Talk About Tennis 2.0

ashkor87 wrote: ↑Thu Nov 07, 2024 4:37 pm The Canadian tournament has always been disrupted by rain..maybe scheduling it this way keeps the buffer at the end, which is what Theory of Constraints tells us to do ..so it could be good.

I'm $ure there mu$t be $ome other rea$on for it

Although I can't picture how a Thursday final would be better money wise, but I'm sure the reason wasn't just to give a buffer in case of rain. Must be something else we don't know.

I am sure this is not the reason but it could work out anyway

ptmcmahon wrote: ↑Fri Nov 08, 2024 4:43 am I'm $ure there mu$t be $ome other rea$on for it

Although I can't picture how a Thursday final would be better money wise, but I'm sure the reason wasn't just to give a buffer in case of rain. Must be something else we don't know.

All the singles matches from the quarterfinals on will be played in the evening.

ashkor87 wrote: ↑Fri Nov 08, 2024 3:42 am The fact that Alcaraz does better at W than at the USO, Krejcikova, Muguruza and Halep all won both the French and Wimbledon but never the USO..suggests - it is time to think of W as a slow court, and USO as an outlier...?

Agree. They slowed it down too much. The reason S&V tennis is gone.

ponchi101 wrote: ↑Sat Nov 09, 2024 2:51 pm Agree. They slowed it down too much. The reason S&V tennis is gone.

Not just the courts - also the racquets, and the strings aren't conducive to serve & volley. But even before that top players were winning without serve & volley, and coaches around the world copied the style, and baseline consistency has become the prototype of how to coach a young player.

there was a time when I noted Coco had never won anything bigger than a 250 level event. Now she has won at least one at every level! awesome indeed..

skatingfan wrote: ↑Sat Nov 09, 2024 6:09 pm

ponchi101 wrote: ↑Sat Nov 09, 2024 2:51 pm Agree. They slowed it down too much. The reason S&V tennis is gone.

Not just the courts - also the racquets, and the strings aren't conducive to serve & volley. But even before that top players were winning without serve & volley, and coaches around the world copied the style, and baseline consistency has become the prototype of how to coach a young player.

may not be serve and volley but players like Muchova and even Alcaraz are showing us that volleying still works. so I dont think the day of the volleyer is gone. Yet.

ashkor87 wrote: ↑Sun Nov 10, 2024 11:25 am may not be serve and volley but players like Muchova and even Alcaraz are showing us that volleying still works. so I dont think the day of the volleyer is gone. Yet.

The exceptions, not the rules - more players play like Rublev than either Muchova or Alcaraz - most players are not that talented.

On 60 minutes last night they had a piece for which a portion of it took place in Miami.

They did a drone shot of some ritzy apartments and as they panned out some beautiful tennis courts were shown. I immediately thought of this series of court pictures

Now that 2024 is done, at least for the women, some things to reflect on:
1. who impressed you the most as someone who is gearing up for great deeds in 2025? Zheng? Navarro? Noskova? Andreeva?
2. who has been the most disappointing in 2024?
3. who surprised you the most this year, positively? Andreeva? Coco? Sabalenka?Paolini?
4. whose return are you looking forward to the most? Bencic? Kvitova?
5. whose performance has puzzled you the most? Swiatek? Garcia?
6. what was the most positive event of the year?
7. the most depressing? I would say the fact that the WTA chose to play the YEC in Saudi..

Ah, yes, 't is the time for end-of-year lists Unfortunately, I've never watched as little tennis as I have this year, which has been a real shame and wasn't down to a lack of interest. Part of it is certain channels not being able to show as many main matches - or just matches, for that matter - because of the broadcasting rights being bought by other parties and either being put behind a paywall or simply no longer broadcast where I live. I'll be weighing my options over the next couple of years; there are certain other sports I follow and love as well which seem to be moving in the same direction and I refuse to pay more than I already do for my entertainment. Choices will have to be made

All that said, I'd love to answer all seven of your questions, ashkor, but because of the above, I'll stick to #1 for now...

1. who impressed you the most as someone who is gearing up for great deeds in 2025?

In the first half of the season especially, I had a lot of fun watching Paolini and Boulter Matches. As exciting as young(er) prospects are, I have a soft spot for the players who find their next level a little later in their career and both Jasmine and Katie are now 28 I believe. Which is still young, but not Andreeva young. Unfortunately for both, it's not been the greatest year for consistency and I feel the Boulter's loss to Dart at Wimbledon messed with her momentum. I'd love to see both go one better in 2025, but doubt it will happen. With Andreeva, I'll be interested to see how she handles the increasing number of matches on the main tour, but of the names you mentioned my vote goes to Zheng to have the best year of the four of them.