2018 Tennis Thread

[Mango]

Dash, you were right:

https://twitter.com/user/status/1041814193098420224

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Johnny Mac is still a Milos fan. Too bad about Delpo though.

Edit: Looks like the initial reports were incorrect, Frances Tiafoe is replacing Delpo.

https://twitter.com/user/status/1042053676557205509

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Canadian results from around the globe:

Genie Bouchard lost her opening round match at the Japan Open
Rebecca Marino advances in Lubbock, Texas (ITF event)
Brayden Schnur with a nice win over #92 ranked Jason Kubler of Australia at an event in Taiwan
Peter Polansky wins his match at an ATP Challenger event in Columbus
Denis Shapovalov is playing in St. Petersburg on Wednesday morning

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In other news, Layhani gets a two tournament ban from the ATP for his discussion with Kyrgios at the US Open.

The chair umpire who climbed out of his seat to talk with Nick Kyrgios during a U.S. Open match was suspended for two tournaments by the ATP.

Mohamed Lahyani will not officiate at his next two scheduled events — the China Open in Beijing, which starts on Oct. 1, and the Shanghai Masters the following week, the men's tour said in a statement Tuesday.

The ATP says Layhani's actions during Kyrgios' second-round victory over Pierre-Hugues Herbert at Flushing Meadows on Aug. 30 were "deemed to have compromised the impartiality that is required of an official."

https://www.tsn.ca/umpire-lahyani-ge...chat-1.1175336

[Nadal Fan]

https://twitter.com/user/status/1040759364800458753

https://twitter.com/user/status/1042382690870337537

[Hot_Flatus]

Shapo wins his first round matchup in St Petersburg 7-6 6-2. Next up Matteo Berettinni, currently #62 in the world in what should be another easy one given Shapo's current level of play. Really, this draw should have him into the semi-finals fairly comfortably and hopefully serves as a springboard for the Asian swing.

[GirlySports]

Originally Posted by Hot_Flatus

Shapo wins his first round matchup in St Petersburg 7-6 6-2. Next up Matteo Berettinni, currently #62 in the world in what should be another easy one given Shapo's current level of play. Really, this draw should have him into the semi-finals fairly comfortably and hopefully serves as a springboard for the Asian swing.

I'm glad Shapovalov is not at the Laver Cup. He doesn't need those distractions.
He needs to play more real matches around the world.

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

Originally Posted by Hot_Flatus

Shapo wins his first round matchup in St Petersburg 7-6 6-2. Next up Matteo Berettinni, currently #62 in the world in what should be another easy one given Shapo's current level of play. Really, this draw should have him into the semi-finals fairly comfortably and hopefully serves as a springboard for the Asian swing.

Yeah... a semis berth would get him back into the top 30, at least. Honestly I don't think the remainder of the season is for worrying about ranking though, he needs to get some of his game mechanics in order so that he can take a shot at top 20 - even top 10, if all goes well - some time next year.

Consistency on the serve is obviously the priority. 60+% first serve Shapo is top 20 Shapo pretty comfortably, I think.

[Hot_Flatus]

Originally Posted by GirlySports

I'm glad Shapovalov is not at the Laver Cup. He doesn't need those distractions.
He needs to play more real matches around the world.

Yeah this is almost a crossroads for his career right now as crazy as that can be for a 19/20 year old. If he can figure out his service game and play a little more in control by cutting down on the unforced errors, he will likely be poised for a big run up the rankings with hardly any points to defend until Melbourne.

[Inglewood Jack]

Originally Posted by Hot_Flatus

Yeah this is almost a crossroads for his career right now as crazy as that can be for a 19/20 year old.

the 19 year old who just took the #5 world ranked 2017 USO and 2018 SW19 finalist to 5 sets...is at a crossroads in his career. you've got to be kidding me.

we all agree that there's lots of technical and strategic parts of his game that require development, especially that service motion. but the constant hyperbole about the state of his game when he still can't legally drink in many of the places he's playing..like geez, we didn't even start throwing Sam Bennett into the garbage that quickly.

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You could see the adjustments that Denis was making in that five set match against Haase this past weekend - He started taking some pace off the ball and hitting shots deeper in the court with more topspin that started giving Haase trouble. Not sure how much credit goes to Frank Dancevic for that change in tactics, but hopefully it's something that Shapo can build on going forward.

[Hot_Flatus]

Originally Posted by Inglewood Jack

the 19 year old who just took the #5 world ranked 2017 USO and 2018 SW19 finalist to 5 sets...is at a crossroads in his career. you've got to be kidding me.

we all agree that there's lots of technical and strategic parts of his game that require development, especially that service motion. but the constant hyperbole about the state of his game when he still can't legally drink in many of the places he's playing..like geez, we didn't even start throwing Sam Bennett into the garbage that quickly.

There's a long list of players that plateau or lose their way at a young age on the ATP tour. Your entire basis is off if you are comparing tennis to hockey where players can stew until they're 23 and still become elite. Tennis is more about how long you've been on tour than what a players age is and you'll see many players currently in the top 20 who made their moves after a similar time frame on tour. Players must always be improving and can ill afford to struggle for long periods of time or risk losing confidence, points and drive to become the best they can be. Why do you think his mom has jumped back into the fold? It's not just simply an injury to Laurendeau, they certainly realize he needs a specific type of coaching to continue his upward growth.

Dennis has had a very up and down season so far and frankly not great since May (ish). Now is the time to make the adjustments necessary to make a move to top player on tour or remain in the very good category. Points will start coming off his rankings in a hurry if he doesn't sort things out and make life much harder. There is nothing wrong with being in the very good category, but to reach the heights many see him hitting, time is of the essence.

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Brayden Schnur having a good tourney in Taiwan...

https://twitter.com/user/status/1042481154987745280

[Inglewood Jack]

Originally Posted by Hot_Flatus

There's a long list of players that plateau or lose their way at a young age on the ATP tour. Your entire basis is off if you are comparing tennis to hockey where players can stew until they're 23 and still become elite. Tennis is more about how long you've been on tour than what a players age is and you'll see many players currently in the top 20 who made their moves after a similar time frame on tour.

ok if you say so, but neither of us were members here around 2009-2010 when Milos was the age Shapo is now. back then he was toiling away at the Challenger level with a triple digit ranking. guess if there was a 2010 Tennis Thread, I'd expect to see posts about how his career was in danger of coming to a standstill, and we may never see him in the main draw of ATP tour events.

hell, back when CP was born we could have had a tennis thread to talk about how Federer was on the verge of stalling out, you'd have as much of a case for that as you do for Shapo.

if Shapo was like Donald Young who had massive success at the junior level, but then took that exact game into the ATP circuit with underpowered groundstrokes, fitness, tactics, etc then ya I'd believe you. but Shapo's raw toolset is enough to put away even the best of the best when it's clicking. it's ridiculous not to give that kind of talent the time it needs to come together.

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Originally Posted by Hot_Flatus

Shapo wins his first round matchup in St Petersburg 7-6 6-2. Next up Matteo Berettinni, currently #62 in the world in what should be another easy one given Shapo's current level of play. Really, this draw should have him into the semi-finals fairly comfortably and hopefully serves as a springboard for the Asian swing.

Klizan upset Fognini in straight sets, thus if Shapo can defeat Berettini, he would then face the Slovak (who when he's on his game can be tough to handle).

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

Originally Posted by Inglewood Jack

ok if you say so, but neither of us were members here around 2009-2010 when Milos was the age Shapo is now.

In general I hear what you're saying, I think there's still time before anyone needs to worry that he's not going to pan out as one might have hoped late last season. But there's no comparison between these two types of players.

hell, back when CP was born we could have had a tennis thread to talk about how Federer was on the verge of stalling out, you'd have as much of a case for that as you do for Shapo.

Yes, you would have - well, Federer would have been slightly younger, but yeah, you could have said "he really needs to sort out his consistency issues, be more disciplined and select shots better, and not let the frustration seep into his game" for Fed. He did that, and he became the great player that everyone thought he could be (and then kept on getting better). Now, likewise, Denis needs to deal with his own weaknesses to take that same type of step into the upper echelon.

Shapo's raw toolset is enough to put away even the best of the best when it's clicking. it's ridiculous not to give that kind of talent the time it needs to come together.

It already is together. That's the thing. Most of his game is getting to a point where it's not reasonable to expect a ton of improvement. His forehand isn't going to get much better, though he may get better at making decisions with it. His backhand isn't going to get much better. Volleys, footwork, those things show some room for improvement but he's already made the biggest part of the strides he needed to make in those areas. He's not going to get faster, his athleticism is probably about at its peak. This is probably 80% of the player he's capable of being. It's not crazy to suggest that whether he caps out at 85%, 90%, or 100% of what he's capable of being depends a whole hell of a lot on the next year or so.

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Got up early to watch Denis take on Matteo Berrettini from St. Petersburg - First couple of sets were very close, but Denis put the hammer down on the third and delivered an Italian bagel.

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Anybody in Chicago today?

https://twitter.com/user/status/1042800456282644480

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Your Laver Cup day 1 matches are as follows (starting at 1 pm Chicago time):

https://twitter.com/user/status/1042835192132427776

[Hot_Flatus]

Originally Posted by CorsiHockeyLeague

In general I hear what you're saying, I think there's still time before anyone needs to worry that he's not going to pan out as one might have hoped late last season. But there's no comparison between these two types of players.

Yes, you would have - well, Federer would have been slightly younger, but yeah, you could have said "he really needs to sort out his consistency issues, be more disciplined and select shots better, and not let the frustration seep into his game" for Fed. He did that, and he became the great player that everyone thought he could be (and then kept on getting better). Now, likewise, Denis needs to deal with his own weaknesses to take that same type of step into the upper echelon.

It already is together. That's the thing. Most of his game is getting to a point where it's not reasonable to expect a ton of improvement. His forehand isn't going to get much better, though he may get better at making decisions with it. His backhand isn't going to get much better. Volleys, footwork, those things show some room for improvement but he's already made the biggest part of the strides he needed to make in those areas. He's not going to get faster, his athleticism is probably about at its peak. This is probably 80% of the player he's capable of being. It's not crazy to suggest that whether he caps out at 85%, 90%, or 100% of what he's capable of being depends a whole hell of a lot on the next year or so.

Well put. Too many people seem to think all sports fall into the category of; if you're young, you always have time to improve. No matter what, Denis is not going to fizzle out like someone like Genie did, that was not what I was saying. Tennis is a different beast entirely and so many things have to click at the same time in order to get to the top 15,10,5 and 1 level.

As you say, he already has about 85% of what he needs to be a top threat on tour and I mean going toe to toe with Nadal/Djokovic/Federer. The rest is tightening up things like tactics, serving, volleying that will take him from fringe great to great. Who knows, in 2-3 years he might be battling injuries, confidence issues or potentially have already lost a step physically which would make things that much harder. The time is definitely now to start to define his career one way or the other.