The next NUMBER ONE not named Nadal or Federer
- Thread starter aceX
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Speranza
Hall of Fame
Holmes: Both the good doctor and I were discussing this point only last night, and we came to the following conclusion:
'IF' he can return to good health, and his height doesn't play a part in the detriment of his health in the game (as is possible with tall players), then Del Potro would be our guess.
Aside from Wimbledon, he has shown great standard in all the other GSs in his last year and importantly on clay as a surface. Why, only the last few days on this forum has shown how much of the year is spent playing on clay, and the weighting towards it in terms of points/ranking. Am sure he can succeed at Wimbledon too for obvious reasons.
He's shown he can win a GS on hard court (the only one to have remained a fast court) and shown he can play on the slowest. Serve and groundstrokes are excellent, and consistent.
Again, assuming he can play whilst he returns and stays in good health, he'd be our vote.
'IF' he can return to good health, and his height doesn't play a part in the detriment of his health in the game (as is possible with tall players), then Del Potro would be our guess.
Aside from Wimbledon, he has shown great standard in all the other GSs in his last year and importantly on clay as a surface. Why, only the last few days on this forum has shown how much of the year is spent playing on clay, and the weighting towards it in terms of points/ranking. Am sure he can succeed at Wimbledon too for obvious reasons.
He's shown he can win a GS on hard court (the only one to have remained a fast court) and shown he can play on the slowest. Serve and groundstrokes are excellent, and consistent.
Again, assuming he can play whilst he returns and stays in good health, he'd be our vote.
PSNELKE
Legend
IMO Cilic or JMDP
Cilic if he gets consistent and improves his clay court game..
JMDP is too injury prone, but if he returns to health again and stays healthy then Cilic and him are the biggest contenders.
But I doubt JMDP will ever win Wimby... -needs to improve grass court game.
Murray is has too many problems with his family etc. and he´s a real pusher who cannot make a lot of damage on clay
Djokovic is injury prone too and needs more stamina..
Tsonga is already 25 years old and I doubt he can beat guys like Murray, Cilic, Djokovic JMDP etc. in a few years.
Gael Monfils is injury prone and the King of headcase
Gulbis could reach it too but he doesn´t focuse enough on tennis and has not a winner mindset..
I don´t know about others but guys like Nishikori, Dimitrov, Berta, etc, are under discussion too.
Even if I haven´t seen a lot of them.
Cilic if he gets consistent and improves his clay court game..
JMDP is too injury prone, but if he returns to health again and stays healthy then Cilic and him are the biggest contenders.
But I doubt JMDP will ever win Wimby... -needs to improve grass court game.
Murray is has too many problems with his family etc. and he´s a real pusher who cannot make a lot of damage on clay
Djokovic is injury prone too and needs more stamina..
Tsonga is already 25 years old and I doubt he can beat guys like Murray, Cilic, Djokovic JMDP etc. in a few years.
Gael Monfils is injury prone and the King of headcase
Gulbis could reach it too but he doesn´t focuse enough on tennis and has not a winner mindset..
I don´t know about others but guys like Nishikori, Dimitrov, Berta, etc, are under discussion too.
Even if I haven´t seen a lot of them.
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Speranza
Hall of Fame
Holmes: I wouldn't say he sucks on clay, but his level isn't currently good in comparison to others, hence my vote (as stated above) for Del Potro.
aceX
Hall of Fame
There's not much better he can do at the Australian Open, apart from winning :lol:
aceX
Hall of Fame
Man, Del Potro almost denied fed his 2009 RG title. That semi-final was much better than the final.
vortex1
Banned
Mugray is never getting #1 spot. It would be bad for the sport.
Speranza
Hall of Fame
Holmes: Indeed it was! Tremendous match. It was for that reason that I opted for DP to win the US Open even prior to the tournament starting. For once, I was right
Watson: Er, Holmes, we weren't here then.
Holmes: Oh, errr.....Ummm.... No, what I meant was that I had said this to Speranza, who in turn stole my reasoning and paraded it as his.
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Watson: Yeah. Right.
aceX
Hall of Fame
Please elaborate
vortex1
Banned
No slams. It would make real tennis look like WTA.
aceX
Hall of Fame
Oh. Well I think a reasonable assumption is that the next number one will have to win some slams in order to take the spot. Of course this isn't necessarily the case but it seems unlikely that someone could be #1 without a slam. Poor Safina.
vortex1
Banned
Gulbis is very overrated right now. But he hasn't earned a mug status so far, I am willing to give him a couple of years to prove himself.
vortex1
Banned
And Jankovic. Wozniacki at #2 was another travesty.
aceX
Hall of Fame
Well no-one is saying he's going to be number 1 this year.
I think the key things are that they're young (e.g. JMDP) and have proven that they have what it takes (e.g. JMDP).
I think that Fed and Nad will camp that number 1 spot for a few more years to come, though.
aceX
Hall of Fame
Well they have to make the other tournaments count for points otherwise no-one would play. Anyway I don't follow the WTA, I'd rather watch a Futures match
PSNELKE
Legend
Yeah he´s VERY OVERRATED! But give him centuries to improve he will not take the chance.
This arrogant kid is not focused enough on tennis to be the new GOAT or to reach ever the No1 spot.
IMO he has no chance against his age group with Cilic and JMDP.
Only real Gulbistards believe that he´s going to be No1 in a few years.
aphex
Banned
gulbis was top 100 in the world without even training.
watch his very rapid ascension in the rankings now that he's taken tennis seriously...he will finish top 15 for 2010.
PSNELKE
Legend
gulbis was top 100 because he had nothing to defend..
ok now he played 3 nice tournaments does this really mean that he´s going to be top 15 this year?
wait for the hardcourt season he will loose against top 15 guys like berdych, Cilic, Gonzalez, Tsonga, Verdasco, Roddick.
And this guy will never take tennis serious..
aphex
Banned
nice logic there guy. i have nothing to defend either...can i be 100?
he has just started taking tennis seriously and he has been spanking almost everyone on his worst surface.
clearly you don't know that HC is his best surface...
PSNELKE
Legend
nice logic there guy. i have nothing to defend either...can i be 100?
he has just started taking tennis seriously and he has been spanking almost everyone on his worst surface.
clearly you don't know that HC is his best surface...
nice logic. He spanks everyone on hist worst surface--> clay
but you don´t know if HC is his best surface.
Ok he said he´s starting to take tennis seriously and that means that he´s going to be the new No1.and he will beat everyone on every surface.
Only thing I can say is all hat and no cattle.
Let´s await his FO result.
aphex
Banned
nice logic. He spanks everyone on hist worst surface--> clay
but you don´t know if HC is his best surface.
Ok he said he´s starting to take tennis seriously and that means that he´s going to be the new No1.and he will beat everyone on every surface.
Only thing I can say is all hat and no cattle.
Let´s await his FO result.
have you been living under a rock?
since he said that a few months ago, he's risen 50 places...
aphex
Banned
nice logic. He spanks everyone on hist worst surface--> clay
but you don´t know if HC is his best surface.
Ok he said he´s starting to take tennis seriously and that means that he´s going to be the new No1.and he will beat everyone on every surface.
Only thing I can say is all hat and no cattle.
Let´s await his FO result.
Began playing at age five when his grandmother first brought him to a tennis court...Father, Ainars, is an investment businessman and former basketball player; mother, Milena, is a drama theatre actress...Has three sisters, Elina, who is older and finished her law degree in England; Laura and Monika who are younger and both play tennis; and one younger brother, Kristops, who is attending the Saddlebrook Academy in Florida to pursue golf....Grandfather was a starter on former Soviet Union national basketball team which won European Championships.
Speaks Latvian, Russian, English and a little German...Enjoys playing soccer, basketball and hockey...Considers hard courts his favorite surface and serve and backhand drop shot his best shot...Member of Latvian Davis Cup team and has a 15-8 career record (10-4 in singles) in 11 ties...Used to work with former ATP pro Niki Pilic and trained at Pilic's Tennis Academy in Munich (from age 12-18)...Coached by former ATP pro Hernan Gumy of Argentina (since mid-September 2009).
PSNELKE
Legend
have you been living under a rock?
since he said that a few months ago, he's risen 50 places...
the first time he said that was after delrey beach and rome..
considering harcourt as favorite surface doesn´t mean that he plays his best tennis on hard court
I voted Djokovic since he has been in the first 3 for quite a while now. If Fed retires, and Nadal get injured... I know my reasons are not based on his tennis, but unless he decides to become a player he can be(or maybe we hope he can be) this will be his chance. But, I am also hoping that he lost twice to Verdasco because he was sick, if he lost because Verdasco was truly better, he is in trouble.
D
Deleted member 77403
Guest
Del Potro. The guy was starting to make his move last year, and had shown he was not afraid of going toe to toe with Roger and Rafa, beating them both. He is also a match up problem for both of them as well, as has been seen in his recent encounters.
vortex1
Banned
Beating injured Nadal and Federer serving at sub 50% doesn't make it a "problem match up". We'll see what Delpotro can do once he recovers. Until then, he's a one slam wonder.
D
Deleted member 77403
Guest
He was going to run through Rafa no matter what Rafa he played at the US Open last year. Rafa's forehand does not hurt Del Potro, as much as Del Potro's forehand hurts Rafa.
And when Roger got into baseline rallies with Del Potro, especially after Del Potro woke up, he was punching holes through Roger's defense. If Roger does not serve well, that could happen again.
Granted, we'll see what happen when he recovers. But this guy is not afraid to land his punches.
Radobg
Rookie
agree with you..
If he found his form quickly after this injury and be able to replace Roger like dominant fors on hard courts might become nomber one sooner then people expect!
But I still think Rafa can show much more against Juan in the future even on fast hard courts
SirGounder
Hall of Fame
JMDP would be my guess or Donald Young
N
nikdom
Guest
Despite his injury, when he returns, JMDP. Guy has made it deep into the slams on all surfaces, has won one against Fed in a slam final (which no one with the exception of Nadal has been able to do in years) and has the game to match up against the other contenders.
Shaolin
G.O.A.T.
How is this for you...
Reason 1: He probably has more weapons than any player I have ever seen.
Reason 2: He is not an oversized, injury prone, oaf like a Delpo that will always have physical breakdowns.
Reason 3: He has a good game on any surface.
Reason 4: He has zero fear of any of the elite players, and almost always gets al least a set on them, even back when he wasnt playing that well.
Reason 5: He only recently started training hard and practicing a lot. If he starts putting in the kind of work Nadal does, god help the rest of the tour.
N
nikdom
Guest
By his own reckoning, Gulbis said he was ****ting his pants closing out the match against Roger in Rome.
I agree Ernie is a guy with good potential. But I have to see him play at least GS semis consistently to even put him on a list of potential no. 1's, far less the NEXT one.
I think its a little premature for that. Hopefully we'll see Ernie make a big splash at the FO and Wimby this year. If not, we've seen these stories before. Remember a guy named Gasquet?
Talker
Hall of Fame
Gulbis moved up in the rankings pretty well with only a few months of good results. If he just plays the way he is now the rest of the year he should beable to make the top 15. If he makes some improvements, which he can, top 10 isn't out of the question.
He has a way to go for #1 though, it's doubtful.
I picked Potro, he has what it takes physically and mentally. If he doesn't have any serious injuries that is.
N
nikdom
Guest
The majority, myself included, seems to be with Delpo.
zak425
Semi-Pro
Del Po all the way! Gulbis openly admits he doesnt practice and just wants the fame. Not that, that has stopped other past number 1's from getting the top spot. But, if all these guys are completely healthy you got to say its Del Po, biggest shots in the game and he moves so quick
Wilander Fan
Hall of Fame
I think most of the players on this list are going to be yet another lost generation picking up scraps from Federer and Nadal. Also, it seems really difficult for someone to come back from a serious injury at the pro level. Of the top of my head, I cant think of any player out for 6 months and returning to pre-injury form. Particularly when you are talking about a joint injury..those things almost never recover fully.
I think Gulbis has a chance though. He is young and seems to be improving. He also has some very impressive weapons including a big high percentage first serve and big ground strokes. Have not seen much of him at net but he seems to have very good touch. He is going to be very dangerous on hard courts.
I think Gulbis has a chance though. He is young and seems to be improving. He also has some very impressive weapons including a big high percentage first serve and big ground strokes. Have not seen much of him at net but he seems to have very good touch. He is going to be very dangerous on hard courts.
Antonio Puente
Hall of Fame
Someone not on the list. Some young player who no one is considering will rise up.
davey25
Banned
Well both the womens and mens games have seen better days.
batz
G.O.A.T.
He hasn't made it deep on all slams on all surfaces - he's mince on grass and hasn't got beyond R2 @ Wimbledon. Also the statement that he 'has the game to match up to the other contenders' isn't borne out by his head to head with Murray (5-1, 4-0 on hardcourt) and Novak (3-0) that's 1-8 against the two probable strongest contenders in Fedfal free world.
Don't get me wrong - I like the big fella, but I think there's a bit of leap being made from 'beat Roger in a slam final' to 'favourite to be next world number 1'.
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