Topic: Who is the hardest hitting tour player both in mens and ladies currently?

[HarryWild]

When I an talking about hitting; I mean groundstrokes - forehand and backhand.  I cannot comment since I have not seen any of the tour players in person since 2010!  TV does not show the speed of the groundstroke.   

[Babblelot]

ATP: If your metric is FH+BH+Serve, I'll take Almagro. I'd say he's right there measuring just FH+BH.


WTA: Serena and Kvitova, not sure which order.

[falcon]

Nole in the men's dept I think and Stosur is up there along with Kvitova in the women's

[Djokovic Champion]

Nole in the men's dept I think and Stosur is up there along with Kvitova in the women's

I think this too.

[Start da Game]

hardest might be tough to know because there are many players who hit very hard......del potro's forehand and djokovic's backhand might be the hardest shots out there.......djokovic mainly beats you with depth though.......

there are many players who can bash hard but their consistency is nowhere near top players......some of them are chardy, korolev, lacko with his forehand......tsonga smacks some of the hardest forehands, soderling bashes too.......alamagro and verdasco can smack as well but they are all not consistent....... 

some south american clay courters hit real hard too.......obviously gonzalez used to, eduard schwank and some others.......see how hard puerta was hitting in this roland garros final.......

[youtube]

Nadal vs Puerta Final Roland Garros 2005 Highlights

[/youtube]


     

[hercules]

d-pot and no-djok are the hardest hitters on the planet.

[HarryWild]

Strange nobody mention James Blake!  The go for it all or nothing guy!

[propstoart]

Gonzo was scary.. That back-lift on his strokes was a harbinger of the havoc he unleashed.. Nole is pretty fearsome, especially when in the groove.. Del Potro hits the ball as hard as anyone..

[FedFanForever]

Umm Federer is consistently the highest in pace on all shots.

[hercules]

negative.
 
 
next.

[FedFanForever]

negative.
 
 
next.

Do you watch tennis or you only pay attention when Nadal is on clay? 

[swish]

Gonzo was scary.. That back-lift on his strokes was a harbinger of the havoc he unleashed.. Nole is pretty fearsome, especially when in the groove.. Del Potro hits the ball as hard as anyone.. >>>>

Yeah, Gonzo could crank the ball.
 
 

[HarryWild]

The hardest hitter I saw that I can remember accurately was Mark Philippoussis!  I think he hit his forehand and it was clocked at 140 mph!  That faster then his serve which was also fast.  Is there anyone today that can match his forehand? 

[HarryWild]

HD Federer / Gasquet Practice 1/2.mov

Federer / Gasquet Practice at the U.S. Open!  Now you can see how hard
Federer hits his groundstrokes.  I of course, hit much harder
(I going get a lot of replies out of this thread - most will be negative!)

[Alex]

Yeah, I'd say Djokovic and DP ...

[Mertov]

HarryWild, good call on Philippousssis!  Having seen him play more than a few times up close in match and in practice, I can say that it was the only time (other than Del Potro in US Open semis against Rafa in 2009) I felt like someone was going to explode the ball every time he struck a forehand - I remember laughing at myself for thinking back in the 80's that I would never see a bigger forehand than Lendl's, and then again in the early 90s when I thought the same thing with Courier and Agassi. 

Also, I am surprised that Robin Soderling has not been mentioned (I wonder at this point if we'll ever see him play again).  The guy's groundstrokes are very heavy on the opponent's arms when he is on a roll, especially when he strikes those cannon shots on high balls about his shoulder level. 

Having said all that, Rafa's forehand when he is swinging his arm full-force is a visual phenomenon.

[Babblelot]

The hardest hitter I saw that I can remember accurately was Mark Philippoussis!  I think he hit his forehand and it was clocked at 140 mph!  That faster then his serve which was also fast.  Is there anyone today that can match his forehand?

Umm... no.

[swish]

You can't forget Nadal here, he has an inside out forehand that hits a high bouncing ball with some serious pace.
 
 

[Djokovic Champion]

You can't forget Nadal here, he has an inside out forehand that hits a high bouncing ball with some serious pace.

Everything in Nadal's forehand is excellent, his problem is the backhand and service.

[HarryWild]

HarryWild, good call on Philippousssis!  Having seen him play more than a few times up close in match and in practice, I can say that it was the only time (other than Del Potro in US Open semis against Rafa in 2009) I felt like someone was going to explode the ball every time he struck a forehand - I remember laughing at myself for thinking back in the 80's that I would never see a bigger forehand than Lendl's, and then again in the early 90s when I thought the same thing with Courier and Agassi. 

Also, I am surprised that Robin Soderling has not been mentioned (I wonder at this point if we'll ever see him play again).  The guy's groundstrokes are very heavy on the opponent's arms when he is on a roll, especially when he strikes those cannon shots on high balls about his shoulder level. 

Having said all that, Rafa's forehand when he is swinging his arm full-force is a visual phenomenon.

I watch on TV Rafa; and he seems to need a sitter type ball before he can hit his forehand hard with spin.  If his opponent hit back the ball with force or with underspin he will not try to swing for the "volocity" ball but will just be happy to place it well and wait for another chance at a setup type ball that is either high and come back with almost no force behind it so he can get a good jump on smashing it!  Mark  Philippousssis at his career peak just went for it no matter what type of ball was hit back!  That why he was so fun to watch because hej just went for it!