Talk About Tennis 2.0

ponchi101 wrote: ↑Mon Sep 12, 2022 1:07 am At the USO, it does seem so.
On the WTA, since Serena's last win (2014) there have been 8 new winners in the last 9 years (Naomi won 2).

7 new winners in 8 years.

It's an interesting list.
Pennetta (retired)
Kerber (69 - maternity leave, may be retired)
Stephens (50)
Osaka (48)
Andreescu (56)
Raducanu (83)
Swiatek (1)

skatingfan wrote: ↑Mon Sep 12, 2022 1:21 am

ponchi101 wrote: ↑Mon Sep 12, 2022 1:07 am At the USO, it does seem so.
On the WTA, since Serena's last win (2014) there have been 8 new winners in the last 9 years (Naomi won 2).

7 new winners in 8 years.

It's an interesting list.
Pennetta (retired)
Kerber (69 - maternity leave, may be retired)
Stephens (50)
Osaka (48)
Andreescu (56)
Raducanu (83)
Swiatek (1)

Also, since Serena's last win:

French Open: 6 new winners in 7 years

Muguruzu (12)
Ostapenko (15)
Halep (9)
Barty (retired)
Swiatek (1) twice
Krejcikova (26)

Wimbledon: 5 new winners in 5 years

Muguruzu (12)
Kerber (69)
Halep (9)
Barty (retired)
Rybakina (25)

Australia Open: 4 new winners in 5 years

Wozniacki (retired)
Osaka (48) twice
Kenin (312)
Barty (retired)

Nice to see Taylor Townsend doing well .the USTA has treated her shabbily, telling her to get fit..fact is, everyone's body is different and possibly Taylor's doesn't conform to the conventional design .a bit of racism, a bit of sexism and lots of ignorance!

Comparing across eras is always difficult, and maybe not somethng we should even do but there are some interesting clues - there are 'bridge' players, who span more than one generation - who can be used as a reference/benchmark..
Connors, Agassi, Hingis come most readily to mind - they lasted a long time and played at a very high level..the great performance Agassi put up against Federer when he was 34 years old, playing his last major final, certainly makes me feel Sampras was better than we (at least I) think he was, Agassi beat Connors both times they met, at the USO.. .. and so on..Hingis had a 3-7 record against Graf but almost even against Serena..makes me wonder if Graf, and, by extension, Navratilova, may not have been better than we think..it is harder to say about Seles because she had that horrible stabbing that derailed her..
of course, playing style and the relative point in their careers, matters a lot. still..

there used to be a series (really an exhibition) at Las Vegas where I have seen Laver (well past retirement age) nearly beat Borg, and Roche defeat Stockton easily.. the oldies were quite good, really!


among current players, Djokovic may well turn out to be the reference, the benchmark.. he will have played across several genrations by the time he is done.

I agree with the exception of Hingis. She retired too young (the first time) and her game became obsolete very quickly, because she could not muster enough power to play against the Williams (a change of racquet may have helped, as Yonexes are famous for their control but also for the lack of power).
About Navs: I can't think of her being better than what I think because, to me, she is the best technical player in history. Every stroke was mechanically perfect. So, no way to go further up when you stand at the peak of Everest.

ti-amie wrote: ↑Mon Sep 12, 2022 1:47 am

ATP Player of the Year, right? Rafa has a case with 2 Slams, but this is a better resume. And Carlos coudl win the ATP Finals. Nadal probably won't play them, and right now Djokovic is #15 in the race.

Ok. Will try that tomorrow. And maybe that is Andrei getting a bit more variety.

ponchi101 wrote: ↑Mon Sep 19, 2022 11:02 pm Ok. Will try that tomorrow. And maybe that is Andrei getting a bit more variety.

I hope so.

meganfernandez wrote: ↑Mon Sep 19, 2022 3:10 pm ATP Player of the Year, right? Rafa has a case with 2 Slams, but this is a better resume. And Carlos coudl win the ATP Finals. Nadal probably won't play them, and right now Djokovic is #15 in the race.

Djokovic will qualify for the final by virtue of winning Wimbledon as long as he ends the year in the top 20 in the race.

About Andrei. He is so predictable, right now. He will go cross court with his FH 90% of the time.
But: this drill starts with a cross BH. Which is the shot he does not hit. He runs around it, ending a bit boxed in that corner. From there, somebody with a decent slice BH will go down the line.
I agree that the modern game is all about running around your FH, but he does it to an extreme. Look at Novak: he does it, but not to the extent that his court position becomes a liability.

skatingfan wrote: ↑Tue Sep 20, 2022 1:44 am

meganfernandez wrote: ↑Mon Sep 19, 2022 3:10 pm ATP Player of the Year, right? Rafa has a case with 2 Slams, but this is a better resume. And Carlos coudl win the ATP Finals. Nadal probably won't play them, and right now Djokovic is #15 in the race.

Djokovic will qualify for the final by virtue of winning Wimbledon as long as he ends the year in the top 20 in the race.

If Wimby gave no points, will it still count? A technicality (I would allow him in) but the tour is so unpredictable in that aspect.

ponchi101 wrote: ↑Tue Sep 20, 2022 1:48 am If Wimby gave no points, will it still count? A technicality (I would allow him in) but the tour is so unpredictable in that aspect.

There's no indication that Wimbledon 2022 was stripped of the title Grand Slam, which according to the rules would make Djokovic eligible assuming he remains top 20. The live ranking site that we reference here frequently has a checkmark beside his name right now.

https://live-tennis.eu/en/atp-race

https://www.atptour.com/-/media/files/r ... -19aug.pdf

ponchi101 wrote: ↑Sat Sep 17, 2022 3:07 pm I agree with the exception of Hingis. She retired too young (the first time) and her game became obsolete very quickly, because she could not muster enough power to play against the Williams (a change of racquet may have helped, as Yonexes are famous for their control but also for the lack of power).
About Navs: I can't think of her being better than what I think because, to me, she is the best technical player in history. Every stroke was mechanically perfect. So, no way to go further up when you stand at the peak of Everest.

I was using Hingis as a benchmark...since she has spanned several generations....