2015 Wimbledon

[K Xerxes]

Novak has been favourite for every slam since 2011, and he's only managed one multislam year in that period. I think he will take the US open, but not Wimbledon. Murray pushed him 5 sets in RG, and he's a far better grass courter. If Stan doesn't take him out earlier, I think Murray will in the final.

[NBAplayoffs2001]

Goals in life:

Being at either a Wimbledon Mens Final or a US Open Finals.

I have only gone to one Quarterfinal in my life back in the early 2000s, Hewitt vs. Roddick

[enayes]

No luck involved. When Djoker takes his game to the next level it isn't an even fighth. These are long tournaments, so you won't see most guys trying to bagel their opponents in early rounds. If Djoker came out guns blazing, this match wouldn't have had the appearance of being close.

Makes no sense. If a player can beat someone 6-0, 6-1, 6-1 they will do it. There's no reason to let a set stay close to "conserve" energy. Beating a player as quickly as possible is the best way to save energy/

[Smoke117]

Haven't been following tennis in like forever. Rafa fell that far down? I always thought he started to break down about 2 years ago.

I always thought he would be that type of player: ridiculously dominant for 10 years then eventually fall off. I think of kind of like Agassi and Sampras. Sampras was very athletic and often relied on that to be the player he was. Agassi was very exact with everything he did, his longevity is GOAT. Still being able to capable of possibly beating Federer in his early prime as old as Agassi was is pretty impressive.

Rafa has an insane career but he plays way too hard and his knees are starting to really show steep decline. Athletically, he was probably the best athlete for the majority of the 12 or so years on the tennis circuit. I would argue Gael Monfils though in recent years, freak athlete from France who seemingly can never be consistent despite being really hyped as a junior in 2004.

Uh...Agassi didn't even take his career seriously till he was 28, 29 and towards the end of his athletic prime. He was never dominant for a 10 year period. He had a dominant, but short peak as he was already getting up there in age. That he was still competitive at his age later on is impressive though. (even if the courts in general were slowing down as he was. He wasn't playing on the same fast courts that were around in the 90s , so this helped extend his career)

[PejaTheSerbSnip]

Makes no sense. If a player can beat someone 6-0, 6-1, 6-1 they will do it. There's no reason to let a set stay close to "conserve" energy. Beating a player as quickly as possible is the best way to save energy/

Neither of you are wrong, its a matter of perspective.

Of course, the less time you spend on court the better. But also, if you're going balls to the wall on every point, it could cost you, even if the match lasts an hour and a half. This is grass, remember, where the top guys hold serve 86-90% of the time. It's not as far-fetched as you think that guys would coast on their return games and redline at a key moment. Sampras was known for this, and in his autobiography explicitly stated that he would often cruise through the early portions of a set before locking in and trying to break to bookend the set.

Ideally, you'd like to be on cruise control in the early rounds and STILL win 1, 1 and 1 though.... :p but the mentality that bdreason described isn't really that aberrant. Higher ranked players have enormous confidence that their service games will withstand the onslaught of a lower ranked player...and this being grass, where you'll see players borderline tanking return games after going down 30-0/40-0....they might pick and choose their spots on the return.

Nadal is the exact opposite of this, I feel. Rare for him to take points off. Which has both helped and hurt him historically.

Anyways, again, depends on the mentality of the player.

[PejaTheSerbSnip]

Novak has been favourite for every slam since 2011, and he's only managed one multislam year in that period. I think he will take the US open, but not Wimbledon. Murray pushed him 5 sets in RG, and he's a far better grass courter. If Stan doesn't take him out earlier, I think Murray will in the final.

Hard to say that Murray is a far better grass court player when he has 1 Wimbledon to Novak's 2.

Yes, he leads 2-0 in their personal grass head to head, but Djokovic has beaten Federer at Wimbledon and he cleaned Nadals clock a Wimby, a prime Nadal, whereas Murray has only taken 1 of 10 sets against Rafa at SW19.

Wawrinka might upset him but don't bank on it. Wawrinka, despite being such an attacking player, paradoxically plays his best on clay and slow hardcourts. It's because he needs time to hit his groundstrokes, particularly his BH. Once you take his time away, he's not nearly as dangerous. Hence why the last 4 times him and Djokovic have played indoors (a fast surface), Wawrinka hasn't taken more than 7-8 games on any occasion.

[The_Yearning]

Novak has been favourite for every slam since 2011, and he's only managed one multislam year in that period. I think he will take the US open, but not Wimbledon. Murray pushed him 5 sets in RG, and he's a far better grass courter. If Stan doesn't take him out earlier, I think Murray will in the final.

This... if there was ever a choker in tennis, it's Novak.

[Smoke117]

This... if there was ever a choker in tennis, it's Novak.

Seriously...I couldn't believe he lost that french final. Apparently it's been in his head too ever since then...which isn't surprising. I don't think his head is right for Wimbledon right now, but maybe he'll get going as it gets deeper. Either way, he definitely has an outstanding chance to win the US Open. He's pretty easily the best hard court player in the world.

[ArbitraryWater]

Kukushkin playing amazing right now

turned around this 2nd set against Murray

[bdreason]

Bouchard and Halep out in the 1st round. The worst part is that it's not even surprising.

[NBAplayoffs2001]

Some upsets on the women side. Watched a little off the Keys match, Keys hits ridiculously hard but without any intent on keeping the ball in play. Always going for all out winners. I don't get why people do this.

[NBAplayoffs2001]

Uh...Agassi didn't even take his career seriously till he was 28, 29 and towards the end of his athletic prime. He was never dominant for a 10 year period. He had a dominant, but short peak as he was already getting up there in age. That he was still competitive at his age later on is impressive though. (even if the courts in general were slowing down as he was. He wasn't playing on the same fast courts that were around in the 90s , so this helped extend his career)

Courts started to slow down significantly after 2004 IMO. To me, it ruined the sport and honestly ruined a lot of men's tennis. Andy Roddick changed his whole game because of the slowed down courts. Tried to be a defensive player for a few years when that really wasn't his game. Roddick had like a top 3 forehand before he changed it.

[bdreason]

Some upsets on the women side. Watched a little off the Keys match, Keys hits ridiculously hard but without any intent on keeping the ball in play. Always going for all out winners. I don't get why people do this.

That's how she plays now. To be fair, she's improved her ranking quite a bit by becoming much more aggressive offensively. She just doesn't have great lateral movement or defense.

[BurningHammer]

Nishikori out. Calf injury.

[Maga_1]

Kukushkin playing amazing right now

turned around this 2nd set against Murray

One of my friends is Kukushkin physioterapist now.
I'm getting lots of inside stuff of Wimbledon, it's awesome.