Talk About Tennis 2.0

Deuce wrote: ↑Mon Jan 23, 2023 11:46 am

Deuce wrote: ↑Mon Jan 23, 2023 10:34 am Now that Federer is retired, and Nadal and Murray are fading, having Djokovic the lone remaining member of the 'Big 4', and dominating so much... it's simply not good for the game.
Face it - it's boring.
What makes tennis interesting is parity between players. When Nadal and Federer and Djokovic (and, to a lesser extent, Murray) were all at their best, they fed off of each other... And even when they would easily roll over their other opponents, we tolerated it because we knew that they were on a collision course to meet one of their true peers in another member of the 'Big 4' in the latter rounds, and we knew that would be exciting.

But now, with Djokovic the only one remaining, it's no fun watching him destroy his opponents. It's extremely predictable. There is no longer a buildup to a meeting of 'Big 4' members.
Thankfully, it shouldn't last much longer.

mick1303 wrote: ↑Mon Jan 23, 2023 11:18 am What will be really boring is that after Novak retires, all the record books will be set for a long while and nobody from new generations will not be able to touch these results from the era of titans.

No, Mick - it won't be boring at all when Djokovic retires, because - hopefully - we'll have a more significant parity in the men's game. And that will make the tennis more interesting.
I'd much rather have a slightly 'lower quality' of tennis where the quality level of the players is quite equal than one player playing at a higher level and winning matches easily.
I'm not really interested in players chasing records. I'm much more interested in watching close matches.

As admirable as the exploits of the 'Big 4' were, any era where there is domination in any sport is less interesting than when there is more parity. We were lucky that there were 3 or 4 players at once who were dominant, because it was exciting when they played against each other.
Now that there is only one remaining at that level, it's not nearly as interesting.

Good to hear from you, Mick. I hope things at home are at least somewhat relatively safe.

.

Thank you!
For the moment it is relatively safe. The key word is "relatively". Who knows what these chronies up north will do next...

Yes, we will watch tennis no matter what, regardless of the record books. But these moments when history is on the line as well add something extra, IMO.

I'm not buying the injured Novak narrative. It's just an extension of his and his family's inferiority complex revolving around Serbia not winning the war they started in '91 in case he loses, and if he wins he triumphantly rose above it. Forever victims, the Djokovic's.

Owendonovan wrote: ↑Mon Jan 23, 2023 1:59 pm I'm not buying the injured Novak narrative. It's just an extension of his and his family's inferiority complex revolving around Serbia not winning the war they started in '91 in case he loses, and if he wins he triumphantly rose above it. Forever victims, the Djokovic's.

He did not hit open stance backhands in the previous matches. It has nothing to do with Serbia or inferiority complex. And everything to do with a pulled muscle.

ponchi101 wrote: ↑Mon Jan 23, 2023 6:58 am ESPN reporting that this is match #28 that has gone 5 sets at the open. The most ever (they don't say if at the Aussie, or all Slams).

I was wondering about this since it seemed there were more than the usual number of 5 set matches. On the other hand, today is the first morning I didn’t have any live tennis to watch over breakfast.

skatingfan wrote: ↑Mon Jan 23, 2023 9:14 am de Minaur doing a nice job of donating free points to Djokovic's title run - too many mid-court misses on routine shots.

Novak's obnoxious fans are of course taking shots at Alex not being any good, but clearly there's skepticism in the locker room when Novak keeps bringing attention to his supposed injury, one that would have to be strained by the movement he does on court, and yet he's moving like a gazelle out there.

deMinaur left himself wide open to abuse from Djokovic fans with that comment.

ti-amie wrote: ↑Mon Jan 23, 2023 4:08 pm

Rune was a little shady in that match. Was he actually even injured? Having some kind of medical emergency? Because the performance didn't line up at all to the point that all the conversation by the international commentators was all about, and I do mean all about, how his wrist or ankle must be injured. Calls the physio and doctor to seemingly get treatment on one or both of them and gets his pulse and BP checked instead from what we could tell. It was strange and he was miraculously playing considerably better after that break he caused in Rublev's rhythm to calm himself down and get his head back in the game. Maybe it's because he's so young that the occasion was getting to him or something (though he's been to the RG Quarters already), but if he pulls this kind of thing again, I'd assume this is a Djokovic type strategy he might employ going further when he's down in a match to someone he thinks/knows he can beat.

Now, Rublev should've just won this match and not played just a terrible game to give Rune the advantage in the 2nd set. Rublev did the Rublev things he does in slams and Masters but almost never at the 500 level. But, Rublev was rightly confused by what he was seeing on the other side of the court and the miraculous turnaround when Rune seemed to verbally indicate he was near retiring from the match.

I saw the entire match. His behavior on court is very, very displeasing, to say the least. He left the court mid way through the first set to change shorts. he never stops talking to his box, yelling and telling them to shut up (they were silent). By now, the "raising hands to encourage the crowd to cheer" when they are already cheering is getting boring (not only from him, I have to admit), and he does it all the time.
He is not an enjoyable player to watch, for me. Too many little silly details that take away from the strokes (which are gorgeous, except for the serve).

ponchi101 wrote: ↑Mon Jan 23, 2023 4:49 pm I saw the entire match. His behavior on court is very, very displeasing, to say the least. He left the court mid way through the first set to change shorts. he never stops talking to his box, yelling and telling them to shut up (they were silent).

And his mom was in his box! And he's apparently, according to the commentators, told her to GTFO in the past when he's angry during a match. Like what? For all the business Andy Murray used to give to his box, when his mom was in as his coach, he was a damn choir boy towards his player's box.

JazzNU wrote: ↑Mon Jan 23, 2023 5:16 pm And his mom was in his box! And he's apparently according to the commentators told her to GTFO in the past when he's angry during a match. Like what? For all the business Andy Murray used to give to his box, when his mom was in as his coach, he was a damn choir boy towards his player's box.

Last year's French Open.

https://www.eurosport.com/tennis/roland ... tory.shtml

atlpam wrote: ↑Mon Jan 23, 2023 2:32 pm

ponchi101 wrote: ↑Mon Jan 23, 2023 6:58 am ESPN reporting that this is match #28 that has gone 5 sets at the open. The most ever (they don't say if at the Aussie, or all Slams).

I was wondering about this since it seemed there were more than the usual number of 5 set matches. On the other hand, today is the first morning I didn’t have any live tennis to watch over breakfast.

Two years ago at the US Open, there were like 30-some. It was a big storyline.

mick1303 wrote: ↑Mon Jan 23, 2023 11:18 am What will be really boring is that after Novak retires, all the record books will be set for a long while and nobody from new generations will not be able to touch these results from the era of titans.

Deuce wrote: ↑Mon Jan 23, 2023 10:34 am Now that Federer is retired, and Nadal and Murray are fading, having Djokovic the lone remaining member of the 'Big 4', and dominating so much... it's simply not good for the game.
Face it - it's boring.
What makes tennis interesting is parity between players. When Nadal and Federer and Djokovic (and, to a lesser extent, Murray) were all at their best, they fed off of each other... And even when they would easily roll over their other opponents, we tolerated it because we knew that they were on a collision course to meet one of their true peers in another member of the 'Big 4' in the latter rounds, and we knew that would be exciting.

But now, with Djokovic the only one remaining, it's no fun watching him destroy his opponents. It's extremely predictable. There is no longer a buildup to a meeting of 'Big 4' members.
Thankfully, it shouldn't last much longer.

That won’t be boring at all. In fact, I’m looking forward to it.

Re: Rune...
I have no opinion of him, pro or con. I haven't seen nearly enough of him to have an opinion (and I have watched some of his matches).
It is clear, though, that he has become the favourite target of some, obviously. Mostly the favourite target of the hypocrites who regularly call for others to be 'nice' and 'tolerant' of everyone, and who criticize others for being terribly 'judgmental', while claiming that they themselves are not 'judgmental' at all, of course.
And then others pile on...

Murray behaves in a very similar way toward his 'box' during matches - and has done so for a decade. But he gets a free pass because he was fortunate enough to not be branded a 'little brat' early in his career (probably because the people who do the branding simply chose someone else to target at the time), and because he's a member of the 'Big 4'.

None of us have even the slightest idea of what the relationship between Rune and his mother is, of course. No idea at all. But, sure - pretend you know all about it. Because you need a target to lambaste as you criticize others for not being 'tolerant'... Because only you are permitted to criticize - when others criticize, you call them 'intolerant' and basically terrible human beings... Because the call to be 'tolerant' only applies to other people, of course.
As usual.
Sigh...