Tennis 2022

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baskinginthesun said:
Kyrgios might be the perfect person to wind up Djokovic and put him off a bit. However, Kyrgios does seem a lot more focused and determined to prove that he's quite a good tennis player as well so maybe he'll beat him anyway.

We're also assuming that Djokovic gets pass Norrie. If Norrie has the game of his life and Djokovic is off a bit anything can happen.
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Kyrgios has some personal animosity towards Djokovic which isn't s bad thing here. He has a winning record against him and he isn't intimidated by him. But the only thing that matters if he can bring a level good enough to beat Djokovic in a slam final. I don't believe any of their matched were on grass.

It will be interesting.
 
Skills said:
Kyrgios might win a slam final without ever winning a slam SF.
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That's a crazy stat. I remember everyone predicting the number of slams Kyrgios would win after that 2014 match against Rafa, and then again in the spring of 2017 when he appeared to take his game to the next level.

Here we are in 2022, and he is 27 years old having never won a semi final.

As much as we give Zverev, Dimitrov, Tsitsipas a tough time, they've all arguably done more than he has.
 
Barring any major unexpected issue for Djokovic I don't see him having too much trouble with Kyrgios. How often have the Big 3 lost a slam final to someone other than another Big 3 member? And even then it would be to Murray or Wawrinka. Obviously there was Medvedev at the US last year but I don't think Djokovic will let that happen again. He will be far too strong mentally for Nick.
 
I will have to prepare mentally to root for Djokovic. Quick, someone name a redeeming quality of the cnut.
 
Ladron de redcafe said:
Kyrgios has some personal animosity towards Djokovic which isn't s bad thing here. He has a winning record against him and he isn't intimidated by him. But the only thing that matters if he can bring a level good enough to beat Djokovic in a slam final. I don't believe any of their matched were on grass.

It will be interesting.
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Unfortunately, I think this may be gone now ever since Nick supported Novak in the whole immigration row in the AO this year.
 
As amazing as Nadal and Djokovic truly are and have been for a very long time, I do think that they and also Federer benefitted greatly from the the weakness of future generations. There was a black hole and huge dearth of talented young players coming through for a while. I know generations aren't just based on date of birth, but so far these are the only big titles at masters series level or above won by players born between 1989-1995:

Cincinnati 2017 - Dmitrov
Paris 2017 - Sock
ATP Finals 2017 - Dmitrov
Indian Wells 2019 - Thiem
US Open 2019 - Thiem
Indian Wells 2021 - Norrie

Nishikori was incredibly unlucky not to beat Nadal in the 2014 Madrid final and lost in the US Open final later that year. Still that's a pretty short list, and there was clearly a black hole and huge dearth of talented young players coming through for a period, even considering sports science, the factor that players reach and exit their physical peaks later these days.

Clearly best of 3 sets in regular tour events vs. best of 5 sets at grand slams is a major factor though, and with the Davis Cup switching from best of 5 sets for nearly 120 years to best of 3 a few years ago, that eliminated all remaining opportunities to play in best of 5 set matches outside the grand slams.
 
Nah, despite his faults and the GS race, Novak all the way.

Will never support an idiot who thinks he can treat anyone however he pleases and insult who he pleases. Based on what his ex said, he would say the same shit to her as well. Even if not physically abusive, it's not difficult to imagine that he is the type to be emotionally abusive.
For a person who deals with mental illness, he sure does spew a lot of vitriolic and personal insults at anyone he can.

Hypocritical and just a terribly shit person. No matter how well he plays tennis, he's still pure shit in the form of a person.
 
GuybrushThreepwood said:
As amazing as Nadal and Djokovic truly are and have been for a very long time, I do think that they and also Federer benefitted greatly from the the weakness of future generations. There was a black hole and huge dearth of talented young players coming through for a while. I know generations aren't just based on date of birth, but so far these are the only big titles at masters series level or above won by players born between 1989-1995:

Cincinnati 2017 - Dmitrov
Paris 2017 - Sock
ATP Finals 2017 - Dmitrov
Indian Wells 2019 - Thiem
US Open 2019 - Thiem
Indian Wells 2021 - Norrie

Nishikori was incredibly unlucky not to beat Nadal in the 2014 Madrid final and lost in the US Open final later that year. Still that's a pretty short list, and there was clearly a black hole and huge dearth of talented young players coming through for a period, even considering sports science, the factor that players reach and exit their physical peaks later these days.

Clearly best of 3 sets in regular tour events vs. best of 5 sets at grand slams is a major factor though, and with the Davis Cup switching from best of 5 sets for nearly 120 years to best of 3 a few years ago, that eliminated all remaining opportunities to play in best of 5 set matches outside the grand slams.
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Yes they did but Novak and Rafa had to face each other as well as Federer and they never really got a good period of time where they had it all to themselves to vulture some Slams.
 
wr8_utd said:
Yes they did but Novak and Rafa had to face each other as well as Federer and they never really got a good period of time where they had it all to themselves to vulture some Slams.
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That's true, they've all faced each other an insane number of times in big grand slam and masters series matches, and they've all deprived each other of winning even more big titles, spending even more time as world no. 1 etc.

But then again I think they also all benefited greatly from homogenised conditions and playing styles, which have helped them be so consistent for such a long time across all surfaces. Of course all the surfaces do not play exactly the same or anything, otherwise Nadal wouldn't have won 12 more titles at RG than at Wimbledon, Federer 7 more titles at Wimbledon than at RG etc. But I do think, and Federer himself admitted this, that from the 00s the players have needed to make fewer adjustments to their game from surface to surface. When Borg simultaneously dominated RG and Wimbledon for example, he went from engaging in 50-60 shot baseline rallies at RG, to serve-volleying behind 100% of his 1st serves at Wimbledon a few weeks later. Agassi in 1992 was the first player to win Wimbledon from the baseline.

Also the disparity in earnings between the top players and lower ranked ones in tennis has only widened over time, and they can afford whole support teams watch their opponents, discuss tactics, fitness coaching, sports psychologist, etc. So in those ways once players get to the top, while it is still incredibly difficult to stay there of course, it seems to be not quite as difficult as it was in previous eras.
 
wr8_utd said:
Unfortunately, I think this may be gone now ever since Nick supported Novak in the whole immigration row in the AO this year.
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I forgot about that. I liked it when he hates Novak and seemed to get up to beat him whenever they faced each other.

For me, it's a strange final because I find both players utterly dislikeable and want both to lose.
 
I watched some old Federer matches and aside from whether he or Nadal or Djokovic is the greatest, his style of play really is infinitely more appealing to me than that of his rivals.

Think that's also part of what shaped Nadal and Djokovic though. Their slightly more conservative approach to the game is more succesfull than Federer's all out attacking with a less solid arsenal of groundstrokes in longer rallies when pitted against eachother. Same is true on my level really, since I play a rsther attacking (and shit) game and while Im technically better than one of my mates, he beats me 7 times out of 10 throigh being more consistent.

Really hope we will get a new big 3 soon as the new generation of Tsitsipas, Medvedev Zverev and Thiem also seem to turn out a bit underwhelming. Aside from Alcaraz, who is another massive talent anyway.
 
I think nowadays it doesn't help that an increasing number of players play bland 'academy style' tennis, with variety, flair, wizardry and 'uniqueness', all taking a huge hit.

Also while there is this notion that the depth in any sport continually increases over time, on the men's side I would strongly disagree with any suggestion that there is more depth in the ATP top 100 in 2022 than there was in 2012, 2002 or even 1992, quite the opposite in the fact. It's a different story in women's tennis, where was very little depth outside the top 10 or top 20 until the 00s.
 
Rejecting COVID vaccine is already not as big of a deal as it was in 2021 for example. 3-5 years from now, sadly only people who lost someone dear will talk about COVID and remember it as a terrible pandemic, others will move on as it never even happened. On another hand, beating a woman stays with ya for a long time.
I can't see how someone can put Djokovic and Kyrgios at the same level of being a douche. Yeah, Djokovic has hit that woman at USO and got disqualified. He hit the ball backwards with no intent to hit anyone and as luck would have it, lines judge was there.

Kyrg on another hand is verbally abusing judges/umpires in a way that even legendary McEnroe didn't do.

Maybe Kyrgios is the right champion for this year's Wimbledon. If Novak is not in the final, I'd cheer for him. Seems fitting that a Russian woman (under Kazakhstan flag) and a guy who clearly does not respect Wimbledon's traditions (his appearance at press in non-white which is against the rules) are the champions. Tennis doesn't deserve this, but Wimbledon does. No way Norrie and Kyrg would be where they are if Russians, who live in Monaco and Florida and are highly likely against the war, were allowed to play.
 
baskinginthesun said:
Kyrgios might be the perfect person to wind up Djokovic and put him off a bit. However, Kyrgios does seem a lot more focused and determined to prove that he's quite a good tennis player as well so maybe he'll beat him anyway.

We're also assuming that Djokovic gets pass Norrie. If Norrie has the game of his life and Djokovic is off a bit anything can happen.
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He said he has to wind people like Novak up because he cant beat them otherwise
 
Easy walk in the park Finals for Novak. Straight sets demolition,, we will see that Kyr is just a bluster merchant!

Andy Murray is the last person to defeat Novak on Centre court. Go figure that out!
 
Can't see Norrie even getting close to Novak, don't particularly believe Norrie has even played well to get to a semi-finals

Straight set win for Novak and then an interesting encounter with Kyrgios.

EDIT: Good jinx that, Norrie breaks Novak again :lol::wenger:
 
What s with the caf's tennisfans and hugely downplaying their favored player's chances prematurely :lol:
 
Everyone already talking about the Kyrgios Novak final and Norrie beating him would be fantastic.

Unless Kyrgios beats him. Though I think Kyrgios would face the mpst hostile tennis crown in Wimbledon history.
 
Wow Djokovic is absolutely terrible. Norrie shouldstay focused though, he will eventually get in rythm.
 
I thought Norrie would put up a fight as always but get beaten comfortably in straight sets. Once Novak locks in he'll win but this sort of level in the final and Kyrgios could punish him.
 
Novak is playing bad and Norrie is playing decent/solid. Unless Novak all of a sudden finds great form, this will be over soon.

Let's see how this continues.
 
Strange opening set. Not obvious that Norrie is playing exceptionally well, just looks like Novak has started really slowly.
 
ExoduS said:
Novak is playing bad and Norrie is playing decent/solid. Unless Novak all of a sudden finds great form, this will be over soon.

Let's see how this continues.
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Even if Novak goes 2 down, until he's a break down in the final set, I still put him favourite. Seen him come from behind too many times.
 
ExoduS said:
Novak is playing bad and Norrie is playing decent/solid. Unless Novak all of a sudden finds great form, this will be over soon.

Let's see how this continues.
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Of course Novak finds form. I slightly dislike him, but from a tennis perspective, I couldn't pick a guy more capable of turning around a game, that looks dead.
 
saivet said:
I thought Norrie would put up a fight as always but get beaten comfortably in straight sets. Once Novak locks in he'll win but this sort of level in the final and Kyrgios could punish him.
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He also lost a set to Van Rijthoven and then completely demolished him after.
 
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