Tennis: All Purpose Tennis Thread XIV

[Cole Caulifield]

I thought for sure the match would be played today and I went to bed early. I missed it, sad panda.

 

[MsMeow]

I'm glad she has today off!! What an amazing match.

 

[kihei]

It is accepted by most as general knowledge that Novak Djokovic is the best returner in modern tennis history. I sometimes quibble by suggesting maybe Andre Agassi was slightly better. If one looks at yearly and career statistics provided by the ATP, the correct answer is Rafa Nadal, and by some margin, who has better across-the-board stats than Novak each of the past five years and and for his career. For his career, Nole has won slightly more second serve points but in all other metrics (first serve returns; games won; break points converted) Rafa is superior. In terms of career, two Spanish clay courters (Coria and the obscure Perez-Roldan) rank ahead of Rafa all time, but they played far fewer matches (332 and 378 respectively) than Nadal (1213) and against way, way fewer quality players.

 

[kihei]

Sinner, playing very aggressively which is the way to go against Bautista-Agut if you can, breaks back for 3-all.....RBA takes Jannick to school the rest of the way, 7-5. Very impressive.

2nd set: Kind of a hare and the tortoise affair with the hare for a change nosing out the tortoise, 6-4.

3rd set:...and in the end, guess who wore who down--just a marvelous set from Singer who won from a break down, 6-4, the kind of set that screams "#1 here I come, and maybe sooner than you think."

 

[kihei]

Bautista-Agut looks like the kind of guy who is as exciting as a flounder, but he sure has become a tough out.

 

[Incubajerks]

Sinner always like a boss

 

[MaxV]

It is accepted by most as general knowledge that Novak Djokovic is the best returner in modern tennis history. I sometimes quibble by suggesting maybe Andre Agassi was slightly better. If one looks at yearly and career statistics provided by the ATP, the correct answer is Rafa Nadal, and by some margin, who has better across-the-board stats than Novak each of the past five years and and for his career. For his career, Nole has won slightly more second serve points but in all other metrics (first serve returns; games won; break points converted) Rafa is superior. In terms of career, two Spanish clay courters (Coria and the obscure Perez-Roldan) rank ahead of Rafa all time, but they played far fewer matches (332 and 378 respectively) than Nadal (1213) and against way, way fewer quality players.

What about Fed as a returner?

I don't know the stats, but judging by his performance on clay I'm guessing Sampras isn't in consideration.

 

[kihei]

Hurkacz thumps Rublev in straight sets. He even won most of the backhand duels. Sure surprised me.

 

[kihei]

What about Fed as a returner?

I don't know the stats, but judging by his performance on clay I'm guessing Sampras isn't in consideration.

Neither are ranked highly at all according to the ATP stats as clay numbers drag Federer down along with his relatively low score on break points converted (no surprise with that one) and Sampras has a significantly worse problem on clay.

 

[Incubajerks]

wow, I was already prepared to see Rublev win the tournament, and the idea of winning it against Sinner bothered me a lot.

 

[MaxV]

Neither are ranked highly at all according to the ATP stats as clay numbers drag Federer down along with his relatively low score on break points converted (no surprise with that one) and Sampras has a significantly worse problem on clay.

Checking those stats an interesting name popped up, Sergi Bruguera.

2-time French Open champion
Never made it past 4th round of AO, Wimbledon or USO. He even got that far only 4 total times in those tournaments.

Maybe the most glaring case of a single-surface specialist ever.

 

[kihei]

Checking those stats an interesting name popped up, Sergi Bruguera.

2-time French Open champion
Never made it past 4th round of AO, Wimbledon or USO. He even got that far only 4 total times in those tournaments.

Maybe the most glaring case of a single-surface specialist ever.

Though he is a good choice, Bruguera was lifetime .557 on hard courts (98-78), so I can't agree entirely. But that is a great question: who was the clay-iest clay court player ever? I'm going to check some stats before coming up with my pick.

My pick would be Gaston Gaudio

1-time French Open champion
Never made it past the 3rd round of any other Slam. Only got that far 5 times.
All 8 on his titles were on clay (Bruguera actually won a hard court title in Bordeaux)

Record on clay: .658
Record on grass: .250
Record on hard: .421

Too soon to tell, but a new challenger may be emerging among us: Cristian Garin

Record on clay: .681
Record on grass: .286
Record on hard: .357

Never been past the 2nd round in any GS, except for the French Open in 2020, 3rd round
All 5 titles on clay

 

[kihei]

Andreescu defaults at love-4 in the second set after a foot injury from a fall earlier in the set. It wasn't going to be her day regardless, as she started out slow while Barty played her usual high percentage, technically impeccable game very well, like she almost always does. Kudos to Ash.

 

[Rhaegar Targaryen]

What a shame Bianca has all this injury history at such a young age

 

[MsMeow]

What a shame. She went down pretty hard, hope the ankle injury isn't too serious.

 

[Hadoop]

Andreescu's career trajectory continues to look quite rosy when she's match fit, though that will probably continue to be a big if.

Hmm as I was saying a few days ago...

Anyways unfortunate for Andreescu, but on the flip side nice to see Barty win again.

 

[kihei]

Sinner served for the first set but couldn't close the deal and lost the breaker. Then he fell quickly behind 4-love in the second set. Neither player fared very well, especially Sinner who was error prone and did not respond well to pressure situations. It seemed he was chasing Hurkacz all day but couldn't catch up. Terrific win for Hurkacz, though. I don't think anyone picked him to win Miami.

 

[MsMeow]

Bianca said her injury isn't serious. She's going to miss the Billie Jean King tourney which is like Fed Cup? Or replacing Fed Cup? Anyway, good news for her.

 

[Incubajerks]

Sinner served for the first set but couldn't close the deal and lost the breaker. Then he fell quickly behind 4-love in the second set. Neither player fared very well, especially Sinner who was error prone and did not respond well to pressure situations. It seemed he was chasing Hurkacz all day but couldn't catch up. Terrific win for Hurkacz, though. I don't think anyone picked him to win Miami.

Hurkacz was solid and i felt for Jannik. A friend of me had Hurkacz winning the tournament after the Raonic match. He's very happy right now but he can play money i can't and i wouldn't touch Hurkacz. Had to take a flyer on Sinner at 8.50 but....

 

[Tuggy]

Fernandez playing this week in Charleston. She won her first round match in straight sets. A rare clay event in the US.

Some rumblings about RG and whether it will happen in May or not. We'll see.

 

[kihei]

The scheduling of GSs is an interesting X factor this year. Covid could be a factor in determining the GOAT race. Should the variants kick back in in Europe, more delays and cancellations are possible. If Nole and Rafa are to add to their GS totals, the sooner, the better as they are not getting any younger and fresh talent seems to be emerging on about a monthly basis.

 

[MsMeow]

The French Open is delayed by a week. Let's see if that really happens.

 

[kihei]

Felix hires Uncle Toni. Don't know what I think about that.

 

[Tuggy]

Yup, that is something...



If he can help Felix's mental game

 

[MsMeow]

Yup, that is something...



If he can help Felix's mental game

I thought it was an April Fool's joke till I saw the date. I'm for anything that helps Felix get over the plateau he's on.