[Sophocles]

Current form:

Djokovic
Forehand: 8.5
Backhand topspin/flat: 9.5
Backhand slice: 5
Serve: 7
Return: 10
Net play: 5
Physical Strength & Fitness: 10
Mental Strength: 9.5
Tactics: 7
Movement: 10

Nadal
Forehand: 9
Backhand topspin/flat: 7
Backhand slice: 5
Serve: 7
Return: 8
Net play: 6
Physical Strength & Fitness: 10
Mental Strength: 9
Tactics: 7.5
Movement: 10

Federer
Forehand: 9
Backhand topspin/flat: 6.5
Backhand slice: 8
Serve: 9
Return: 7
Net play: 7.5
Physical Strength & Fitness: 8
Mental Strength: 8
Tactics: 8.5
Movement: 9

Murray
Forehand: 6.5
Backhand topspin/flat: 9
Backhand slice: 8
Serve: 7
Return: 9.5
Net play: 7
Physical Strength & Fitness: 9
Mental Strength: 7
Tactics: 7
Movement: 8.5

Totals (out of 100)
Djokovic: 81.5
Nadal: 78.5
Federer: 80.5
Murray: 78.5

Hmm, not sure about that.

[sexybeast]

Rafa's forehand must be one of the most underrated shots in the game, no one gives it a 10 and few even give it a 9?

I would say Federer and Nadal have the best forehands in the history of the game for very different reasons, both deserve a perfect 10 on fh.

On their peak:

Djokovic
Forehand: 8.5
Backhand topspin: 9
Backhand slice: 4
Serve: 7
Return: 10
Net play: 4
Physical Strength & Fitness: 10
Mental Strength: 10
Tactics: 8
Movement: 10

Nadal
Forehand: 10
Backhand topspin/flat: 7
Backhand slice: 5
Serve: 7 (usopen 2010 9/Wimbledon: 8.5)
Return: 8
Net play: 6
Physical Strength & Fitness: 10
Mental Strength: 9.5
Tactics: 7
Movement: 10

Federer
Forehand: 10
Backhand topspin/flat: 6.5
Backhand slice: 10
Serve: 9
Return: 8.5 (Federer 2012: 7)
Net play: 8
Physical Strength & Fitness: 9 (today:8)
Mental Strength: 7
Tactics: 8.5
Movement: 9 (today:8)

[Slice Winner]

Originally Posted by sexybeast

Rafa's forehand must be one of the most underrated shots in the game, no one gives it a 10 and few even give it a 9?

I went through the thread. 14 people gave it either a 9 or higher.
What are you on about?

[BIGMARAT]

Originally Posted by Sapeod

CURRENT VERSONS:

DJOKOVIC: 51/60
Forehand - 8, fairly good but nowhere near the best.
Backhand - 10, joint with Murray as the best on tour.
Serve - 8, nothing majorly special.
Physical Strength & Fitness - 9, he regularly gets tired and exhausted in his matches. Of course, this could just be an act. Knowing Djokovic, it probably is, so he gets a 9.
Mental Strength - 9, nothing wrong with his mentality, but he doesn't like it when crowds are cheering for his opponent
Tactics - 7. He has no tactics. He just grinds. However, he can do far more than Nadal can.

NADAL: 42/60
Forehand - 7, not great.
Backhand - 7, not great.
Serve - 5, he has a horrible serve
Physical Strength & Fitness - 9, is falling.
Mental Strength - 9, same as ever.
Tactics - 5. Nadal has tactics? He just grinds, like Djokovic.

FEDERER: 44/60
Forehand - 8, still very good.
Backhand - 5, to be honest, it's a joke.
Serve - 7, not as good anymore.
Physical Strength & Fitness - 9, he is old now, but there's nothing wrong with him physically.
Mental Strength - 8, still relatively strong.
Tactics - 7, not as good as they once were.

MURRAY: 52/60
Forehand - 8, very good atm. Far better than what it used to be.
Backhand - 10, joint with Djokovic as the best on tour.
Serve - 8, on and off, though very good when it's on.
Physical Strength & Fitness - 9, one of the fittest guys on tour, though he does get days when he's unsually tired.
Mental Strength - 7, looking better, but it's still not the best.
Tactics - 10, currently the best tactical player on tour. That's how he plays.


PEAK VERSIONS:

DJOKOVIC: 51/60
The same as his current version.
Forehand - 8, fairly good but nowhere near the best.
Backhand - 10, joint with Murray as the best on tour.
Serve - 8, nothing majorly special.
Physical Strength & Fitness - 9, he regularly gets tired and exhausted in his matches. Of course, this could just be an act. Knowing Djokovic, it probably is, so he gets a 9.
Mental Strength - 9, nothing wrong with his mentality, but he doesn't like it when crowds are cheering for his opponent
Tactics - 7 (He has no tactics. He just grinds. However, he can do far more than Nadal can.)

FEDERER: 59/60
Forehand - 10, the best.
Backhand - 10, amazing.
Serve - 10, unbreakable.
Physical Strength & Fitness - 10, one of the fittest and strongest guys ever. Hardly ever got injured.
Mental Strength - 9, not the best, but still very good.
Tactics - 10, unstoppable.

NADAL: 45/60
Forehand - 8, overrated, but still very good.
Backhand - 7, it's never been great.
Serve - 6, has always been mediocre.
Physical Strength & Fitness - 10, one of the best, though his constant timeouts would get him a lower score, if it wasn't for the fact that they're all fake.
Mental Strength - 9, very good usually.
Tactics - 5, he's just a grinder.

MURRAY: 52/60
Forehand - 8, very good atm. Far better than what it used to be.
Backhand - 10, joint with Djokovic as the best on tour.
Serve - 8, on and off, though very good when it's on.
Physical Strength & Fitness - 9, one of the fittest guys on tour, though he does get days when he's unsually tired.
Mental Strength - 7, looking better, but it's still not the best.
Tactics - 10, currently the best tactical player on tour. That's how he plays.

Yes, I know I put Murray above peak Djokovic, but that's based on these categories. Overall, Djokovic is obviously better atm, though Murray is very close and at his peak, would be on a similar, if not higher, level.

Based on this scores, MURRAY SHOULD BE THE ONE WINNINGS SLAMS!!!! LMAO!!!

[Arakasi]

Originally Posted by sexybeast

Rafa's forehand must be one of the most underrated shots in the game, no one gives it a 10 and few even give it a 9?

Even at his peak Nadal's forehand was attackable on hardcourts and low bouncing surfaces. He's always had the tendency to drop it short when he isn't completely confident. If you give a shot a 10, to me that means it should be perfect or at least near to it.

If you limit it to just clay courts then his forehand is a 10.

[stewietennis]

Nadal's crosscourt/inside-out forehands are a 10 however when he gets into rallies in the middle of the court his forehand gets downgraded to a 7 due to it dropping short a lot of the time. Federer's forehand can be consistently ranked between 8-9 because it's usually hit with a lot of pace, placed correctly and lands close to the baseline.

[sexybeast]

Originally Posted by stewietennis

Nadal's crosscourt/inside-out forehands are a 10 however when he gets into rallies in the middle of the court his forehand gets downgraded to a 7 due to it dropping short a lot of the time. Federer's forehand can be consistently ranked between 8-9 because it's usually hit with a lot of pace, placed correctly and lands close to the baseline.

Rafa's forehand maybe is a 7-8 when he is playing Djokovic because he cant penetrate Djokovic's defense unlike Federer with his forehand but on the other hand when Federer was playing Rafa in Australia Rafa's forehand was more effective because Rafa's forehand penetrates Feds defense and also he never have any UEs on that side, Federer on the other hand was unable to penetrate Rafa's defense in that match and was hiting loads of UEs.

Feds forehand is prone to easy mistakes when he cant penetrate his opponents (doesnt happen too often), Rafa's forehand is prone to get shorter and shorter during rallies if he is unable to decide early on with a big forehand, on the other hand his defense on his forehand side is incredible during these rallies.

Neither is "perfect" but better than any forehand I have seen with modern raquet, maybe 9.5 would be the right score for both of them. Anyway, it is all about matchup, Djokovic's safe and still aggressive forehand is better against Nadal than Federer's risktaking forehand.