Thank God. YEC is reserved for good players.
No one is beating Roger in Basel. The bigger problem is going to be Paris and London, especially since he won't get any rest this year.
-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
Tennis - General Discussion
- Thread starter Peru
- Start date
No one is beating Roger in Basel. The bigger problem is going to be Paris and London, especially since he won't get any rest this year.
perfectchaos007
Member
He gets all of December off just like every other ATP player. If he's doing an exhibition match, it's not like he has to prepare for that.
Just wanted to drop in here to say I'm a huge tennis fan, although my love of professional tennis (mostly WTA) has dropped significantly. I remember going to matches/watching on TV players like Steffi Graf, Monica Seles, Martina Hingis (especially), the Williams sisters, Davenport, the Belgians etc. A lot of great players in the late 1990s/early 2000s. To say that Azarenka, Sharapova, etc. are much worse players would be a vast understatement. The women's tour has really been going through a lull these last few years in my opinion; it's Serena Williams and the seven dwarfs, who all play the same way. To think that a limited player like Sharapova has now won all 4 Slams -- blows my mind! On the other hand, men's tennis has probably never been better. </rant>
Also I really miss the tournament at the Villanova Pavillion!
I also have a great interest in even older generations. It is a crime that there is next to zero footage of Little Mo on youtube, for example, given that she is American and possibly the GOAT. If anyone else has interest in subjects like these, let me know!
Although of the current players, I must say that Andrea Petkovic is by far my favorite for her personality alone. Exhibit A
Also I really miss the tournament at the Villanova Pavillion!
I also have a great interest in even older generations. It is a crime that there is next to zero footage of Little Mo on youtube, for example, given that she is American and possibly the GOAT. If anyone else has interest in subjects like these, let me know!
Although of the current players, I must say that Andrea Petkovic is by far my favorite for her personality alone. Exhibit A
Well I don't feel sorry for him in that way. What I meant is that playing 15 or so matches in 3 weeks is very taxing and towards the end of that period he might run out of steam (or maybe in Paris already). Last year he had a week of break between Paris and the ATP finals, so it was easier to manage.
I'm not sure I agree. If a player like Azarenka was 10 years younger, she probable would have had a successful career anyway. I can imagine she would plow through in early rounds against players like Dementieva, Myskina etc. (basically those who were ranked #4-10 in the last decade) and occasionally win against Henin or Serena in a big final.
But what hurts women's tennis the most is that the courts are slowed down so that players like Isner or Raonic don't dominate men's game - there was no need to slow women's game, yet it happened because they share courts with men and tactical depth and variety have been eliminated in favor of baseline grinding. Someone like Tsonga is explosive enough to be successful with his net approaches despite the slowed down courts, but no woman can obviously play like Tsonga.
I think the problem is a lack of prodigious talents. Graf, Seles, Hingis, Venus, Serena -- champions at 16 or 17. This is increasingly rare, and I think a lot of it has to do with the homogeneous coaching style for kids. Everyone models their game after the "Nick Bolliteri"-style of play -- hit hard, two-handed backhands, from the baseline. So all the girls are now playing a very similar style of tennis, so it makes sense that the best athlete (in this case Serena Williams) is totally dominant over the rest of them. Just look at her h2h over Sharapova and Azarenka, complete ownage. Different styles of play are being discouraged and that's a bad thing. This issue does not exist in the men's game.
Regarding Azarenka beating Dementieva and Myskina; I completely agree, but 2004 was a very weak year, I was referring more to 1999-ish, give or take.
Regarding the slowed-surfaces, first of all let me say that Tsonga is my favorite ATP player! And while I agree that slowing everything down and converting everything to hard-courts is bad in many ways, I still think someone in the WTA can be a champion by attacking the net. Perhaps not serve-and-volley, but just having the OPTION to volley might reduce the amount of times that player is, say, moonballed to death by Wozniacki.
perfectchaos007
Member
1930's radio technology there in Switzerland eh?
Rafa=FedKilla
Banned
Man can't even watch tennis since the us open. So disgusting that Murray won.
Actually men's game has all the same problems that are at the moment hidden by the amazing Fed-Rafa-Djoker-Muzzah rivalry. Take it away and you have WTA2. Dearth of young talent (it's far worse on ATP actually) - it's amazing that Tommy Haas is able to hit top 20 at 34, but what does it say about players who should be in their prime in mid 20s that they allow a player in mid 30s to reach such a high ranking? Men's game also relies mostly on baseline grinding. Tournaments like Shanghai with low and fast bounce and you see a lot of variety there are an exception, not a rule.
Betta Lines
Member
What's your beef man
Absolutely incredible. The best women's match I've seen all year.
PS3GamerKyle
Member
What a day for tennis.
Na Mug chocking against Lordrena when up 4-1. lol so obvious. Also wtf is wrong with serena's serve, can't hit an ace and at some point her first serve average was 9%. x_x
Federer almost losing to belucci. no words.
Carebear putting shriekrenka, the classless pretender, in her place in the first set (with all the racket destroying and etc). Sadly Messber appeared and she lost two MP's. rofl Still an awesome match, even if the worst player
won.
Sugarpova being a retarded ball-bashing desperate to win a match against pushwanska. still managed to win though, so thats nice. congrats to both actually as it was already 2 AM in Istanbul. they must have been dead tired. Also lol @ sharapova yelling "RUN, RUN" after a long ass point that radwanska defended 124234123123 balls.
Na Mug chocking against Lordrena when up 4-1. lol so obvious. Also wtf is wrong with serena's serve, can't hit an ace and at some point her first serve average was 9%. x_x
Federer almost losing to belucci. no words.
Carebear putting shriekrenka, the classless pretender, in her place in the first set (with all the racket destroying and etc). Sadly Messber appeared and she lost two MP's. rofl Still an awesome match, even if the worst player
imo
Sugarpova being a retarded ball-bashing desperate to win a match against pushwanska. still managed to win though, so thats nice. congrats to both actually as it was already 2 AM in Istanbul. they must have been dead tired. Also lol @ sharapova yelling "RUN, RUN" after a long ass point that radwanska defended 124234123123 balls.
Rafa=FedKilla
Banned
Istanbul is no Constantinople.
Wow, Serena is probably double as big nowadays.If only Legend was still around
Magicpaint
Member
Well she did make a (somewhat) brief comebackIf only Legend was still around
PS3GamerKyle
Member
I wonder if his clay court game will ever be where it once was. I don't like Nadal, but he is phenomenal on clay.
Istanbul is being a fabulous host for the WTA year-end champs! Packed stands, INDOOR YES MY BELOVED INDOORS and this year with matches delivering. Lots of great long, classic matches. Maria always delivering when playing indoors as well, although if she beats Vika we'll prob get another Serena-Masha classic :b
H_Prestige
Banned
So long Juan Carlos
Rafa=FedKilla
Banned
He will return at the beginning of next season once he can cycle properly. He will limp in between points but bounce around like the Energizer Bunny all the whole yelling vamos after his opponent makes an unforced error off a moon ball.
How is it your beloved indoors when the surface is one of the slowest this year? Unless you love slow ass courts, but traditionally indoors tournaments have been very fast.
I just don't want another beatdown against Lordrena. At least make it competitive Pova.
I present you guys the most inaccurate/hilarious Tennis Headline Ever.
Williams and Sharapova: power vs. grace
Williams and Sharapova: power vs. grace
Magicpaint
Member
It's really all on Serena's racket. The best Maria can hope for is that Serena has a really off serving day (like she had against Na), then the playing field is a bit more leveled, imo of course.
Yeah this has to be the slowest indoor court this year.
perfectchaos007
Member
haha Sharapova = grace? what a joke. I guess grace is hardly ever good enough to beat power
Sharapova is basically a vastly inferior version of Serena in all areas. She never had any grace.
Spiritreaver
Member
Damn, I was looking for a tennis OT last night, was sure we had one. Nicely timed bumped.
So you like a surface only because a player you like happens to be good on it? That's completely backwards.
Especially since Serena can display an amazing variety when needed. Sharapova never switches things up, it's always baseline ballbashing for better or for worse.
t___t
I'm betting 6 or 7. She is really eager for vengeance, but its clearly not enough against the final boss.
Whats the problem with that? There is a reason why you have a favorite player... to cheer for her/him is nothing to be ashamed of.
Well, she is the most gracious of them both thats for sure. Not so hard to achieve though, given the situation, but yeah. lol
Battersea Power Station
Member
Did they change it? I'm on my phone now and it reads "A Fitting Finale."
I like indoors because the matches are always fair. That Maria is better on them is a bonus for someone who watches most of her matches, not sure why that is hard to understand.
It's not ballbashing, when she's on it's always about sick angles and precision deep on the court, and agressively moving forward towards the net to finish it off. No, she doesn't switch it up in terms of going to other play styles but her success has been precisely that she doesn't ball bash wildly like some others on the tour who have enormous damage potential but haven't managed to string together enough lucky matches to get a slam. In the peak periods of her career, yes I'd say the tennis is beautiful, laser-like tennis.
Doesn't mean she'll have a chance against Serena tomorrow, but that's a different game. She has not ever, post-surgery, played as well as in 2008. Getting important wins against Vika, whom she def always should beat, still feels good.
We might disagree about aesthetics but the bolded is just a lie.
Stevie Gerrard
Member
haha, what? They're slightly different players, but in terms of quality they're about the same. Ridiculous to say Maria should always beat Vika.
What? I didn't say _at_ the net I said moving towards the net. Whenever she's confident enough and moves forward she closes a high percentage of points on drive or swing volleys. Moving forward to kill a ball is something she's mentioned several times as a key to success, not the least when she's been lacking or lost a match.
This summer:
Q. Another question but back to the swing volley. You didn't use it that much last year; this year you seem to be using it a lot. Why is that? Did you lose faith in the shot or was it strategically you felt like you needed to do more things?
MARIA SHARAPOVA: Well, I think it's just having that confidence of moving forward and not waiting for another shot to come back, and also recognizing what you did to maybe get in the position of moving forward.
Vika has a very mediocre serve that definitely should not pose any problem at all to a strong returner. This is also the first year Vika has been stable so it's very hard to say what sort of career stats she'll produce.
Sharapova's serve isn't that great either and all the good returners have no difficulties putting vast majorities of them in play. And Azarenka is a better returner than Sharapova.
And nobody cares what she says in her post-match interviews. Yoiu might as well label Wozniacki as an aggressive player if you go by what she says.
That's what every player after when they get a loopy ball into the service box. That's completely different from "aggressively moving forward towards the net". That could describe Tsonga's game, or Federer's game on fast courts, or on women's tour maybe Vinci's, but absolutely not Sharapova's. I mean in the Sharapova-Radwanska match, Radwanska was by default 2 meters behind the baseline and Sharapova was still glued to the baseline even though she could try to approach the net in nearly every rally.
And nobody cares what she says in her post-match interviews. Yoiu might as well label Wozniacki as an aggressive player if you go by what she says.
Well she said that after the reporter acknowledged their presence in her game and increased use in this the most successful year after her comeback. Sharapova is known for her drive volleys, that's common knowledge.
Sharapova was a top 2 server on the tour before surgery. That serve's not coming back ever -- and that she's reached a number slam finals and won one says a lot about the work she's done to reconfigure her game completely. That she's gone from having the fastest to having the slowest courts as her best surface supports that - she's a different player. But she's still probably more aggressive with angles and depth than any other player on the tour when playing her best.
Sharapova was a top 2 server on the tour before surgery. That serve's not coming back ever -- and that she's reached a number slam finals and won one says a lot about the work she's done to reconfigure her game completely. That she's gone from having the fastest to having the slowest courts as her best surface supports that - she's a different player. But she's still probably more aggressive with angles and depth than any other player on the tour when playing her best.
She gets to hit them more often because she gets more defensive loopy balls. But that doesn't mean "when she's on it's always about aggressively moving forward towards the net" which is as far from truth as one may get.
Sax Russel
Banned
Both Fed and Delpo have been hitting the ball really well this final. Hope it keeps up! DELPO SMASH.