Federer 2002 vs Tsitsipas 2019

[Dolgopolov85]

All very true Tsits's best prospect is to develop a serve better than Federer and Sampras (sounds all too much like Roddick) and couple that with Sampras clutch returning. The issue for Stefanos is he may be clutch on return like Sampras, but his overall stats are very likely to be on par with Roddick. Stefanos doesn't have a game that feels like Roddick's, but the numbers say he'd be lucky to have Roddick's prime stats.

All you say is true, but a bigger serve for Tsitsipas might get him the upset of the Mad Lad there and there. If he's able to hold serve against Medvedev he's very much in the match.

Goatsipas just turned 21 so we don't know for sure his ultimate return level, but we can be assured he's no Djokoray returner or even a Mederer at this point.

Interesting about Roddick and maybe the reason why Stefanos isn't able to be more effective on these metrics than Roddick is he holds back on the forehand, which Roddick didn't, at least not while he was with Gilbert. This is a problem that both AZ and Stef have; their forehand doesn't hurt enough. Stef's netgame gives him a dimension that AZ doesn't have but it's not enough in the modern game.

 

[undecided]

I will rephrase it so you can understand. When I say too BIG, I mean aggregate numbers do not capture the moments when pressure is greatest. I am not saying he is necessarily a choker. But before you tut tut at another poster for voodooing, start using precise numbers that actually support your assertion. Otherwise you're just fishing for a number that suits your gut feel. IF we looked at masters semis and finals or slam matches against the top 10, we would have a better idea of how Stefanos fares under pressure. There is nothing subjective about clutch the way I have defined it. It's actually an ATP metric now and they simply call it "Under Pressure'. And all I am saying is focus on the BIG matches if you really want a meaningful number. Saving all break points against say rank 50 doesn't tell you much about a player's ability to handle pressure.

I wouldn't call it choking either. He is 'streaky'. He has streaks where he wins games easily and then all of a sudden he gets into trouble all of his own doing. Maybe loses focus?

 

[Dolgopolov85]

I wouldn't call it choking either. He is 'streaky'. He has streaks where he wins games easily and then all of a sudden he gets into trouble all of his own doing. Maybe loses focus?

Possible and not something he can't fix either. Daniil is two years older than him, so as Stefanos matures, his tactics and ability to keep his cool in tough matches should improve. It's the ROS thing that could prove to be his achilles' heel.

 

[Ufiors]

Fed 2002 year end rank: 6
Tstitsi 2019 year end rank: 6

Fed 58-22 (3 titles)
Tsitsi 54-25 (3 titles)

Fed won 1 Masters 1000 (Hamburg)
Tsits won ATP Finals (London)

Pretty impressive the similarity