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Bleach · Jul 29th, 2004, 03:31 AM

Please don't get mad when I ask because I know some ppl get mad !!

I just started following tennis this year, and I hear about Steffi's good forehand - is Dementieva's as good ???

thelittlestelf · Jul 29th, 2004, 03:32 AM

Maybe not as good, but her forehand is extremely good and technically sound.

mboyle · Jul 29th, 2004, 03:35 AM

It isn't even as good as Capriati's, let alone Graf's.

vogus · Jul 29th, 2004, 03:40 AM

totally wrong, Dementieva's forehand is much better than Capriati's, and it's potentially better than Graf's as well because it's a more technically sound stroke than Graf had.

SerenaVenusNo1 · Jul 29th, 2004, 03:42 AM

It might be more powerful than Steffi's .... I don't know, it's hard to say. But on the whole, I don't think it's a better stroke. Maybe Graf's stood out because her opposition didn't hit as hard ... really tough to say. Could argue it both ways.

clonesheep · Jul 29th, 2004, 03:43 AM

Dementieva's groundstrokes are among the best. Very quick and flat. Low percentage of error. You can simply re-watch her most recent match with Serana and see how rarely she hits the ball to the net.

It's hard to say whose forehand is better, Graf or Dementieva, because a forehand does not stand alone but is strengthened or weakened by its setup. You have to move your opponent around until he/she is in the wrong side of the court, then the forehand becomes "unreturnable". Graf perfected this strategy (reason why her forehands always look awesome) for Women's tennis therefore she should take the foremost credit for it.

thelittlestelf · Jul 29th, 2004, 03:43 AM

If you ever watch a match with Steffi, it's easy to see that no modern day forehand is hit quite as hard or quite as cleanly.

ys · Jul 29th, 2004, 03:46 AM

For her time, Graf's forehand was phenomenal. Dementieva can win almost any forehand rally. There was almost no forehand rallies with Steffi. All it was taking was one single forehand. Bang. Point is over.

vogus · Jul 29th, 2004, 04:12 AM

Graf's forehand was the best shot ever in women's tennis up that point. But the game has progressed in the five years since she quit and i think there are a few players today whose forehands are as good as Graf's was, with Lena D and Justine Henin being the most obvious examples.

thelittlestelf · Jul 29th, 2004, 04:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vogus

Graf's forehand was the best shot ever in women's tennis up that point. But the game has progressed in the five years since she quit and i think there are a few players today whose forehands are as good as Graf's was, with Lena D and Justine Henin being the most obvious examples.

& Lindsay + Jen

ys · Jul 29th, 2004, 04:17 AM

Elena D. will win 50+%of forehand rallies against any currently active player.

iloveazza · Jul 29th, 2004, 04:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ys

Elena D. will win 50+%of forehand rallies against any currently active player.

What the hell is a forehand rally?

By the way, Steffi's forehand may not have been more powerful than Elena's but was defnitely more accurate and since she had a lot better footwork, she could hit it in her strike zone more often.

CJK · Jul 29th, 2004, 04:34 AM

I think Jen's forehand is better as well, just because Elena does not leave room for erros.
But I understand the comparison with Steffi since both use forehand as weapons, but I do think Steffi has a forehand that's more intimidating as people dont mind hitting into Elena's forehand. But I do like Elena's FH a lot

.

Just want to say I personally want to see them put more topspins like Jen when they hit the forehands, maybe it'll cut the pace down, but at least Elena wont just let the balls fly when she is off, which she is quite often.

Leo_DFP · Jul 29th, 2004, 05:37 AM

Dementieva has one of the best, if not the very best forehand in today's game. I'd say it's just as good as Steffi's.

For all those who favor Capriati's forehand, I would say Dementieva's is better and she's certainly more aggressive than Capriati off that side.

CoryAnnAvants#1 · Jul 29th, 2004, 05:45 AM

In the mid 90s, when Steffi was winning everything in sight, she probably had a better forehand than some of the men inside the top 200. Elena has a better looking forehand than Steffi's and it's better technically, but nowhere near as efficient. Give Elena the racquet Steffi used back then and her forehand wouldn't be as good as Graf's.

Even with the technology improvements since then, I'd say Steffi's forehand is slightly better than Elena's.