Mana Games

[Callan09]

My favourite player on the ATP tour is Lleyton Hewitt, as i play just like him. My serve is weak but accurate, i dont volley much, but have great behind-baseline strokes and i am good at hitting winners when on the back foot.

For the WTA, i dont really support any player, but i would like to see more of Anne Keothavong now that she is in the top 50

[R.Gasquet]

As you might have guessed, my favourite player is Richard Gasquet. Mainly because I feel he plays great tennis when hes on his best form. I kinda play like him, shitty forehand and pretty good backhand

On the wta, its Ana Ivanovic, and similarly with Gasquet, I love the tennis she plays when shes on form

[gavbo]

As you might have guessed, my favourite player is Richard Gasquet. Mainly because I feel he plays great tennis when hes on his best form. I kinda play like him, shitty forehand and pretty good backhand

On the wta, its Ana Ivanovic, and similarly with Gasquet, I love the tennis she plays when shes on form

Of course it's cause of Ivanovic's tennis

Well my favourite player on the ATP is JCF. I like his powerful forehand and the way he conveys himself on the court. Unfortunaltly he seems to be a bit past it now.

It's Ivanovic for me on the WTA

[Togtdyalttai]

As you probably guessed by my avatar, my favorite ATP player is James Blake. I love how he can blow people off the court when he's on, though he might be past that now. I also love his character off court. Hard to find a nicer player out there.

For WTA, Venus Williams is my favorite. The reasons why I like her are pretty similar to the reasons why I like James.

[kyuuji]

Oh, I love many tennis player as Lleyton Hewitt, Andy Roddick, Novak Djokovic, Richard Gasquet.
But my first favourite is Andy Roddick simply because he has a very good serve, and he has a great power when he hits the ball.
2- Lleyton Hewitt, he is very good, his serve needs more power, he needs more POWER when he hits the ball, but he wins matches without power!
3- Novak Djokovic, what to say, his power is good, sometimes he hits the balls with a "Western Grip" but now not really and I like it
4- Richard Gasquet, a beautiful and one of the best backhand in the ATP. He plays great tennis when hes on his best form.

[Acid_Spot]

I have only one really favourite player,Lindsay Davenport,but im not going to limit myself only to her as i will also review some of my other favourites:

Lindsay Davenport-a true joy to my eye,this tech machine could hit a winner down the line from any point of the court.The most powerful women tennis player ever to date.A great doubles player.True champoin and a great sportsman.

Monica Seles-no need to introduce this legend.Skillful,unordinary,loud-she became one of the greatest promoters of tennis around the world.It feels like even when i watched her in 2002/3 she was like playing here first year in the tour.Always hungry for success.

Andre Agassi-the long haired boy turned into elegant gentleman,remaining himslef.Charismatic,longliving and having the impression of ''theres something about this guy outside the court'' feeling caught my eye too.He just seemed to know exactly what he was doing when playing.He's the agressive defender to me.

Other players:
Serena Williams-when she has no physical troubles there is no one out there from WTA that could beat her.The best player of her generation.
Elena Dementieva-love her game.I just cant watch her play without personaly getting attached to the match.
Nastq Myskina-one of the last 'beautiful' players.She made the game so easy and flawless.She was not playing-she was floating.
Marat Safin-There is no one like Marat out there.He could have done much more troughout his career i beleive,not that he has achieved something mediocre.
Anna Kournikova-The most underrated player i have known.She was so beautiful on the court (i dont mean the legs) and so skilled.She had great forehand and a drop shot to die for.
Natalie Tauziat-the short french was the last 'real' serve-volley player on the WTA.So nice to be watching that.Todays female players are just punchers.
Aga Radwanksa-one of the few newcomers i admire.There is so much to happen to this girl,and yet she has a Martina Hingis game alike.Smart,spontanious and very combinative,there is no other young player like Aga.

[Leena]

Elena Bovina - I saw her play US Open Qualies when she was 16. A very tall Russian girl with such a huge game and always had a big smile on her face. One of the sweetest people I've ever talked to. Unfortunately, her career has been a sad story for the last 5 years, both on and off the court, but she'll always be my favorite.

Ivo Karlovic - Not because of the serve, but the enormous improvements he made with the rest of his game to reach the top 20. People still mock Ivo, but he couldn't even play any rallies for the first decade of his career, now he's built a huge forehand and weirdly effective backhand slice from scratch. Plus, I can relate with him... I'm a 6'2 female with a big serve, and horrible everywhere else.

Thomas Muster - The toughest player ever. Inspired me to start playing tennis.

Nikolay Davydenko - Just because he's been in the top 10 for many years, and still receives no respect. Then, the gambling stuff, which he had nothing to do with, and still gets insulted for it. If only his serve wasn't so weak.

Arthur Ashe - Difficult to find any matches with him, but his game was so beautiful to watch. Tennis will never be the same to me since racket technology has killed serve & volley tennis.

Irina Spirlea and Nathalie Tauziat - Because they're mean bitches.

Elena Dementieva, Dominika Cibulkova, MaliVai Washington, Pat Rafter - Players I want do naughty things with.

[Togtdyalttai]

I'm a 6'2 female with a big serve, and horrible everywhere else.

Your game is like the Akgul's! Where's she on your list?

[K Z]

Hi everybody
My favourite ATP player is Roger Federer , bkoz of course , he's The best player of the History , added to that his charism and his personnality , He's just great
And My favourite WTA player is Maria Sharapova , bkoz ....... u know ! ... bkoz ... bkoz she is Maria Sharapova lol

[btaylor]

Sweet Pete!

Pete Sampras, besides having arguably the best and most effective serve in the history of the game (Roddick, eat your heart out) also ranks right up there with the absolute best volleyers in the history of the game...

When he was younger he also possessed a devastating ground game, especially his spectacular running forehand...
His topspin backhand was more effective when he was younger, but deteriorated as he got older especially when defending on slower surfaces..(more on this later).

Of most importance, though, is that he had the common sense to know where his strengths lied and as he got older, that he'd best not fart around too long in the backcourt trading groundstrokes ad nauseum...

I really, really miss the s/v players and imo the slowing down of virtually ALL the surfaces ( especially Wimbledon) has as at least as much, if not more, to do with the decline of these types of players than just the racquet technology...

Case in point; poor Tim Henman, besides losing to some of the best s/v players of all time, had to compete under enormous pressure from the Brits even as they seemed to throw every conceivable object in his path, what with slowing down the courts for the clay courters and even using heavier,flatter balls...

Had the tennis establishment not succumbed to public pressure that s/v tennis was "too fast" and "boring", I wonder if we would be having all these conversations now about Nadal's baseline bashing on all surfaces (including Wimbledon).
Federer would've been able to adapt, after all, besides being an "all courter", he actually DID beat "The Sweet One" on the hallowed faster courts of Wimbledon by serving & volleying...

After the endless, but nonetheless entertaining rallies of the red clay, I always looked forward to the shorter, more violent, but no less elegant, tactics of grass court play, the "crack" of the serves and 1st volleys echoing throughout the Wimbledon Stadium...(sigh)

If variety is the "spice of life" it was truly the best of times...

p.s. Leena, whatever did happen to Elena Bovina? I seem to have lost track of her...

[R.Gasquet]

In my opinion, the era of serve and volley sucked. Its just too repetitive. At least nowadays you see a mix of S&V and baseline play

[S.Williamz]

In my opinion, the era of serve and volley sucked. Its just too repetitive. At least nowadays you see a mix of S&V and baseline play

Where do you see S&V play? LOL This is the era of baseliners, there is basically zero S&V after Tim Henman retired. But I enjoy the baseline game so I don't mind.

[btaylor]

If s/v tennis sucked and was so "boring" and " repetitive", what's more boring and repetitive than watching endless rallies where the players do NOTHING BUT bash the ball back and forth ad nauseum?
Hell, most of the pro players can't figure a way to properly hit an APPROACH SHOT to get into proper position in order to be ABLE to hit a DECENT volley, even if you held their mothers hostage!!
They all approach crosscourt with topspin, instead of down the line with flat or sliced strokes, all the while opening the court up against themselves. Even Federer does it (which might help contribute some as to why his effectiveness is plummeting against "ordinary" players, let alone the Nadals, Murrays, and Djokovics of the world... )

Don't get me wrong, while I too, like to see some good rallies, nothing pisses me off more than to watch a 25 ball rally end up with a STUPID crosscourt approach shot only to see the opponent easily smack the ball down the line for an outright winner because these "fools" ( Roddick is a prime example ) slit their OWN throats because either they don't know any better, or because their coaches are too worried about their paychecks to insist that their charges learn proper approach/volley technique...

Even if the pundits declare that it's impossible to play s/v tennis in the "modern" era, it may just be AS possible if the young junior players are properly taught the s/v technique at an earlier age...instead of just smacking forehands and two-hand backhands back and forth...

If it's not practiced then it cannot be learned...

At any rate, the grasscourt season is only a very short one, and even though some skills of serve and volley would surely help out on other surfaces, I feel that it's refreshing to see something besides "All ball bashing ALL the time"...

Besides...a wise man once said that "variety is the spice of life"

[Brad1981]

Stefan Edberg, Pete Sampras, and Roger Federer are my favorites. 1 for each era.
I like Edberg's grace and sportsmanship. I like Sampras's sportsmanship and his able to play through tough times on and off the court. And I like the way Federer carries himself and his sportsmanship. All 3 people you can't say a bad word about. I feel most close to Sampras, because he perseveres and finds a way most of the time. He's got the best mental toughness of anybody. And my dad had the same illness that Sampras' coach Tim Gullikson had, and Pete pulled thru this match in the Aussie Open against Courier. And I had a match the same day I learned of my dad's illness, but it wasn't nearly as tough. I can empathize with Sampras in so many ways. He was also my dad's favorite player.

[Togtdyalttai]

[...]Besides...a wise man once said that "variety is the spice of life"

I take it you're a serve-volley player yourself?

I feel most close to Sampras, because he perseveres and finds a way most of the time. He's got the best mental toughness of anybody.

I would argue that Nadal's mental toughness is better, but I think that we'll learn more as he gets into the latter stages of his career.