If perfection is not of this world, not even in tennis, we tried to imagine what shots the invincible tennis player should have. The result is a nice collage of samples based on rankings, statistics and personal tastes
Does the perfect tennis player exist? Surely Sinner and Alcaraz, the two champions who will probably meet in the final at the ATP Finals and will compete next year to occupy the throne of number one in the world, are very close. But we have tried to analyze blow by blow who is currently the strongest in circulation. Theoretically it would be enough to combine the shots of the Turin finalists to create the definitive cyborg of tennis, but in reality this is not the case, also because Novak Djokovic withdrew: and who is more of a cyborg than him? In the ranking we decided not to include the “best smash” because it is a truly complex shot, depending on the position of the pitch on which you play and the environmental conditions and, sooner or later, everyone has made a fool of themselves when trying to smash a bell-shaped ball in the opponent’s half of the pitch. But let’s proceed in order.
Best forehand: Carlos Alcaraz
There are forehands that make the legs tremble and would knock anyone out, like certain shots that Taylor Fritz throws, or certain others like the cross-court shot of Danil Medvedev which, when in form, remains the most beautiful and lethal razor on the circuit, but if we have to look at the mix between power and effectiveness we can only mention one name: Carlos Alcaraz. The Spaniard juggles it in all possible forms: crossed, open, counter-bounce and also when he has to respond with precarious or unnatural body positions.
Best backhand: Jannik Sinner
Throwing the ball to the left side of Sinner’s court is equivalent to giving him the keys to the game safe. Even if he fires it with two hands, the South Tyrolean champion is able to do anything with this shot: respond to a fireball, shoot a passer along the running line, make a short ball, keep the opponent close to the lines, cross, vary the pace and who knows what else. In two words, drive your opponent crazy. Among so many two-handed backhands, all the same but not as precise and powerful, Lorenzo Musetti’s one-handed backhand deserves a mention for lovers of pure tennis: elegant, refined and poetic, especially in its slice version.
Best return of serve: Jannik Sinner
Today’s rackets, balls and surfaces now allow serving at excessive speeds, so much so that ace they can decide the difference between victory and defeat. But in the face of such missiles, the ability to react in time and keep the response on the field remains decisive, and the art of the response has only one undisputed king: Jannik Sinner. Our number one manages to anchor balls that hurtle towards infinity and beyond, returning them over the net in every possible way, but above all from the backhand and very often close to the lines. And if in today’s tennis, due to the speed, the winning points in return are less than they used to be, starting the rally is already half the battle.
Best short ball: Carlos Alcaraz
The short ball, it is said, is the refuge of those who cannot maintain a baseline exchange for too long without being annihilated by the opponent. But, if played well and continuously, it is a notable tactical variant for weakening the resistance of those who instead rely on a working style of tennis (and in fact Sinner has been experimenting with it lately). Among the many players who use it less occasionally, the best is undoubtedly Carlos Alcaraz. Not only because, when he doesn’t exaggerate with the movement of his arm, he is capable of playing it with perfect mastery of both forehand and backhand, but above all because he uses it in a strategic way, rather than as a “last resort”: alternating with certain powerful forehands, it is one of his lethal shots.
Best volley: Carlos Alcaraz
The modern and working-class tennis that delights most has at least one victim: serve and volley which practically no one plays at a high level anymore, except sporadically, and therefore we can forget volley masters like Federer, Sampras, Becker or Edberg. Yet Carlitos is among the top ten in the world, together with Djokovic, the one who most times attacks with a shot to go out and then goes to the net to take the point, juggling both approach shots and decisive ones, strong in the corner or in stop-volley versions along the line or cross-court. The only shot in which he is strongly undermined by Sinner, in terms of effectiveness, is the volley from mid-court, even if in this case we are in the hybrid territory between volley and smash.
Best physical fitness: Novak Djokovic
The Roland Garros 2025 final should say that there is only one competitor: Carlos Alcaraz, who managed to beat Jannik Sinner after 5 hours and 29 minutes of play. While our tennis player was on the ropes, the Spanish champion managed to summon mysterious energies. However, we believe that the winner of the category must be Novak Djokovic: not only because at the 2012 Australian Open he played the longest final in history, 5 hours and 53 minutes, against Rafa Nadal. But above all because at 38 he is still able to command respect from kids who are 15 years younger, showing winning splits as in the recent final won at the Athens tournament against Musetti or reaching the semi-finals in Grand Slam tournaments despite age-related ailments.
Best Creativity: Alexander Bublik
In ATP tennis which is increasingly more of a spectacle than a sport, where at every change of court the DJ enters the court, with people dancing in the stands, and where the players seem like robots capable of harming themselves especially from the baseline, imagination and creativity are two qualities in danger of extinction, set aside by physical arrogance and tactics. Among the players who arrived in Turin, even if as a reserve, and even if he is “only” number 11 in the world, we choose without a shadow of a doubt the Kazakh Alexander Bublik: a true tightrope walker of this sport, gifted with crystalline talent, he is also one of the very few who attempts impossible shots like the “volley” obtained by throwing his racket at Ben Shelton’s ball at the Montreal Masters last year (the point was not valid, but what a pleasure!). Between low serves, short balls, tweeners and other acrobatics, he is certainly the most creative and entertaining player on the circuit.
Best serve: Novak Djokovic
In theory, the shot that opens each game should be placed at the beginning of the list. We put it at the end because here it is really difficult to choose the best. We could say Taylor Fritz, who is at the top of the ATP statistics with a score of 297.1 and 79.7% of points won on the first ball, but serves only 63.9% of first balls (at the top is Alexander Zverev with 71.8%), or Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard who is second in statistics and at the last Wimbledon he shot a shot at 246.2 km per hour, setting the record for the fastest serve ever in the London tournament. However, serving is not just equivalent to shooting hard, and so instead of Fritz, we choose Novak Djokovic. His statistics are fourth place, but there is no one like him capable of pulling off the ace even with a second ball in the decisive moments of the match.
