TOP STROKES OF TODAY'S PLAYERS

The women's best of the best

By Matthew Cronin and Richard Osborn
tennisreporters.net

The annals of women's tennis are crowded with sublime shots: Steffi Graf's whiplash forehand, Chrissie Evert's flawless backhand, Martina Navratilova's lefty twist serve and Billie Jean King's crisp volley. Other elements of the game have also shown brightly: Hana Mandlikova's unique touch, Margaret Court's steely determination, Gabriela Sabatini's remarkable endurance and Rosie Casals' foot speed. Who are today's owners of the most effective shots, best bodies and mental attributes? Read on.

THE SERVE: VENUS WILLIAMS

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Venus Williams has had the most consistently hard first serve over the past three years. When she's on, no player has ever served with such pace or biting spin. Williams can crack flat blasts down the tee at 120 mph plus, swerve wicked slice serves into all angles of the box and also come over on an ad-court kicker like a ton of bricks falling off the Transamerica Tower.

"To my eyes, she's using the same toss, so it's really difficult," Monica Seles said. "Even if I do get there, if it's a 115 mph, it's hard to return."

When she has her service toss under control, Venus is nearly as unbreakable as Pete Sampras. "When I'm serving well, I'm really clear on how I want to hit it," said Williams. "I know where I want it to go and I can see myself hitting it. When I'm double faulting a lot I'm not clear where I want it to be. I lose my way. Right now, I'm hitting as I see fit. I'm not hitting as many kicks as I used to, I'm just hitting flat slices and it's going in every time."

But Venus isn't nearly as consistent this season as she was in 2000 and 20'01, which brings us to Lindsay Davenport, who arguably has the most effective slice serve wide into the deuce court of any player. Serena also places the ball beautifully, but Lindsay is more consistent. "I've always thought Lindsay has the toughest serve," Jennifer Capriati said. "She places it so well, doesn't matter how hard you hit it, it's just where you hit it. She gets the angles and is really hard to read."

FOREHAND: LINDSAY DAVENPORT

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The greatest forehand in women's tennis history was owned by Fraulein Forehand herself, Steffi Graf, whose tremendous footwork and athleticism allowed her to cream winners from even the most awkward of positions. As Graf showed, it takes athleticism and conditioning to be able to hit a significant inside out forehand and recover if your opponent decides to go down the line, which is why Capriati didn't start ruling the roost with her inside out forehand until she was in top shape.

There are few mind-boggling forehands on the WTA Tour, as it is the stroke that seems to break down the most. Still, there are plenty of very good ones and a couple of great ones. Capriati, Serena Williams, Kim Clijsters, Seles, Jelena Dokic and Elena Dementieva can all whack one, but if you want a forehand that combines power and consistency, Davenport is your player. "It's the depth that she generates," Seles says. "She has a very good running forehand. It's deceptive. She gets the angles."

BACKHAND: VENUS WILLIAMS
In women's tennis, it's the backhand that is the most consistently lethal shot. Every top 10 player can wow a crowd from their backhand side, whether it's Serena gunning a two-handed crosscourt that clips the service line, Hingis or Daniela Hantuchova neatly dispensing a down-the line pass, or Seles firing a grunter that thuds into and opponent's chest.

The women's tour has come a long way since Francoise Durr won the '67 Roland Garros with a one-handed backhand that resembled an incensed housewife slapping her unfaithful husband with the back of frying pan. Whether it's Henin's gorgeous corkscrew (racket way back and follow through to the next hemisphere), Amelie Mauresmo knifing a low slice or Eleni Daniilidou putting all of her bullish frame into a heavy topper, there is no longer a power outage when one hand is taken off the grip.

Yes, Henin has the prettiest one-hander around, but when push comes to shove it is Venus's two-hander that reigns. She rarely makes a backhand error, owns the down the line and can hit the backhand on the run as well as anyone in history.

"She gets to the ball very quickly," notes Chanda Rubin. "She has a lot of reach and leverage. She can make gets and actually come up with a shot that's offensive when you feel that you're in an offensive position. She can turn the tables because of her speed and size combined with it."

SPEED: ARANTXA SANCHEZ-VICARIO

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Speed is now at a premium on the women's tour – as diminutively challenged rabbits such as Amanda Coetzer, Tatiana Panova and Anna Smashnova have all secured top 20 spots, sprinters such as Serena and Capriati collect Slam titles and long striders such as Venus appear nearly impenetrable. While an argument could be made that the pre-injury Martina Hingis was the quickest player on tour, much of her success had to do with anticipation.

Even though four-time Grand Slam champion and recently retired Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario is clearly feeling the effects of her age, there have been few players who reached the No. 1 ranking with speed as their main weapon, and the Spaniard managed to accomplish that feat, running countless foes into the ground. "You know the balls are coming back," said Seles, who was exhausted by Sanchez-Vicario in the '98 Roland Garros final. "It was anticipation and speed. She would always put the ball back in, loop it back and it would drop a foot within the baseline."

VOLLEY: LISA RAYMOND
Since Nathalie Tauziat hung up her tennies last year, it's hard to find a pure serve and volleyer, but plenty of today's players will attempt to finish a point off at net when given the opportunity. Volleying is a cornerstone of Anna Kournikova's game; it's a new and effective part of Mauresmo's attack and a necessary portion of the of the Williamses games. Martina Navratilova – arguably the greatest volleyer of all time – says that it is American veteran Lisa Raymond, she of three doubles Slam crowns and three in mixed, who takes the cake. "Lisa, with Hingis a close second," Navratilova said. "She's got a great volley. Doesn't use it enough. Good form. Form dictates everything. If you don't have that, you're not going to get the ball landing where you want it to land."

RETURN OF SERVE: SERENA WILLIAMS
The prime reason why women don't serve and volley much anymore is because the return of serve is many players' greatest weapon. But no one will argue who has the most devastating return in the game now – it's Serena, who takes apart second serves off both wings with a short, slapping stroke that resembles male experts Andre Agassi and Lleyton Hewitt. "I have the best return out there," the unabashed Serena said. "No one says I do, but I feel I do. I think a lot of people feel I do, too. Once I'm returning well, it's all clicking."

In fact, her sister Venus's confidence in her own serve was severely shaken after Serena tore apart some of her best blasts in four straight victories this year. "Normally, I don't think anyone can return my serve, not even Serena," Venus admits. "But sometimes people are just in the zone."

ATHLETICISM: AMELIE MAURESMO

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We all know what excellent athletes Serena and Venus Williams are, but they are not the only players who can leap a tall net with a single bound. Both Amelie Mauresmo and Kim Clijsters can turn on a dime and reflex back a winner. Clijsters is so confident in her coordination that she actually slides into forehands on hard courts.

Davenport said of Amelie, "She's one of the best athletes out there. She's very athletic and runs down balls that most girls wouldn't have had a chance at."

Mauresmo is such a unique athlete that this summer she transformed herself from an aggressive baseliner to a net-rushing acrobat– a feat few could pull off. Clijsters is impressed by Mauresmo, who often looks like a buffed up Olympic swimmer cutting through the pool in her pursuit of the ball. "Amelie is very fast, Clijsters said. "She defends really well." Jennifer Capriati, who has seen all she wants of Mauresmo diving around the net this year, added, "Amelie's one of the better athletes on the tour. She's fast around the court and she just has good footwork. She has a good sense of how to move around the court and when to come in. She reacts well, anticipates well. She's natural."

MENTAL TOUGHNESS: SERENA WILLIAMS
According to nine-time Grand Slam champion Monica Seles, it's the queens of the sport – Court, King, Evert, Navratilova, Graf, Sanchez-Vicario, Hingis and the Williamses – who are the most mentally tough players. "All the No. 1s," said Seles, who many considered to be one of the most mentally tough players ever when she was the world's No. 1 in the early '90s. "At the height of their careers, they're very confident. They know that they can pull out any match, even if they're down 5-1. They have that self-belief."

Right now, Serena reigns supreme. The 20-year-old has won three straight Slams and has lost only one match since May. Serena's rock solid mind was given a boost this year when she adopted the approach of a legendary mental warrior.

"I was reading that Billie Jean King said whenever she went out to play anyone, especially if they were ranked lower, she played them as if they were No. 1 player," Serena said. "It's very important not to get overconfident. I've grown mentally more than anything. Now I'm thinking everyone is a fighter and they're going to fight me with as much strength as they have."

ENDURANCE: JENNIFER CAPRIATI
Who would have thought back in 2000, when she slogged her way to a first round loss at Roland Garros, that Capriati would come back the next year a lean, mean retrieving machine and outlast Clijsters in the longest third set in a final in Roland Garros history. Who would have thought that a year and a half later she would survive oncourt temperatures of 110 degrees, fight off four match points and win a three-setter over Hingis in the '02 Aussie Open final. While Hingis lay on her back praying for a cool breeze, Jennifer sizzled with almost as much heat as the blazing sun. "I've done lots of hard training, and this was probably the hardest, but I know there's always something left in reserve and I was going to make myself go to the max," Capriati said.

DEFENSE: VENUS WILLIAMS
When she's focused and driven, try getting the ball past Venus, when she's set up two feet behind the baseline and daring you to slug with her. "She's a lot more consistent than she used to be and doesn't have many lapses," Seles said. "Venus has that very tough combo of a great serve and powerful groundstrokes, plus she has incredible court coverage."

"She's improved so much and doesn't make as many unforced errors," said Davenport, who used to own Venus and now is Williams' handmaiden. "It's very difficult to beat someone who hits hard, serves so well and plays great defense."

MIND: MARTINA HINGIS
Five-time Grand Slam champion Hingis has plenty of strengths in her repertoire – backhand, volley, drop shot. But there is no way that the 5-foot-7, 130-pound Swiss would be fourth on the all-time list for most weeks at No. 1 had it not been for her oh-so-adept and perceptive mind.

There are numerous smart players on tour who use their wiles as a major weapon – up-and-comer Anastasia Myskina and veteran Conchita Martinez among them – but few have been so lauded for their use of oncourt intellect as Hingis. While many scout their opponents to discover weaknesses, the crafty Hingis prefers to feel her way around during a match, sensing the rhythms, feeling the bass thump under her feet, tweaking the treble a bit. "I have so many different shots I can use if one shot isn't going well," Hingis once said. "Mentally, that's a big advantage. If someone says go crosscourt to my opponent's forehand, I won't do that because I need to protect myself, too. I like to play the forehand down the line to set up my backhand. I won't try to play shots I cannot play. … Sometimes you already know where they are going to hit. It's like a chess game."

Orginally printed in Inside Tennis magazine. Call 510-530-2200 for subscription information.