Talk About Tennis 2.0

Liamvalid wrote: ↑Thu Nov 25, 2021 2:37 pm

ashkor87 wrote: ↑Thu Nov 25, 2021 8:20 am Unlike most people here, I don't consider personality

Your inclusion of Henin and Nastase does prove that

He he, true

This took me a long time. Do I try to remember how I used to feel about players from decades past? Do I upgrade them because I like their post playing careers? In the end, I just decided to go with people I usually root or rooted for. Thanks so much for this thread. It's really fun.

So, in no particular order...

1. Chris Evert
2. Monica Seles
3. Justine Henin
4. Gabriela Sabatini
5. Yvonne Goolagong
6. Naomi Osaka
7. Andrea Petkovic
8. Sania Mirza
9. Mary Pierce
10. Ash Barty

1. Novak Djokovic
2. Mats Wilander
3. Alex Corretja
4. Thomas Muster
5. Matteo Berrettini
6. Juan Martin Del Potro
7. Dustin Brown
8. Aslan Karatsev
9. Marat Safin
10. Dmitry Tursunov

Kevin

So easy to forget, so hard to choose! I forgot McEnroe and Goolagong! How could I?!

Looking at the lists, and comparing to mine, my sole excuse for a bland list ( Ti) is that you people obviously were able to watch more players than I did. For example, the inclusion of Petkovic is indeed great, but I only watched her play once because I have been a hostage of ESPN for over two decades (we don't get TC or anything like that here in S. America). So I usually saw just Grand Slams and in the last few years, MS1000's.
I have also mentioned that ESPN will NOT show a woman's match unless it is the finals of a Slam, so I got even less exposed to those players.

ponchi101 wrote: ↑Sat Nov 27, 2021 4:48 pm Looking at the lists, and comparing to mine, my sole excuse for a bland list ( Ti) is that you people obviously were able to watch more players than I did. For example, the inclusion of Petkovic is indeed great, but I only watched her play once because I have been a hostage of ESPN for over two decades (we don't get TC or anything like that here in S. America). So I usually saw just Grand Slams and in the last few years, MS1000's.
I have also mentioned that ESPN will NOT show a woman's match unless it is the finals of a Slam, so I got even less exposed to those players.

That must be so frustrating for you and other women's tennis fans.

A lot of the reason I love Petko so much comes from off the court. She's really smart, self effacing, funny, and irreverent, or at least that's how she comes across.

Kevin

There are several streaming options out there to watch matches from the Challenger level to the pros.

Do you have any players you used to support, but not anymore for one reason or another?

For me it would be Madison Keys. Nothing special happened, but she kind of lost interest in her own career and so did I.

For me it's usually after they retire, with the exception of Novak, whom I used to be a big fan of but who has made that almost impossible.

I was a huge Evert fan but her commentary is pretty horrific. I never was a huge Courier fan, but he's my favorite commentator by far.

Kevin

Suliso wrote: ↑Sun Nov 28, 2021 5:36 pm Do you have any players you used to support, but not anymore for one reason or another?

For me it would be Madison Keys. Nothing special happened, but she kind of lost interest in her own career and so did I.

This is the best description of what has happened to Madison Keys tennis career that I've read so far.

Suliso wrote: ↑Sun Nov 28, 2021 5:36 pm Do you have any players you used to support, but not anymore for one reason or another?

For me it would be Madison Keys. Nothing special happened, but she kind of lost interest in her own career and so did I.

Yes, most recently in the last year with Djokovic and Zverev.

I've had the opposite reversal as well, most strongly with Venus Williams.

Hingis. I was very high on her, then I just became numb to her tennis.
On the men's side, Bruguera. I really liked him, then when we got 50 more like him coming from downtown Barcelona, I lost interest.
Keys too. Your description is spot on (@Suliso).

For me, Maria Sharapova, Marin Cilic, Juan Martin del Potro

On the reverse end of the spectrum Gael Monfils and Serena

Suliso wrote: ↑Sun Nov 28, 2021 5:36 pm Do you have any players you used to support, but not anymore for one reason or another?

For me it would be Madison Keys. Nothing special happened, but she kind of lost interest in her own career and so did I.

Yes, Keys has all but disappeared, indeed.
Sloane Stephens has been on a similar path - but at least she seems to care a bit more lately.

For me, it's Naomi Osaka.
She is sometimes incredibly refreshing with her honest insights about many matters... but the total hypocrisy of saying she can’t handle the attention and scrutiny of being in the spotlight, and then doing things that she absolutely knows will shine the spotlight very brightly upon her (‘famous’ boyfriend, outlandish clothes, significant presence on ‘social media’, etc.) rubs me the wrong way.

I think that her nature is to be a shy, quiet introvert - that is who she truly is, and the 'fame' messed with that. She is caught between being who she truly is and trying to be what others want her to be. Only when she accepts what her natural personality is and allows that to be her identity will she be truly happy. But as long as she tries to have her cake and eat it, too - by seeking the spotlight and then complaining that she can’t handle the spotlight - she will not be comfortable with herself.

She’s a very intelligent, incredibly insightful, extremely compassionate person who has absolutely no idea how to handle ‘fame’. And the people around her sure don’t seem to be of any help at all, sadly.

Nick Kyrgios, 'nuff said.

So much so that I had totally forgotten about him.