The Official Tennis Thread

[NkrumahWasRight Is Wrong]

@BarNone

he doesnt have that

edge anymore. seems just happy to be there. thats not good enough mentally.

physically, he needs to re-gain muscle mass so he can hit the ball deeper more often. he doesnt get his ground-strokes past the 55% mark in the court even close to as much as he used to...hence hes allowing players to sit on the baseline and tee off..before, he used to hit 2-3 feet and closer to the baseline so players would be further off the court. maybe he should switch racquets from that light ass babolat

 

[malbaker86]

Will Rafa ever bounce back ?

Idk man, he really needs to get a new coach cause Uncle Toni and his strategy is outdated. At this rate, he doesnt seem like he will bring in a new coach so next year we will see. If the results are the same, fit em for the flat top

 

[NkrumahWasRight Is Wrong]

Top 5 is difficult but I'd have it like this :
1. Roger (off talent and longevity alone (though Connors could have a say in that sector) and obviously 17 slams and a career grand slam)
2. Sampras (a little biased here but 14 slams and GOAT attacking player to me so... + record in seasons ended at #1)
3. Nadal (being the best of the big 4 era (2008/2012) which may be the toughest era ever + Olympics title + career grand slam and 14 slams)
4. Borg (11 slams, 6 French and 5 British and numerous USO finals. Ability to dominate on the two polar opposite surfaces though I don't know why he struggled against Americans at the USO)
5. Laver (calendar grand slams in both amateur and Open era, 11 slams, the kickstarter of the Open Era)

I first put Nadal at 4, Laver at 3 and Borg at 5 but I hadn't factored the competition. Laver didn't really had too much against him imo. Borg and Nadal had crazy competition but I think Nadal faced a harder one at the top and he has more majors and a Olympics title on top of that. Realistically, he should be ranked higher than Sampras at #2 because he's a more complete player than him but let's just say I'm being subjective here

1. Federer
2. Sampras
3. Borg
4. McEnroe
5. Laver



*ready for war on the Johnny Mac pick*

Ok so lets just leave Fed and Sampras discussion to the side since we have them 1 and 2. Laver is at 5 so we can leave that too. I considered moving McEnroe even higher than 4 but w/e. Anyway...

The main debate we have here is about Rafa since he's not even on my list and you have him 3rd.

Lets get something squared away off the top. Rafa is not the undisputed King of Clay. He's the king of the French Open. Guillermo Vilas has more clay court tournament championships. Nadal is sitting at 46 and Vilas has 49. Thomas Muster has 40 clay court titles and he played in the toughest era in tennis history. 1985-1999. He literally couldnt have come around at a tougher time and he still managed to get to the #1 singles ranking. He had terrible luck with injuries (hit by drunk driver as he approached his prime and tore ligaments). Im not gonna give him flack for Davis Cup either since he carried Austria and beat Agassi and Chang back to back in the same Cup. He was a beast. 3-1 vs Agassi on Clay..He was a failure in GS's though.

Vilas has more overall wins by nearly 200 compared to Nadal(4th best all time). He has by far more match wins on clay as well...and only four less overall tournament titles. He's got 4 GS titles and 40 runner ups overall. Nadal broke his record of consecutive clay court matches won but he is still behind him overall. Rafa gets much deserved credit for all the French Open titles, and that could outweigh the accomplishments of Vilas and certainly does to Muster..but, in terms of pure skill, debatable. This provides some context to my opinion of Nadal..how many legit other clay court specialists did he have to deal with in this run of his? Ferrer? Close to 0. Nadal was the best but he didn't have the comp that Vilas or Muster had. FWIW, Vilas has wins over at least 4 of the all time top 10 clay tournament champions (2 titles vs Nastase on clay, beat Borg on grass, Connors on carpet so he wasnt a one trick pony either) and Vilas has a better W-L than Nadal in year end Masters tournaments and Muster has a better W-L% in Finals appearances (80% on 40 titles vs 69% on 66 titles (when that rare top competition shows up nowadays)).

On the other hand, Vilas played 17 years and Nadal is in his 14th year. Nadal needs 3 more clay championships to tie him and 4 to beat him and he probably will get those, but we thought the same about Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus at one point too. Rafa is absolutely dominant on clay and in the French Open particularly..but if an argument can be made that Vilas > Nadal on clay then Nadal isnt touching my top 5

Ill stop there for now..but Im not sure Id even put Nadal over Connors or Lendl all-time either. Will wait for rebuttal and subsequent discussion with Borg and Johnny Mac.

 

[bdkane]

2012 and 2010

 

[bdkane]

2015

 

[El Guapo]

I didn't even know Martina Hingis made a comeback (in doubles anyway) and I still remember Leander Paes from the '96 Olympics. Talk about a blast from the past I never pay attention to doubles tennis, but it's interesting looking at some of the names who've won majors on that side (Anna Kournikova!)

 

[NkrumahWasRight Is Wrong]

I didn't even know Martina Hingis made a comeback (in doubles anyway) and I still remember Leander Paes from the '96 Olympics. Talk about a blast from the past I never pay attention to doubles tennis, but it's interesting looking at some of the names who've won majors on that side (Anna Kournikova!)

Lol. Yea, even Navratilova played like 5 years ago I think (edit:2006 time flies). Kournikova actually had a good doubles career...and Paes has been a doubles beast for 20 years. Should be a HOFer. You should try and catch a doubles match sometime or watch some on youtube. I prefer it to singles usually.

 

[NkrumahWasRight Is Wrong]

just looked it up for specificity...navratilova has 31 grand slam doubles titles and 10 mixed doubles grand slam tourneys. 18 singles slams..59 grand slam wins

 

[No1]

@VMR No Rafa in the top 5

 

[NkrumahWasRight Is Wrong]

@VMR No Rafa in the top 5

who would u put him over on my list?

 

[No1]

who would u put him over on my list?

I'd rank it just like @Liu Kang did.

 

[muzikfrk75]

What about women's top 5?

 

[muzikfrk75]

Maria Sharapova’s 2–18 record against Serena is starting to loom large on her career resume. If she wants to make inroads, she has to serve better (and hope Serena serves worse.) All the talk of playing patterns and tactics were largely irrelevant when so many points were decided within the first two swings of the rally.

http://www.si.com/tennis/2015/07/11/wimbledon-2015-fifty-parting-thoughts-jon-wertheim

 

[NkrumahWasRight Is Wrong]

I'd rank it just like @Liu Kang did.

le interesant.

its certainly a respectable list. im awaiting the sharpened knives of the honorable @Liu Kang as well others to debate said ranking. i dont get to analyze nadal's career historically around my parts much...its either "hes my favorite" or "i like federer much more" and thats where it stops.

 

[muzikfrk75]