The Tennis Thread

[Mr. Orange]

Just seems the end of an era. Carlos has no experience on grass and seemed to almost figure it out as the tourney went on. Grass was Novak's best surface. I hope I am wrong, but Novak might have won his last tourney unless Carlos has an injury.

But what do I know, lol

Novak didn’t play his best. I can see these guys trading a couple of finals. I’d still have Novak as the Wimby favorite next year and definitely AO. Carlos favorite at FO and maybe USO.

But what the heck do I know. Rafa may play FO.

 

[foucault87]

I'm still hoping for a Kyrigos grand slam. He is super entertaining even if he breaks the spirit of the game nonsense

Edit: just saw the injury stuff. He's probably done at the high level. Still enjoy watching him play

 

[foucault87]

Alcaraz is nuts

 

[Lee]

Alcaraz is nuts

There was a great 5 set match last night I watch with Novak, but I missed Alcaraz.

If no one steps up like Novak, Fed and Nadal, Alcaraz could go on a 25+ run of majors. RIght now no one seems poised to stop him in 2 or 3 years. I know its a who knows, but thats what happened with Fed until Nadal came along on the French and then others.

 

[foucault87]

There was a great 5 set match last night I watch with Novak, but I missed Alcaraz.

If no one steps up like Novak, Fed and Nadal, Alcaraz could go on a 25+ run of majors. RIght now no one seems poised to stop him in 2 or 3 years. I know its a who knows, but thats what happened with Fed until Nadal came along on the French and then others.

Theres always another guy who we don't know about. That's just how tennis has always been....other than the big 4 era

 

[Mr. Orange]

Death, Taxes, Djokovic

3/4 Slams and one tiebreak point in Wimby away from the CYGS. Guy is 36.

He went to serve and volley to beat Medvedev. It was awesome. Back to #1. He will likely push that to 400 weeks. His coach said he plans to play in the 2028 Olympics in LA. So that’s 5 more years of the Djoker.

I think he can win 6 more GS and get to 30. It won’t be easy but it’s not impossible.

 

[Lee]

Death, Taxes, Djokovic

3/4 Slams and one tiebreak point in Wimby away from the CYGS. Guy is 36.

He went to serve and volley to beat Medvedev. It was awesome. Back to #1. He will likely push that to 400 weeks. His coach said he plans to play in the 2028 Olympics in LA. So that’s 5 more years of the Djoker.

I think he can win 6 more GS and get to 30. It won’t be easy but it’s not impossible.

I think 6 is pushing it. But maybe, I am rooting for the guy to be honest. Nadal will hang around at the French for a few more years, and Alcaraz is going to be a problem as he is only 20 and already this good.

But you could make an argument that Djokovic is the most mentally strong athlete of all time. He was clearly gassed and found the strength to win that epic 2nd set.

Novak is amazing.

 

[Mr. Orange]

I think 6 is pushing it. But maybe, I am rooting for the guy to be honest. Nadal will hang around at the French for a few more years, and Alcaraz is going to be a problem as he is only 20 and already this good.

But you could make an argument that Djokovic is the most mentally strong athlete of all time. He was clearly gassed and found the strength to win that epic 2nd set.

Novak is amazing.

Yep 6 is definitely a stretch. But he has won 7 of the last 10 he has entered so it’s not impossible. I think at min he has another AO and Wimbledon in him. And then it could just be how the breaks go.

With Carlos. I think he can be as good as he wants to be, but we have seen now that he has had letdowns after his two Slams. As he becomes more of a celebrity, we will see how that affects his training and motivation. I think Carlos may be the motivation Novak needs for his last few years.

 

[cavsfever]

At the US Open I was glad to see that Alcazar is human and also that Djokovic can still look dominant. Looking forward to a couple more years of great competition between Alcazar and Djokovic -- was worried for a while that Alcazar would just emerge as dominant with no competition.

 

[Marcus]

Definitely a casual fan here, but what Djokovic has been able to accomplish is nothing short of legendary. Alcaraz has also been very impressive and poised at such a young age these past few months.

Hoping to see a lot more of them matching up over the next few years; their match at Wimbledon was epic.

 

[Zeus69]

Djokovic will definitely go down as the goat. I’d enjoy him more if I found him more likable…

 

[inliner311]

Djokovic will definitely go down as the goat. I’d enjoy him more if I found him more likable…

I feel like Tennis is so hard to stack guys up against each other. We rarely get peak vs peak for players. Also who is healthy and when a players peaks kind of dictate how many slams someone gets.

The eye test for Djokovic is weird cause he really has never seen that special to me while even though I wasn't a fan of Federer or Nadal, they had a lot of wow shots in every match. Like they passed the eye test way more than Djokovic for me.

Pete Sampras might be the only real elite tennis player I've really rooted for. I've always loved the runs by underdogs through grandslam tournaments, that's the real fun of watch tennis for me.

 

[ice cream man]

I feel like Tennis is so hard to stack guys up against each other. We rarely get peak vs peak for players. Also who is healthy and when a players peaks kind of dictate how many slams someone gets.

The eye test for Djokovic is weird cause he really has never seen that special to me while even though I wasn't a fan of Federer or Nadal, they had a lot of wow shots in every match. Like they passed the eye test way more than Djokovic for me.

Pete Sampras might be the only real elite tennis player I've really rooted for. I've always loved the runs by underdogs through grandslam tournaments, that's the real fun of watch tennis for me.

Can’t disagree with what you said here. It’s the consistency, the depth of every shot, and the second-to-none return of serve that made Novak unique. Literally a machine that contrary to popular belief I think you had to wear down rather than try to hit 3-4 high-risk shots to win 1 point. Roger and Rafa obviously were able to get the better of him a handful of times due to their heart, fitness, talent, and uniqueness of their individual games.

You need it all: elite heart, fitness, talent, variety, and often serve to beat the best in tennis. Once Novak improved his net game and serve is when he went from a top player to THE top player. Earlier than that he was more like where Medvedev is now: has the fight, has elite skill, but a little too one-dimensional to win Final after Final.

I don’t have any stats, but I’m guessing Novak has dropped a small number of mph on his groundstrokes. Now he is pulling out of Miami with no injury noted. Could just be a minor setback or could be age catching up with him. Anyway, we’re in good hands with Alcaraz and Sinner.

 

[Lee]

Can’t disagree with what you said here. It’s the consistency, the depth of every shot, and the second-to-none return of serve that made Novak unique. Literally a machine that contrary to popular belief I think you had to wear down rather than try to hit 3-4 high-risk shots to win 1 point. Roger and Rafa obviously were able to get the better of him a handful of times due to their heart, fitness, talent, and uniqueness of their individual games.

You need it all: elite heart, fitness, talent, variety, and often serve to beat the best in tennis. Once Novak improved his net game and serve is when he went from a top player to THE top player. Earlier than that he was more like where Medvedev is now: has the fight, has elite skill, but a little too one-dimensional to win Final after Final.

I don’t have any stats, but I’m guessing Novak has dropped a small number of mph on his groundstrokes. Now he is pulling out of Miami with no injury noted. Could just be a minor setback or could be age catching up with him. Anyway, we’re in good hands with Alcaraz and Sinner.

I feel Novak's top talent is his mental makeup and ability to not get shaken by bade games or sets.

In tennis, that might be as important as any other skill, the pressure of tennis is insane in my opinion.

Also Novak's other strength is having zero weaknesses, he is very good at everything, elite at almost nothing though. Just my 2 cents, but i do love me some tennis, all time favorite for me is probably Agassi, so I actually hated Sampras for no reason which is crazy considering Pete is the greatest American player of all time. Also was a huge Roger fan, class act with incredible tennis game.