I6MTW Posted March 30, 2022 Share Posted March 30, 2022 I'm posting this here, since the Sports forum is basically dead. This forum itself is half dead aside from any major cricket event. The peak was late 00s to mid 10s. Anyway, has any tennis fan followed the guy?? He seems to be the next big thing in tennis, successor to the big 3. He seems to have everything with room for improvement. The way he's beating top established guys at the age of 18 and pushing Nadal as well seems like he is the one to threaten the big 3s records. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Real McCoy Posted April 2, 2022 Share Posted April 2, 2022 On 3/30/2022 at 1:34 PM, I6MTW said: I'm posting this here, since the Sports forum is basically dead. This forum itself is half dead aside from any major cricket event. The peak was late 00s to mid 10s. Anyway, has any tennis fan followed the guy?? He seems to be the next big thing in tennis, successor to the big 3. He seems to have everything with room for improvement. The way he's beating top established guys at the age of 18 and pushing Nadal as well seems like he is the one to threaten the big 3s records. hahaha I hear you. most of the sections are dead. cricket, ipl and chit chat are somewhat alive. even I'm not signing in as often as I used to. A lot of fans are a bit jaded with lack of good competition and possibly are tied up with work/married/children/etc. we need more young people to join and revive the forum. Anyways, back to the topic at hand. Alcaraz is the only one who is capable of being a competitor to the big 3. A lot of next gens and failed gens later, he looks like a diamond among the ruins. I hope he will send the big 3 into retirement. as much as big 3 were the showcase of tennis the past 15 years or so, they are a sore sight to see and doesn't bode well for tennis when Rafa can beat young Medvedev like he did this AO. Alcaraz has the aura of a champion. you could see opponents feel the heat when facing him. If the opponent is not on point, Alcaraz can punish you the same way big 3 used to/are doing. These are things I observed while watching him face Tsitsipas (already beaten twice), Berretini (also beaten twice), and countless others. I saw his two games v Berretini in Vienna and in the AO. At Vienna, Berretini can win only a tiebreaker in the second set to push it to three. He had no answers to Alcaraz. At the AO, Berry seemed to have done his homework as he took the first two sets. But he couldn't stop Alcaraz from taking the next two sets and looked like Berry will lose the match. Berry had to work hard to win the 5th set in a TB. I believe Alcaraz also looked impressive v Medvedev at Wimbledon even though he lost in straights. I expect great things from him. Hope he doesn't disappoint. Its too early to call as to what he would be when he hangs up his boots but he is definitely a multi slam winner in my books probably in double digit slam wins. I dont know whether he would pass the big 3 though as its a long way to go. big 3 have made 20 slams a small number but in reality its not. When Sampras got to 14, that was a big number, then Federer with 20. Now his number looks not that impressive as Djokovic had equalled it with better statistics (more weeks at no.1 and masters 1000 wins) and Nadal has surpassed his tally. I hope either Djokovic or Alcaraz can beat Nadal's tally. Nadal is a great champion but his name at the top looks awkward as he has a clay skew. Djokovic has a more balanced resume with his HC and grass record and has beaten the clay giant in his own den. I wish Alcaraz beats them all. Otherwise, there is nothing left to watch in tennis. We have mugvedev choke another slam opprtunity, doublefault-rev with his DF and sissipas coffee_rules, Vijy and I6MTW 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bharathh Posted April 2, 2022 Share Posted April 2, 2022 I haven't followed tennis actively since 2013 or 14. The noughties was the golden era of tennis IMO. Both men and women's tennis. In fact for a while women's tennis was more interesting than men's with Sherapova, Serena, Clijsters, Henin etc. all vying for ascendancy. Now, it feels like women's tennis is a different. Extremely boring. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Real McCoy Posted April 3, 2022 Share Posted April 3, 2022 20 hours ago, bharathh said: I haven't followed tennis actively since 2013 or 14. The noughties was the golden era of tennis IMO. Both men and women's tennis. In fact for a while women's tennis was more interesting than men's with Sherapova, Serena, Clijsters, Henin etc. all vying for ascendancy. Now, it feels like women's tennis is a different. Extremely boring. noughties was the golden age of the big 3 not tennis. tennis was better off in the 90s. Sampras, Edberg, Becker, Agassi, Courier, Bruguera, Kuerten, Moya and Muster had grand slam wins in the 90s. After that, it was just the big 3. No competition to match them and homogenization of surfaces and string technology has made this a physical slugfest more than ever with less focus on technical brilliance. women's tennis has always been boring. it was more for young males to lust after. kournikova, mary pierce, sabatini were more famous for their sex appeal than their tennis even though the last two won a few grand slams. They were always more popular than the Williams sisters (or is it brothers ), clisters, etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bharathh Posted April 3, 2022 Share Posted April 3, 2022 The 00s had some great competitors as well. I remember Andy Roddick (before he lost his confidence vs Fed), Lleyton Hewitt, Marin, Kuerten etc. who were pretty awesome too. This was all before Nadal and Murray stepped into the picture. Even doubles tennis was pretty awesome in the 00s with ppl like the Bryan brothers and the fag end of the Woodbridge/Woodforde combo. Leander and Bhupati too were awesome although as separate teams. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Real McCoy Posted April 3, 2022 Share Posted April 3, 2022 late 90s and the start of the 00s was one of the boring phases in tennis. guga kuerten was a non factor after 01 with his injuries. roddick was good but had glaring weaknesses which federer exploited. he had a good serve but that is not the only thing that makes a great tennis player. hewitt was a placeholder for someone like federer because he did not have the weapons to beat the best. he is an honest trier though much like berrettini is now. safin was the one who could have challenged federer but he had his own issues. federer must be given credit for saving tennis back then. that period can be compared with the current era. alcaraz has said he is more like federer when asked about the comparison with nadal. maybe alcaraz will save it now and fulfill his destiny. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
I6MTW Posted April 3, 2022 Author Share Posted April 3, 2022 And Carlos wins his first title. Comfortably and convincingly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bharathh Posted April 4, 2022 Share Posted April 4, 2022 6 hours ago, I6MTW said: And Carlos wins his first title. Comfortably and convincingly. He came from behind in the first set... but looks ok. Can't judge him much at this point. I6MTW 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Real McCoy Posted April 4, 2022 Share Posted April 4, 2022 7 hours ago, I6MTW said: And Carlos wins his first title. Comfortably and convincingly. He has won 3 titles already with 2 this year. This is his first masters 1000 win. Tuned in just to watch him. He started nervously losing his opening service game but rebounded well to win the game. It was as predicted. Alcaraz was the odds on favorite and he stood up to the billing. Ruud who usually dominates from back off the court and a good clay court player had to rush to the net from time to time to stay up with him. Alcaraz is already a force that good players need to change their natural game. Ruud didn't play that bad a match. He wasn't good enough for Alcaraz and probably carrying some niggles from the previous rounds. Alcaraz hasn't shown any dents so far. He has a good serve, can serve and volley, take the ball early on return, shrink the court with his court coverage and lethal off of both wings, once he pushes the opponent deep in the court can play drop shots (especially on pressure points). He already seems to be destined for greatness. Most importantly, for his age, he is cool and humble. No juvenile arrogance which will keep him in good stead. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
I6MTW Posted April 27, 2022 Author Share Posted April 27, 2022 Breaks into the top 10 now, at the age of 18. Has won 4 titles so far. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vijy Posted May 4, 2022 Share Posted May 4, 2022 he is very impressive but the big 3 were much more promising at the same age of 19. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
I6MTW Posted May 5, 2022 Author Share Posted May 5, 2022 On 5/5/2022 at 1:46 AM, Vijy said: he is very impressive but the big 3 were much more promising at the same age of 19. Well Nadal was, Djokovic and Federer didn't bloom until their early 20s. Nadal is the only one with comparable or greater results at the same age as Alcaraz. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vijy Posted May 6, 2022 Share Posted May 6, 2022 (edited) 2 hours ago, I6MTW said: Well Nadal was, Djokovic and Federer didn't bloom until their early 20s. Nadal is the only one with comparable or greater results at the same age as Alcaraz. Nadal had greater results for sure at same age. Fed and Djoker also had QFs at 19 (i.e., less than 20 yr) if I remember correctly. Perhaps Alcaraz will also prove to be a bloomer in early 20s. Edited May 6, 2022 by Vijy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
I6MTW Posted May 6, 2022 Author Share Posted May 6, 2022 12 hours ago, Vijy said: Nadal had greater results for sure at same age. Fed and Djoker also had QFs at 19 (i.e., less than 20 yr) if I remember correctly. Perhaps Alcaraz will also prove to be a bloomer in early 20s. Yes they had. But they were not in the top 10 unlike Nadal and Alcaraz. They reached the top 10 at the age of 20. Vijy 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
I6MTW Posted May 6, 2022 Author Share Posted May 6, 2022 And he beats Nadal today on clay. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Real McCoy Posted May 8, 2022 Share Posted May 8, 2022 Alcaraz beats Nadal and Djokovic in succession. That's elite company. He is favorite v Zverev IMO even though Zverev has stated he likes Madrid and is the defending champion. If he can beat Zverev, that's another step to greatness. Expect Nadal and Djokovic to come back at Rome and Paris though. It won't be that easy to beat the top dogs in slower surfaces and in Bo5 format. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vijy Posted May 15, 2022 Share Posted May 15, 2022 glad to see new talent emerging. I was worried about tennis post-big-3 era Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vickydev Posted May 26, 2022 Share Posted May 26, 2022 Watching him for the first this RG. Looks like the next Nadal, probably an even faster athlete Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coffee_rules Posted May 26, 2022 Share Posted May 26, 2022 On 5/15/2022 at 10:16 AM, Vijy said: glad to see new talent emerging. I was worried about tennis post-big-3 era Will look forward to see him play in RG, beating Nadal on clay , that is something Vijy 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
I6MTW Posted May 27, 2022 Author Share Posted May 27, 2022 17 hours ago, Vickydev said: Watching him for the first this RG. Looks like the next Nadal, probably an even faster athlete Yep, he's still raw though. And doesn't have a Plan B yet on off days. Will go for lot's of unforced errors. He has to learn. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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