Strokes of Genius: The Best of the Women
U.S. Open 2014: Serena Williams, Maria Sharapova and Sam Stosur Among Best Tennis Strokes
By CHRISTOPHER CLAREY
Determining the best players in tennis seems a straightforward matter of consulting the rankings and the tournament results. Determining the best strokes in tennis remains a more subjective affair even with the recent growth in statistics and analytics. More than two dozen leading coaches, players and analysts were asked to list at least three top men and women in each category. Extra weight was given to those with firsthand experience. For example, Ivo Karlovic, one of the world’s best servers, seems particularly well qualified to determine top returners. The men who have hoarded Grand Slam titles over the past decade dominated these rankings, and though this is far from Serena Williams’s finest season, she made a strong showing in many categories.
The best of the current women’s game by consensus:
BEST FOREHAND
1. Serena Williams
2. Petra Kvitova
3. Ana Ivanovic
4. Sam Stosur
5. Svetlana Kuznetsova
Intriguingly, Williams’s own coach, Patrick Mouratoglou, did not put her forehand in the top three, selecting Ivanovic, Stosur and Kuznetsova. But those who coach against her did not hesitate, even if the Williams forehand has been a flickering flame in 2014. Wim Fissette, who coaches Simona Halep, and Sam Sumyk, who works with Victoria Azarenka, both ranked Williams first. Kvitova, with memories of her angled winners and her Wimbledon victory fresh, was a surprisingly clear second. Li Na just missed the top five. As for the new wave, only Sloane Stephens was in contention.
BEST TWO-HANDED BACKHAND
1. Maria Sharapova
2. Serena Williams
3. Jelena Jankovic
4. Li Na
5. Victoria Azarenka
A tight race between Sharapova and Williams, and this time Mouratoglou did rank his own player first. Sharapova’s ability to produce improvisational brilliance off the full stretch with the help of her strong left hand is a point in her favor. Jankovic’s revived down-the-line backhand was a key to last year’s resurgence. She was just ahead of Li and Azarenka, whose coach, Sumyk, got it right: “So many great two-handed backhands on the women’s tour.” Three others belong to Halep, Venus Williams and the year’s breakout talent: Eugenie Bouchard.
BEST ONE-HANDED BACKHAND
1. Carla Suárez Navarro
2. Francesca Schiavone
3. Roberta Vinci
No room for more than three players in a women’s game where the single-handed drive backhand is flirting with extinction. Several panelists voted for the long-retired Justine Henin out of nostalgia. But Suárez’s one-hander is clearly the most admired in today’s game. Vinci prefers to slice hers.
BEST FIRST SERVE
1. Serena Williams
2. Petra Kvitova
3. Sabine Lisicki
4. Coco Vandeweghe
5. Sam Stosur
Williams’s first serve is perhaps the best in the history of the women’s game, and no one else received a first-place vote from our panel. Kvitova’s left-handed serve was a clear second, and the slight surprise was that one powerful American youngster, Coco Vandeweghe, made the top five, while Madison Keys did not. Neither — by a slim margin — did Venus Williams. The best first serve not to get a vote? The W.T.A. statistics say it belongs to Karolina Pliskova, who ranks fourth in percentage of first-serve points won this year and is second behind Serena Williams in aces.
BEST SECOND SERVE
1. Serena Williams
2. Sam Stosur
3. Petra Kvitova
4. Eugenie Bouchard
5. Madison Keys
Less unanimity here but this was still a clear victory for Williams despite the power and kick of Stosur’s second serve. The rest of the chase pack was well back with Bouchard and Keys getting more support than Vandeweghe, Julia Görges, Lisicki or Li.
BEST RETURN
1. Maria Sharapova
2. Serena Williams
3. Victoria Azarenka
4. Simona Halep
5. Eugenie Bouchard
Another major area of strength in the modern women’s game and another close race goes to Sharapova. Williams’s returning numbers are down significantly this year, but she remains an intimidating force and is still converting more than half of her break points. But Halep has the best season-long statistics of any major player and is breaking serve in nearly half of her return games. Bouchard, a particularly aggressive returner, edges out Caroline Wozniacki for fifth.
BEST VOLLEY
1. Roberta Vinci
2. Cara Black
3. Martina Hingis
4. Lisa Raymond
5. Sam Stosur
Opinion was wide-ranging here with volleys now a peripheral skill in the women’s game, but Vinci still was a clear leader in a category in which 11 players, including Hingis, now a doubles specialist, got first-place votes. Cara Black, who grew up in Zimbabwe volleying at close range and high speed against a wall, is second, just ahead of Hingis and another veteran doubles star, the American Lisa Raymond.
BEST OVERHEAD
1. Serena Williams
2. Sam Stosur
3. Venus Williams
4. Roberta Vinci
5. Svetlana Kuznetsova
Williams, who has missed some big overheads in her time, has clearly made plenty under pressure, too. She received all but one of the first-place votes in a category that many struggled to analyze for lack of consistent material.
BEST PASSING SHOT
1. Simona Halep
2. Agnieszka Radwanska
3. Serena Williams
4. Victoria Azarenka
5. Caroline Wozniacki
Another now-exotic skill in the women’s game but when the rare opportunity arises, Halep and Radwanska do it best.
BEST TOUCH
1. Agnieszka Radwanska
2. Martina Hingis
3. Roberta Vinci
4. Simona Halep
5. Kirsten Flipkens
Radwanska, this generation’s improvisational master, finishes well ahead of Hingis, the last generation’s improvisational master. Outside the top five, Wozniacki also got significant support, as did Sara Errani and Suárez.
BEST MOVEMENT
1. Simona Halep
2. Serena Williams
3. Agnieszka Radwanska
4. Caroline Wozniacki
5. Jelena Jankovic
Halep and Williams are two very different movers: Halep more fluid, Williams more forceful. But Halep’s footwork is the lighter and more consistent of the two, less prone to midmatch lapses, even if Williams remains in a class of her own at full sprint to a corner. Radwanska’s strength is reading the flow of play. Jankovic’s range and flexibility give her the nod over Dominika Cibulkova, Angelique Kerber and Li.
BEST MENTAL GAME
1. Serena Williams
2. Maria Sharapova
3. Simona Halep
4. Eugenie Bouchard
5. Victoria Azarenka
Another duel between Williams and Sharapova, both possessed of exceptional mental strength and fighting spirit. But Williams has the edge in the statistic that matters most, leading their head-to-head series, 16-2.
BEST ENDURANCE
1. Caroline Wozniacki
2. Maria Sharapova
3. Simona Halep
4. Li Na
5. Alizé Cornet
No Grand Slam title yet for Wozniacki, but she clearly has staying power. A natural athlete who is one of the hardest workers in practice, she can run and keep on running. So can Sharapova, whose own staying power was on display as she beat Halep in June in the second-longest French Open women’s final.
STRANGEST STROKE
1. Monica Niculescu, forehand
2. Sara Errani, serve
3. AgnieszkaRadwanska, squat shots
4. Kimiko Date-Krumm, forehand
5. Dominika Cibulkova, serve
A two-stroke race with Niculescu’s throwback slice forehand squeaking past Errani’s new and abbreviated service motion.
TO PLAY A MATCH FOR YOUR LIFE
1. Serena Williams
2. Maria Sharapova
Not even close, despite Williams being vulnerable to upset on the biggest stages this season. She got all but one first-place vote.
Votes and input from Jill Craybas (recently retired player); Wim Fissette (coach of Simona Halep and former coach of Kim Clijsters); Patrick Mouratoglou (coach of Serena Williams); Sam Sumyk (coach of Victoria Azarenka); Mahesh Bhupathi (former No.1 doubles player); Rob Koenig (A.T.P. Tour television analyst); Jim Courier (United States Davis Cup captain and former No.1 singles player); Brad Gilbert (ESPN analyst and former player); Justin Gimelstob (Tennis Channel analyst and former player); Amer Delic (former player); Darren Cahill (ESPN analyst and former player); Joel Drucker (Tennis Channel); Steve Flink (tennis historian); Pete Bodo (Tennis.com); Stephen Tignor (tennis.com); Julien Reboullet (L'Équipe); Stephanie Myles (Canadian journalist); Tom Tebbutt (Canadian journalist); Richard Evans (British journalist); Craig Tiley (coach and Australian Open tournament director); as well as other players and coaches who preferred to remain anonymous.
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