The real Tennis thread.

[SeriousSam]

Looking up the H2H, I am shocked to find that grandpa Federer actually won the last 5 encounters with Murray. We have to go all the way back the SF of the Australian Open in 2013 to find a 5 set Murray triumph.

I hope he can swat aside the Swiss Server in the final but can't rule out another famous Murray Meltdown

 

[movingtarget]

Re: Re:

Tennis is one of the few sports where skill and the game itself is enough for it to be good entertainment. No need for manufactured WWE -like drama.

agreed.

Edberg was one of the most boring players around, character-wise, but a joy it was to watch him serve volley.
Boring Pete same story.
Federer, too quiet according to some, but I'd switch on the tv for him anytime.
I don't really care to watch Nadal, Murray or Djoker, unless they play Federer.

Exactly how I feel.

Ice Borg used to upset McEnroe even more by never reacting. McEnroe said Borg was the strange one not him.

 

[sniper]

Re: Re:

Tennis is one of the few sports where skill and the game itself is enough for it to be good entertainment. No need for manufactured WWE -like drama.

agreed.

Edberg was one of the most boring players around, character-wise, but a joy it was to watch him serve volley.
Boring Pete same story.
Federer, too quiet according to some, but I'd switch on the tv for him anytime.
I don't really care to watch Nadal, Murray or Djoker, unless they play Federer.

Exactly how I feel.

Ice Borg used to upset McEnroe even more by never reacting. McEnroe said Borg was the strange one not him.

lol.

for the record, McEnroe was much better to watch than Borg, but that's owing in the first place to their style of play, not their characters.

that said, McEnroe was a special one. Definitely one of the few worth watching old matches from on youtube.
Sure, tennis could use more characters like him, and maybe Djoker comes close.
But that's nothing to do with the ridiculous (and ridiculously annoying) grunting and fist pumping of the Nadal/Murray/Williams/Sharapowa type of new generation.

 

[movingtarget]

Re: Re:

Tennis is one of the few sports where skill and the game itself is enough for it to be good entertainment. No need for manufactured WWE -like drama.

agreed.

Edberg was one of the most boring players around, character-wise, but a joy it was to watch him serve volley.
Boring Pete same story.
Federer, too quiet according to some, but I'd switch on the tv for him anytime.
I don't really care to watch Nadal, Murray or Djoker, unless they play Federer.

Exactly how I feel.

Ice Borg used to upset McEnroe even more by never reacting. McEnroe said Borg was the strange one not him.

lol.

for the record, McEnroe was much better to watch than Borg, but that's owing in the first place to their style of play, not their characters.

that said, McEnroe was a special one. Definitely one of the few worth watching old matches from on youtube.
Sure, tennis could use more characters like him, and maybe Djoker comes close.
But that's nothing to do with the ridiculous (and ridiculously annoying) grunting and fist pumping of the Nadal/Murray/Williams/Sharapowa type of new generation.

Borg was like a machine. I think the poor guy lost most of his money with bad investments. He was a bit dull and shy like a depressed version of Federer, and I actually was glad that McEnroe beat him at Wimbledon the first time as I thought he was better to watch. Nastase was a madman but sometimes very funny and incredibly talented when he bothered. God knows what happened if McEnroe ever played Nastase. I never remember seeing them play although I saw Tanner play Nastase once and at the end of the match he refused to shake hands with him and threatened to punch him out. Nastase did everything to break Tanner's concentration but also played some brilliant tennis. At the end he threw his hands in the air and cried innocent but Tanner really wanted to punch him ! He was like a naughty school boy but sometimes you could not help laughing. He irritated the hell out of his opponents but it was never usually nasty or personal.

 

[Red Rick]

I really enjoy that Wimbly shows doubles and mixed doubles in the 2nd week of Wimbly when singles action is done for the day. Would be even cooler if they should some of the juniors too.

 

[The Hitch]

Re:

Tennis is one of the few sports where skill and the game itself is enough for it to be good entertainment. No need for manufactured WWE -like drama.

BBC keep going on with the trope that Kyrgios will bring the future generation into the sport.

When did this idea start that all children like petulent rude behaviour?

 

[movingtarget]

Re: Re:

Tennis is one of the few sports where skill and the game itself is enough for it to be good entertainment. No need for manufactured WWE -like drama.

BBC keep going on with the trope that Kyrgios will bring the future generation into the sport.

When did this idea start that all children like petulent rude behaviour?

And cricket is still a game for gentlemen ! In between his boorish behavior Kyrgios can be quite funny sometimes. I actually think more people have turned off tennis because of the screeching and grunting and it's often a fairly predictable sport with the same group of people dominating for many years but I suppose that happens in other sports as well. It seems that money is not the be all after all as sports like tennis and gold are very lucrative but having trouble attracting new blood to the sports according to insiders.

 

[snccdcno]

Re:

Tennis is one of the few sports where skill and the game itself is enough for it to be good entertainment. No need for manufactured WWE -like drama.

WWE is one of only five proper sports in existence, along with eurovision, darts, snooker and football, honourable mention to the 100m Olympic final. So quite frankly tennis should learn something from WWE, Rafael Nadal for instance instead of taking legal action against some French politician could follow John Cena's advice and rise above hate.

 

[Red Rick]

Re: Re:

Tennis is one of the few sports where skill and the game itself is enough for it to be good entertainment. No need for manufactured WWE -like drama.

BBC keep going on with the trope that Kyrgios will bring the future generation into the sport.

When did this idea start that all children like petulent rude behaviour?

Obviously, they refer to what he does when he's not tanking matches

 

[The Hitch]

is that the first person born in the 90's to make a gs final?

 

[SeriousSam]

Yes

Takes years to build up the fitness to compete at the top

 

[SeriousSam]

 

[Red Rick]

I have never seen Federer break down like that. Unfortunate for him. He just doesn't have the ground game anymore.

Murray gives Birdman a decent beatdown. Few people believed Berdych could win, and it looked like Berdych himself wasn't one of them

 

[Red Rick]

is that the first person born in the 90's to make a gs final?

Nishikori made the '14 US Open final.

rofl, just checked, Nishikori was born december 29th, '89

 

[BullsFan22]

Glad I am not watching much tennis these days. Too predictable. I know Raonic made his first final, but look at the last decade of GS finals. Apart from the odd Wawrinka (2 finals, 2 titles), Del Potro (1 final, 1 title), Berdych (one final, no title), Tsonga (one final, no title), Ferrer (one final, no title), Cilic (1 final, 1 title), Nishikori (lost to Cilic), and now Raonic, not a lot of 'fresh' faces in finals. Things might be changing, as Federer won't be playing much longer (my opinion), Nadal has trouble even taking part in GS matches these days, and Djokovic won't be dominating forever. Having said that, if Murray wins on Sunday, and becomes the new 'dominator' in men's tennis...YAWN. Hopefully Raonic can spare us from the never-ending slurping by the British media.

 

[sniper]

^agreed.

Raonic is not the most spectacular athlete to watch. but boy i'll be rooting for him like i've never rooted for a Canadian before.

such a refreshingly calm personality, especially when you contrast him with Murray who starts his fistpumping and screaming already after the first few points of a match.

 

[SeriousSam]

Raonic has a very unappealing game though. Can't support a servebot.

 

[Red Rick]

Huge chance for Murray to finally win that third one and improve his somewhat terrible record in Slam Finals. Only Canadian I'll be rooting for Sunday is Denis Shapovalov

 

[sniper]

agreed about raonic game of course.
even less appealing because he's not a very elegant athlete to begin with.
just so much more sympathetic than Andy Murray's grunting and fistpumping with his mummie grimacing in the stands.

shapovalov?

 

[Brullnux]

Glad I am not watching much tennis these days. Too predictable. I know Raonic made his first final, but look at the last decade of GS finals. Apart from the odd Wawrinka (2 finals, 2 titles), Del Potro (1 final, 1 title), Berdych (one final, no title), Tsonga (one final, no title), Ferrer (one final, no title), Cilic (1 final, 1 title), Nishikori (lost to Cilic), and now Raonic, not a lot of 'fresh' faces in finals. Things might be changing, as Federer won't be playing much longer (my opinion), Nadal has trouble even taking part in GS matches these days, and Djokovic won't be dominating forever. Having said that, if Murray wins on Sunday, and becomes the new 'dominator' in men's tennis...YAWN. Hopefully Raonic can spare us from the never-ending slurping by the British media.

Djoko and Murray are the same age, so Djokovic's career should have the same trajectory as Murray's, meaning a bit above Murray for all his career, but more distance at their peaks.

Murray deserves a 3rd slam. He has consistently been one of the top 5 tennis players this decade, yet has only 2 slams but a few finals to his name. It is widely accepted in the UK that Djokovic is more talented and better than Murray, so allow them the happiness of winning a slam. Only the 3rd one in since Perry (male).

 

[Red Rick]

Same career trajectory isn't a given. They mave have similar playing styles, but they are physically very different. Murray is taller and bulkier, so that could mean he gets more wear and tear, but then Djokovic has played a lot more over the years. Murray has had more injuries in the past, and has been delayed by the back surgery back in 2013.

As for the talent, you could say Djokovic has the advantage of being more flexible. Then there's a few technical differences that favour Djokovic as well. I never understand why some pro's have such technical flaws that were never fixed when they were juniors.

 

[Brullnux]

But I don't think Murray will ever dominate men's tennis. If he were five years younger (and also playing at this level) then maybe, but his trajectory, while not being the same as Djokovic's, shouldn't be drastically different. Maybe one will last longer, Djokovic maybe considering his greater fitness, OTOH he may wear out quicker because of how much he plays, but both will deteriorate enough by the time that happens that someone else will have taken their place

 

[Red Rick]

Murray has been quite dominant this year. Since mid April, he hasn't lost to any player not named Djokovic. Hopefully they'll be competitive with each other until the likes of Zverev, Thiem, or even younger players take over.

 

[movingtarget]

Raonic has had a few recent wins against Federer so no big surprise. McEnroe is coaching him now I noticed. The final could be quite dull but Murray should get the job done I think. The women's final could be the better contest but Williams is the hot favourite.

 

[The Hitch]

Glad I am not watching much tennis these days. Too predictable. I know Raonic made his first final, but look at the last decade of GS finals. Apart from the odd Wawrinka (2 finals, 2 titles), Del Potro (1 final, 1 title), Berdych (one final, no title), Tsonga (one final, no title), Ferrer (one final, no title), Cilic (1 final, 1 title), Nishikori (lost to Cilic), and now Raonic, not a lot of 'fresh' faces in finals. Things might be changing, as Federer won't be playing much longer (my opinion), Nadal has trouble even taking part in GS matches these days, and Djokovic won't be dominating forever. Having said that, if Murray wins on Sunday, and becomes the new 'dominator' in men's tennis...YAWN. Hopefully Raonic can spare us from the never-ending slurping by the British media.

another change is that tennis is becoming a lot like basketball, a sport where only a small minority of the population, height wise, can hope to compete. A lot of the guys you mentioned there are above 196 cm height which represents less than 0.2% of the male population, including half of this years semi finalists. Only 2 are below 6 foot 1 which even in developed countries often only encompasses 5-15% of the young male population.