Grand Slam Random,random

[ti-amie]

I thought that this might be needed because some topics, while related to Grand Slams, aren't specific to the Slam that is currently being played. Here's Taylor Fritz talking about how he ended up playing today and the role the chair played.

[ti-amie]

[ti-amie]

[Suliso]

Who do we think will be the next player not named Alcaraz, Sinner or Djokovic to win a Slam? It's not obvious...

[JTContinental]

It's possible Taylor Fritz could win this one, otherwise I say it will be either Zverev or Shelton.

[jazzyg]

As long as Sinner and Alcaraz are 1-2 in the world, I don't see it happening. No one other that possibly Djokovic at Wimbledon is capable of beating both of them.

[Suliso]

As long as Sinner and Alcaraz are 1-2 in the world, I don't see it happening. No one other that possibly Djokovic at Wimbledon is capable of beating both of them.

Next 5 years all 20 Slams? Surely not, even the combo of Djokovic, Federer and Nadal weren't that dominant.

[ponchi101]

I thought Draper was going to keep improving on his IW title. Not.
Rune showed so much promise, but with the joke coaching... not.
Fritz is older than J/C, so I don't see him improving much more to beat them, so no.
So that leaves me with some really young kid that may get better soon. Either Fonseca or Mensik. But it looks really bleak for everybody.
And yes, we are worse than when we had R/R/N. At least then we had three. We only have two now.

[Suliso]

Murray, Thiem, Cilic, Wawrinka and del Potro won Slams in that era besides the obvious three. If there are only two dominant players it should be slightly easier for someone else to sneak in. I suppose we'll see in a year or two how it looks. Or maybe in just a week

[ponchi101]

My problem with this is that in the recent past, you had like tiers (borrowing Ashkor's term). You had R/R/N at the top. Always competing for the title. Then you had Murray, who was clearly better than anybody else but not the top three. I group Delpo, Cilic and Wawrinka together, despite Stan's much better record, because they showed up on a few occasions.
But you also had a bunch of guys that were always better than the guys below. Tsonga, Berdych, Ferrer, Raonic and Kei were consistent QF/SF. Starting a slam, you could safely bet they would be in the second week.

Now, I think we can safely say that Zverev's claim that he was in the tier below J/C was the most foolish statement for the year. He is #3 because somebody has to be #3 (Novak is the real third best player right now) but, since he made that statement, he has done nothing. And below J/C and Novak, nobody is above anybody else. It will take somebody a major change in his game to get to Tier 2. Much more for Tier 1.

[Suliso]

On a another topic I was asking myself which active (top 100) players have been to QF's at all four slams. Here is the list in order of current rankings.

ATP

Sinner, Alcaraz, Djokovic, Medvedev, de Minaur, Rublev, Khachanov, Dimitrov, Berrettini, Nishikori, Cilic

WTA

Sabalenka, Pegula, Swiatek, Keys, Svitolina, Muchova, Krejcikova, Ostapenko, Pavlyuchenkova, Jabeur, Azarenka

[Owendonovan]

Fritz or de Minaur. Watching the Shelton match yesterday, I was thinking Ben is pretty good, though I don't see him reaching a Sinner/Alcarez level.

[Suliso]

I'd be shocked if de Minaur ever reaches GS final let alone wins one. I do see a chance for Fritz if all stars align.

Sinner will be 24 soon, Alcaraz a year and a half younger. I believe a real rival will have to come from a group younger than Sinner even if one of the veterans (Fritz, Zverev) get lucky and win one.

[jazzyg]

As long as Sinner and Alcaraz are 1-2 in the world, I don't see it happening. No one other that possibly Djokovic at Wimbledon is capable of beating both of them.

Next 5 years all 20 Slams? Surely not, even the combo of Djokovic, Federer and Nadal weren't that dominant.

You are almost certainly right. I just can't see who it will be. Maybe Rublev based on the 1st 4 games vs. Alcaraz.

[ponchi101]

If it were only about speed, Demiñaur for sure. But he simply has no power.
It is like Navarro. He has to win every point twice. Maybe even 3 times.