Quote:
Originally Posted by Senator Clay Davis
I'm not really saying Pospisil is a better player than Milos per se, just that he's a tougher matchup for the top players than Milos is because Milos is still for the most part a one-trick pony and Pospisil has a more rounded game that can offer more challenges (and he actually even took a set of Federer in a final, in Switzerland, indoors no less, so yeah...). But Milos has to serve at such a nearly perfect level to beat the Federer's and Nadal's of the world. Guys like Ferrer and Berdych and Wawrinka and Del Potro (when healthy) are much more dangerous than Milos to the top guys because they can offer variety. Milos has to serve at nearly 90% not just to win, but to have a chance to win. The margin of error is incredibly thin for Milos.
I mean Ferrer has more set wins and breaks of Roger in the last two weeks than Milos has ever done to him. Milos is improving to be sure, but he's not even in the wave of next guys yet like Berdych and Ferrer because he can't even beat the top guys like those other guys have. Until he develops the full game he can rely upon, other players can expose him badly (namely by working the backhand which Fed did extensively Saturday).
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Milos is at that age where he needs to get going. Remember Federer also struggled early in his career. He had that famous Wimbledon win over Sampras in 2001 when he was just short of 20 years old. (Sampras had won 7 of the last 8 Wimbledons) but then lost very next round to Henman.
But then his GS record was poor until he won his first.
2001 Wimbledon QF
2001 US Open 4R
2002 Aus Open 4R
2002 French Open 1R
2002 Wimbledon 1R
2002 US Open 4R
2003 Aus Open 4R
2003 French Open 1R (by this time he was labeled a choker)
2003 Wimbledon WON
Federer year end ranking
2000 - 29th
2001 - 13th
2002 - 6th
2003 - 2nd
2004 - 1st
Then he caught fire. I don't expect Milos to be one of the greats but the progression is similar. But if he doesn't at least make a Grand Slam Final by the end of 2015 he would have regressed and will forever be in the 5-8 category.