Tennis players are perhaps most like NBA athletes in their exceptional athleticism. Of course we never get to see Roger Federer or Rafa Nadal float above the rim to throw down an alley-oop — but hoop stars and tennis pros share to a large degree the top-tier athletic traits of extraordinary quickness, physical precision, endurance, nonpareil hand-eye coordination and exceptional footwork. Consider that it’s often posited that tennis star Serena Williams may be the best athlete in the world, even while Russell Westbrook does things athletically in the NBA that are hard to explain. (See below.)
But it’s hard to think of a slam dunk this side of Michael Jordan that features more ridiculous athletic ability on full display than what transpired in Spain this week at the Madrid Open. In a second round match that he eventually won, the glorious tennis maestro Gael Monfils — looking like a racket-wielding Russell Westbrook — chased down a lob and leapt, spinning his body 180 degrees and rocketing a forehand passing shot the likes of which no one has ever seen. The stadium erupted for Monfils’s extraordinary shot, aware of both the sheer athletic prowess and the audacity of the exuberant imagination that made the shot possible. Monfils is in a class by himself.
Here are the comparable Westbrook highlights:
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