2018 Tennis Thread

[Hot_Flatus]

Originally Posted by dash_pinched

Shapo has some big time points to defend and should be favored to advance, but Felix is playing very well. Maybe in 4-5 years this will be the US Open final instead of a first round match.

The saving grace for Denis is that after this tournament he only has to defend 55 points the entire rest of the hardcourt season. He should be able to get back into the 15-25 ranking range with a solid end to the season even if he loses tonight.

[Inglewood Jack]

Originally Posted by nadal fan

lets just save any further goat talk until all 3 goats are retired no?

[Hot_Flatus]

Originally Posted by Nadal Fan

I thought it was a good discussion to see where Nadal falls for greatest US Open Mens tennis players all time. I also think it's a great discussion who's #1 as well because we have a 3 way tie that could go either way to Fed, Sampras or Connors.

I don't think Nadal is even in the conversation. In fact, it's not even close.

Right now this has got to be the order (modern US Open only):

1: Federer (6 straight finals appearances (7 total), 5 wins)
2: Sampras (7 finals appearances, 5 wins)
3: Lendl (8 Straight finals appearances, 3 wins)
4: Connors (5 straight finals appearances (6 total), 5 wins)


5: McEnroe (5 finals appearances, 4 wins)

________________

10 (ish): Nadal (4 final appearances, 3 wins)

All of these guys except for Nadal had to do what they did against some of the best players in tennis history each and every time they won. For me, last year's victory for Nadal is a major asterisk thanks to the complete gimme event and finals he had. This year will be no different unless he actually has to take down Federer or Djokovic in the finals. Furthermore, there are numerous players with similar or better track records than Rafa at the Us Open which push him way down the ladder.

[Nadal Fan]

Originally Posted by Hot_Flatus

I don't think Nadal is even in the conversation. In fact, it's not even close.

Right now this has got to be the order (modern US Open only):

1: Federer (6 straight finals appearances (7 total), 5 wins)
2: Sampras (7 finals appearances, 5 wins)
3: Lendl (8 Straight finals appearances, 3 wins)
4: Connors (5 straight finals appearances (6 total), 5 wins)


5: McEnroe (5 finals appearances, 4 wins)

________________

10 (ish): Nadal (4 final appearances, 3 wins)

All of these guys except for Nadal had to do what they did against some of the best players in tennis history each and every time they won. For me, last year's victory for Nadal is a major asterisk thanks to the complete gimme event and finals he had. This year will be no different unless he actually has to take down Federer or Djokovic in the finals. Furthermore, there are numerous players with similar or better track records than Rafa at the Us Open which push him way down the ladder.

Interesting list, not saying your wrong at all but here is my counter argument. Nadal had to beat Djokovic twice in the finals, a player who outside of clay has had Nadal's number, and he is without a doubt one of the all time greats. Last year people say Nadal had an easy draw but it wasn't like he didn't have some tough competition. He still had to beat Del Potro (a former US Open champ who just beat Fed) and Kevin Anderson who when he's on his A game can give anyone a good match, in the finals he certainly didnt play well tho. Both players are now ranked #3 & #5 in the world so they played above their rankings last year. Not an amazing draw but still he could only play who he had in front of him and did what he needed to do to win.

Fed > Sampras or Sampras > Fed? Both have 5 titles, but Fed has 7 finals and Sampras has 8 finals. They also both have similar records (Fed 82-12 vs Pete 71-9). And then there is Connors who won 5 times and had 98 total wins at the US Open which is the record for most wins at a single Grand Slam I believe. Would be a heck of a match if Fed played Sampras at the Open Center Court. I wonder who the crowd would cheer for.

I could agree with Nadal ranked 6th right now, but I dont think you could put Agassi ahead and certainly not Djoker who has less titles and a losing record H2H against Nadal at the US Open.

[dash_pinched]

Coming up, the future of tennis...

https://twitter.com/user/status/1034174740343218182

[Hot_Flatus]

Originally Posted by Nadal Fan

Interesting list, not saying your wrong at all but here is my counter argument. Nadal had to beat Djokovic twice in the finals, a player who outside of clay has had Nadal's number, and he is without a doubt one of the all time greats. Last year people say Nadal had an easy draw but it wasn't like he didn't have some tough competition. He still had to beat Del Potro (a former US Open champ who just beat Fed) and Kevin Anderson who when he's on his A game can give anyone a good match, in the finals he certainly didnt play well tho. Both players are now ranked #3 & #5 in the world so they played above their rankings last year. Not an amazing draw but still he could only play who he had in front of him and did what he needed to do to win.

Fed > Sampras or Sampras > Fed? Both have 5 titles, but Fed has 7 finals and Sampras has 8 finals. They also both have similar records (Fed 82-12 vs Pete 71-9). And then there is Connors who won 5 times and had 98 total wins at the US Open which is the record for most wins at a single Grand Slam I believe. Would be a heck of a match if Fed played Sampras at the Open Center Court. I wonder who the crowd would cheer for.

I could agree with Nadal ranked 6th right now, but I dont think you could put Agassi ahead and certainly not Djoker who has less titles and a losing record H2H against Nadal at the US Open.

At least in 2013 Nadal had to beat 2 good players before destroying Djokovic in the finals. Last year he didn't play a single player ranked higher than 24 in the world. That actually might go down as the easiest Major win in modern tennis history.

For me, Rafa needs to win convincingly this year against some real opposition and at least one more time to even make the conversation against my top 5. I put no stock into a seeded players overall record at a major when ranking.

[Inglewood Jack]

Originally Posted by dash_pinched

Coming up, the future of tennis...

eff off USTA, neither of these beautiful boys deserves to go home already

[dash_pinched]

Originally Posted by Inglewood Jack

eff off USTA, neither of these beautiful boys deserves to go home already

Blame PoLLansky for that 1/16 chance

https://twitter.com/user/status/1033784995524091904

[dash_pinched]

Felix with an early break in set 1

edit: Denis breaks right back

[Senator Clay Davis]

These young men need a serving lesson. Ugly stuff so far.

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

Just turned this on and Denis is serving horrendously. Huge forehands from Felix, though.

[bigtmac19]

Shapovalov’s serve has been so hard to watch this year.

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

Originally Posted by bigtmac19

Shapovalov’s serve has been so hard to watch this year.

He's hitting them really hard, but missing them really often. I'm surprised this isn't basically the sole thing he's working on when he's not actually playing. Hell, maybe it is all he's working on and it's just not getting him anywhere, I dunno. But it doesn't seem to be getting better.

[dash_pinched]

The winner of Felix - Shapo will face Andreas Seppi as Querrey retired in the 4th set of their match.

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

Really weird to see Denis play this sort of passive, defensive, wait for your opponent to beat himself style. It's still not anti-tennis, but I'm used to him being the aggressor and he really isn't right now. Could pay off, though, Felix has hit some loose balls. He didn't get the break until he hit free in that last point though.

It'd be kind of neat to see Felix go on a bit of a run and get himself into the top 100 at this tourney. Denis really, really does not seem to have his game together lately.

[bigtmac19]

Nice break!!!!

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

Well, so much for that caution and defense I mentioned. Denis has arrived a little late, but he's here now. Good lord, what a break that was.

[Senator Clay Davis]

Betcha he gets broken at love right back though.

[Mango]

Fascinating first set.

[dash_pinched]

Well, one of the Zverev brothers is history as Taylor Fritz comes from two sets down to take out Mischa Zverev in five sets. Maybe PoLLansky can send Alex to the showers tomorrow?

/It probably won't happen, but I would love to see it.