Tennis 2021

AshRK said:
Federer naturally is the most graceful but I won't call Djokovic or Nadal boring. Some of the shots Djokovic has in his locker is amazing.
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With Novak his general game is being hard to get past and just keep hitting it back and wait for the error. It gets in the other players head that he can't be gotten past in a rally and the error comes. Of course he does have great shots and the return is the best but excitement wise the other two are way ahead. Plus he's got an absolutely fowl on court persona.
For many reasons he'll be considered the goat apart from actually being a pleasure to watch...
 
giggs-beckham said:
With Novak his general game is being hard to get past and just keep hitting it back and wait for the error. It gets in the other players head that he can't be gotten past in a rally and the error comes. Of course he does have great shots and the return is the best but excitement wise the other two are way ahead. Plus he's got an absolutely fowl on court persona.
For many reasons he'll be considered the goat apart from actually being a pleasure to watch...
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See the thing is Djokovics defense isn't passive. He's not like say Murray, who's defense was quite passive.

Djokovic is defending to take control of the rally, and he's fantastic at it. The angles he creates on his shots make it impossible for the other player to keep bombing it and once he's in control he's got enough in his locker to kill it off.
 
giggs-beckham said:
With Novak his general game is being hard to get past and just keep hitting it back and wait for the error. It gets in the other players head that he can't be gotten past in a rally and the error comes. Of course he does have great shots and the return is the best but excitement wise the other two are way ahead. Plus he's got an absolutely fowl on court persona.
For many reasons he'll be considered the goat apart from actually being a pleasure to watch...
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It’s always easier to dictate the game when you have a good serve and able to rack up these easy points taking off the pressure from your service game.
 
They need a Masters 1000 on grass and they need to make the gap between RG and Wimbledon bigger. Two weeks, wtf.
Any reason why RG isn`t simply earlier? The gap between AO and RG is huge.
 
Kasper said:
They need a Masters 1000 on grass and they need to make the gap between RG and Wimbledon bigger. Two weeks, wtf.
Any reason why RG isn`t simply earlier? The gap between AO and RG is huge.
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The gap is a week less this year because RG moved one week later to allow fans to attend.

I imagine it's this way due to tradition and politics. Tennis' structure is pretty complicated, with so many independent bodies it makes change quite difficult.

The other factor would be the weather, I'd have thought.
 
jem said:
Putting aside how they stack up to the Djokovic/Federer/Nadal (because it'll likely be a long time before we see another player of that caliber), who do you think will be the best player of the next generation. I definitely like Tsitsipas' odds, as he is still quite young and is already consistently going deep into tournaments. Somehow Zverev doesn't seem to have the mentality for it (and the same obviously applies to Kyrgios, who I love.) Thiem is a possibility, but he's already 27 and has been on a serious post-US Open slump. Medvedev is another obvious candidate.
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Skills said:
I think you're right - mainly because he's younger than the rest of them, and has achieved just as much if not more. But I think they might end up like the in-betweener generation of Hewitt, Roddick & Safin with the guys coming up next producing the next best player in the world.
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Maybe, but it's easy to forget that at one time Federer was just one of those promising guys in that group, before emerging spectacularly at Wimbledon 2003.
 



Djokovic, who said he did not know the boy, was nevertheless pleased to make his day. “He was in my ear the entire match basically, especially when I was two-sets-to-love down,” Djokovic said. “He was encouraging me. He was actually giving me tactics, as well. He was like, ‘Hold your serve, get an easy first ball, then dictate, go to his backhand.’ He was coaching me, literally.”
 
I don’t know how people can not like Djokovic. He has a way cooler personality than the two robots.
 
Sinner lost in straight sets yesterday and Medvedev (World #2) loses in straight sets today in their first matches of the grass season. The Next Gen is amazing on grass.
 
Revan said:
I don’t know how people can not like Djokovic. He has a way cooler personality than the two robots.
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Even as a Rafa fan, I really like Novak. A big chunk of tennis fans and the media don't really like him though because he came in and upset the Nadal and Federer dominance.
 
wr8_utd said:
Even as a Rafa fan, I really like Novak. A big chunk of tennis fans and the media don't really like him though because he came in and upset the Nadal and Federer dominance.
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Many from western countries don’t really know how competitive and passioned Serbs are by nature when it comes to sport. They will use all sorts of tactics, try and unsettle you, scream in anger when something is not going right in many cases and Djoko is no expectation. I guess this part is a bit alien to many who are not familiar with such competitive attitude in the sport. I have no issue him expressing his feelings when he feels like, to me he’s much more down to earth than someone like Federrer. However, many tennis fans in english speaking countries tend to see themselves as some middle-to-high class posh guys and then naturally want to relate to someone like Federrer as he’s well manner on the court (despite his less honest passive-aggressive demeanor).
 
Mrs Smoker said:
Goat v Auger-Aliassime tomorrow. Finalist from Stuttgart so very good test for Roger.
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Just came in to post this. Should be a cracker. Auger just missed out on winning his first title in Stuttgart losing to Cilic. Grass is so serve dependent so it'll probably come down to that.
 
wr8_utd said:
Sinner lost in straight sets yesterday and Medvedev (World #2) loses in straight sets today in their first matches of the grass season. The Next Gen is amazing on grass.
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Next gen is amazing period. Consistently run ragged by three 34+ year olds.
 
giggs-beckham said:
With Novak his general game is being hard to get past and just keep hitting it back and wait for the error. It gets in the other players head that he can't be gotten past in a rally and the error comes. Of course he does have great shots and the return is the best but excitement wise the other two are way ahead. Plus he's got an absolutely fowl on court persona.
For many reasons he'll be considered the goat apart from actually being a pleasure to watch...
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the hendry of tennis then?
 
I wonder if the decline of carpet courts is a reason why younger players so far have underperformed on grass?
I remember Tsonga and others criticizing the ATP when they moved away from carpet tournaments around 2009 that it is a good surface for players to develop their abilities on faster courts.

I mean with so few grass tournaments its always hard to judge how one`s overall level is but I had a look at the recent Wimbledons and from quarter finals on it has mostly been a over 30 festival. Halle and Queens also are won almost exclusively by older players. So younger players apparently really tend to struggle.
 
wr8_utd said:
They're just awful. No way they'll start winning Slams till all 3 are gone.
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which is completely understandable tbf. I mean, which slams were Roddick and Nalbandian winning after Federer peaked, or any other player who was about 19-21 in those days? it literally needed another goat candidate to emerge for something like that to happen. the only difference is, current youngsters have 3 goats on tour to compete with instead one.
 
Kasper said:
I wonder if the decline of carpet courts is a reason why younger players so far have underperformed on grass?
I remember Tsonga and others criticizing the ATP when they moved away from carpet tournaments around 2009 that it is a good surface for players to develop their abilities on faster courts.

I mean with so few grass tournaments its always hard to judge how one`s overall level is but I had a look at the recent Wimbledons and from quarter finals on it has mostly been a over 30 festival. Halle and Queens also are won almost exclusively by older players. So younger players apparently really tend to struggle.
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It certainly doesn't help. You have 3/4 tournaments on grass plus Wimbledon. Not a single masters 1000 event either. So for the up and coming player why put in so much effort to adapt to grass when it's a miniscule percentage of what you need to make money and further your career. Less incentive and less opportunities and the result is what we are seeing.
 
I like this Auger-Aliassime kid. Nice fluid attacking style. Only 20 years old, looked like I trashed the next gens ability on grass to early :D
Great win!
 
Kasper said:
I like this Auger-Aliassime kid. Nice fluid attacking style. Only 20 years old, looked like I trashed the next gens ability on grass to early :D
Great win!
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Him and Shapovalov ( sexy backhand) are good prospects from Canada. Kohlschrieber vs Rublev next round should be a banger. Zverev still in this tournament too.
 
Only had two rounds of Roger :(

If I were him I would try to get a wildcard for Mallorca. That way he can get another match or two. He's well rusty. Afraid he'll be out in the first round of Wimbledon if he doesn't get match fit.
 
Great win for the young man. His game is well suited for grass in my humble opinion.
 
Desert Eagle said:
Federer looking tired. Missing easy volleys. Down two breaks in the decider.
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didn't see the match, but missing volleys has been a feature of all his bad matches since the 2017 comeback. usually related to a back issue - he doesn't bend enough or something.
this, coupled with the last match at french, shows he's out of it.
 
Yeah this thread is normally extremely busy during ATP 500 events.:lol:
 
Bole Top said:
which is completely understandable tbf. I mean, which slams were Roddick and Nalbandian winning after Federer peaked, or any other player who was about 19-21 in those days? it literally needed another goat candidate to emerge for something like that to happen. the only difference is, current youngsters have 3 goats on tour to compete with instead one.
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I'd understand them not being able to beat even 30-32 year old versions of the GOATs but to still not really be able to beat even the 33-40 year old versions of them is not good. If any of the Next Gen was really that good, you'd see atleast one of them beat these guy in a Slam final.
Kevin said:
Delighted with Federer result.
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Need a similar result at Wimbledon ;)
 
Feels like the end is very near for the great man. One just has to enjoy watching him while that's possible I guess.
 
wr8_utd said:
I'd understand them not being able to beat even 30-32 year old versions of the GOATs but to still not really be able to beat even the 33-40 year old versions of them is not good.
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it isn't if you look at their age only, but Nadal and Djokovic aren't just any 34 years old players. they are still in exceptional physical shape, especially Djokovic. unlike youngsters, they're also used to long lasting and exhausting matches and have years and years of experience in closing them. being 33-34 years old means nothing when in reality you're in much better shape than Sampras was at 30 for example. or Rafter. or Agassi. they were pretty much finished when they were 30 and that was when the courts were faster and point shorter.

now look at Djokovic at the same age; because of rain he played his fourth round, quarterfinal and semifinal match here in 4 days without much fuss (RG 2016). it was the same last week; even after that match against Nadal, even after 5 sets against Tsitsi, it was obvious he could play another match tomorrow if needed, even at 34. he's simply the fittest player this sport has ever seen so it means little how young/old his opponent his.
 
Widow said:
At 38 with a broken body? Shocking!
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*39 and will be 40 in august. Unreal. I have a feeling he wants to go out on a high, but can't see it with another slam but you never know. Hope he doesn't stay around too long if he continues to struggle*.
 
Unfortunate for the fans but the right decision for Rafa. Take all the time you need and hope we still get 2/3 years of high level play. We really are coming to the end of the greatest era of tennis ever. Federer should be done after next year's Wimbledon. Rafa possibly the year after and Djokovic maybe a year or two after that. Enjoy it while it lasts boys
 
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