by ti-amie I thought that this might be needed because some topics, while related to Grand Slams, aren't specific to the Slam that is currently being played. Here's Taylor Fritz talking about how he ended up playing today and the role the chair played.


by ti-amie

by ti-amie

by Suliso Who do we think will be the next player not named Alcaraz, Sinner or Djokovic to win a Slam? It's not obvious...

by JTContinental It's possible Taylor Fritz could win this one, otherwise I say it will be either Zverev or Shelton.

by jazzyg As long as Sinner and Alcaraz are 1-2 in the world, I don't see it happening. No one other that possibly Djokovic at Wimbledon is capable of beating both of them.

by Suliso
jazzyg wrote: Sun Jul 06, 2025 10:28 am As long as Sinner and Alcaraz are 1-2 in the world, I don't see it happening. No one other that possibly Djokovic at Wimbledon is capable of beating both of them.
Next 5 years all 20 Slams? Surely not, even the combo of Djokovic, Federer and Nadal weren't that dominant.

by ponchi101 I thought Draper was going to keep improving on his IW title. Not.
Rune showed so much promise, but with the joke coaching... not.
Fritz is older than J/C, so I don't see him improving much more to beat them, so no.
So that leaves me with some really young kid that may get better soon. Either Fonseca or Mensik. But it looks really bleak for everybody.
And yes, we are worse than when we had R/R/N. At least then we had three. We only have two now.

by Suliso Murray, Thiem, Cilic, Wawrinka and del Potro won Slams in that era besides the obvious three. If there are only two dominant players it should be slightly easier for someone else to sneak in. I suppose we'll see in a year or two how it looks. Or maybe in just a week :)

by ponchi101 My problem with this is that in the recent past, you had like tiers (borrowing Ashkor's term). You had R/R/N at the top. Always competing for the title. Then you had Murray, who was clearly better than anybody else but not the top three. I group Delpo, Cilic and Wawrinka together, despite Stan's much better record, because they showed up on a few occasions.
But you also had a bunch of guys that were always better than the guys below. Tsonga, Berdych, Ferrer, Raonic and Kei were consistent QF/SF. Starting a slam, you could safely bet they would be in the second week.

Now, I think we can safely say that Zverev's claim that he was in the tier below J/C was the most foolish statement for the year. He is #3 because somebody has to be #3 (Novak is the real third best player right now) but, since he made that statement, he has done nothing. And below J/C and Novak, nobody is above anybody else. It will take somebody a major change in his game to get to Tier 2. Much more for Tier 1.

by Suliso On a another topic I was asking myself which active (top 100) players have been to QF's at all four slams. Here is the list in order of current rankings.

ATP

Sinner, Alcaraz, Djokovic, Medvedev, de Minaur, Rublev, Khachanov, Dimitrov, Berrettini, Nishikori, Cilic

WTA

Sabalenka, Pegula, Swiatek, Keys, Svitolina, Muchova, Krejcikova, Ostapenko, Pavlyuchenkova, Jabeur, Azarenka

by Owendonovan Fritz or de Minaur. Watching the Shelton match yesterday, I was thinking Ben is pretty good, though I don't see him reaching a Sinner/Alcarez level.

by Suliso I'd be shocked if de Minaur ever reaches GS final let alone wins one. I do see a chance for Fritz if all stars align.

Sinner will be 24 soon, Alcaraz a year and a half younger. I believe a real rival will have to come from a group younger than Sinner even if one of the veterans (Fritz, Zverev) get lucky and win one.

by jazzyg
Suliso wrote: Sun Jul 06, 2025 12:41 pm
jazzyg wrote: Sun Jul 06, 2025 10:28 am As long as Sinner and Alcaraz are 1-2 in the world, I don't see it happening. No one other that possibly Djokovic at Wimbledon is capable of beating both of them.
Next 5 years all 20 Slams? Surely not, even the combo of Djokovic, Federer and Nadal weren't that dominant.
You are almost certainly right. I just can't see who it will be. Maybe Rublev based on the 1st 4 games vs. Alcaraz. :D

by ponchi101 If it were only about speed, Demiñaur for sure. But he simply has no power.
It is like Navarro. He has to win every point twice. Maybe even 3 times.

by ti-amie
JTContinental wrote: Sun Jul 06, 2025 10:11 am It's possible Taylor Fritz could win this one, otherwise I say it will be either Zverev or Shelton.
Image

by ti-amie

by Suliso Can we finally agree that time of Djokovic is over and he's no longer capable of winning a Slam?

by dryrunguy
Suliso wrote: Fri Jul 11, 2025 5:53 pm Can we finally agree that time of Djokovic is over and he's no longer capable of winning a Slam?
Well, that settles it. Novak is winning the US Open. Write it down.

by ponchi101 Agree, with the possible exception scenario of J/C being out of the slam.
Carlitos has injured himself in the past, and Jannick may hire another trainer that forgets to wash his hands properly. Other than that, what Suliso says.

by ti-amie

by ashkor87
Suliso wrote: Sun Jul 06, 2025 10:01 am Who do we think will be the next player not named Alcaraz, Sinner or Djokovic to win a Slam? It's not obvious...
i would say Shelton.. he has the game, and the courage..

by Owendonovan On Hulu, the Wimbledon graphic with Alcaraz makes him appear to have the salt and pepper hair of a 40 something year old man.

by ti-amie

by ti-amie

by ponchi101 A woman of such intelligence and brilliant prose believes in superstitions.
She is ... so different.

by ashkor87 Shelton is the one I would watch. He has th game and the heart..he steps on court thinking he will win. We all saw yesterday that AA is deficient there ...

by ashkor87
ponchi101 wrote: Sun Jul 13, 2025 12:29 am A woman of such intelligence and brilliant prose believes in superstitions.
She is ... so different.
what about the person who predicted that whoever meets Polina Kudermetova in the first round will win Wimbledon? Was right last year too, it is said (but cant check now) Maybe it is time to believe in superstitions and oracles!

by mick1303
ashkor87 wrote: Sun Jul 13, 2025 3:05 am
ponchi101 wrote: Sun Jul 13, 2025 12:29 am A woman of such intelligence and brilliant prose believes in superstitions.
She is ... so different.
what about the person who predicted that whoever meets Polina Kudermetova in the first round will win Wimbledon? Was right last year too, it is said (but cant check now) Maybe it is time to believe in superstitions and oracles!
I guess, any Kudermetova would suffice. Last year Krejcikova beat Veronika in the 1st round.

by ponchi101 We always remember the strange coincidences. The thousands that did not come true we forget.

by mick1303
ponchi101 wrote: Sun Jul 13, 2025 3:31 pm We always remember the strange coincidences. The thousands that did not come true we forget.
Yeah, it's like with dolphins. We never got the stories from the people, who were pushed by dolphins not towards the shore, but in the opposite direction.

by ti-amie

by ti-amie A visual joke about the dish Iga said is her favorite - pasta and strawberries


by skatingfan

by Suliso I favor Shelton over Zverev and Fritz as a potential Slam winner. He's much younger and has more upside. If it's not him then we need to think about players much younger (Fonseca, Mensik) who are not ready just yet.

by FredX
skatingfan wrote: Mon Jul 14, 2025 10:36 pm
Wow. We all know this, but seeing it laid out like this is quite striking.

by ti-amie ESPN Delivers Most Watched Tennis Telecast of the Year and Most Watched The Championships, Wimbledon in Six Years
Tennis
Most Viewed Wimbledon Quarterfinals and Semifinals in Six Years
Ardi Dwornik 1 hour ago

Most Viewed Ladies’ Semifinals in 10 Years
Most Viewed First Round in Eight Years
Most Viewed Day One on Record
ESPN+ recorded its most-streamed Tennis Tournament on record

ESPN delivered a banner edition with The Championships, Wimbledon 2025, generating some of the highest viewership since securing rights to the All England Lawn Tennis Club tournament in 2003.

Successes include the most viewed quarterfinals and semifinals of the past six years, the most viewed Ladies’ semifinals in a decade and the most viewed Wimbledon Day One ever on ESPN platforms.

The Finals:

Sunday’s Gentlemen’s Championship between Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz averaged 2.9 million viewers, +31% vs. 2024
The viewership peaked at the end of the match with 4.0 million viewers.
The match only (excluding trophy ceremony and post-match analysis) averaged 3.2 million viewers, +26% vs. last year’s match.
The Finals, Ladies’ and Gentlemen’s, coverage averaged 2.2 million viewers, +19% vs. 2024
The Saturday’s Ladies’ Championship averaged 1.3 million viewers
The match only (excluding trophy ceremony and post-match analysis) averaged 1.9 million viewers, up +18% vs. last year’s match.
This was a lopsided match, with Iga Świątek delivering a dominant performance over Amanda Anisimova.
Semifinals:

The audience across both the Ladies’ and Gentlemen’s Semifinals was the most viewed of the past six years
Semifinals coverage averaged 1.1 million viewers, +33% vs. 2024.

The July 10 Ladies’ Semifinals

This was the most viewed Ladies’ Semifinals in a decade (the 2015 edition featured Serena Williams), with No. 13 Anisimova defeating No. 1 Sabalenka and No. 8 Swiatek’s victory over Belinda Bencic.
Viewership averaged 897,000, +31% vs. 2024.

The July 11 Gentlemen’s Semifinals

This was the most-viewed Gentlemen’s Semifinals in six years, and featured No. 2 Alcaraz vs. No. 5 Fritz and No. 1 Sinner vs. No. 6 Djokovic (the 2019 edition featured Nadal and Federer).
Viewership averaged 1.3 million, an increase of 34% vs. 2024.
Quarterfinals:

The July 8 and 9 Quarterfinals on ESPN and ESPN2 were the most viewed in six years
Viewership averaged 488,000 viewers, +25% vs. 2024.

Overall Tournament Highlights:

2025 was the most-watched edition of the tournament of the past six years

Coverage on ABC/ESPN/ESPN2 averaged 721,000 total viewers, +6% 2024 over 250 hours.
This is also the fourth best Wimbledon to date on record (dating back to 2012).
The rights agreement with AELTC began in 2003, with exclusivity as of 2012.
On June 30, ESPN captured its most viewed Wimbledon Day One on Record.
Coverage averaged 539,000 P2+ and was +37% YoY.
ESPN+:

ESPN+ recorded its most-streamed Tennis Tournament on record. Engagement was up 163% and viewership increased by 24% vs. 2024.

The top feed on ESPN+ during the Tournament was the Gentlemen’s Championship, with engagement up +67% from last year’s coverage. The Ladies Championship saw a double-digit increase in engagement vs. 2024 (+19%).
-30-

https://espnpressroom.com/us/press-rele ... six-years/

by ponchi101 I wonder why 31% more people tuned in to see this year's men's final.

by dryrunguy
ponchi101 wrote: Wed Jul 16, 2025 2:50 pm I wonder why 31% more people tuned in to see this year's men's final.
I'm betting a large percentage of those folks were people who missed the Roland Garros final, read about it later, felt instant regret, and hoped for something similar.

by meganfernandez
ponchi101 wrote: Wed Jul 16, 2025 2:50 pm I wonder why 31% more people tuned in to see this year's men's final.
Maybe easier to find or better promoted on ESPN? More likely to stumble upon it?

by ashkor87 Now the only Grand Slam event remaining this year is the USO.. which tournament has the highest correlation with the USO, in the sense of predicting the winner? seems to be Cinci.. not very surprising, but the Canadian is very much off the mark, with champions like Giorgi and Popyrin and Carreno Busta.. which is quite surprising..

by Suliso Wouldn't it actually be AO?

by ponchi101 But that is no fun. The calendar separation is too much.
In view of Sinner's dominance on hard courts, and his recent victory over Alcaraz, he is now the prohibitive favorite for the USO. Which did not work out for Alcaraz.
And with Iga's win, she is the favorite for the USO. Whatever lack of confidence she had, is gone.

by Suliso I'd still pick Sabalenka on fast hard courts. Sinner is so obvious that not even worth discussing.

by JTContinental Iga has been very average on hardcourt this year. I would put her 3rd or 4th on the list, which would be led by Sabalenka.

by ponchi101 The next summer swing will tell. But I say her issues were due to lack of confidence, not technical or health stuff.
Aryna may be the one suffering some doubts now. Those three losses at slams may be hurting, especially since they all went three sets.
Coco will recover fine, so yes, I have no issues with her being a top three candidate for the USO.
As Suliso says, Sinner on a hard court looks hard to beat.

by Suliso That's true albeit was she really a serious threat to win Wimbledon before week two of the tournament?

by ponchi101 That's what we don't know. She said it was unexpected, but we can't tell if she is just playing the politics of the game.
Did she enter the tournament believing she could win, or did she believe she could win when she was 6-0, 5-0 and serving for the championship? Depending on the stage at which she really thought she could do it, our guessing is irrelevant. If she really thought so from the beginning, she is a different player.