*Official* Tennis Thread

[vcs]

That is a poor loss. Didn't watch but it sours his season so far, a bit. I think he loses No. 1 too. And he's skipping clay again.

 

[vcs]

Isner-Zverev in the Miami finals. Pretty average players to watch but hopefully Zverev wins.

Nicely set up for Nadal to sweep the clay court season yet again, Federer is missing it (not that he was likely to do much anyway) and Del Potro also has indicated that he will play sparingly on it. Djokovic is miles off his best and Thiem is injured I think. Let's see if Chung or someone can make a splash this year.

 

[vcs]

Nadal is in action vs. Kohlschreiber and Zverev this weekend in the Davis Cup. Should be interesting to see where he's at. It's at home on clay, so probably a couple of straight-set spankings.

 

[vcs]

Man, Bruguera looks so ancient. Couldn't recognize him at all.

 

[vcs]

Doubles is my favorite to watch in Davis Cup whereas I barely care about it in other tournaments. German pair of Struff and Puetz playing brilliantly, two sets up.

 

[vcs]

Nadal is just at a completely different level on clay, even though he's nearly 32. Hammered both Zverev and Kohlschreiber.

This deciding match between Ferrer and Kohlschreiber is interesting.

 

[Anil]

to the regular posters here, does anyone see djokovic getting back to his old dominant level?

 

[vcs]

He's going through a bit of a crisis now.. parted ways with Agassi. It's difficult to see anyone challenging Nadal on clay yet again this year.

 

[Anil]

yeah they can just give him his 11th french open right now...last year none of his sets even went to 7-5, forget a tie breaker or actually losing a set...expecting something similar this year...

 

[srbhkshk]

Nadal's just destroying everyone on clay, it's awesome and a bit sad at the same time. When people like Sampras and Agassi retired, you genuinely felt that the new generation was just as good or maybe even stronger, just not the case now - maybe we were just lucky to see the careers of three top tier all time greats play out at the same time.

 

[vcs]

Nadal is freakishly good on clay. Nobody has ever been close to as dominant on any surface as he is on clay, never mind sustaining it for so long. To be as good as he is on clay at 32 is unbelievable as it takes a toll on your body.

We should just enjoy these guys while they're still around, because there's no doubt they keep pushing each other to new heights.

 

[OverratedSanity]

It's difficult to enjoy watching them when they aren't being challenged. As I've said before, I don't have a problem with Nadal and Federer winning slams, but watching the rest of the field just fold to them is ****ing pathetic. It's been the most boring 18 months stretch of tennis I've ever watched

 

[vcs]

That's fair enough.. I don't watch much clay court tennis either because the result is easy to predict and I don't much enjoy Nadal's style.. but it's not his fault that he is that much better than everyone else.

 

[vcs]

Nadal's just destroying everyone on clay, it's awesome and a bit sad at the same time. When people like Sampras and Agassi retired, you genuinely felt that the new generation was just as good or maybe even stronger, just not the case now - maybe we were just lucky to see the careers of three top tier all time greats play out at the same time.

TBF.. Federer took a while to mature after his famous "changing of the guard" win over Sampras in 2001 (that win was only seen in that light in retrospect). He lost to all kinds of mugs for a couple of years after that and you had the likes of Rainer Schuttler and Martin Verkerk making major finals and Thomas Johansson managed to win an Australian Open. Roddick, Safin, Nalbandian and Ferrero looked like future stars at that time. Roddick and Hewitt lacked the talent/power to achieve true greatness, and became Federer's bunnies. Nalbandian and Safin lacked commitment. Ferrero suffered injuries. In fact, I would say after Sampras went past his peak around '97 or so, the level of competition at the top was pretty mediocre until about 2007, when Djokovic and Murray starting coming up.

But the Dimitrov/Nishikori/Raonic generation has been a real letdown... for whatever reason, they are just not good enough to challenge even the aging big 3 (2 now until Djokovic regains his mojo). And the next generation of Zverev/Thiem/Goffin doesn't look up to the task either. Maybe we have to wait for the Shapovalov generation to mature to get the next set of greats.

 

[srbhkshk]

I think Safin and pre-injury Hewitt were better than anything the Dimitrov +- generation had, maybe even Roddick. That was a poor generation - how much do you think it could be attributed to them having to face regular losses from Peak Djoker/Nadal/Murray and still pretty good Federer and suffering mentally as a result?

I do think that the latest generation is not hopeless ( and btw Zverev is just 21), Kyrgios is also a damn fine player when he is switched on.

 

[Anil]

nadal wins 50 consecutive sets on clay, a record for any one surface!

 

[OverratedSanity]

Thank **** for Thiem

 

[Anil]

impressive...beating rafa in this form...

 

[vcs]

Well done Thiem... next winning streak will begin at Rome for Nadal.

 

[vcs]

Thiem into the finals now.. good chance to win his first ATP Masters title.

Good to see Shapovalov doing well too.