Survey - The perfect tennis player 2020
If you could make a perfect professional out of all the players who are currently on the ATP tour - what would he look like? We asked around.
by tennisnet.com
last edit: Dec 23, 2020, 07:02 pm
The serve from that, the backhand from that and the footwork from a third. The whole thing was spiced up with the volley of player X. We asked a group of 29 experts which strokes they would assign to a perfect player from the current ATP tour.
And this is what the panel looks like that thought about the tennisnet survey. First of all, the experts who have stood on the court themselves and have shown great achievements there. Or still show: Barbara Rittner (Head of Women's Tennis at DTB), Michael Kohlmann (Head of Men's Tennis at DTB), Barbara Schett-Eagle (former top ten player, now Eurosport presenter), Jürgen Melzer (two-time major champion in doubles, soon to be ÖTV sports director), Lars Uebel (head of competitive sports at the TennisBase in Oberhaching), Alexander Peya (double ace on the way back), Christopher Kas (ex-professional, currently coach of Peter Gojowczyk), Tobias Summerer (ex-coach of Florian Maier, currently coach at BTV) and Jan de Witt (Break Point Base, currently coach of Nikoloz Basilashvili)
The following specialists from the circle of journalists took part: Andrej Antic (editor-in-chief tennisMAGAZIN), Christian Barschel (tennisMAGAZIN), Doris Henkel (FAZ), Gerald Kleffmann (SZ), Jörg Allmeroth (Allmeroth Media), Marcel Meinert (Sky), Paul Häuser (Sky), Oliver Faßnacht (Eurosport), Sebastian Kayser (BILD), Stefan Hempel (Sky), Moritz Lang (Sky), Christian Schwell (clay court gods), Alexander Tagger (Kleine Zeitung), Harald Ottawa (courier), Florian Regelmann ( spox.com), Florian Goosmann, Nikolaus Fink (tennisnet), Michael Rothschädl (tennisnet) and Jens Huiber (sportradio360).
The result? And please: the perfect tennis player in 2020
Serve: John Isner (USA)
When it really comes down to avoiding tedious rallies, John Isner is still the first point of contact. The US-American has 20.6 aces per match in his statistics again in 2020, which is worthy of all honor. And the experts a total of 44 points. Roger Federer follows in second place with 28 points, closely followed by Nick Kyrgios (26). Milos Raonic (19), Ivo Karlovic (18), Reilly Opelka (2), Matteo Berrettini (2) and Rafael Nadal (1) were also mentioned.
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Forehand: Rafael Nadal (ESP)
Anyone who gets into the forehand mill of the Spanish grandmaster can basically write off the rally. Nadal scored 57 points in our forehand survey, here too Roger Federer is in second place (39 points), this time ahead of Juan Martin del Potro (29). This is followed by Dominic Thiem (15), Matteo Berrettini (3), Fabio Fognini (2) and Jack Sock, Nick Kyrgios, Stefanos Tsitsipas and Andy Murray , each with one point.
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Backhand: Novak Djokovic (SRB)
Actually, Novak Djokovic not only convinces with the stability of his backhand, but also with magical stops from this side. Most recently seen in Roland Garros. In any case, the expert commission agreed on the best backhand player: Djokovic leads this category with 58 points, ahead of Stan Wawrinka (25) and Dominic Thiem (22). In the other places are Alexander Zverev (12), Roger Federer (10), Andy Murray (8), Rafael Nadal (7), Daniil Medvedev (6) and Nick Kyrgios and Stefanos Tsitsipas (1 each).
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Volley: Roger Federer (SUI)
No, we only added the double specialists with one well-founded exception. But: Roger Federer would also do outstandingly in pair skating with his volleyball skills. In our rating, the maestro "wins" with 63 points, yes, Rafael Nadal (24) and Pierre-Hugues Herbert (13). Feliciano Lopez (7) and Mischa Zverev (5) can also do a lot of good things on the net. Dustin Brown scored two points for himself. Each one was named with a counter: Jack Sock, Nicolas Mahut, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Denis Shapovalov, Alexander Zverev, Daniil Medvedev, Andreas Mies and Kevin Krawietz.
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Defensive: Novak Djokovic (SRB)
Yes, it's true: Against Novak Djokovic, the respective opponent must make every point at least twice. Which applies to Rafael Nadal to almost the same extent. Which is why the result in this category was really close: Djokovic 60, Nadal 47. Daniil Medvedev (12) and Dominic Thiem (9) also know how to defend themselves. The other ranking: Andy Murray (6), Diego Schwartzman (4), Alex de Minaur (2), Gael Monfils (1), Jannik Sinner (1) and Roger Federer (1).
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Footwork: Novak Djokovic (SRB)
The best legs are the basis for the best defense. So Novak Djokovic also leads in this category with 65 points ahead of Rafael Nadal (31). Roger Federer's 39-year-old legs are still recognized as good (20 points). This is followed by Dominic Thiem (14), Alex de Minaur (6), Gael Monfils (3), Diego Schwartzman (3), Andy Murray (2) and Daniil Medvedev (1).
Mental strength: Rafael Nadal (ESP)
In this respect, too, the two world ranking leaders are far above their colleagues in the opinion of the panel: Rafael Nadal got 68 points, Novak Djokovic 52. Roger Federer (11) and Daniil Medvedev are also said to have strong nerves. It continues with Dominic Thiem (6), Andy Murray (4) and Jannik Sinner (1).
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