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Red Rick

Red Rick

Feb 20, 2012
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Archibald said:
surely some of this falls at the feet of their coaches, no? Can't be taught a plan b or c, or other dimensions to their games?
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There's so many different coaches all over the world they can't all be making the same mistake.

I my opinion there are 2 main reasons.

1. Tennis is getting a worse and worse alternative for young athletic talent. Sports like football and other team sports are getting increasingly viable at lower and lower levels as the money is going up there. Meanwhile, even though tennis is getting more and more money, it still can only really sustain ~150 players on the ATP or WTA

2. As the senior game has changed, the junior game has changed with it. Poly strings enabled much more topspin and killed serve&volley, but I'm also convinced rackets with bigger sweetspots where you can just muscle a ball as long as you hit enough spin absolutely killed the developments of juniors. Almost all young players have major technical issues the older dudes didn't really have.
 
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movingtarget

Aug 5, 2009
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Red Rick said:
There's so many different coaches all over the world they can't all be making the same mistake.

I my opinion there are 2 main reasons.

1. Tennis is getting a worse and worse alternative for young athletic talent. Sports like football and other team sports are getting increasingly viable at lower and lower levels as the money is going up there. Meanwhile, even though tennis is getting more and more money, it still can only really sustain ~150 players on the ATP or WTA

2. As the senior game has changed, the junior game has changed with it. Poly strings enabled much more topspin and killed serve&volley, but I'm also convinced rackets with bigger sweetspots where you can just muscle a ball as long as you hit enough spin absolutely killed the developments of juniors. Almost all young players have major technical issues the older dudes didn't really have.
Click to expand...

No doubt the racquet size has had a big effect. For the non regular tennis watcher especially with the Russian players with similar sounding names and physical similarities, most play a similar game. Easy to get them confused. It's probably had more of an impact on the women's game than the men's. The tennis world was flooded with Russian and European players who played very similar games. and it seemed to have a production line effect to it. So much so that it's easy to still remember the Henins, Goolagongs, Novotnas and Courts of women's tennis. All had more diversity in their playing style than usual. Needless to say that was also a long time ago.

in the men's game I can't think of anything more boring than two players having a serving contest, tiebreakers and one service break for the match. Often now it just seems to be a physical battle, who can last the long matches without breaking down and who wins the serving battle in the shorter matches. Other sports have had similar issues such as cricket with heavier bats and golf with longer putters but not to the extent tennis has had with permanent changes to playing styles.
 
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Red Rick

Red Rick

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tobydawq said:
Hehe, no praise of the young players when they do manage to beat Federer, Djokovic etc. But plenty of name-calling when they fail to.

I think Sadvedev is a little less sad right now than last Sunday.
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And so Daniil came, saw my postings, and said to me

2jcx8cz.jpg


If he wins today he'll be Daniil Gladvedev.

I like the guy. He's got some character, and his game just looks super funny
 
Red Rick

Red Rick

Feb 20, 2012
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Murray lost 1st round in Winston Salem, but his tennis looked a lot better than in his loss against Gasquet in Cincinnati.

May play the Mallorca challenger during the USO. Already wants to emphasize on volume rather than taking it really easy on the hip.
 
Red Rick

Red Rick

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Murray beat an unranked junior in his first round in Mallorca 60 61, tanking a single game.

Just saw 16 y.o. Svajda play in the 1st round at the USO. Looked incredibly impressive but then this is probably his best match and a player's average level is a better indicator of what to expect.
 
The Hitch

The Hitch

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Red Rick said:
Murray beat an unranked junior in his first round in Mallorca 60 61, tanking a single game.

Just saw 16 y.o. Svajda play in the 1st round at the USO. Looked incredibly impressive but then this is probably his best match and a player's average level is a better indicator of what to expect.
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Just googled this svajda kid. Harking back to a discussion we had over the years - 175cm. He better pray for a late growth spurt. Or messi like hgh treatment.
 
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Gigs_98

Gigs_98

Feb 18, 2015
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So...Thiem did what Thiem does best...being totally random...sigh

Anyway incredibly after the First round Zverev is the only top ten player left in nadal's half of the bracket meaning we can start to speculate against whome he will play in the final. [Insert old embarassed emoji]
 
Red Rick

Red Rick

Feb 20, 2012
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Gigs_98 said:
So...Thiem did what Thiem does best...being totally random...sigh

Anyway incredibly after the First round Zverev is the only top ten player left in nadal's half of the bracket meaning we can start to speculate against whome he will play in the final. [Insert old embarassed emoji]
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Thiem apparently was sick the entire week. Pulled out of Cincinnati. Didn't practice. He was never gonna go far.

Zverev did the Zverev special. Turn a 2-0 set lead with not a problem in sight into a tight 5 set win. I'm still waiting for Zverev to proclaim he's mentally one of the toughest players on Tour cause he's got a great 5th set record.

Tsitsipas losing early was also in the cards. Rublev was very good in Cinci and he's just better at crushing balls from the baseline. Tsitsipas had a looot of bad sportsmanship during the match, daring the umpire to give him a warning, and instead getting a point penalty, and faking a looot of cramps.

Looks like a Kyrgios-Rublev 3rd round is in the cards. Normally Kyrgios should win that, but Kyrgios and 'should win' aren't talking to each other. Other than that I can literally only think of Shapovalov maybe making the bottom side of the draw interesting.

Meanwhile, Murray easily beat the 3rd seed Norbert Gombos at the Rafa Nadal open challenger in Mallorca. Still doesn't hit with any pace, but he can beat those challengers dudes with his eyes closed.
 
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Noddy97

Aug 12, 2019
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Red Rick said:
It's the inverse Australian Open. I miss all the night matches cause I'm in Europe:(


I would be surprised if Wawrinka gets close vs Djokovic. He hasn't been the same since his surgery.
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You're right but Stan has nothing to lose and he is very dangerous when he has no pressure. He starts to do winners from everywhere
 
Red Rick

Red Rick

Feb 20, 2012
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Noddy97 said:
You're right but Stan has nothing to lose and he is very dangerous when he has no pressure. He starts to do winners from everywhere
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Wawrinka is very matchup dependent. Part of the reason he troubled Djokovic in Slams was that he could hit throw him from both wings, but the other part was that he could defend somewhat effectively with the slice backhand when he needed to. I don't think he gets away with that anymore.

Meanwhile, one of Rublev, Andujar, Monfils and Berrettini will make the semis. Really hope it's gonna be Rublev or Monfils, and I would love if Monfils could make another run.
 
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