Translation
Since you asked for thoughts...ashkor87 wrote: ↑Tue Dec 07, 2021 6:42 am Mulling over some (probably false) equivalences...
Barty = Federer (footwork, smooth, quick, precise serve..)
Andreescu = Djokovic (no weakness, best on hard courts but can do well on any surface)
Swiatek = Nadal (sprightly, quick, topspin, great on clay)
closest I can think of for Serena is DelPo but it seems sacrilege to compare Serena with anyone at all, so I wont..
any thoughts?
You're comparing a player (Djokovic) who's been at or near the top of the rankings for over a decade to a player (Andreescu) who had a good 6 months more than 2 years ago, and who has done nothing of note since then.
Andreescu has "no weaknesses"? Really? While that may have very arguably seemed true during her good run of 6 months in 2019, I think she's demonstrated plenty of weaknesses since then. Firstly, she is almost never healthy. Her history of being very easily injured goes back to her Junior days. Secondly, she is wildly inconsistent. Also, back in 2019, she came on the scene pretty much as an unknown - and people didn't know how to play her. Since then, in the tournaments she has actually played, the other players have had time to study her and figure out how to play her, see what her weaknesses are, etc. The result is that she is now ranked number 46.
So to say that she has "no weaknesses" seems highly inaccurate, to say the least.
I honestly can't understand why so many people think that she's the greatest thing since sliced bread. Some people talk about her as if she's been in the top 5 for 10 years (she was in the top 10 for over 2 years, but that was ONLY because of the messed up ranking system they came up with to compensate for COVID-19). What has she done to make people think she's so great? She had a good 6 months - that's all. 6 months is a small blip in a typical career. Many mediocre players have a really good 6 month period - and it's soon forgotten. Many great players have a really bad 6 month period - and it's soon forgotten.
So why is Andreescu's good 6 months more than 2 years ago still seen as such a great thing?
Andreescu's path at the pro level to this point looks quite similar to Genie's. Genie came on the scene, and other players didn't know how to play her. She took advantage of that and had a good 6 or 8 months - and her results were deserved - fine. Since then, after the other players figured out how to play her, she has plummeted down the rankings. (Of course, that was helped by her priority being to get compliments on her ass instead of on her tennis.)
To this point, Andreescu is following a similar path. I don't think she'll fall as far in the rankings as Genie, because Andreescu's a better player. But I definitely see more parallels with Genie's path than with, say, Barty's, or Muguruza's, etc.
