Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, and Serena Williams among top picks as Leylah Fernandez, Caroline Wozniacki, and others build their ‘perfect player’

Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, and Serena Williams were among the preferred picks for Leylah Fernandez, Caroline Wozniacki, and others, in building their 'perfect player' at the San Diego Open 2024.

The WTA 500 event kicked off on Saturday, February 24, with the main-draw thrill unpacking Monday onwards, with the likes of Jessica Pegula, Donna Vekic, and Leylah Fernandez among the seeded contestants.

The women, however, briefly gave up their professional duties in San Diego and busied themselves with the task of creating their perfect players based on three skills — serve, forehand, and backhand.

Caroline Wozniacki's picks were Williams, Federer, and Djokovic for the serve, forehand, and backhand, respectively.

"So if I had to build my perfect player, I would take Roger's forehand, Serena's serve, Novak’s backhand," Wozniacki said.

Fernandez jokingly picked Federer for all three abilities to begin with but later named Milos Raonic and Ben Shelton for the serve, Carlos Alcaraz for the forehand, and Djokovic, once again, was preferred for the backhand.

"Easy, Roger Federer, Roger Federer, Roger Federer… (laughs), no okay! So let’s be serious now. Serve, I’ll go with Raonic, righty would be Raonic, lefty would be Shelton. Forehand, let’s go with Alcaraz. Backhand… Djokovic, love his backhand," Fernandez said.

Top seed Jessica Pegula picked Ashleigh Barty for the serve, Madison Keys for the forehand, and Amanda Anisimova for the backhand.

"Serve I would say Barty even though she's not playing, whatever, we'll still count her. Backhand, I would say Anisimova, love her backhand. Forehand, maybe Maddie Keys, she’s got a great forehand," Pegula said.

Donna Vekic took Williams' serve and forehand, and the Serb's backhand.

"Serve, I would go for Serena. Backhand, I would go for Novak. Forehand, I quite like my forehand, so I'll keep mine or I don’t know… Serena," Vekic said.

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"Novak Djokovic is the perfect player" - Stan Wawrinka relives facing Big 3

Stan Wawrinka has won three Grand Slam titles

Stan Wawrinka recently compared Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, and Roger Federer's distinctive styles of play.

"I think they have a different style of play. You have Rafa who is left-footed, very hard, very physical. It's hard physically and mentally to play against him. Roger is a faster player, who makes you feel uncomfortable on the court, and Novak is the perfect player, because of the way he played," Stan Wawrinka said during a conversation with Ole last month.

Wawrinka is among the very few to win Grand Slam trophies during the prime years of Djokovic, Nadal, and Federer, also collectively known as the Big 3.

"I had the chance to beat them several times, but I lost many times against all three of them. But for me, it was always an opportunity to play against the best players in the history of tennis. Even if I lost to them, it was always a challenge. It's always something special to play against those players," the three-time Grand Slam champion said.

Wawrinka won a handful of matches against the Big 3 but those wins came at some of the grandest moments in his tennis career. He defeated Nadal in the final of the Australian Open 2014 to lift his maiden Grand Slam title.

The other triumphs, at the French Open in 2015 and the US Open in 2016, came on the back of victories over Djokovic in the respective summit clashes. Wawrinka's overall head-to-head records against Djokovic, Nadal, and fellow Swiss Federer otherwise stand at 21-6, 19-3, and 23-3, respectively.