Talk About Tennis 2.0

Deuce wrote: ↑Wed Mar 31, 2021 2:17 am So... who do you think has the best one-handed backhand in tennis today?

Thiem? No.

Shapovalov? No.

Tsitsipas? No.

Wawrinka? No.

Gasquet? Dimitrov? Federer?
No... No... No.

Here is my nomination...

....

I forget which Russian basketball great ended up playing basketball because when he was a kid, he played that way, with a forehand on both sides and his coaches told him that was not the way to play. So he said "forget it" and took up basketball.
Let's hope that kids makes it. The sole problem I see there will be with his volleys. From the back court you have time to switch hands, but I don't think you have enough time when at the net.
Do you know if he has two serves? Luke Jensen revisited?

mmmm8 wrote: ↑Wed Mar 31, 2021 11:46 am

ponchi101 wrote: ↑Tue Mar 30, 2021 1:53 am Good for Diego to clarify. A reminder that not only there are a lot of players that are very young, English is not their first language.

I'm not 100% sure he made the "clarification" because he didn't express himself in English. My guess is his people and maybe the Argentinian government gave him a talking to.

ti-amie wrote: ↑Wed Mar 31, 2021 7:18 pm

That table is mad, half of them never won a title as world number 1, some not even reaching a final.
But go Venus, losing only to ranks 1 & 2 in her stint

Liamvalid wrote: ↑Wed Mar 31, 2021 7:35 pm That table is mad, half of them never won a title as world number 1, some not even reaching a final.
But go Venus, losing only to ranks 1 & 2 in her stint

Losing to #1 while ranked #1 - how many loses would Venus have if she didn't beat herself?

skatingfan wrote: ↑Wed Mar 31, 2021 7:39 pm

Liamvalid wrote: ↑Wed Mar 31, 2021 7:35 pm That table is mad, half of them never won a title as world number 1, some not even reaching a final.
But go Venus, losing only to ranks 1 & 2 in her stint

Losing to #1 while ranked #1 - how many loses would Venus have if she didn't beat herself?

Haha oh yeah, just rank 2 then!! Wonder if it was Serena or Lindsay that beat her those 2 times?

ti-amie wrote: ↑Wed Mar 31, 2021 6:50 pm

I wasn't sure what Ben was going for other than this. Why only ask 5 players? And why those specific players when you've had easy access to dozens of other well known players the last two weeks?

ponchi101 wrote: ↑Wed Mar 31, 2021 2:39 pm I forget which Russian basketball great ended up playing basketball because when he was a kid, he played that way, with a forehand on both sides and his coaches told him that was not the way to play. So he said "forget it" and took up basketball.
Let's hope that kids makes it. The sole problem I see there will be with his volleys. From the back court you have time to switch hands, but I don't think you have enough time when at the net.
Do you know if he has two serves? Luke Jensen revisited?

The kid is a natural righty, but he serves left-handed - likely because it's more effective because opponents have less experience with lefty serves. So I assume he can also serve right-handed.

I haven't seen his net play, but I'm assuming that he'll play right-handed at the net.

I was just struck with the natural ease with which he hits forehands on both sides. Same style and everything.
If he can develop and progress this way, we might well be discussing him here in 8 or 10 years.

I was thinking about the St. Petersburg Open. There were several young Russian players who I've never heard of. I hope we see more of them, there was some true talent there. But I know I've thought the same in the past about other players and rarely see them again outside of whatever local tournament gives out wild cards to these players. And I've always thought it comes down to funding. If you can't afford to travel, can't afford a coach, and are given limited resources from their tennis association, it's gotta be hard to move up the rankings when you're starting out.

So as I watched Bublik compete very well against Sinner. And then think of Rybakina, Putintseva, Shvedova, etc. I think these Russian-born players that switched their allegiance to Kazakhstan likely played the right hand. Because I don't think it's out of the realm of possibility that despite their respective talents and the success we've seen them have on tour, they very well may have been those talented young Russian players we see at a St. Petersburg Open and hope we see again, but rarely do.

Tennis April Fools:

A somewhat interesting article on Leylah...

http://itf.uberflip.com/i/1357828-itfwo ... ing-2021/5

(Double click to enlarge enough to read, swipe left or something for page 2 of article.)

.

Liamvalid wrote: ↑Wed Mar 31, 2021 7:50 pm Haha oh yeah, just rank 2 then!! Wonder if it was Serena or Lindsay that beat her those 2 times?

I think you missed the point of that spreadsheet - Venus was 9-2 while ranked #1 for the 11 weeks that held that ranking - she only played two tournaments, made the finals both times, and lost to Clijsters & Serena respectively.

skatingfan wrote: ↑Sat Apr 03, 2021 2:10 am

Liamvalid wrote: ↑Wed Mar 31, 2021 7:50 pm Haha oh yeah, just rank 2 then!! Wonder if it was Serena or Lindsay that beat her those 2 times?

I think you missed the point of that spreadsheet - Venus was 9-2 while ranked #1 for the 11 weeks that held that ranking - she only played two tournaments, made the finals both times, and lost to Clijsters & Serena respectively.

There were other girls who played roughly the same amount of matches as Venus but still managed to lose to players ranked well below them, that was MY point. Nothing wrong with giving old V a bit of credit, she was a better player than most of the women above her on that list

Venus' 11 weeks at #1 is the subject of major trivia question. Ask any sports fan that does not follow tennis like we do to guess how many weeks she was #1 and I gather the average count will be 50.

ponchi101 wrote: ↑Sat Apr 03, 2021 3:49 pm Venus' 11 weeks at #1 is the subject of major trivia question. Ask any sports fan that does not follow tennis like we do to guess how many weeks she was #1 and I gather the average count will be 50.

Venus is far too often grouped with her (by the numbers) far more successful younger sister leading to 'an aura' that might read more fanciful than reality.