Great to see Novak's family there congratulating Carlos. Classy.
Tennis 2023
- Thread starter GuybrushThreepwood
- Start date
Two of those wins Carlos had physical problems (the usual cramps).
But Sinner is very dangerous on hard court.
Impressive performance from Alcaraz. He is an almost complete package of a tennis player on both sides. He will be even scarier if he develops some of his traits in the future( calmness, emotional control, and reducing some of his mistakes).
Carlos has an impressive quality of athleticism, especially in acceleration. I think this is one of his biggest strengths that adapt in his game really well.
Carlos has an impressive quality of athleticism, especially in acceleration. I think this is one of his biggest strengths that adapt in his game really well.
All subjective. There would be a lot who disagree with you. To suggest that it's a stretch that Nadal at 20 was better is a little weird. You talk about competition but conveniently left out that Nadal beat Federer in his prime.
I know he was competitive against him but didn't realise he he was even in h2hs.
Alcaraz has basically saved men’s tennis as far as I’m concerned. That was already the case before today’s final, and he just further confirmed that here.
He is a joy to watch, with his style, variety and those drop shots. He has now won all 8 ‘big’ finals that he has appeared in so far during his career (including Barcelona which more important than Madrid for many Spanish players).
I wonder how many grand slams he will end up with.
He is a joy to watch, with his style, variety and those drop shots. He has now won all 8 ‘big’ finals that he has appeared in so far during his career (including Barcelona which more important than Madrid for many Spanish players).
I wonder how many grand slams he will end up with.
Difficult to predict but I'd be surprised if he doesn't win more than 10.
Definitely. The only one worthy of the crown.
If he can continue his potential without hard injuries or something else like an early retire, I think he will definitely have over 10+ grand slams. 20+, I don't know, it's a really difficult task to achieve but the situation happened to Djokovic before people don't think that he would get 20+ slams. At the moment, we know what Djoko has achieved in recent years.
I still have Alcaraz to win US Open at 3.50, now dropped to 2.50 after today 
hopefully the finals will be another classic like today.
hopefully the finals will be another classic like today.Stars don't seem to show up that frequently if the last decade is anything to go by. Since Djoko and Nadal emerged, I don't think we've seen one truly special talent that looked like he could challenge. If Carlos can have Novak out of the way soon, I think the guy can quite easily average 2 Slams a year for a good 6-7 years Atleast unless his body gives way. Novak is the only better player than him right now. The others aren't even close.
Being elite on all surfaces in 2023 is a totally different prospect to being elite on all surfaces in the 1980s. I don't think such a player even existed back then, such was the disparity.
As of right now we can say that he can win 20+. One of the biggest drivers of big trophies in Tennis is the quality of competition. Novak is 36 and will be gone soon and none of the next gen are remotely close. The only competition as it stands after Novak is his body.
Tennis needs next gen to stand up along with Alcaraz. There are some good young players in early to mid 20s but not sure if they are that good. The likes of Tsitsipas or Casper Ruud may win one here and there but not sure if they have it.
Not on his favoured surface he didn’t. And I didn’t leave it out…in fact I clearly alluded to it by pointing it out specifically for Becker.
It’s also not subjective either really. The Borg shout is solid though, though again, for various reasons, he was able to avoid Connors heavily and lost in US against him.
It's because of his idiotic opinions.
He's been disliked since before his idiotic opinions.
Yep clay and grass court tennis were basically like different sports like then. Borg played as a defensive grinder when he won his titles at Roland Garros, and then serve-volleyed behind 100% of 1st serves when he won his titles at Wimbledon. I believe that in the mid to late 80s, Lendl also won Roland Garros titles playing as a grinder, and then reached Wimbledon finals serve-volleying behind 100% of 1st and 2nd serves.
Also players had to adapt to facing opponents with a far more diverser range of playing styles back then. For example when Sampras won his 1990 US Open title as a teenager, in the last 3 rounds, he faced Lendl who played a pretty agressive baseline style and come to the net a moderate amount of times (more times than players would come to the net big matches nowadays), then McEnroe who serve-volleyed behind almost every 1st and 2nd serve, and then Agassi who almost exclusively played from the baseline.
People love Federer and Nadal more and he was always looked as the 3rd guy but then he crashed their party and overtook them. I feel there is more respect for him now than say 10 years back.
I think he should definitely be able to win the calendar grand slam. When Agassi completed that at RG in 1999, it felt ‘epic’, but after the big 3 did it in quick succession, with Djokovic winning every slam at least 3 times and Nadal at least twice, it doesn’t feel so ‘huge’ any more.
I thought he would win Wimbledon relatively soon, just not this soon ! He surely should be able to win the title at RG several times, and have at least a Gustavo Kuerten type career there.
A couple of years ago I was worried about the prospect of Medvedev (I like his press conferences and personality but find his game to be dull), Zverev or Tsitsipas taking over after the big 3, which could have cured insomnia. In general the 90s born players have been so dull and underwhelming IMO. Alcaraz taking over, with his significantly more appealing game, is certainly far more preferrable.
I don’t think Djokovic is done yet, and still wouldn’t be surprised if he achieves his goal of reaching the 25 grand slam mark.
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I don't much care about the USO actually as I do about the AO now. If Carlos can take Novak down there it would be quite incredible.
Yes while I'm no Djokovic fan, it has been blatantly obvious to me for a while that he has been far more gracious in defeat including after big matches, than either Federer or Nadal. That's not to say that either of those 2 have been perenially sore losers (though Federer's press conference after his 2011 US Open semi-final defeat was pretty classless), but Djokovic has been far more 'warm' towards his victorious opponents, both during post-match handshakes and press conferences than either of them.
When I had too much time on my hands during lockdown, I stumbled across a video showing all of the match points to date following the Djokovic-Nadal matches, and it was abundantly clearly that Djokovic was far warmer at the net after the matches that he lost than Nadal was.
Sad but true. I find his game more versatile than both Nadal and Alcaraz. More variety on the backhand side. The "machine" stereotype is wide off the mark.
I wish the crowd knew what it takes for a kid from Serbia to make it this far, for so long at the top of the game.
Alcaraz has come at a time Tennis on the men’s side so desperately needed him
With Fed gone, Nadal iffy as too wether he’ll come back, we needed a challenger for the last great in Djokovic, arise Alacaraz
I hope we get to be graced with atleast 2-3 years of godly tennis between these 2
and in doing so, Alcaraz can hopefully pull a rival out of the otherwise disappointing next gen pack to challenge him after Djokovic hangs his racket up
Todays final was an utter joy and of the highest quality, not “the greatest” but without question “one of the great” finals
Alcaraz at 20 years and 72 days old is already multiple GS Winner!
With Fed gone, Nadal iffy as too wether he’ll come back, we needed a challenger for the last great in Djokovic, arise Alacaraz
I hope we get to be graced with atleast 2-3 years of godly tennis between these 2
and in doing so, Alcaraz can hopefully pull a rival out of the otherwise disappointing next gen pack to challenge him after Djokovic hangs his racket up
Todays final was an utter joy and of the highest quality, not “the greatest” but without question “one of the great” finals
Alcaraz at 20 years and 72 days old is already multiple GS Winner!
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Phenomenal final.
That game 5 in the third set will live long in my memory.
That game 5 in the third set will live long in my memory.
Rumour has it, that game is still on going!!
Alcaraz already on 2 Majors, can definitely get to 8-10
Almost did his knee on two occasions today though. Needs to be careful
Almost did his knee on two occasions today though. Needs to be careful
Nadal's finished. Any form of comeback will be a goodbye tour unfortunately
If he ends up on 8-10, it would have been a very disappointing career given he already has 2 Slams and will have a lot of years without any of the GOATs around.
There has to be a couple of 16-17 year olds who will break through big time in a couple years though. 10 Majors would be a mighty achievement.
Don't forget the Sampras mark was widely viewed as impossible to overtake before the big 3 did it
I remember like it was yesterday Federer overtaking Sampras’s 14 GS’s
too think Fed Nadal and Djokovic would go on too dominate for as long as they did gaining 20+ EACH GS’s with no real challenger other than themselves is actually quite remarkable, I’d say Andy Murray was their only challenger making 9 Grand Slam Finals and winning 3 of them something no other player has managed too come close too when it comes too challenging the great 3
Good players will come through, but of Alcaraz’s level? It’s not just technical ability but mental strength to get over the line, Alcaraz serving for the championship was outrageous mental confidence! Something that has lacked with many really good players over the years
It makes complete sense. There’s a reason why crowds constantly turn against him. If things aren’t going his way he acts like a complete prick. Look at him today, roaring at the crowd, blowing them kisses, cupping his ears, sarcastically clapping. Incredible player but just unbelievably unlikeable. His political views probably don’t help either.
Crowds always turn against the East European. At least he did not get stabbed like Monica Seles.
Let's face it, if he were English, he would be a Sir by now with an avenue named after him in South-West London
Only 8 men in history have 10 or more.
You simply don't know who else could come along or step up. He ticks all the boxes for generational talent and at the moment looks like he could have a very dominant run post Novak but absolutely no one on earth should be disappointed with 10 slams in a career!
I think it would only be disappointing because of the talent he possesses and looking at the lack of generational talents that have come through since Novak and Rafa. I did have some doubts before today that he's being overhyped but if he can do this vs Novak at the biggest stage, I think he should easily be able to get to 15 Slams assuming he has no major career injury.
Did you not here the reception Djokovic got from the crowd when going up for his runners up speech?
the man was adored utterly and entirely by the audience
The tennis crowd Know Djokovics antics, that he feeds off them cheering the opposition and him winding them up, because it produces the best tennis on offer!
He goes over the top at times but these are high stakes situations and ultimately when folks do wrong (within reason) it can be understandable with what’s on the line, and at the end respect is there, as shown at the end of the match between both Djokovic and the crowd
Yes, well said
The last part of your post is the most important. He could have torn his ACL twice today.
Then again I am happy to revise my estimates and bring them up to 15. See you on RedCafe in 2033 to see how he measured up
He's already picked up a fair amount of injuries so I agree! However, someone like Rafa who faced fairly serious injuries and setbacks through his career, still managed to end up with 22 Slams despite facing Roger, Novak and Murray throughout this period so I think Carlos should be fine! Unless ofcourse he's as unlucky as Del Po or Thiem to pick up career ruining wrist injuries.The last part of your post is the most important. He could have torn his ACL twice today.
Then again I am happy to revise my estimates and bring them up to 15. See you on RedCafe in 2033 to see how he measured up
Hopefully the beginning of the end for the anti-vaxxer twats career.