Talk About Tennis 2.0

ponchi101 wrote: ↑Tue Feb 22, 2022 10:24 pm With Megan on Medvedev/Alcaraz. Medvedev will end up with 3, 4 hard court slams. Alcaraz, I still need to see him get better in those.
Time wise... yep, he is much younger and will enter his prime after Rafa and Nole are gone. But he will be in an age of parity.

Surely better to be playing in an age of parity than an age of Rafa and Novak? I’m guessing he will be towards the top of the food chain for a longer period than Medvedev, and he’s already looking better to me than the likes of Musetti and Sinner. But he’s only 18, far too young for me to be jinxing him by proclaiming him to be the new Nadal

I think Meddy will end up with 6 or 7 Slams, and that’s a lot! Things are distorted by the Big 3 era. Not many people get more than a handful of Slams, even the best. So it’s hard for me to predict that Alcaraz will get 7 or 8. He might not win any. Many, many great players never win a Slam.

We'll probably go back to the regular business where the best player of the generation wins 6-10 Slams.

Ha, hadn't even paid attention to Koepka playing pool in that commercial and completely missed him. I was too busy being angry at the lack of other Big Lebowski castmates in a bowling alley commercial

Suliso wrote: ↑Wed Feb 23, 2022 8:00 am We'll probably go back to the regular business where the best player of the generation wins 6-10 Slams.

We have been so spoiled for the last 30 years. Pete's 14, the big three 20's. That was an anomaly. As you say, we have to remember the slam totals of some of the "Great" players (and they were indeed great, but pale compared to this group): Becker/Edberg got 6, Mats and Mac got 7, Andre, Ivan and Jimbo got 8. On average, about one slam every two years of being on the tour, and almost all bunched up in a span of 7 years; Mac, for example, won his first in 1979, his last in 1984. Mats was 81-88, Lendl was 84-90.
Heck, Courier has 4, Arthur Ashe got three. That is how tough it is.

Elina from earlier on Wednesday:




Translation: I am proud to be Ukrainian. Let us unite in this extremely difficult time for the sake of peace and the future of our state. Glory to Ukraine


Elina in the last couple of hours:

^^ Just a reminder that this will likely be a very difficult time for many of the players

With the huge presence of Russians in both tours, should there be any sort of response from the ATP or the WTA? State a position, or simply remain silent?
After the WTA made it clear it would not stand by idly with the Peng Shuai situation, not saying anything about Russia may not be consistent.
The ATP will of course not be able to care less, but we will maybe have a new #1 player by the end of this week, and he is Russian. This does not apply to him in any way, but I really would not know how to handle this.

ponchi101 wrote: ↑Thu Feb 24, 2022 3:49 pm With the huge presence of Russians in both tours, should there be any sort of response from the ATP or the WTA? State a position, or simply remain silent?
After the WTA made it clear it would not stand by idly with the Peng Shuai situation, not saying anything about Russia may not be consistent.
The ATP will of course not be able to care less, but we will maybe have a new #1 player by the end of this week, and he is Russian. This does not apply to him in any way, but I really would not know how to handle this.

It's such a slippery slope. If Trump is re-elected, should they pull all US events? We're not angels all the time. They'd end up moving all tournaments to Switzerland.

China's government was directly involved in the wellness - some would say disappearance - of a WTA athlete, so I think it's much more direct. In my opinion, the sport doesn't have to get involved in Russia–Ukraine. At most, a statement in support of athletes and tournament staff/volunteers/sponsors who are suffering because of this. But then, terrible geopolitical things happen all the time and the tours don't constantly acknowledge that many players deal with strife at home. As a fan, I don't need to hear that the tours recognize how bad this is. Doesn't add anything for me. My two cents.

ponchi101 wrote: ↑Thu Feb 24, 2022 3:49 pm With the huge presence of Russians in both tours, should there be any sort of response from the ATP or the WTA? State a position, or simply remain silent?
After the WTA made it clear it would not stand by idly with the Peng Shuai situation, not saying anything about Russia may not be consistent.
The ATP will of course not be able to care less, but we will maybe have a new #1 player by the end of this week, and he is Russian. This does not apply to him in any way, but I really would not know how to handle this.

I would think any statement if it comes, would make no mention of Russians, but would be to let players know that support is there for Ukrainians and those from other countries feeling vulnerable like Latvians and Estonians if they are in need of it.

The only statements I'd expect on Russia itself would be related to tournaments taking place there. ATP moved the one in St. Petersburg, but kept the one in Moscow. And that's on a schedule released yesterday.

^ The enigma deepens...

ponchi101 wrote: ↑Thu Feb 24, 2022 3:49 pm With the huge presence of Russians in both tours, should there be any sort of response from the ATP or the WTA? State a position, or simply remain silent?
After the WTA made it clear it would not stand by idly with the Peng Shuai situation, not saying anything about Russia may not be consistent.
The ATP will of course not be able to care less, but we will maybe have a new #1 player by the end of this week, and he is Russian. This does not apply to him in any way, but I really would not know how to handle this.

Obviously, it's unfair to condemn to any degree or penalize any player simply because they are Russian.
But I think all tournaments should be pulled out of Russia right away.

"I've completely turned myself around" - that's the story. How? Some journalist needs to jump on that. It's a 5,000-word narrative waiting to happen. But you really need to be on the ground in Australia to write it, so has to be one of them. Could be done virtually but wouldn't be nearly as good.

JazzNU wrote: ↑Fri Feb 25, 2022 12:57 am

meganfernandez wrote: ↑Fri Feb 25, 2022 12:45 pm "I've completely turned myself around" - that's the story. How? Some journalist needs to jump on that. It's a 5,000-word narrative waiting to happen. But you really need to be on the ground in Australia to write it, so has to be one of them. Could be done virtually but wouldn't be nearly as good.

That's the story to you. You're one of the only ones I've seen think that's the story.