*** Official Tennis Thread Pt. 2****

[Dominik]

I don’t understand that though.... why would parents get involved if their kid is winning slams and is #1 in the world??

Good question. Control freaks. Trying to live vicariously through their child. Oblivious to the fact they're sabotaging their career.

Hewitt splitting with Cahill was clearly a stupid decision by his parents. Coached him to his first slam, No. 1, 7 wins over Federer in their first 9 matches. Cahill was then quickly snapped up by Andre Agassi from 2002 to 2006 when he retired. Federer wanted him to sign on at the end of 2009 after they trained together in ***** but Cahill declined. And he obviously worked wonders for Halep who is a headcase — guided her to her first slam and No. 1.

Best thing Sasha Bajin can do now is take the high road and find another player (Halep?) who he can continue to have success with and let Osaka crash and burn. If she struggles in 2019 he comes up smelling like roses because he'll clearly look like more than a "hitting partner."



Anyway "if it ain't broke..." I think Novak panicked a bit when he got rid of his team in early 2017. Obviously saw the error of his ways and the Vajda reunion one year later paid off big time. You don't mess with a winning formula.

[Trudope]

Can we just skip forward to the clay season already?

[nvrstopworking]

Can we just skip forward to the clay season already?

Why? Isn’t your boy an all-court wonder capable of winning on any surface?

[Trudope]

Why? Isn’t your boy an all-court wonder capable of winning on any surface?

There is always a lull between the Aus Open and when the clay court season begins. Indian Wells and Miami seem to be just 2 tournaments stuck in there with no purpose.

Clay season leads up to the FO, what do Indian Wells and Miami do? They should just move the clay season up, and extend the grass court season. So much time between Aus and French, and no time between French and Wimbledon never made sense to me.

[Dominik]

Indian Wells and Miami seem to be just 2 tournaments stuck in there with no purpose.

Winning the Sunshine Double is probably as tough as winning a slam. Arguably harder since your mighty "GOAT" has never done it. 12 wins in 3 weeks on the most competitive surface. Novak's done it 4 times and Federer 3 times (also won it when it was BO5). How about AO-IW-MIA? Now you're down to an exclusive list.

Clay has been a bore in recent years so only hardcore Bull fanboys would be pining for it right now. His strongest rival the past two seasons has been a ballbasher with 0 slams and Masters who hasn't taken a set off him at RG — or pushed him beyond 6-4 — in 3 attempts. The only points of interest will be potential Djokovic-Nadal finals and if Novak can win his 4th straight slam along with Federer playing Madrid, Rome, and RG again.

There should be enough bait in those two paragraphs to trigger your fellow nuthugger and smoke him out. Still waiting for that "Here's why Rafa is the GOAT..." explanation.

[Dominik]

AO
Djokovic 7 (7-0)
Federer 6 (6-1)
Nadal 1 (1-4)

Sunshine Double
Djokovic 4
Federer 3
Nadal 0

AO-IW-MIA
Djokovic 3 (2011 2015 2016)
Federer 2 (2006 2017)
Nadal 0

Miami
Djokovic 6
Federer 3
Nadal 0

[Trudope]

fcking lol this guy always manages to make it about Nadal and Federer. Nowhere in my post did I even mention Nadal but you bring him up, meanwhile 90% of the people here are sick of the debate.

The reason I don't think Indian Wells and Miami have no purpose, is because they don't lead up to anything, it has nothing to do with how difficult it is to win them. For example:

Clay masters lead up to French Open.
Grass courts lead up to Wimbledon.
NA Hard court swing culminates with the US Open.
Indoor hard court season leads up to ATP Finals.

They should move one of those tournaments before the Aus open and lengthen the period before. That way people get a better warmup before the tournament starts and we should see some better quality matches.

Start the clay court season right after, leading up to the french.

Lengthen the time between the French and Wimbledon and add a grass court masters.



that is just my opinion; but of course, anyone that has a different view than you doesn't watch tennis.

[Dominik]

fcking lol this guy always manages to make it about Nadal and Federer. Nowhere in my post did I even mention Nadal but you bring him up, meanwhile 90% of the people here are sick of the debate.

The reason I don't think Indian Wells and Miami have no purpose, is because they don't lead up to anything, it has nothing to do with how difficult it is to win them. For example:

Clay masters lead up to French Open.
Grass courts lead up to Wimbledon.
NA Hard court swing culminates with the US Open.
Indoor hard court season leads up to ATP Finals.

They should move one of those tournaments before the Aus open and lengthen the period before. That way people get a better warmup before the tournament starts and we should see some better quality matches.

Start the clay court season right after, leading up to the french.

Lengthen the time between the French and Wimbledon and add a grass court masters.

that is just my opinion; but of course, anyone that has a different view than you doesn't watch tennis.

It should be pretty obvious I was trying to smoke out your buddy. He's been ducking me for a week with his GOAT explanation. "fcking lol"

Clay masters lead up to French Open.
Grass courts lead up to Wimbledon.
NA Hard court swing culminates with the US Open.
Indoor hard court season leads up to ATP Finals.

Of course I agree with you it doesn't really make sense and is really disjointed but what can they do? Ideally the season would start a month early in December here and there'd be at least one HC Masters leading up to the AO but this giant ass island is already a massive inconvenience for players who have to spend a full day on a plane to get here and how many of them would want to spend Christmas in the steaming heat?

The bigger issue is Indian Wells is probably the best Masters tournament. Do they move it to later in the year before Cincinnati and scrap/move Canada?

The grass season is an absolute joke. A Masters on grass is long overdue. 3 Masters, a 500, and a slam in 9 weeks on clay is overkill. Great if you're Nadal of course. Rack up 5000+ points in a couple of months and drop anchor in the Top 5.

Let's face it the calendar is all over the place. Shanghai then Paris. Makes no sense at all.

[nvrstopworking]

Winning the Sunshine Double is probably as tough as winning a slam. Arguably harder since your mighty "GOAT" has never done it. 12 wins in 3 weeks on the most competitive surface. Novak's done it 4 times and Federer 3 times (also won it when it was BO5). How about AO-IW-MIA? Now you're down to an exclusive list.

Clay has been a bore in recent years so only hardcore Bull fanboys would be pining for it right now. His strongest rival the past two seasons has been a ballbasher with 0 slams and Masters who hasn't taken a set off him at RG — or pushed him beyond 6-4 — in 3 attempts. The only points of interest will be potential Djokovic-Nadal finals and if Novak can win his 4th straight slam along with Federer playing Madrid, Rome, and RG again.

There should be enough bait in those two paragraphs to trigger your fellow nuthugger and smoke him out. Still waiting for that "Here's why Rafa is the GOAT..." explanation.

Has this been confirmed then? I heard about Madrid... and assumed RG as well but Rome is a surprise.

[Trudope]

Has this been confirmed then? I heard about Madrid... and assumed RG as well but Rome is a surprise.

There is plenty of time between those two majors so he should be fine. Also he needs all the points he can get. Should be aiming for a top 4 seed as that puts him in the best position to win slams.

Should be able to, as he is defending nothing.

[Trudope]

Anyways, things should be exciting again next week as both Federer and Nadal are returning to action.

[ohiostate124]

Hory chit

What a tournament from Bencic.

[Dominik]

Has this been confirmed then? I heard about Madrid... and assumed RG as well but Rome is a surprise.

Nothing confirmed, I was just connecting the dots. He definitely needs the points and a decision will probably come down to how things go over the next month.

[euron]

Hory chit

What a tournament from Bencic.

Strong this srs.

[nvrstopworking]

Hory chit

What a tournament from Bencic.

Guess she beat Kvitova then and won? Impressive.... thought she'd be a top 5 player a few years ago.... but she really fell off. Maybe she's ready for a comeback.

[Dominik]

Acapulco


*****

[nvrstopworking]

Tough draw for Rafa with maybe Nick in rd. 2 and then possibly Stan in rd. 3....

Fed prob looking at Milos and then Coric and then Kei or Cilic in *****.

[euron]

Felix trying to hold serve to pull out a TB in the 2nd set against Batman in the Rio final. Not sure who to root for, I'm fine either way.

Evans down a break in the 3rd set of the Delray final, but rain delay.

[Berries1]

Hory chit

What a tournament from Bencic.

I backed against her everytime except Rd 1, cost me a fortune urgh

[nvrstopworking]

Both Raonic and Khachanov flame out of ***** already.... seems like a clear path to the finals for Fed.

[Trudope]

Federer with his classic win the first, lose second, and pull it out in the third victory.

Khachanov and Raonic both lose first round. fcking lol

[Dominik]

Federer with his classic win the first, lose second, and pull it out in the third victory.

An extra set of practice with his pigeon is just what he needs after a month off. Still only went 90 mins.

6-0 vs Fiasco. If all goes to plan Berdy will cancel out Coric and RBA will take care of Berdych with Glassikori coming through his half and folding like a cheap suit in the final. No. 100. Top 4.

[euron]

Coric has been awful in 2019. RBA and Tsitsipas are probably the most dangerous lads in the draw. Maybe Medvedev or Monfils if either of them plays like they did in Rotterdam.

[nvrstopworking]

No idea wtf is going on with Khachanov either... 4th or 5th time in a row he’s been out in the first rnd.

Getting frustrating to see these guys follow up big wins with chit performances. That’s what bugged me about the women’s tour for so long.

[Dominik]

Telling it like it is.

Q. Do you think your record of 20, numbers of weeks at the top, are threatened by Djokovic or Nadal?

ROGER FEDERER: Since a long time, yes. This is not new. Maybe there's more talk about it now. I think, like before, as the surfaces get more equal, everybody can pile up more Grand Slam wins, like I did. It was the reason for me probably to pass Sampras by having the surfaces be more equal.

Make conditions like the 90s and Pete's old record of 14 wouldn't be seen as a joke today.

[Dominik]

[nvrstopworking]

Wtf..... not the best idea to throw your coach under the bus like that. I hope for her sake that she can still win and back up her words because if not she’s going to look pretty stupid.

[Dominik]

Wtf..... not the best idea to throw your coach under the bus like that. I hope for her sake that she can still win and back up her words because if not she’s going to look pretty stupid.

I never paid attention to how much she was doing it. She always comes across as shy and awkward but it seems quite deliberate to me. It's not like he's a former player who everyone knows like Goran and you could understand going into detail to amuse the press.

What it boils down to for me is she didn't want to give the guy any credit for her success on the way up so it'll be interesting to see what happens if the slam wins dry up and her ranking tanks.

[ohiostate124]

Yikes. I like her but I couldnt watch more than a minute due to the cringe.

[nvrstopworking]

I never paid attention to how much she was doing it. She always comes across as shy and awkward but it seems quite deliberate to me. It's not like he's a former player who everyone knows like Goran and you could understand going into detail to amuse the press.

What it boils down to for me is she didn't want to give the guy any credit for her success on the way up so it'll be interesting to see what happens if the slam wins dry up and her ranking tanks.

Even if that was the case (and I’m a bit skeptical tbh) it shows a distinct lack of class and immaturity to talk about it to the press. Very disappointing because I’ve been a big fan of hers for a while now.