Tennis 2020

Bojan11 said:
Thinks it’s him or Del Potro. Crazy as Del Potro won his when he was 20. He also beat Fed and Nadal on the way to winning it.
Click to expand...
Too bad he never followed through on the start of his career. Though it's mostly through injuries. Still, I think it's also the development of Nadal and Djokovic (eslecially Djokovic) being such insane returners that a big serve isnt as great a weapon as it once was. And while Delpo is by no means one dimensional, he can't can't consistently compete with the big three if you take away the serve. Injury or no.

As for all the others from the 90's, they just dont have the mental fortitude. A completely wasted generation. Though in their defense they had to compete with some of the greatest ever players.
 
Kevin said:
How weird will it be. Until a few years ago everyone thought Federer's GS record, and thus the GOAT status, would be safe. Especially with him winning a few again and Nadal and Djokovic looking injury prone or just past it.

Little did they know the latter two would have a second wind just as Federer and it's going to take them past him I think. Delighted.
Click to expand...

Depends prof, Djokovic or Nadal could pick up injuries again and that would leave Federer favourite.

Same if Djokovic or Federer are injured, obviously at the French Nadal is favourite. I even fancy him to beat the rest on grass currently if Djokovic or Fed are out the picture. None of these next gen guys really look comfortable on grass. I can see someone like Raionic going deep again if he stays fit.

Every time we say Djokovic is going to catch up, Nadal ends up winning a few more slams. But Nadal will need another slam outside the French if he wants to stop Djokovic over taking him. Then you have Thiem pressing him hard for the French. I don’t think that’s a conclusion as some make it out to be.

It will come down to luck and who can stay fit. Nadal had a nightmare draw for this Aussie open. Kyrgios who always raises his game and then Thiem. He always seems to face Kyrgios, whilst Djokovic seems to like somehow stay away from Kyrgios, when everyone wants to see that grudge match. Then you saw what happened with Federer who didn’t look fit at all for the semi finals. Djokovic had the same exact problem at the US open.

The last thing none of these guys want at their age especially before semis is few guys who can push them on court for three or four hours. That’s probably what made the difference today for Djokovic. He spent six hours less on court than Thiem.
 
Kevin said:
Just a few months ago that he won the us open. What have you seen to firmly believe that?
Click to expand...
The rest of the field is getting stronger, he's not usually great at wimbledon and so his next best shot is the US open which is 8 months away, meaning another 8 months of physical decline.

He needs Djokovic to lose his touch are get an injury, because I dont see Nadal beating him.

Other than that, I might well be entirely wrong :)
 
The Big 3 have more or less “Jordan’d” Tennis .... itll take years for the game to recover from them, just like it took NBA years to recover to mega levels Jordan sent it too.

Is it fair to go for one of them as the GOAT? Probably not, but if he could win the French in final over Nadal, Novak could retire there and then and it’s him, other than numbers there would be nothing you could argue against him really.....except the age thing, but Roger will always have it over them because he had to contend with them being 6 years younger.

Novak and Nadal should reasonable be able to swallow up Slams for years yet, say what you want on Thiem or Zverev ... but they are well off. They can take them, due to being so much younger, but pure talent, miles off.
 
KirkDuyt said:
I dont think Nadal will win another none French open slam honestly.
Click to expand...
Based on what? He's not injured right now and he's still easily the best clay court player. I don't see Nadal ever winning AO or Wimbeldon again but he should get 2-3 from RG and USO over the next 2 years imo.
Raoul said:
Don't be surprised if Thiem wins the French, as he's already beaten Rafa 4 times on clay.
Click to expand...
He's getting closer but he's still only taken one set off Rafa ever at RG. He loses one match to Thiem on clay every year but luckily not one of them so far has been in Paris.
 
Zen said:
The Big 3 have more or less “Jordan’d” Tennis .... itll take years for the game to recover from them, just like it took NBA years to recover to mega levels Jordan sent it too.

Is it fair to go for one of them as the GOAT? Probably not, but if he could win the French in final over Nadal, Novak could retire there and then and it’s him, other than numbers there would be nothing you could argue against him really.....except the age thing, but Roger will always have it over them because he had to contend with them being 6 years younger.

Novak and Nadal should reasonable be able to swallow up Slams for years yet, say what you want on Thiem or Zverev ... but they are well off. They can take them, due to being so much younger, but pure talent, miles off.
Click to expand...
Which can easily be countered by the playing field Federer was up against before Rafa and then Novak came along. If any of those two had gotten 2-4 years playing the kind of players Federer played, they'd easily have 4-6 Slams more each. These 3 have gotten lucky though by the fact that none of the Next Gen are anywhere as good as Rafa and Novak were at a young age.
 
wr8_utd said:
Based on what? He's not injured right now and he's still easily the best clay court player. I don't see Nadal ever winning AO or Wimbeldon again but he should get 2-3 from RG and USO over the next 2 years imo.

He's getting closer but he's still only taken one set off Rafa ever at RG. He loses one match to Thiem on clay every year but luckily not one of them so far has been in Paris.
Click to expand...
Aye, think he's a shoe in for RG, though as stated before, he's not getting younger and at the next US open he's 34. Mean while, the competition is getting fiercer. Obviously it's not impossible for him to win any of the upcoming slams, but I like making bold predictions. I Like Rafa though, and think it would be poetic for him to match Federer in slams to ensure the debate between their fans will go on for all eternity :)
 
Went to the final day of the Montpellier open. Doubles & Singles finals for 30€.

Pavic & Cacic won the doubles against a poor Inglot & Qureshi before Monfils won the final vs Pospisil.

Monfils wasn't his normal self, looked like he was carrying a calf injury but got the job done infront of a home crowd.

Was my first time live at the Tennis and enjoyed it. Will aim for a day or 2 at RG next time round.
 


This is a good thing for Wimbledon, right? Should be starting there fully fit and healthy, hopefully.
 
Erm not really sure. Knee surgeries at his age even if it’s a small one can be tricky. Don’t blame him for missing clay, if it is bothering him.

But he’s going to be losing a shitload of points. Won Dubai and Miami, made the final in IW, semis at French and he had decent runs in the other clay tournaments.

So his ranking will drop by time he is back.
 
3 consecutive matches of extreme shot-making





(actual video ends around 17 mins)



(much briefer video with only the best ones here)
 
Last edited:
Monfils disposes of Gasquet; he's now won 24 straight sets! :eek:
 
Djokovic beat Monfils 2-6 7-6 (10-8) 6-1 in the Dubai semifinal. Monfils was on fire for the first 2 sets but noone plays the big points as well as Djokovic. Saved 3 match points today and will face Tsitsipas in the final tomorrow.
 
If Monfils on that form couldn't beat Djokovic (previous h2h notwithstanding), no one had any chance.

When he just said his plan is to go undefeated for 2020... djoking or not, it's going to happen now.
 
Prometheus said:
If Monfils on that form couldn't beat Djokovic (previous h2h notwithstanding), no one had any chance.

When he just said his plan is to go undefeated for 2020... djoking or not, it's going to happen now.
Click to expand...
It's just February.
 
I still don't understand Tsitsipas' mother gatecrashing his press conference:




Apparently it was due the remarks he made about his parents the previous day:
Sometimes honestly I'm tired of them, to have them around all the time. At the same time they're my family and I love them. It's not easy travelling with your family.

Sometimes I feel like my mom and dad are way too involved in my life outside and inside the tennis court. Maybe not so much outside the court, but inside the court.

I'm trying to sometimes not pay too much attention of what they say. It's quite difficult, honestly. But I love them. I love them. I love them. I honestly don't know if I would have achieved the things I have achieved today if it wasn't for them. They want the best for me.

I'm trying to sometimes not pay too much attention of what they say. It's quite difficult, honestly. But I love them. I love them. I love them. I honestly don't know if I would have achieved the things I have achieved today if it wasn't for them. They want the best for me.
Click to expand...

Bizarre. Why not talk to him privately?
 
Prometheus said:
I still don't understand Tsitsipas' mother gatecrashing his press conference:




Apparently it was due the remarks he made about his parents the previous day:


Bizarre. Why not talk to him privately?
Click to expand...

Very strange that. She makes very valid points but to embarass him in a press conference just seems strange. I doubt/hope he's not too bothered about it.
 
Indian Wells has been cancelled.

Think the tennis calendar is going to take a beating in the next few months.
 
Looks like Federer won’t miss much.

Rumours going around that ATP and WTA could be having a six week break, so next event could be Barcelona or Madrid.
 
Raoul said:
They should the French and resume at Wimbledon.
Click to expand...

I think the French can be played behind closed doors as French open generates enough TV money as they negotiate their own TV deal like Wimbledon and other slams. But even then two weeks behind closed door is a big hit financially.

The normal events can’t do that. They need the ticket sales to pay the prize money.
 


As it stands the next major tournament will be in Madrid.

I imagine a similar statement will come from the WTA.
 
Utterly irrelevant in the grand scheme of things, obviously, but if, for example, the French and Wimbledon were cancelled, which I don't think is beyond the realm, I wonder will Djokovic be pissed off to have missed out on two chances to get closer to Federer and Nadal while he's absolutely flying, or will he think that the French and Wimbledon are Nadal and Federer's best chance respectively of getting one, so it's not a massive loss, as that could be, if things went his way, a year where neither of them increased their tally. I suspect the former. I think he'd fancy himself to take Wimbledon and have a puncher's chance in the French.
 
Well what can they do realistically?

In these times we going to have multiple tournaments at the same time. Wimbledon will probably move too.
 
During this lockdown I have been watching some sporting documentaries, including ones on Borg and McEnroe, and it seems to me that the 'obsession' with the grand slam count and it being considered as the be all and end all only really took off when Sampras closed in on the record in the mid-to-late 90s. Before then it appeared as if as wasn't such a big deal. As great as Sampras was, he wasn't a particularly big star with his grand slam finals not featuring Agassi not really generating impressive TV ratings in the US, so maybe it was a conscious effort to hype up a 'record pursuit'.

Borg voluntarily skipped the French Open in 1977 to play in world team tennis as he wanted a new challenge (the fact that it paid much better than the French Open also helped), while Chris Evert who was the best female clay court player by a million miles at time and barely lost a match on the surface also voluntarily skipped the tournament 3 years in a row from 1976-1978 to play WTT (allowing Sue Barker to capitalise one year although she has never rated her title win particularly highly). When asked about that decision, she said that 'no-one was counting back then'. It seems like Borg wasn't really that bothered about trying to overtake Emerson's 'meaningless' grand slam title record (which apparently Emerson didn't even know he held for a quite a long time) and neither was the tennis world in general, while somehow Sampras trying to overtake that record at Wimbledon in 2000 was a big deal.

And we know the Australian Open was a second rate grand slam for a while, and didn't even have a 128 player draw until 1988. For quite a few years, it appears that the year end Masters in Madison Square Gardens were considered to be important than it as were the WCT Finals in Dallas which were huge for a period, and maybe even other tournaments like Rome, Philadelphia and Wembley. And when the likes of Borg, Connors and McEnroe were playing (the golden age for tennis popularity in the US), numerous other tournaments paid more money than the grand slams. So I guess the grand slams, especially the Australian Open but also the French Open and even the other 2 as well, getting their act together and massively ramping up their prize money relative to the other tournaments, helped increase their important and therefore the importance of grand slam counting.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.