mick1303 wrote: ↑Fri Jan 27, 2023 5:55 pm
Deuce wrote: ↑Fri Jan 27, 2023 2:09 am
I doubt very much that any true tennis people view Sabalenka as 'a huge favourite'.
Given her strong choking tendencies in the past, and the fact that she's never even played a Major Final - let alone won one... plus the fact that Rybakina has won a Major (albeit there should be an asterisk beside it)...
All of the pertinent elements reveal that the pros and cons on both sides are about even.
If Rybakina's Wimbledon run deserves an asterisk, then Nadal's AO deserves ten. Nobody of Russians/Belorussians was nowhere near the favorite the Djokovic was in Australia. IMO we are mentioning asterisks way too often. Novak's AO is a second case I can justify in Open Era. The first being Steffi's slams and #1 after Monika's stabbing. Nothing else warrants an asterisk. Rybakina's win is legit.
I very much disagree, Mick...
I have nothing against Rybakina personally... but when quality players are prevented from playing in a tournament, it's very safe to say that their absence A) affects the outcome of the tournament throughout the tournament, and that B) it weakens the field.
Saying that there should be an asterisk DOES NOT mean that I'm saying that one of the players who was not permitted to play would have won the tournament if they'd been allowed to play.
What it DOES mean is that the draw would very, very likely have played out differently if the banned players had played. And that means that Rybakina's draw would have been different - and likely more difficult.
Of course, no-one can say whether or not Rybakina would have won it without the ban on Russians and Belarusians. But I know, for example, that there are some Sabalenka fans here who would say that she would have had a legitimate shot at it had she been allowed to play.
The same could be said of Kasatkina... Kudermetova... Azarenka... Samsonova... Alexandrova...
At the very least, the draw would have almost certainly played out differently if those players had participated. These players were replaced in the draw by lower ranked players. If the Russian and Belarusian players would have been in the draw, this would have likely affected who Rybakina played...
Definitely an asterisk here - on both the men's and the women's side.
The notable and significant FORCED absences may also be part of the reason why Rybakina herself has said that winning Wimbledon didn't feel like she had just won a Major.
That said, I think that players should have been awarded half the regular points for Wimbledon, rather than no points.