Talk About Tennis 2.0

ashkor87 wrote: ↑Wed Mar 08, 2023 4:01 am It also helps that courts around the world are getting similar in speed..a good player can win all the tournaments he enters...not so much among the women, though! Maybe Swiatek...

In earlier days, there were clay court specialists like Bruguera and Costa .or even grass specialists. There are hardly any specialists any more, men or women..

You say that there are hardly anymore surface specialists today (which is correct)... and that the court speeds are becoming similar across the different surfaces (debatable)... but, at the same time, you keep claiming that court speed is the biggest factor in determining who will do well and who won’t at any given tournament. This is completely contradictory.
You're essentially saying - in pretty much every post - that every player is a specialist for a certain court speed (usually defined as 'fast' or 'slow'). In 99% of your posts, you mention court speed as being a major factor in determining who will do well and who won't at each tournament.

Again - this constant claiming that court speed is a major determining factor - essentially THE determining factor - in which players will do well at a tournament, and which players won’t is nonsense. The vast majority of players are not surface or court speed specialists. A very good player is a very good player regardless of surface or court speed. The same for a mediocre player. The same for a not so good player. That is one thing in the game that has not changed over the years...

Borg, Lendl, Wilander, Edberg, Connors, etc., etc., etc. won multiple tournaments on multiple different surfaces and multiple different court speeds. Back then, the differences in court speed between surfaces were greater than they are today (indoor carpet, which we never see these days, was very fast). And talent transcended all of that - as it does today.

ashkor87 wrote: ↑Wed Mar 08, 2023 4:01 am It also helps that courts around the world are getting similar in speed..a good player can win all the tournaments he enters...not so much among the women, though! Maybe Swiatek...

In earlier days, there were clay court specialists like Bruguera and Costa .or even grass specialists. There are hardly any specialists any more, men or women..

I saw the Cornet-Swiatek match last year at Wimby and Iga looked very, very uncomfortable. We know, she was going through a winning streak that ended there, but I am not sure if she can win every tournament.
About no specialists. I think there are still some players that are dedicated to only clay, and are therefore middle of the pack players because they don't transition well to other surfaces. The Ramos-Vinolas in the ATP, and Parrizas-Dias in the WTA. They can play on hard, but their level drops considerably.
Grass court specialists? Nobody left. Of course, Novak is the best grass court player nowadays, but he is not a specialist on anything. He is simply excellent on any surface.

About Ramos Vinolas I have heard it said he is so talented, he looks like the best player in the world in practice...but something happens to him in a match. Possibly something he can get over with a good coach/ shrink .of course this is only hearsay..

ponchi101 wrote: ↑Wed Mar 08, 2023 3:35 pm

ashkor87 wrote: ↑Wed Mar 08, 2023 4:01 am It also helps that courts around the world are getting similar in speed..a good player can win all the tournaments he enters...not so much among the women, though! Maybe Swiatek...

In earlier days, there were clay court specialists like Bruguera and Costa .or even grass specialists. There are hardly any specialists any more, men or women..

I saw the Cornet-Swiatek match last year at Wimby and Iga looked very, very uncomfortable. We know, she was going through a winning streak that ended there, but I am not sure if she can win every tournament.
About no specialists. I think there are still some players that are dedicated to only clay, and are therefore middle of the pack players because they don't transition well to other surfaces. The Ramos-Vinolas in the ATP, and Parrizas-Dias in the WTA. They can play on hard, but their level drops considerably.
Grass court specialists? Nobody left. Of course, Novak is the best grass court player nowadays, but he is not a specialist on anything. He is simply excellent on any surface.

Certainly there is no single player, not even Iga or Novak or Carlos that could win every tournament they enter. There is too much depth in the talent on the tour and on any day, especially in the later rounds these players can easily go down. Look at a player like Jessica Pegula who seemingly every tournament she enters is right there at the end in the QF's or SF's and on the brink of beating IGA or Sabalenka to reach the finals or even win a tournament. It will happen at some point for her or even another player. Krejcikova just beat Iga in a Final. Novak just lost to Daniil. Carlos lost to Norrie. There is way too much depth in the rankings for even the top player to win every tournament.

This is a semantical argument.
Novak CAN win every tournament he enters. He WILL NOT win every tournament, but he always has the possibility. Surface transitions, ball changes, different locations simply don't matter to him. He plays always as a contender.
Iga can win every tournament she enters, that is not on grass.
I still have to see more of Carlitos.

There are too many factors involved as you stated. Not only the surface conditions and ball changes, but the players within the draw. Like I stated in my previous post there is talent on the tour. There are players gunning to prove themselves and move to the top of the rankings all the time and many of them have the talent to do just that. Just this past year Caroline Garcia played her way to #5 in the world. Young hungry players like Holger Rune and Ben Shelton are itching to upset those top players.

Now, I don't know about Iga losing her #1 ranking spot by year's end, but I would imagine there could easily be a new #1 in the ATP ranking by years end.

I hope you are right, but I don't see Novak losing at Wimbledon, and proper rest should give him a very good chance at the USO.

ponchi101 wrote: ↑Sun Mar 12, 2023 5:29 pm I hope you are right, but I don't see Novak losing at Wimbledon, and proper rest should give him a very good chance at the USO.

I think at Wimbledon it is going to be really tough to defeat him, but at the US Open I can easily see it happening with someone like Carlos or Daniil beating him.

ashkor87 wrote: ↑Wed Feb 15, 2023 1:28 am Between now and the end of Miami , I would rank the women_
1 Swiatek
2. Sabalenka
3.. bencic
4. Samsonova
5. rybakina
6. Kudermetova
7. garcia
8.:QZ
9. ostapenko
10. Vika


All slow to meetium hard courts ..
The wtA rankings mean as little as they usually do.

not bad, 3 of the 4 IW semifinalists are in the top 5. we shall see how it holds up after Miami...

Nadal now outside top 10;for the first time in 18:years!! What a man! What a player!

918 weeks in the top 10. That will be one tough record to break (ATP; Navs has over 1000 in the WTA).

ponchi101 wrote: ↑Mon Mar 20, 2023 3:32 pm 918 weeks in the top 10. That will be one tough record to break (ATP; Navs has over 1000 in the WTA).

That's more than 17 years, despite multiple injuries.

Other active players in the ATP with the longest current streaks are Djokovic (223), Tsitsipas (190) and Ruud (80). It would take Djokovic and Tsitsipas more than 13 years to catch Nadal and Ruud 16 years. Their ages would be 47, 37 and 40, respectively, by the time they could. Alcaraz would be at least 36 before he could catch Nadal, as would virtually any other possible player now or in the future.

The prospects for a WTA player exceeding Navratilova's record are even less promising as that would require more than 19 years continuously in the top 10 and most WTA careers are shorter than that.

Alcaraz would have to be non-stop in the top ten until 2034 to reach Nadal.

How long for Djokovic to reach total weeks (not consecutive)?

Suliso wrote: ↑Tue Mar 21, 2023 8:34 pm How long for Djokovic to reach total weeks (not consecutive)?

3.5 years if these numbers are correct

https://www.ultimatetennisstatistics.co ... AtATPTop10