2020 In Between Grand Slam Thread

jr86 · 13-01-2020 9:45am

dominatinMC wrote: »

Agree, no way is Nadal is winning Oz if Djokovic is in the final, he simply has no answers to him on hard courts.

I mean the h2h has gone mental, I make it 7 years now since Nadal actually beat ND off clay?

dominatinMC · 13-01-2020 9:52am

jr86 wrote: »

I mean the h2h has gone mental, I make it 7 years now since Nadal actually beat ND off clay?

Yep, hasn't beaten him on HC since USO 2013, a year in which he managed to beat him 3 times in a row on HCs (Rogers Cup, Cincinnati, USO). The only caveat to that 7 years statistic is that they faced each other a lot on HCs during 2015 and 2016 which were, by-far, Nadals worst years on tour. Still not a good stat for Nadal, whichever way you look at it :pac:

Hector Savage · 13-01-2020 10:37am

On the plus side Nadal's odds have dipped to 5.5 ... I will be putting money on him ...

elmolesto · 13-01-2020 5:48pm

Djokovic is and has been the best player outside clay for a while. However I think, his game hasn’t evolved, whereas Nadal has improved a lot over the years outside clay. Especially since Moya came on board, I have seen way more first strike tennis from Nadal. Most of his serve stats from last year are career high. There is a lot of positive to take from the atp cup final, especially in the second set. He is getting closer to beat Djokovic on hard court in my opinion.
Djokovic is tremendous competitor and the toughest mentally, when it comes to crunch time but I wouldn’t write off Nadal, should he meet Djokovic in the AO final.

As for Federer, as usual he will have a good shot at both the AO and Wimbledon but I’m expecting to see Federer being consistently inconsistent.

I really like Medvedev, he has improved a lot last year, his athleticism and consistency are amazing but he has serious deficiency in the power department. Fast hard court don’t seem to suit his game very well, I expecting him at in second week of the AO but I don’t see him going all the way.

2020 should in my opinion be Thiem’s year, he is the most improved player of 2019 and should climb to number 3 by year end. He will have a good chance to win the USO or the French, his power on both wings his incredible and he has amazing defensive racket skills.

I’m expecting to see Wawrinka this year in the late stages of the gran slams but I don’t think he will one again.

Zverev 2019 problems are continuing to linger this year, I watched his first two matches of the atp cup, appalling second serves. 70 mph or so. First match 14 double faults against De Minaur, second match 10 double faults against Tsitsipas. You can’t win a match against the top guys playing like this. Like Medvedev, he also lacks power.

Tsitsipas is a bit of an enigma for me, I find him very inconsistent, probably a mental thing but he goes from very high to very low. His defeat against Wawrinka last year at the French lingered in his game for months. I also think he plays way too much doubles. He is great when he attacks but as soon as he is on the back foot, I find his defensive racket skills poor compare to the elite.

Shapovalov is an interesting player, like Thiem huge power on both wings. He should’ve beaten Djokovic at the atp cup had he not choked and start over hitting in the tie break. I can see him top 10 at the end of the year.

De Minaur hard court form should continue this year, he has quite a unique skill set, very quick around the court and a pretty big serve for a “small guy”.

I hope Rublev can stay injury free this year and finally show his talent.

Auger-Aliassime has been the biggest disappointment of 2019 for me. He didn’t have a good start this year, like Zverev huge problems with the serve.

Anyone following Jannik Sinner? I can see him to be top 20 by the end of the year. He is amazingly talented next gen player with a huge backhand, the best I have seen since Agassi.
His forehand is only ok at the moment but as soon as he puts some muscle on his skinny body, he will a top 5 player.

2020 is going to be exciting.

mzungu · 13-01-2020 10:55pm

elmolesto wrote: »

2020 should in my opinion be Thiem’s year, he is the most improved player of 2019 and should climb to number 3 by year end. He will have a good chance to win the USO or the French, his power on both wings his incredible and he has amazing defensive racket skills.

Nadal and the FO intrigues me. He is way ahead of everybody on clay, and it will be interesting to see for how long more he can dominate at that tournament. Thiem played a great FO last year but I reckon he would have been disappointed at eventually being steamrolled by Nadal. It was not the end to the tournament that his play over the previous two weeks deserved.

mzungu · 13-01-2020 11:03pm

A shame that neither Murray or Del Potro will play any part in the AO.

It seems to be a groin problem that is keeping Murray at bay, but he is staying off the tour until at least February as he wants to play Wimbledon this year. If that's the case he is right not to risk it by playing the AO.

Del Potro's knee is playing up. You have to wonder how much longer he will continue before eventually calling it a day.

Hector Savage · 14-01-2020 10:19am

a player had to retire from the AO qualifying from a coughing fit .... poor air quality, very worrying ...

dominatinMC · 14-01-2020 10:26am

Hector Savage wrote: »

a player had to retire from the AO qualifying from a coughing fit .... poor air quality, very worrying ...

Saw that on Twitter, a joke that it's going ahead in those conditions.

Hector Savage · 14-01-2020 11:01am

Maybe actually this will be the year for a young pair of lungs to take advantage!

elmolesto · 14-01-2020 4:40pm

mzungu wrote: »

Nadal and the FO intrigues me. He is way ahead of everybody on clay, and it will be interesting to see for how long more he can dominate at that tournament. Thiem played a great FO last year but I reckon he would have been disappointed at eventually being steamrolled by Nadal. It was not the end to the tournament that his play over the previous two weeks deserved.

Nadal is not the player he used to be on clay, he still has the edge on 99% of the players but he can no longer defend the way he used to, Thiem is now better in that department. Thiem has now beaten Nadal once every year on clay since 2016 but beating Nadal in the best of 5 in Roland Garros is the hardest thing to achieve in tennis or probably any sport.
Nadal is the king of clay, Thiem is the prince of clay but he will eventually be crowned.

josip · 30-01-2020 12:10am

So perhaps Nadal will end up like Serena?
If Thiem can beat him in Paris this year, then he will struggle to get past the 19 mark.
So yes, I'm going for the complete opposite of Hector.

Hector Savage · 03-02-2020 10:32am

josip wrote: »

So perhaps Nadal will end up like Serena?
If Thiem can beat him in Paris this year, then he will struggle to get past the 19 mark.
So yes, I'm going for the complete opposite of Hector.

I hope you're right.

But seriously, I think this is the year a new slam champion emerges.

Not in Paris - Nadal still too strong, and that's not me being me , thats a fact ...Nadal in RG is just ridicolous correct me if I'm wrong but he has won 91 and lost 2 there :eek::eek::eek:

Wimbledon ??? perhaps - but I think Federer could go all out and the final there could easily be a repeat of last year - with the opposite result.

US Open is where I think it will happen.... lets see!!!

walshb · 03-02-2020 2:52pm

Nadal will not win RG this year...

Nole has a very good shot at Wimbledon and U.S.

Fed wins nothing..

Hector Savage · 03-02-2020 2:55pm

walshb wrote: »

Nadal will not win RG this year...

Nole has a very good shot at Wimbledon and U.S.

Fed wins nothing..

So Theim for RG ?

walshb · 03-02-2020 4:33pm

Hector Savage wrote: »

So Theim for RG ?

Possibly. Nole, too.....

There are a few.....

I juss reckon that Nadal is cooked....

Not saying he'll be easy to beat, but I don't see two weeks of Ndal at RG this year...

mzungu · 03-02-2020 11:04pm

Regarding Nadal at RG, the clay court season should tell us a lot. But he sure did not look out for the count going on last season. Assuming he steers clear of injury, he will remain the favourite.

The best of chasing pack are closing in somewhat, though. Medvedev takes Nadal to five at last years US, while Thiem takes Djokovic to five at the AO.

This year is shaping up quite nicely.

lostcat · 04-02-2020 1:30am

walshb wrote: »

Possibly. Nole, too.....

There are a few.....

I juss reckon that Nadal is cooked....

Not saying he'll be easy to beat, but I don't see two weeks of Ndal at RG this year...

Djokovic would be my pick if Thiem/Nadal both end up on the other side of the draw. I think he would actually beat Nadal in a final if it came to it and I think he would beat Thiem in a final too ( i'm less sure about Thiems slam final temperament after last Sunday)

Hector Savage · 14-02-2020 2:46pm

Medvedev and Titssipatastas out of Rotterdam - top 2 seeds, no.3 seed Gael Monfils is doing well - he is the defending champion and just won an ATP 250 in Montpellier.

He is #9 in the world and most people would walk past him on the street and wouldn't know him - tennis is a very top heavy sport ..

yerwanthere123 · 15-02-2020 3:05pm

There's a docuseries currently being filmed on Naomi Osaka which is due for release on Netflix later this year, apparently she had a camera crew in tow at the Australian Open. I'd certainly be interested in watching, I think she's something of an enigmatic figure, but I question if this kind of a distraction is really something she needs.

Kim Clijsters will be back in Dubai next week, tough return match against Kiki Bertens. Very eager to see how she gets on, if she's in shape then I honestly wouldn't rule out her becoming a contender again.

Kerber and Zverev will be playing mixed together at the Olympics. Intrigued to see what kind of teams we could get pairing up for Tokyo, or how seriously the players will take it this year. Whatever happens let's hope it's not a slow court anyway.

Meanwhile in Rotterdam, Auger-Aliassime into the SF's, and back into the top 20 still aged just 19. I reckon when the mantle is finally passed from the current big 3 he'll be one of the ones taking the reigns.

[Deleted User] · 15-02-2020 5:17pm

yerwanthere123 wrote: »

There's a docuseries currently being filmed on Naomi Osaka which is due for release on Netflix later this year, apparently she had a camera crew in tow at the Australian Open. I'd certainly be interested in watching, I think she's something of an enigmatic figure, but I question if this kind of a distraction is really something she needs.

Kim Clijsters will be back in Dubai next week, tough return match against Kiki Bertens. Very eager to see how she gets on, if she's in shape then I honestly wouldn't rule out her becoming a contender again.

Kerber and Zverev will be playing mixed together at the Olympics. Intrigued to see what kind of teams we could get pairing up for Tokyo, or how seriously the players will take it this year. Whatever happens let's hope it's not a slow court anyway.

Meanwhile in Rotterdam, Auger-Aliassime into the SF's, and back into the top 20 still aged just 19. I reckon when the mantle is finally passed from the current big 3 he'll be one of the ones taking the reigns.

meanwhile in the WTA it's the big 20 Lol.

lostcat · 16-02-2020 2:57pm

glasso wrote: »

meanwhile in the WTA it's the big 20 Lol.

It will be the same in the mens in about two years time, looks like there will be 7 or 8 guys all able to nick a match off the others. Maybe a couple of them will dominate but hard to see that far ahead.

They all look to be solid hardcourters with not many clay court speclialists coming through.

I agree with previous poster about Auger-Aliassime, he will be in that group.

[Deleted User] · 16-02-2020 9:40pm

lostcat wrote: »

It will be the same in the mens in about two years time, looks like there will be 7 or 8 guys all able to nick a match off the others. Maybe a couple of them will dominate but hard to see that far ahead.

They all look to be solid hardcourters with not many clay court speclialists coming through.

I agree with previous poster about Auger-Aliassime, he will be in that group.

I would agree with you that the number of potential winners is certainly likely to be larger certainly as none of the pretenders have shown the ability to be dominant but that won't be fully clear until fed (first) and nadal and Djokovic wane and depart.

You won't get the likes of an ostapenko winning a slam though or 11 different winners of the last 13 slams.

yerwanthere123 · 17-02-2020 12:38am

lostcat wrote: »

It will be the same in the mens in about two years time, looks like there will be 7 or 8 guys all able to nick a match off the others. Maybe a couple of them will dominate but hard to see that far ahead.

They all look to be solid hardcourters with not many clay court speclialists coming through.

I agree with previous poster about Auger-Aliassime, he will be in that group.

Longer than that I reckon tbh, don't think there's anything to stop Djokovic staying on top well into his mid/late 30's like Federer is currently doing. Even Nadal will be around for a while yet I think, he's supposedly been on his last legs for about a decade yet he's still at the top of the game.

Kiki Bertens defend her title in St. Peterburg and as such has withdrawn from Dubai, meaning Clijsters will now play Muguruza in her first match back. Not looking forward to Garbine losing that one

mzungu · 17-02-2020 10:50pm

yerwanthere123 wrote: »

Clijsters will now play Muguruza in her first match back. Not looking forward to Garbine losing that one

Muguruza takes it 6-2, 7-6. For somebody away the the past eight years, Clijsters did not play too badly at all. She will need a good few more matches before she can shake off the rustiness that comes with not having played competitively in so long.

yerwanthere123 · 17-02-2020 11:07pm

Didn't see any of the match but heard she did well in the second set. Will be very interesting to see what she can do when she shakes off the rust. Should probably play a couple of smaller tournaments first, although Indian Wells is next on her agenda.

Joe_ Public · 17-02-2020 11:26pm

Served 10 double faults and ceded 15 break points. Seemed to get better and better the longer the match went on. All told, a more than satisfactory comeback.

[Deleted User] · 18-02-2020 5:17pm

Joe_ Public wrote: »

Served 10 double faults and ceded 15 break points. Seemed to get better and better the longer the match went on. All told, a more than satisfactory comeback.

let's be honest here though.

a player who is out 8 years, comes back in her first match at 36 and is competitive against a player who was a finalist in the last slam that just took place less than a few weeks ago - what does that say?

And at the very least, and being diplomatic, she (Clijsters) was not exactly "fully fit". Ok, it makes for an interesting story but it's also a bit lot of a joke.

Clijsters%20Dubai%20slide.jpg?itok=brJORnEf

Clijsters%20Dubai%20slide.jpg?itok=brJORnEf

yerwanthere123 · 18-02-2020 9:08pm

Anticipating Kim's comeback got me checking some of her final results before she retired, I'd completely forgotten it was Laura Robson who ended her career prematurely back at the 2012 US Open. Laura's future looked so bright then, I doubt she was ever going to be a consistent player but if she hadn't been marred with so many injuries I reckon she's have been able to sneak a grand slam somewhere. She was a big talent and had already gotten a number of high profile wins.

mzungu · 18-02-2020 11:27pm

yerwanthere123 wrote: »

Anticipating Kim's comeback got me checking some of her final results before she retired, I'd completely forgotten it was Laura Robson who ended her career prematurely back at the 2012 US Open. Laura's future looked so bright then, I doubt she was ever going to be a consistent player but if she hadn't been marred with so many injuries I reckon she's have been able to sneak a grand slam somewhere. She was a big talent and had already gotten a number of high profile wins.

Injury wise, she is the Del Potro of the WTA tour. I guess some peoples bodies are just not cut out for the toll of the full time tour. It's a near given both players will always struggle and I would not be shocked to hear of either of them calling it a day.

That said, I do hope both of them play on for as long as they can.

yerwanthere123 · 18-02-2020 11:50pm

mzungu wrote: »

Injury wise, she is the Del Potro of the WTA tour. I guess some peoples bodies are just not cut out for the toll the full time tour. It's a near given both players will always struggle and I would not be shocked to hear of either of them calling it a day.

That said, I do hope both of them play on for as long as they can.

At the very least Del Potro fulfilled some of his potential, and more success even after his first round of wrist surgery. Laura's career was basically nipped in the bud right when it was starting. Sad really, she was a real big match player and was great fun to watch.

I'd like to think the extent and frequency with which players get serious injuries nowadays will eventually result in a return to them being able to selectively cherry-pick their schedules, although with the amount of money involved in tennis I doubt either the WTA or ATP would let it happen.

2020 In Between Grand Slam Thread

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