Talk About Tennis 2.0

Not surprised Rune is in the semis...the quick courts suit him..not so Zverev perhaps..

Solid win by Aryna. A few too many MP's, but you only need one. We may have a renewed rivalry, now that they are off clay.

On a fast court, Pegula should do well...60% Pegula, 40 % Sabalenka in the finals. Theory says defense is more important than power on a fast court..it is a good test of the theory if nothing else.

If this were the USO I would have reversed that- Saba is simply a higher class player than Pegula, and class matters at a major. Pegula, to me, is the best of the Tier 2 players..very good players who will not win a major, whereas Sabalenka has proved she is Tier 1.

Of course, there have been a few rare tier 2 players who did win a major . Vondrousova perhaps but then she may yet prove that she is Tier 1, Wozniacki is another. My list of tier2 players would include Svitolina, Pegula, Alexandrova, Keys, Samsonova,Bencic,Collins, Kasatkina...Future Tier 1 players as of now are Andreeva, Noskova and (sticking my neck out) Parks.

Day 9 Order of Play

CENTER COURT
STARTING AT 01:00 PM

MEN'S DOUBLES - FINAL
USA MACKENZIE/MCDONALD [WC]/USA ALEX MICHELSEN vs ESA MARCELO AREVALO[4]/CRO MATE PAVIC [4]
NOT BEFORE 3:00 PM
WOMEN'S SINGLES - FINAL
BLR ARYNA SABALENKA [3] vs USA JESSICA PEGULA [6]
NOT BEFORE 6:00 PM
MEN'S SINGLES - FINAL
ITA JANNIK SINNER [1] vs USA FRANCES TIAFOE or HOLGER RUNE (15)

I must say I really hate watching Tiafoe.. the way he hits his forehand, sets my teeth on edge.. that has to be the ugliest shot in all of tennis.. Serve is great, backhand is ok but forehand!

I'm no Wozniacki fan, but I'm not sure Tier 2 players spend 71 weeks ranked #1

Rankings show how consistently you played, not how good you are. At her best, Wozniacki was nowhere near being the best player in the world. In fact, she had to endure numerous taunts because of it (undeserved, of course, because she didn't ask to be #1)

ashkor87 wrote: ↑Mon Aug 19, 2024 6:28 am Rankings show how consistently you played, not how good you are. At her best, Wozniacki was nowhere near being the best player in the world. In fact, she had to endure numerous taunts because of it (undeserved, of course, because she didn't ask to be #1)

Absolutely untrue. Ranking shows how consistently good you are, not just "how consistent you are". There is a reason why there are much more slam winners than players who ascended to #1.

Also ranking evolved since Connors's days. Now it is impossible to pad you ranking playing smaller tournaments. You have to play mandatory schedule inevitably crossing paths with the very best players.

Well, the Tier thing is completely subjective, based on my (expert?) judgment...I don't look at rankings much. We have debated this ad nauseum on this forum, so I won't start that again!

A reasonable comment could be (before anyone makes it) - if it is all my judgement, what is there to discuss? Your judgement is your judgement and my judgement is my judgement..My response would be that judgements, whether mine or anyone else's, are based on something - we can discuss/debate that. My judgements are based on the capability on the player, in the game the person has and shows. I do not go by rankings.
For instance, I rate Alexandrova very high (albeit Tier 2) because she has beaten good players again and again, especially on fast courts - she returns serve really well, and defends well too. Similarly Samsonova - I have been following her for a couple of years, and have been astonished at how powerful she is - I have seen her almost literally blow Bencic off the court on clay. Paolini is someone I rate highly too, especially on fast courts, because she is one of the best movers in the game, up there with Coco and Iga. And so on...

ashkor87 wrote: ↑Mon Aug 19, 2024 8:16 am Well, the Tier thing is completely subjective, based on my (expert?) judgment...I don't look at rankings much. We have debated this ad nauseum on this forum, so I won't start that again!

Well, if you go by "I like player A more than player B" rather than "A is a better player than B" then it makes all the sense and there is little anybody can object against ))

mick1303 wrote: ↑Mon Aug 19, 2024 1:08 pm

ashkor87 wrote: ↑Mon Aug 19, 2024 8:16 am Well, the Tier thing is completely subjective, based on my (expert?) judgment...I don't look at rankings much. We have debated this ad nauseum on this forum, so I won't start that again!

Well, if you go by "I like player A more than player B" rather than "A is a better player than B" then it makes all the sense and there is little anybody can object against ))j

Hope post above goes some way to answering that..#103