Best player at Clay Court in the present era!

The clay court is considered to be one of the toughest surfaces in the world of tennis where major players find it tough to fight against the unseeded players. It requires sheer hard work and fitness to play the shots at clay court due to the resistance provided by the clay while playing shots. The French Open Grand Slam tournament which is played on clay court surface is known to be the tournament where major upsets can be expected. The reason for this to happen is that the players start playing tennis in the hard court from the start of their career and adjust to that surface and when it comes to playing at clay court struggles start.

Rafael Nadal, who is a professional tennis player from Spain, is known to be the best clay court player who has won eighty-one (81) matches at the clay court which is a world record. Rafael Nadal has won four consecutive French Open Grand Slam tournaments from 2005 to 2008 by beating different ranked players including world number one Roger Federer. Nadal’s nine wins out of thirteen over the world number one has come on a clay court surface which shows his dominance on the clay court. Due to his active fitness footwork and sheer power in the shots he has achieved great success on the clay court. Nadal has successfully equalled the record of Bjorn Borg of 6 French Open titles which clearly shows his dominance and grip on clay win. Out of ten grand slams for Nadal, 6 titles are won on the Clay surface (French Open) which explains why people call Nadal, The Clay King! 

Tennis techniques and skills: Backhand

Tennis is an art of playing shots and services with sheer power, expert skill and mental as well as physical toughness. One needs to master all the shots of this game in order to become a champion. If only a particular shot is a weakness of a player, it is exploited to the full by the opposition. Here, let us learn about playing the backhand shot in the game of tennis. The backhand shot is played by swinging the racquet around the player’s body with the direction where a player wants the ball to go. For a left-handed player, backhand shot start at the right hand side of the body, swings around while hitting the ball and finishes at the left hand side of the body. It is exactly the opposite for the right-handed players, as it starts at the left hand side of the body, swings across and ends at the right hand side of the body.

Because of the reason that player’s main hand is pulled into the shot, the backhand shot generally lacks consistency and power and it is considered to be one of the most difficult shots to master. Backhand shots can be played either with a single-hand or double-handed Double-hand backhand shots apply more power and accuracy in comparison to single-hand backhand shot.

In the current players, Roger Federer is renowned for his absolutely fantastic backhand. The confidence in his backhand has been his greatest strength and he still displays brilliant game by surprising his opponents. 

Male tennis players who are Best at Hard Court

Tennis is a game of sheer skill, mental and physical toughness, and true effort of an individual. The game of tennis is played on different kind of courts and according to the court type, domination of players differs. It is observed that a player like Roger Federer is a champion at grass court whereas Rafael Nadal is good on clay. But, let us look at the players that are good at hard court or hard surface. The indoor tournaments offer hard surfaces along with Australian Open and US Open. Not every player has the potential to perform well on the hard court. 

Currently, Andy Murray is considered to be the best amongst the male players at the hard court with his best showings on hard surface. Andy has managed to win most of his games on hard court.

Juan Martin Del Potro is number two with his major career title on this surface. He defeated Roger Federer in the 2009 U.S. Open to win the maiden Grand Slam of his career and since then he has impressed in games on hard court.

Roger Federer is a champion player and he has also shown his abilities on hard court with winning major titles like the Australian and U.S. Opens several times. Even though, he hasn’t shown the best of results on hard surfaces but has managed to show strong skills.

Andy Roddick is another player who has shown his strong skills on a hard surface by winning the major title of the U.S. Open. Due to the hardness of the court, this surface suits him best with his natural attacking game.

Famous male tennis players: Tommy Haas

Famous male tennis player Thomas “Tommy” Haas is a German professional tennis player who has currently lost his ranking in ATP rankings due to continuous injuries. He started to play his version of tennis at the small age of two and at the age of five he won his first youth tournament. He was such a good talent that well-known tennis guru, Nick Bollettieri offered him a place at his tennis academy for free and Haas moved to Florida at the age of thirteen. His best record at a Grand Slam event is the semi-final of Wimbledon in 2009. He has won a Silver Medal in 2000 Olympics playing for his home country, Germany. Year 2010 went bad for Tommy Haas as he suffered through many injuries which hampered his performance considerably, limiting his winning streak.

German tennis player, Tommy Haas is an all-round all-court player with a versatile style of play. He has the ability to play powerful ground strokes from both wings and plays powerful volleys with the ability to transit to the nets. Tommy Haas has no particular style of playing but he adjusts his game according to the game of his opponent. The biggest strength of Tommy Haas is his powerful one-handed backhands that are amongst the best in world tennis. He also plays good forehand shots. But, his inability to perform consistently and mental stability costs him games rather than technical difficulties. Tommy Haas is considered to be the hottest tennis player due to his stern body and hot looks.

Famous female tennis players: Svetlana Kuznetsova

Famous female tennis player Svetlana Kuznetsova is a Russian born tennis professional who is currently ranked 27 in Women’s Tennis. She has won two tennis Grand Slam singles titles during her career and has been runner up in other Grand Slam finals. She is a reigning French Open champion and she also won the US Open title in 2004. Kuznetsova was a runner up in the French Open in 2004 and Us Open in 2007. She has born to a coach father who has coached five world and Olympic cycling champions. Kuznetsova could not keep up with her winning streak in year 2008 where she reached only two finals. She kept losing to seeded players and ended as World No. 8 at the year end which made her the only women tennis player to be among top ten best female tennis players with no title. The performance of Russian tennis player Kuznetsova improved in year 2009 when her ranking improved to 3 but she could not retain this ranking and fell to World No. 27 in year 2010 which is her lowest career ranking.

Svetlana Kuznetsova is an all-around tennis player who can play good tennis on any kind of surface, be they grass or clay courts. Her strong game depends on her powerful services and heavy forehand shots. Svetlana’s services are generally aided by her strong physique and she is considered to be one of the most powerful women along with the two famous tennis players Venus and Serena Williams. It has been accepted by many tennis experts that her inside-out forehand shots are the best in the world. Svetlana can play winners from both wings. Svetlana has effective volley shots and she is also effective providing a deft touch. The footwork applied by Svetlana makes her game stronger and she is considered to be one of those rare players who can move and play on any type of court.

Famous female tennis player: Venus Williams

Famous female tennis player Venus Williams, the older sister of current world number one Serena Williams, has been world number one three times in the history of world tennis. Currently, she has lost her top rankings due to continuous injuries in the Women’s Tennis Association. Ms. Venus Williams has won twenty one Grand Slams in her career to date. Out of these titles, she has won seven titles in the singles, twelve Grand Slams in women’s doubles, and two titles have been won in mixed doubles. Even after sliding to the 19th rank, Venus Williams has won three Grand Slam titles, but due to her inconsistency she is not climbing up the rankings order. She makes the best pair with her younger sister, famous USA tennis player Serena Williams in women’s double events.

Basically, Venus is a powerful baseliner on the tour as well as having an attacking court game. Her game is very much adapted to grass where she is plays most comfortably and this directly reflects in the results of her Grand Slams. She has won five Wimbledon Grand Slams. In her career she has become expert volleyer and started using the long wingspan around the net. She has a record of fastest service in the women’s competition in the game overall as well as in all Grand Slam competitions. Venus Williams also holds the record of playing the longest Wimbledon match against famous female tennis player, Lindsay Davenport. Venus Williams also holds the record for fastest serve 130 mph (209.2147 km/h, 58.12 m/s) and is considered to have one of the best serves in the world of women tennis. 

Famous male tennis player: Roger Federer

There is no need to introduce the world’s greatest tennis player who has won the highest number of Grand Slams (16) in the entire history of the world of tennis. The 29 year old Swiss tennis player, Roger Federer has proved his metal by making an appearance in twenty two Grand Slam finals, winning 16 of them. He also holds the record of reaching twenty seven Grand Slam semi finals and 23 consecutive Grand Slam semi-finals. Roger Federer is one of six players who have won all the Grand Slams in their career.He held the ATP No.1 rank for record 237  consecutive weeks. Federer has won a record 6 ATP World Tour Finals and 18 ATP Masters Series. He also won the Olypmpic Gold medal in doubles with his compatriot Wawrinka at the 2008 Summer Olypmic games. 

The Swiss legendary tennis player Roger Federer has one more record of reaching to ten consecutive Grand Slam finals and reaching the finals of seventeen out of the last eighteen Grand Slam tournaments. According to experts, he has nothing to prove now as he has shown his capabilities. For such a great achievement, the greatest tennis player Roger Federer has been awarded with the World Sportsman of the Year for four (2005-2008) consecutive years. Roger Federer has been also named in the list of top 100 important people of the year by Time Magazine in 2007. In 2009, Roger Federer has been named as ITF male tennis player of the year. Recently, Roger Federer has been named the second most reliable and trustworthy person, only second to Nelson Mandela.

Although Federer has lost his top rank and grand slam title deficient, but his achievements and respect in the world of sports are pouring in!

Famous male tennis player: Robin Soderling

Famous male tennis player Robin Soderling is a Swedish professional tennis player who is currently ranked at number 14 in the world of tennis. Robin Soderling is the only player to defeat the Clay King Spanish tennis player Rafael Nadal in the French Open 2009 Grand Slam title where he eventually lost to the greatest tennis player Roger Federer but the 2009 French Open was his best Grand Slam record. Robin Soderling is the only Swedish player to rank in the top 100 in the ATP rankings. In the first tournament of 2010, he created an upset by defeating the world’s top seeded player, Roger Federer. The rivalry of Robin Soderling and Rafael Nadal is very well known. Even though, record is in the favour of Rafael Nadal with a score of 3-2 but their last two encounters were won by Soderling. In year 2010, the Swedish tennis player, Robing Soderling reached 3 finals including the final of Roland Garros for second consecutive year and won two ATP World Tour titles. On record, he won 57 matches during 2010 which helped him attain his present ranking.

Robin Soderling is known for the power game he plays. He plays a power service as well as power ground stroke which makes it difficult for his opponents to break his service. He is one of the very few players on the tour who can play forehand as well as backhand shots with the same power. Even though, he has reached the finals of the 2009 French Open. His best performances have come on the indoor surfaces and hard courts.

Famous male tennis players: Rafael Nadal

Rafael Nadal is currently ranked world number two Spanish player in the world of tennis who has won 10 grand slams in his career to date out of which he owns 6 French grand slam titles, equalling Borg record. Rafael Nadal was formerly number one player from August, 2008 to July, 2009. He lost his number one spot because of injuries so he could not play certain big tournaments. But he came back very strong and regained his No. 1 spot after winning grand slams. Rafael Nadal was the only player to hold simultaneous clay court Grand Slams for which he was awarded the name of “The King of Clay”.

Rafael Nadal has won a total of six Grand Slams, the 2008 Olympic gold medal and was the part of the Spanish team that won the Davis Cup in year of 2004 and 2009. He has one Australian Open title (2009), five French Open titles (2005 to 2008 and 2010) and two Wimbledon title (2008 and 2010) in his kitty.

Nadal has a habit of playing an aggressive and behind the baseline game which is heavily founded on top spin ground shots, good footwork, consistency, speed and persistent court coverage. Nadal also has fine drop shots in his bag that wins him quite a good number of points because of his heavy topspin shots that pulls his opponents to the back of the court. Even though Nadal is seldom a volley player, he becomes good a volley player when he plays from the net.

After the rivalry of Nadal and Roger Federer for a long while, the trend changed and now Novak Djokovic is having the flavor of wins against Nadal. Djokovic took almost every title in the year of 2011 and is still in the winning streak which has made Nadal to lose his World No. 1 rank. Nadal is also facing some injury issues and the rumors are that he might end up switching is sports profession completely if failed to recover. 

Famous tennis players: Novak Djokovic

Novak Djokovic is a professional tennis player who is currently ranked at number three in the world of tennis. The first and the only Grand Slam win by this tennis ace was the Australian Open title in 2008. He beat world number one Roger Federer in the semi final and then went on to beat Tsonga to claim the Australian Open title. In addition to this tally, Djokovic has won the ATP World tour title and has also won the bronze medal in the 2008 Olympics. He was a runner up in the 2007 US Open. He is the youngest Serbian to win a Grand Slam and the youngest ever in history of tennis to reach the final of all the Grand Slams.

Novak Djokovic finished No.3 at the ATP ranking for the third straight year in 2009. Novak won five ATP World Tour titles in year 2009. Novak Djokovic became the first player to finish No. 3 in three straight years since Mats Wilander. Novak ended up as a runner-up in four ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournaments with a win-lose of 33-8 which is a record in Masters 1000 events.

In year 2010, Novak Djokovic was able to finish No. 3 by appearing in quarter finals of all the Grand Slam tournaments and winning two ATP World Tour titles. Novak was also ranked No. 2 for 26 weeks during the 2010 tennis session.

In year 2011, Novak Djokovic performed extremely well by winning all six tournaments. For this reason, Novak Djokovic has the opportunity to claim the No. 1 spot on South African Airways ATP Ranking. All Djokovic needs is to win the upcoming Internazionali BNL d’ Italian in Rome by dethroning World No. 1 tennis players, Rafael Nadal.

Djokovic is an overall court player with an emphasis on the offensive baseline playing style. The best strokes of Djokovic are his services, defenses and ground strokes. He is consistent in playing off both wings but the most preferable stroke is his backhand. The player has a major open of his service which wins him many free points. He prefers a flat first serve and then to slice the second service wide of the court. He also has a disguise drop shot in his kitty that has won him many points in his career.

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