Top 5 hardest hitters in tennis at the moment
In the year 2000, one of the first signs that Pete Sampras was on the decline came when he played in the US Open final against a young Russian named Marat Safin. Sampras was, at that time, a 13-time Grand Slam champion and was playing in his sixth US Open final. Safin, on the other hand, was a tall 20-something who was quickly establishing himself as a force on the tour.People expected and wanted Sampras to win. What they saw instead was a young Russian who struck the ball with such ferocity that the great American was blasted off the court.When the big hitters are tuned-in and the elements are in place, they can take the game away from you with their sustained bludgeoning. The big hitters can make your jaw drop with the awesomeness of their ball-striking ability.Players like Marat Safin and Fernando Gonzalez were well-known for their immense groundstroke speeds, and the current ATP tour has some ferocious hitters of the ball too. Not surprisingly, most of these big hitters feature in the IPTL, and the UAE Royals’ team is particularly well-stocked with powerful players. (For buying tickets to the UAE Royals games, click here)So without further ado, here is the list of the top 5 ball-strikers in today's game that anyone would pay considerable money to watch:
#6 Ernests Gulbis
The only known Latvian male player on the ATP World Tour, Gulbis was at one point coached by the same person who coached Marat Safin. This probably explains his aggressive baseline game.
Gulbis' best shot is his backhand, which he strikes early and directs easily. It’s a flat, hard shot which he uses to control the rally. Add to this his mammoth first serve which routinely hits the 130-140 mph mark and you have a player who can be very tough to beat.
An offensive game like Gulbis' tends to produce a lot of errors, but the Latvian has done reasonably well on the tour - he has won six singles titles and two doubles titles in his career so far. His best result at a Grand Slam came in 2014 when he reached the semi-finals of the French Open.
Gulbis defeated Federer in five sets in the fourth round and won in straight sets against Tomas Berdych in the quarter-finals before losing to Novak Djokovic in the semis. As a result of this run, he reached the top 10 for the first time in his career.
His form dipped in 2015 and he is ranked a lowly No. 79 in the world right now. But Gulbis is still only 27 and given his style of play, he could well knock out a big star or two from a Major in the future.