re: Tennis 2019 -- The Unofficial Non-GS Thread

I'm adding Diego to the "Maybe" list just because of his return of serve and the fact that Roger can't serve as well on clay.

quote:

---

So what is he playing overall? Madrid, Rome, RG?

---

Yup

Interesting article I stumbled across, which uses ELO ratings to rank who the best TEENAGE player of all time was.



1. Rafael Nadal 2500 2006, Roland Garros
2. Boris Becker 2424 1986, Paris
3. Novak Djokovic 2387 2007, Roland Garros
4. Bjorn Borg 2369 1975, Barcelona
5. Mats Wilander 2363 1984, Milan
6. Lleyton Hewitt 2319 2000, Scottsdale
7. Alexander Zverev 2315 2017, Montpellier
8. Andy Murray 2305 2007, Miami
9. Andrei Medvedev 2300 1994, Rome
10. Andre Agassi 2294 1988, Los Angeles
19. Roger Federer 2209 2001, Wimbledon


LINK



I was surprised neither Johnny Mac nor Samprascracked the list. Or Michael Chang.

quote:

---

Figured you missed my post on the last page

---

Indeed I did. Post fail.

quote:

---

Definitely
Nadal

Very Likely
Djokovic

Probably
Thiem

---

I would amend

Definitely:
Nadal
Djokovic (unless he is going through another existential crisis)
Thiem . (if Thiem beat him on a hard court, he will DEFINITELY beat him on clay)

quote:

---

Maybe
Zverev
Nishikori
Tsitsipas
Cilic
Khachanov
Coric
Monfils
Wawrinka
Schwartzman

---

You listed a few guys here that I didn't. I'm actually not of the belief that Stan will ever beat Roger again on any surface. Though younger, Stan's body appears to be de facto older than Fed's


I didn't have Monfils, Karen, or Cilic. I'll agree with you that those would be in the maybe category.

The others you have listed that I listed I would put under "probably" along with those that I have that aren't on your list of the dirtball specialist variety: Djere and Pella.

ETA: And I'm wavering on Goffy and Grigs. I don't trust either of those guys. I'll put them in a maybe category.

quote:

---

“Can” probably isn’t a good word to use here. Cecchinato can beat Djokovic at RG too, but that doesn’t really mean anything.

---

Yes, in a world governed by the physical laws of quantum mechanics where the locations of fundamental elements can be determined only in probabilities*, it would be much more useful to say "more likely than not".

Can I get good and balls deep in Danielle Herrington? Well....I suppose in a world where monkeys poking at a typewriter will at some point produce shakespeare, we can't completely rule it out.

Would Vegas set even money odds on such an event occurring? Sadly, no they would not.

________
*or something like that: LINK

quote:

---

I don’t think any of those guys you mentioned are living legend

---

We're all living legends in our own minds.

quote:

---

Here’s a Smug parody account on Twitter that’s good for a few laughs.

LINK

---

Love me some pseudofed. I think he's dropped off a bit in recent years, but his early stuff was spot on. I am mad at myself for not creating that account myself.

quote:

---

Oh, smug was a fine clay court player in his day. The second best clay courter in the world before Novak surpassed him circa 2011.

But he's 37 now. That's a big factor. Fed is still amazing when he can shorten points and let his shotmaking win the points for him. On clay, he can't do that nearly as well. More balls are gonna come back at him, transforming 3 shot rallies into 7 shot rallies. And it won't take long before you see a 37 year old man out there.

Just my $0.02

---

I agree with you on this, but I don't think Fed is a serious threat to win any clay court tournament, but he can go deep in a few of those I feel like quarters and semis. If he does that and has a good showing at Wimbledon and U.S. Open, then he has a shot to at least get to #2 with an outside shot of getting to #1. He has a lot of points out there that Nadal is defending.

Fed has a decent argument to top 3-5 on clay ever. I would put him just outside of there because he didn't close the deal at RG too many times, but he was easily number two on clay for a handful of years and would have 3-5 RG if not for Rafa. It goes off the top of my head:
Rafa
Borg
Vilas
Guga
Wilander/Lendl
Roger/Djoker/Muster?

Right now, 50-100 guys can beat him on dirt. But, I would only bet on the top 10 if my life depended on it.

Prime Federer lost to broken hip Guga in straight sets at the French Open. Guga >>> Federer on clay.