Talk About Tennis 2.0

Coco, asked who can keep up with her in a foot race,mentioned Swiatek and.....Parks!

https://www.wtatennis.com/news/3639614/ ... f-s-speed-

Christopher Clarey
@christophclarey@sportsbots.xyz
This was Brad Gilbert in our interview a couple of weeks ago about Coco Gauff. Didn't have to wait long for a big title.

From my subscriber site TENNIS & BEYOND

https://christopherclarey.substack.com/p/coco-gauff-b…

Good point. Even here, we talk "too much" about her FH, while we do not discuss her other weapons. And we give some other players a pass on their deficiencies. For example, I don't think we have ever spoken about how weak Iga is at the net (my opinion: she is worse than average there). We do not talk about Elena's movement (the worst of the top 5 players). We marvel at Ons hands, but do not mention she has limited power.
Coco has some good strokes. The movement is very, very good. The net play is better than average. Improve just a bit, and then we are talking about Slam potential. And we do not mention that enough.

I agree we should look at strengths, not weaknesses..Sampras did not become great because of his backhand..

ashkor87 wrote: ↑Tue Aug 22, 2023 1:53 am I agree we should look at strengths, not weaknesses..Sampras did not become great because of his backhand..

Indeed. And don't get me started on Edberg (my second favorite player ever). His FH was a liability, and everybody knew it, yet, he certainly was great.

ashkor87 wrote: ↑Tue Aug 22, 2023 1:53 am I agree we should look at strengths, not weaknesses..Sampras did not become great because of his backhand..

The exception is if that weakness is preventing a player from winning big matches. If they can hide the weakness and find their strength enough, fine. I had the impression that Coco was losing because of her forehand, from what people were saying.

I think the key is to shore up your weakness enough that it cannot be attacked..but you cannot become a great player or even very successful without developing your strengths.. so you are right, if the weakness makes you very beatable, as Coco's forehand was/is, then you have to get it at least to an acceptable level.

What I gather is Coco is keeping the ball deep on her forehand by giving it more air, or shape, and using her backhand to hit a winner.

https://www.espn.com/tennis/story/_/id/ ... ual-income

ATP Tour plan ensures players get guaranteed annual income
Associated Press
Aug 22, 2023, 10:44 AM ET

LONDON -- Men's professional tennis players ranked in the Top 100 will be guaranteed an annual income of $300,000 in 2024 under a new financial program announced by the ATP Tour on Tuesday.

The plan, called Baseline, starts with a three-year trial beginning next season and aims at "ensuring a greater number of players can make a sustainable living from the sport," the tour said in a news release.

The ATP expects a total of 30 to 45 players to receive money through one of Baseline's three parts each season.

In "guaranteed base earnings," the ATP will make up the difference if players do not reach certain thresholds: $300,000 for the Top 100, $150,000 for players ranked from 101 to 175 and $75,000 for those ranked from 176 to 250.

An element called "injury protection" will pay players who participate in fewer than nine ATP Tour and ATP Challenger Events in a season.

And "newcomer investment" will offer access to $200,000 in funding when players first make it into the Top 125, offset against prize money they make.


More here, which Ashkor posted in Tours and Tournament News. https://www.tennis.com/news/articles/at ... injured-pl

yes, this is a welcome move, I would think.. unless you are a radical free-market person.

So you get a salary for being an extra in the show. It seems fair to me (hey, Carlitos and Novak have to beat SOMEBODY in 1R of every tournament they play).

ponchi101 wrote: ↑Wed Aug 23, 2023 12:41 pm hey, Carlitos and Novak have to beat SOMEBODY in 1R of every tournament they play).

sometimes they get beat too (very rarely I grant)

It's almost like Universal (not really) Basic Income! I wonder if there will be pushback from tournaments about players being disincentivized from playing a fuller schedules if they're near a threshold (I don't think it'd be true, but might be a fear tournaments would have)

mmmm8 wrote: ↑Wed Aug 23, 2023 1:04 pm It's almost like Universal (not really) Basic Income! I wonder if there will be pushback from tournaments about players being disincentivized from playing a fuller schedules if they're near a threshold (I don't think it'd be true, but might be a fear tournaments would have)

a good socio-economic experiment to study, in fact!

I wonder if the ATP is going to consider endorsements and appearance fees as base earnings, or if it's just prize money. Will they pay up if a Top 100 player falls short of $300k in prize money but has $150k in prize money and $500k in appearance fees and cash endorsement?

ashkor87 wrote: ↑Wed Aug 23, 2023 12:50 pm sometimes they get beat too (very rarely I grant)

Novak has lost his first match a few times in the past few years, but the last time he lost a first round match in a tournament was the 2016 Olympics.