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Who's the more talented player?

  • Andy Roddick

    Votes: 42 56.0%
  • Goran Ivanisevic

    Votes: 33 44.0%

Who's the more talented player? Andy Roddick vs Goran Ivanisevic?

5K views 39 replies 32 participants last post by  born_on_clay 
#1 ·
Discuss.

Fast facts

1. Both players reached Wimbledon finals at least 3 times.
2. Both players are known for their huge huge serves
3. Both guys lead the ATP in ace counts in seperate seasons.
4. Both player's best tournament was Wimbledon.
5. Both guys had marathon matches at Wimbledon finals
6. Both guys had an arch nemesis at Wimbledon, Roddick had Federer, Goran had Sampras.
7. Both guys won a single Slam.
8. Both guys won mostly on faster surfaces
9. A-Rod reached the world no.1 ranking; Goran reached the world no.2 ranking.
10. A-Rod won 32 titles; Goran won 22 titles
11. Both players played each other just once, Goran won that encounter at 2001 Wimbledon
12. Both players have rivals they couldn't beat over their careers.

So what do you think?
 
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#2 ·
Roddick obviously achieved more and had better consistency but Goran was more talented player, just enormous headcase. Don't agree with your fact #8 . Goran was more than useful player on clay. Won multiple titles, reached Masters 1000 final, few times was in semis, beat Muster on clay and other great clay courters
 
#34 ·
Goran by far.. Roddick was a 2 shot pony who was good on 2 surfaces and never developed his game further as his career went on, he was moody, but not a "headcase" per say, he just wasn't good enough to beat the Federer types.

Roddick was all serve, forehand and chip and charge, rubbish at everything else and even his volley stuff wasn't that spectacular.
 
#36 ·
Agreed, but Roddick was weaker every year and didn't want to work because he wasn't very good on fast courts either. He said he stopped obsessing about Federina, then he contradicted himself by saying Federina was so friendly & unmatched in the talent department. Roddick pathetically strayed out of the normal mentality for a good athlete. He knew he was too overweight & injury-prone to last many years against better players (many). The only times he felt happy about playing were when he begged for charity money for his foundation & during the easier Davis Cup ties on medium slow hardcourt. Other times, he was verbally abusive and had to be taught a lesson about respecting the superior players who weren't Federer.

Jimmy Connors admitted that Rodd was uncoachable and lost passion for tennis in 2008.

Ivanisevic was not about money greed like Roddick was. He obviously wasn't looking for a rich celebrity teen girl to get to marry him. He still had the guts to hit winners & serve & volley efficiently. He wasn't choking so bad in many matches, unlike Roddick. Goran retired with no anger and no greedy bitter family members who regretted that he verbally abused anyone. No Goran parents/siblings nagged him for money or hid away from the cameras in shame, unlike the Roddicks.
 
#8 ·
One can just look at their service motions and that tells the tale. Ivanisevic has just a smooth, effortless motion. Way more fluid than Roddick. He's definitely the better athlete.

Also, Ivanisevic was an excellent soccer player.
But Andy is fantastic at table tennis and badminton
 
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#10 ·
Ivanisevic was even more serve-and-forehand than Roddick. His volleys were okay as well, but basically he was a crappy version of Becker who knew that the best way to succeed was to make his already-awkward-to-play lefty serve as unplayable as possible. He was the original servebot.

Ivanisevic has probably the best serve in history but Roddick was far more multi-dimensional, so I rate him as more talented.
 
#14 ·
Goran at some pretty hot streak moments BUT the problem is they were so long and far in between... I think we can all agree that Roddick overall had more weapons and certainly a much better brain for pressure moments and determining what tactics to use against differing opponents. obviously towards the end of his career for some baffling reason Andy just went to his slice in every worrisome situation.

Ivanesivic was not more talented than Andy Roddick, even Goran's best weapon, the serve, is not necessarily better than ROddick's. Roddick better at net, better groundstrokes, etc. certainly better mindset. Goran had a great game for Wimbledon but not as much elsewhere hence all the finals. if you asked who was more deserving of a Wimbledon title, I would say Roddick, and unlike Goran he didn't even get one! I gurantee if Roddick had played in the 90s he would have snagged a Wimbledon title. Federer is just something unparrelled to have on the opposite side of the court in that sort of occasion
 
#24 ·
Goran at some pretty hot streak moments BUT the problem is they were so long and far in between... I think we can all agree that Roddick overall had more weapons and certainly a much better brain for pressure moments and determining what tactics to use against differing opponents. obviously towards the end of his career for some baffling reason Andy just went to his slice in every worrisome situation.

Ivanesivic was not more talented than Andy Roddick, even Goran's best weapon, the serve, is not necessarily better than ROddick's. Roddick better at net, better groundstrokes, etc. certainly better mindset. Goran had a great game for Wimbledon but not as much elsewhere hence all the finals. if you asked who was more deserving of a Wimbledon title, I would say Roddick, and unlike Goran he didn't even get one! I gurantee if Roddick had played in the 90s he would have snagged a Wimbledon title. Federer is just something unparrelled to have on the opposite side of the court in that sort of occasion
Oh dear :facepalm: Are you fucking serious? :spit: :lol:
 
#21 · (Edited)
Judging by the poll it seems most people voted for the best player instead of the most talented.

Although I think Goran is also a better player, I can see why other people don't. And the average MTF'er didn't even follow tennis when Goran played, lol.
 
#23 ·
Ivanisevic by far. No weak shots in the repertoire, even his backhand was good. Unfortunately, the guy was born for circus, not the tennis court.
 
#25 ·
Goran's backhand return was one of the most underrated shots of the 90s. His forehand was more explosive, but his backhand more reliable and consistent. He was a natural athlete and was an excellent footballer, basketball player and cross country runner during his youth. His volleys were mediocre for 90s standards and he wasn't an out and out serve-volleyer at all, but all players not named Agassi thought that they had to regularly come to the net to stand a chance at Wimbledon in the 1990s

I wonder if he got lazy with the rest of his game once he saw what grass and the fast indoor courts could do to his serve. In the early 90s especially, there were many matches on slower surfaces where he was comfortable rallying seemingly all day long before suddenly firing a winner.
 
#27 ·
I never thought I'd praise Duck's game but in relation to Goran's servebot and erratic ball bashing, he seems like a complete player (which he was not). Goran really benefited from the very fast courts and shows why today's courts are a step in the right direction. You have to be a COMPLETE athlete to win today. End of discussion.
 
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#28 ·
Goran for sure. Andy had a better luck though, being American, he got much better coaching and everything that came with it. Most of Andy's titles were on US soil where he always got evening matches while most others were roasting during hot and humid summers.
 
#30 ·
:facepalm:. You're telling me Goran couldn't have gotten top-level coaching if he tried? Come on. And Andy loved playing in the heat, just like Andre. Open organizers gave him night matches cause he drew huge crowds.
 
#31 ·
Roddick. At first I wanted to say Goran, but my memory begins to think that if both were in their best zone, I don't think Goran would have been able to take the kind of ball that Roddick's old FH would have delivered. I honestly think that, to this day, Roddick woul have won so many more majors had he kept such a weapon during the development of his other groundstrokes and overall game.

When it reached the tail end of Roddick's career, it's wierd to say but, his killer FH was the last missing piece of the puzzle for his maxed-out potential. He had that piece in his career early but dropped it somehow along the way :\
 
#37 ·
Roddick. At first I wanted to say Goran, but my memory begins to think that if both were in their best zone, I don't think Goran would have been able to take the kind of ball that Roddick's old FH would have delivered. I honestly think that, to this day, Roddick woul have won so many more majors had he kept such a weapon during the development of his other groundstrokes and overall game.

When it reached the tail end of Roddick's career, it's wierd to say but, his killer FH was the last missing piece of the puzzle for his maxed-out potential. He had that piece in his career early but dropped it somehow along the way :\
:lol:

you obviously hasn't seen much of Goran's tennis. When he was in the zone he was as good as everybody . Literally unplayable.

Comparing these two at their peaks. Roddick would have edge just on FH side and not by much. Lets say they would be equal on the serve and everything else Goran edges more than comfortably
 
#33 ·
Some people are always so quick to buy into media-generated narratives of different players.

The whole "Andy The Blue Collar Player" image didn't even exist until Roddick ditched one of the best weapons on tour and his aggressive game in a misguided attempt at completion. When he was on the rise in '02-'03, pundits were saying just the opposite - that Roddick was a promisingly talented player who was too caught up in a hollywood lifestyle. The stories only changed when Roddick's game did, same with the appraisal. In Wimbledon '04 Mcenroe raved about Roddick's ability to "hit the ball as hard as anybody", and in the very match with Ivanisevic, J-Mac, one of the GOAT volleyers, praised Andy for "beautiful technique" at net. But when Andy got lost in reinvinting himself, outlooks differed.

Ivanisevic, on the other hand, has this reputation as a talented headcase, and that seems to have created some mythical, latent Croat who once sailed the seas with Odysseus and slayed dragons with Beowulf. The fact is, though, the guy did show up in the 90s, especially at Wimbledon, but he routinely got beat by a superior rival, just like Roddick. There's nothing to suppose.

Ivanisevic went several years hitting more than 1k aces and still struggled to win tennis matches, which people attribute to his head by default. Roddick ditched what was then one of the best weapons of his generation and still found success. You tell me who's more talented.
 
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