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Tennis

By Simi, in General Football and Sport

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Kendal Fox

Kendal Fox

Posted
Posted
On 27/01/2019 at 11:06, Manwell Pablo said:

 

Tbh I’m not the biggest fan of either of this mornings protagonists.

 

Nadal has managed to create a legacy off one niche surface, and I find Nole’s Attitude towards the press and officials deplorable at times.

Well, he did beat Federer at his absolute peak in the '08 Wimbledon final. Also was unlucky in the same tournament final a year earlier in which he won both his sets 6-2, 6-4, with Federer needing to win 2 of the 3 by tiebreak. This was also after Nadal had played several back to back matches due to rain heading into the final. Federer obviously was much more rested.

 

I agree that Rafa has had the luxury of the French to bolster his Slam record, but there's still 6 other Slams that he's won outside of that. Still way more than the likes of Murray's total slam record. If I remember rightly, he also won the French, Wimbledon and The US in the same year. Like I said earlier, During this period he was beating the brakes off of Novak at the majors. I don't know, was it just that extra level of physicality he had then that made the difference?

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Manwell Pablo

Manwell Pablo

Posted
Posted (edited)
On 03/02/2019 at 15:13, Kendal Fox said:

Well, he did beat Federer at his absolute peak in the '08 Wimbledon final. Also was unlucky in the same tournament final a year earlier in which he won both his sets 6-2, 6-4, with Federer needing to win 2 of the 3 by tiebreak. This was also after Nadal had played several back to back matches due to rain heading into the final. Federer obviously was much more rested.

 

I agree that Rafa has had the luxury of the French to bolster his Slam record, but there's still 6 other Slams that he's won outside of that. Still way more than the likes of Murray's total slam record. If I remember rightly, he also won the French, Wimbledon and The US in the same year. Like I said earlier, During this period he was beating the brakes off of Novak at the majors. I don't know, was it just that extra level of physicality he had then that made the difference?

 

Well if you look at the big four they’ve all (Murray included) had a spell or spells of varying lengths where they’ve been head and shoulders above everyone else on the tour. And circa 2008 when he won his gold medal and beat Federer at Wimbledon  I agree Nadal was the best player in the world on all surfaces. It was however quite short lived and his grand slam total is massively inflated by his french open titles.

 

I have no problem with him being regarded as a great player and he is indeed the best clay court player of all time, however he is often referred to as the 2nd best player of all time by many and some even extend that to saying he is better than federer and that’s what does It for me as it’s not true, both federal and Djokovic are better all round players.

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Kendal Fox

Kendal Fox

Posted
Posted
On 04/02/2019 at 19:53, Manwell Pablo said:

 

Well if you look at the big four they’ve all (Murray included) had a spell or spells of varying lengths where they’ve been head and shoulders above everyone else on the tour. And circa 2008 when he won his gold medal and beat Federer at Wimbledon  I agree Nadal was the best player in the world on all surfaces. It was however quite short lived and his grand slam total is massively inflated by his french open titles.

 

I have no problem with him being regarded as a great player and he is indeed the best clay court player of all time, however he is often referred to as the 2nd best player of all time by many and some even extend that to saying he is better than federer and that’s what does It for me as it’s not true, both federal and Djokovic are better all round players.

Oh I agree It's now undeniable that Federer and Djokovic have carved out a better all round game over time. But for however brief a period as you say, Nadal picked up multiple Slams in a very short space of time and perfected a virtually impenetrable game in which Fed, Novak, Murray and the rest could just not adjust to. I can't believe it was simply the others figuring him out as it's not as if they were significantly lesser players from 2008 - 2011 than they are now, and they were of course in their prime then.

It might sound a tad outrageous, but I really do wonder whether Rafa has developed some sort of psychological problem over the last 7 or 8 years that he just can't get out of.

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reynard

reynard

Posted
Posted
On 16/03/2019 at 12:13, spacemunky said:

I guess we officially have a new tennis queen in Canada. Bianca Andreescu in the final at Indian Wells vs Kerber.

 

Sorry Genie. You still have your SI swimsuit issues to do though!

Reminds me a lot of Martina Hingis but with more power. Women's tennis is in a really good shape at the moment. A lot of very good young players coming through. Shame none are British however.

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kingfox

kingfox

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25 minutes ago, reynard said:

Reminds me a lot of Martina Hingis but with more power. Women's tennis is in a really good shape at the moment. A lot of very good young players coming through. Shame none are British however.

Everyone was banging on about the class of 97, Osaka and Bencic seem to be leading the charge at the minute, while Kasatkina and Ostapenko are falling down the rankings.

 

But there's a bunch of 17-19 year olds who are also starting to come on strong, I think some of those have more potential than the class of 97.

 

Shame none are British but I hope Katie Boulter keeps on improving and has a steady rise up the rankings.

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reynard

reynard

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5 hours ago, kingfox said:

Everyone was banging on about the class of 97, Osaka and Bencic seem to be leading the charge at the minute, while Kasatkina and Ostapenko are falling down the rankings.

 

But there's a bunch of 17-19 year olds who are also starting to come on strong, I think some of those have more potential than the class of 97.

 

Shame none are British but I hope Katie Boulter keeps on improving and has a steady rise up the rankings.

You may well be right. Sabalenka looks decent and Yastremska too though they both like to try and hit the cover off the ball so it will be interesting to see if they can keep it up once they have to start defending poins. Osaka is very good but I'm a bit concerned her mind is always in the right place. Ostapenko has been found out. She can be an exciting to player to watch but her serve isn't great. Actually think Kasatkina is a better player though she doesn't have the power game.

Further down the age ranges Emma Raducanu looks the best British bet though she's just 16. In the same age group there looks to be a very promising Danish player, Clara Tauson and a 15 year old Ukranian, Daria Lupatetska, both could make it though they are both young.

 

Boulter has a good serve and forehand but she's lost a lot of time to injury and illness over the years. Still will be cheering her on at the Fed cup in April.

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reynard

reynard

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Posted
Just now, reynard said:

You may well be right. Sabalenka looks decent and Yastremska too though they both like to try and hit the cover off the ball so it will be interesting to see if they can keep it up once they have to start defending poins. Osaka is very good but I'm a bit concerned her mind is always in the right place. Ostapenko has been found out. She can be an exciting to player to watch but her serve isn't great. Actually think Kasatkina is a better player though she doesn't have the power game. The young American Anisimova looks a great prospect and is very tall so should develop a good serve.

Further down the age ranges Emma Raducanu looks the best British bet though she's just 16. In the same age group there looks to be a very promising Danish player, Clara Tauson and a 15 year old Ukranian, Daria Lupatetska, both could make it though they are both young.

 

Boulter has a good serve and forehand but she's lost a lot of time to injury and illness over the years. Still will be cheering her on at the Fed cup in April.

 

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kingfox

kingfox

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56 minutes ago, reynard said:

You may well be right. Sabalenka looks decent and Yastremska too though they both like to try and hit the cover off the ball so it will be interesting to see if they can keep it up once they have to start defending poins. Osaka is very good but I'm a bit concerned her mind is always in the right place. Ostapenko has been found out. She can be an exciting to player to watch but her serve isn't great. Actually think Kasatkina is a better player though she doesn't have the power game.

Further down the age ranges Emma Raducanu looks the best British bet though she's just 16. In the same age group there looks to be a very promising Danish player, Clara Tauson and a 15 year old Ukranian, Daria Lupatetska, both could make it though they are both young.

 

Boulter has a good serve and forehand but she's lost a lot of time to injury and illness over the years. Still will be cheering her on at the Fed cup in April.

Sabalenka and Yastremska both have big games but I still think they are very much in ball basher territory, Sabalenka has come on leaps and bounds from what she was like a year ago, this season though she's choked away a few matches, sometimes she's way too intense when she doesn't need to be and it costs her.

 

Not surprised to see Osaka have a little wobble after getting rid of Sascha, very strange decision. Ostapenko and Kasatkina are getting smashed up on a regularly basis atm, both have weaknesses though, their weak serves being the main one.

 

Andreescu, Vondrousova and Anisimova are the three I've been impressed with the most recently.

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reynard

reynard

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13 hours ago, kingfox said:

Sabalenka and Yastremska both have big games but I still think they are very much in ball basher territory, Sabalenka has come on leaps and bounds from what she was like a year ago, this season though she's choked away a few matches, sometimes she's way too intense when she doesn't need to be and it costs her.

 

Not surprised to see Osaka have a little wobble after getting rid of Sascha, very strange decision. Ostapenko and Kasatkina are getting smashed up on a regularly basis atm, both have weaknesses though, their weak serves being the main one.

 

Andreescu, Vondrousova and Anisimova are the three I've been impressed with the most recently.

Agree. Interesting to see Sabalenka is starting to play doubles in some tournaments. I think this is a good thing and should help develop the finer aspects of her game. She's has choked a few times but the pressure is different now. She's there to be shot at whereas before she pretty much had nothing to lose. With Sabalenka it will be interesting to see how she does after Easbourne as from then on she will have points to defend.

 

Anisimova looks the real deal. She's very tall and has a great serve. I've not seen so much of Vondrousova though the last 2 big tournaments have been good for her. Andreescu clearly has a whole court game that not many players do at the moment. Maybe Halep is a good comparison?

The depth in the women's game is far greater than ever now and though it can be easy to break the top 20 but to stay there for a while is not so easy and it doesn't take much to fall down into the 40s and 50s. Just look at Konta who is a shadow of the player of 2 years ago and whose capitualation the other night was frankly pathetic. Mladenovic is another.

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kingfox

kingfox

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1 hour ago, reynard said:

Agree. Interesting to see Sabalenka is starting to play doubles in some tournaments. I think this is a good thing and should help develop the finer aspects of her game. She's has choked a few times but the pressure is different now. She's there to be shot at whereas before she pretty much had nothing to lose. With Sabalenka it will be interesting to see how she does after Easbourne as from then on she will have points to defend.

 

Anisimova looks the real deal. She's very tall and has a great serve. I've not seen so much of Vondrousova though the last 2 big tournaments have been good for her. Andreescu clearly has a whole court game that not many players do at the moment. Maybe Halep is a good comparison?

The depth in the women's game is far greater than ever now and though it can be easy to break the top 20 but to stay there for a while is not so easy and it doesn't take much to fall down into the 40s and 50s. Just look at Konta who is a shadow of the player of 2 years ago and whose capitualation the other night was frankly pathetic. Mladenovic is another.

Well she just won the Indian Wells Women's doubles with Mertens, so her playing doubles is definitely working so far lol  She's not had many shitty losses though this season, Tomljanovic being her worst one on Friday. She choked against Bencic in Dubai and Kerber in Indian Wells, manner of defeat was shitty but losing to those two is an acceptable loss. As you say though it will be interesting to see how she does later in the year, lots of points to defend from Eastbourne onwards.

 

Anisimova has had an inconsistent start to the season, but I don't think she's far off from a big breakthrough. Vondrousova reminds me very much of Pliskova, similar stature, strikes the ball very similarly. She had a few good wins here and there last season but I expect even better this season. Many saying Andreescu already has a complete game, I think her variety especially has been the key to her success, her moonball tactic seems to be working a treat so far lol 

 

You can put it down to depth but I also think some players aren't as good as many predicted. Kasatkina and Ostapenko are now getting exposed on a weekly basis, I watched Stephens last night and she's getting more and more lazy, likes of Muguruza are struggling too but she should get rid of Sumyk.

 

There's not much consistency in these players at the moment; however two players that don't get the credit they deserve are Pliskova and Barty, they've reached the Last 16 or better of every tournament they've played this season.

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reynard

reynard

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Posted
3 hours ago, kingfox said:

Well she just won the Indian Wells Women's doubles with Mertens, so her playing doubles is definitely working so far lol  She's not had many shitty losses though this season, Tomljanovic being her worst one on Friday. She choked against Bencic in Dubai and Kerber in Indian Wells, manner of defeat was shitty but losing to those two is an acceptable loss. As you say though it will be interesting to see how she does later in the year, lots of points to defend from Eastbourne onwards.

 

Anisimova has had an inconsistent start to the season, but I don't think she's far off from a big breakthrough. Vondrousova reminds me very much of Pliskova, similar stature, strikes the ball very similarly. She had a few good wins here and there last season but I expect even better this season. Many saying Andreescu already has a complete game, I think her variety especially has been the key to her success, her moonball tactic seems to be working a treat so far lol 

 

You can put it down to depth but I also think some players aren't as good as many predicted. Kasatkina and Ostapenko are now getting exposed on a weekly basis, I watched Stephens last night and she's getting more and more lazy, likes of Muguruza are struggling too but she should get rid of Sumyk.

 

There's not much consistency in these players at the moment; however two players that don't get the credit they deserve are Pliskova and Barty, they've reached the Last 16 or better of every tournament they've played this season.

Lack of consistency is key and I don't get the merry-go-round of coaches either.

Barty is one of the best watches around, always entertaining and great variety. Pliskova very good too> She's  not showy which is why she goes unnoticed by some. Her on court character is beyond chilled.

Will be intersting to see how Andreescu gets on against Kontaveit later today.

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