The OtherArena

Re: Tennis Thread (a/k/a Roger Federer thread)

guren — Sun May 05, 2013 5:56 pm

Author: guren

Posted: Sun May 05, 2013 5:56 pm

Both Martina Navratilova and Mary Jo Fernandez believe that Seles would have challenged Margaret Court's record for Grand Slam wins.

Martina Navratilova: Monica Seles could have broken Margaret Court�s record

glenn

Re: Tennis Thread (a/k/a Roger Federer thread)

guren — Tue Apr 30, 2013 6:25 pm

Author: guren

Posted: Tue Apr 30, 2013 6:25 pm

Yeah, Jenkins is a nutty neanderthal when it comes to baseball, but I like when he writes about tennis.

glenn

Re: Tennis Thread (a/k/a Roger Federer thread)

jdw — Tue Apr 30, 2013 3:54 pm

Author: jdw

Posted: Tue Apr 30, 2013 3:54 pm

Good article by Jenkins.

John

Re: Tennis Thread (a/k/a Roger Federer thread)

guren — Tue Apr 30, 2013 3:24 pm

Author: guren

Posted: Tue Apr 30, 2013 3:24 pm

Here's another article - this one written by Bruce Jenkins of SI.

Memories of Monica Seles' stabbing and how it changed a career

Re: Tennis Thread (a/k/a Roger Federer thread)

guren — Tue Apr 30, 2013 2:56 pm

Author: guren

Posted: Tue Apr 30, 2013 2:56 pm

It's a great "what if" question and was so sad in so many ways. Seles might have become Nadal to Graf's Federer. They would have had some incredible battles over the next several years.

glenn

Re: Tennis Thread (a/k/a Roger Federer thread)

jdw — Tue Apr 30, 2013 1:16 pm

Author: jdw

Posted: Tue Apr 30, 2013 1:16 pm

That's a good piece, Guren. We've talked about that in the past, wondering if Graf was reaching the Borg point in her career due to Monica's dominance... or if she had a Martina gear in both her psyche and in her ability to physically up her game. We were robbed of being able to see that, and Monica was robbed of being able to prove just how great she was. :/

John

Re: Tennis Thread (a/k/a Roger Federer thread)

Rian — Tue Apr 30, 2013 11:41 am

Author: Rian

Posted: Tue Apr 30, 2013 11:41 am

Chuck Culpepper, couldn't stand that guy when he wrote for The Oregonian all those years ago.

Re: Tennis Thread (a/k/a Roger Federer thread)

guren — Tue Apr 30, 2013 5:05 am

Author: guren

Posted: Tue Apr 30, 2013 5:05 am

Twenty years ago, Monica Seles was stabbed during a match in Germany, an incident that changed the course of women's tennis history. Chuck Culpepper of the Sports on Earth site argues that Seles is one of the top 3 players of the Open era.

Giving Monica Seles Her Due

Re: Tennis Thread (a/k/a Roger Federer thread)

Hadi — Mon Jul 09, 2012 12:36 pm

Author: Hadi

Posted: Mon Jul 09, 2012 12:36 pm

I'm very happy Roger was able to put it all together for two weeks at Wimbledon. He's played well in stretches over the last 3 years, but having to go through Nadal and Djokovic to win Grand Slams is extremely menacing.

With that said, I'm almost certain Federer will win the U.S. Open this year. Quite frankly, he should've won it the last 3 years, as he blew leads to Del Potro, Nadal and Djokovic. He'll be motivated and is healthy.

One thing about being ranked #1 which is kind of absurd in tennis, is that you are continually forced to play the #3 seed in Grand Slam semi-finals. One of the reasons Roger has struggled, like I mentioned previously, in recent years, is that he's had to take on a surging Djokovic in the semis and then would have the prospect of having to face Nadal in the finals of the Grand Slams. To beat Djokovic, he has to play at a very high level (see the 2011 French), but it's asking to much to follow that up by beating a healthy Nadal two days later.

In some ways, Roger would be better served by having Djokovic take over that #1 spot until late August, when the U.S. Open locks in their seeding. Roger as the #2 seed would coast to the Finals, where he'd likely meet a tired Djokovic. Hard courts just aren't a good surface for Rafa as he gets older, so I don't think he's a threat to either Roger or Novak this summer.

It's interesting to think about how many more slams Roger could have left. I thought a few years back he could get to 25, but Djokovic's emergence made that too difficult a number. I still think 20 is attainable. He's got at least another 3 years of high level play left, and he is incredibly fortunate when it comes to injuries. He could probably still be a threat on grass until he's 35 with his shot-making and serve placement.

-Hadi

Re: Tennis Thread (a/k/a Roger Federer thread)

jdw — Sun Jul 08, 2012 1:24 pm

Author: jdw

Posted: Sun Jul 08, 2012 1:24 pm

He's also chasing Pete's record of 6 year end #1 rankings. He's sitting at 5 right now.

It's a bit of a catch-22. He has a stretch from now through October where he can top his results. Trick is that in November there are those three wins that he would need retain or avoid giving back too many points to Novak or Rafey.

There's also the Olympics. That has more points than the event that finished up that week in 2011, but also runs right up against the Rogers Cup which is a Masters event, which is more points than the Olympics (which is kind of batshit when you think about it). The folks who go to the Semis in the Olympics might not be able to do the Rogers Cup, which Novak won last year.

It will be an interesting chase to the Year End #1.

Re: Tennis Thread (a/k/a Roger Federer thread)

jdw — Sun Jul 08, 2012 1:02 pm

Author: jdw

Posted: Sun Jul 08, 2012 1:02 pm

Not shabby at all. I had been trying to figure out how he got to #1, then looked up the titles of the three since the last Wimbledon:

8 Rogers
4 Novak
4 Rafey

What hid it is the Novak won the US & Aussie, then Rafey won the French while Roger was in the final of *none* of them. It gave the impression that Roger as sucking, but really it was just the Slams where he was running into a brick wall in the semis.

Roger has been "hot" from November to now. None of his wins in those 8 finals was over Rafey or Novak though like at Wimbledon he may have gone through some in the semis.

John

Re: Tennis Thread (a/k/a Roger Federer thread)

Tomer — Sun Jul 08, 2012 10:35 am

Author: Tomer

Posted: Sun Jul 08, 2012 10:35 am

Federer gets #17 and ties Renshaw and Sampras all-time at Wimbledon and regains his #1 status, tying (and will break shortly) Sampras' record on that end. Not too shabby...

Re: Tennis Thread (a/k/a Roger Federer thread)

Tomer — Mon Jun 11, 2012 10:21 am

Author: Tomer

Posted: Mon Jun 11, 2012 10:21 am

jdw wrote:

French #7, Slam #11 for Raffey: 6-4, 6-3, 2-6, 7-5 over Djokovic.

It's kind of funny that we think of Djokovic as the young gun, but he's just a year younger than Raffey. Of course Raffey has a lot of miles on him, and I think it was Glenn that pointed out that baseline runners like Raffey often lose their wheels quicker, and without the wheels aren't quite the same.

John

Still, if he can last 3 years or so, Nadal has a good chance of passing Federer (assuming he wins 2 Grand Slam events a year).

Re: Tennis Thread (a/k/a Roger Federer thread)

jdw — Mon Jun 11, 2012 9:37 am

Author: jdw

Posted: Mon Jun 11, 2012 9:37 am

French #7, Slam #11 for Raffey: 6-4, 6-3, 2-6, 7-5 over Djokovic.

It's kind of funny that we think of Djokovic as the young gun, but he's just a year younger than Raffey. Of course Raffey has a lot of miles on him, and I think it was Glenn that pointed out that baseline runners like Raffey often lose their wheels quicker, and without the wheels aren't quite the same.

John

Re: Tennis Thread (a/k/a Roger Federer thread)

guren — Sun Mar 18, 2012 10:13 pm

Author: guren

Posted: Sun Mar 18, 2012 10:13 pm

Federer continued his roll this year with a win at Indian Wells this week. He beat John Isner in the finals, who beat Djokovic in the semis. Federer has lost just twice this year - to Nadal in the Aussie semis and to Isner in Davis Cup. He avenged both of those losses over the weekend by playing some fantastic tennis. He had everything working all week. With the win, Federer ties Nadal for the most career Masters 1000 victories at 19.