vote for GONZO because he has the great mixture of spin and flat forehand's,when he decides to hit the ball flat it is unstoppable.His return of the second serve is the best ever.Rafa has most consistent forehand in the world. Tsonga,Berdych,DEL PO and Verdasco could hit amazing forehand's but they are not consistent enough,especialy Verdasco.Djokovic forehand has become one of the best-consistent and destructive enough.
 
#116 ·
Gonzalez's FH is a joke as best shot, I mean, he had a looot of power but most of the his strokes were errors, he made a ton of UE

Best FH belongs to Federer, best mix of power + direction + accuracy.
Blake's and DelPo´s are also amazing, not that consistent.
 
#117 ·
IMO it is something like

1. Lendl/Federer
2. Sampras
3 Borg/Nadal

I really think the Borg/Lendl forehands were analogous to the forehands of Nadal/Federer. Borg with great accuracy, placement and consistency while Lendl with the power and clutch. Certainly both, especially Borg's forehand, was ahead of their time. Sampras had a tremendous forehand, but I mean hard to really rate considering playing from the baseline wasn't his biggest strength unlike the others.
 
#123 · (Edited)
I mainly agree with you in the top 3. I don't agree with Nadal /Borg as all time great forehands.
My top 5 are:
1) Lendl
2-3) Federer/Sampras
4) Muster
5) Gonzalez

As I mentioned before there are/were some extraordinary forehands that produce amazing results at their times like Borg/Vilas (they heavy topspin ones were revolutionary on the 70ties), Clerc , Perez-Roldan (on clay), Mancini, Engvist, Bruguera(on clay), Roddick and Nadal.
Enqvist, Clerc for the reasons mentioned before.
I'm not sure if I am forgetting an another one worth to be mentioned.
 
#118 ·
The biggest forehand I have seen belongs to Ivan Lendl.He has no competition on that stroke. Perfect combination of power, control, slow average of unforced mistakes and high average of winners. While he started to rule the points with that stroke he slowly started to hammer and hammer their rivals in order to control the points and it was only a matter of time until he finished them with a winner. He had by far the best forehand I'd evers seen.

People forgot some players of the 80ties and 90ties with amazing forehands as Jose Luis Clerc, Guillermo Perez Roldan and Alberto Mancini. Amazing forehands with big power but quite unstable. On the 80ties Perez Roldan used to have one of the biggest forehands on clay courts. Clerc on the late 70ties and early 80ties was one of the few players that managed to overpower Lendl.

On the 90ties Thomas Enqvist was one that used to overpower Andre Agassi. Enqvist had an amazing power on his forehand (and backhand too).
 
#120 ·
Murray's forehand is hihgly underrated here. One of the deadliest most realible especially on clutch moments. At its peak it can blow anyone off the court with its power and pace hardly ever missing at all. Has also a lot of variety in it. Can push and moonball when he needs to :yeah:
 
#122 ·
Hilarious to see people argue that Nadal has the best forehand ever. It is a great shot no doubt but far from the best forehand ever. If he had the best forehand ever he would've won more than 2 hardcourt slams (or is it 3?).
 
#125 ·
yep, Sampras's forehand is often underrated

If we considering entire carriers imo the closest would be something like 1.Fed/Lend 2.Sampras . If we look at peak versions Fed has the edge, at those times unplayable shots. But again half of shot is inside of footwork so this opens new debate...
 
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