Tomic worst athlete ever?

[RodSmooth]

Originally Posted by heninfan99

Iverson would have been the GOAT if he played tennis despite his love of practice.

A perfect example of a great genetic freak playing tennis is monfils.

And we all know he would be the GOAT if he knew how to use his game properly

[mmk]

Originally Posted by heninfan99

Iverson would have been the GOAT if he played tennis despite his love of practice.

I've thought for years that AI would have been an awesome tennis player. Quick, great footwork, and great vision. He was always more of an individual talent who happened to be playing a team sport. From what I hear he was a great high school quarterback, so the service motion wouldn't have been too hard to learn.

[cknobman]

Worst athlete ever?

Not sure about that but he definitely is in the running for ugliest male tennis player ever.

[Sid_Vicious]

Originally Posted by RodSmooth

A perfect example of a great genetic freak playing tennis is monfils.

And we all know he would be the GOAT if he knew how to use his game properly

No we really don't.Sorry, but we are not completely insane like you.

[Relinquis]

you guys underplay the mental aspect of tennis too much. tennis is part chess.

[nikdom]

Originally Posted by Relinquis

you guys underplay the mental aspect of tennis too much. tennis is part chess.

Ah, I get it now. The part where a chess player gets to think about his next move for 5 minutes and all the possible ways his opponent can respond.


Execution is more important. A player can have the fanciest tactical plan but will blown off the court if they can't execute at a high level. What tactical chess did Rosol play? He just hit hard and did not miss - that's execution for you.

[Steve0904]

Originally Posted by nikdom

Ah, I get it now. The part where a chess player gets to think about his next move for 5 minutes and all the possible ways his opponent can respond.


Execution is more important. A player can have the fanciest tactical plan but will blown off the court if they can't execute at a high level. What tactical chess did Rosol play? He just hit hard and did not miss - that's execution for you.

Yes execution is most important, but it only comes if you have the mentality down. Rosol closed out Nadal without the slightest hint of nerves. He hit hard and did not miss. That was his tactic. You said it yourself. You just called it execution instead of tactics. A guy can have the fanciest tactical plan he wants, but if he doesn't have the mentality to execute it, it's useless.

[Relinquis]

Originally Posted by nikdom

Ah, I get it now. The part where a chess player gets to think about his next move for 5 minutes and all the possible ways his opponent can respond.


Execution is more important. A player can have the fanciest tactical plan but will blown off the court if they can't execute at a high level. What tactical chess did Rosol play? He just hit hard and did not miss - that's execution for you.

he got sent home the next match and we haven't heard from him since.

let me clarify the chess analogy, in chess one of the basic strategies is to control the centre of the board in a way that allows your pieces there the maximum attacking angles and at the same time is protected by the pieces behind. this allows you to gradually build up pressure on your opponent as you move pieces forward or open up more angles. chess players have a lot of sequences that they put into play to gain position and adapt as the match goes on.

In tennis, you construct points by positioning yourself in a manner where you have attacking angles and can use various shots to put pressure on your opponent. you build this gradually one shot at a time picking from the arsenal of shots that you have (your pieces) e.g. serve out wide, move into position, hit inside-out forehand and then you have an easy winner into an open court. Tennis players have a lot of sequences that they put into play to gain position/footing and adapt as the match goes on.

in tennis as in chess, you have to adapt to your opponent's strategy. it's dynamic. it requires focus. it requires mental toughness.

[RodSmooth]

Originally Posted by Sid_Vicious

No we really don't.Sorry, but we are not completely insane like you.

How would he not be?

If he played the right way at his peak?

[djones]

What fascinates me about Tomic is that it really looks like he can't hit a decent forehand, but yet it's still effective.

[always_crosscourt]

Originally Posted by Relinquis

he got sent home the next match and we haven't heard from him since.

let me clarify the chess analogy, in chess one of the basic strategies is to control the centre of the board in a way that allows your pieces there the maximum attacking angles and at the same time is protected by the pieces behind. this allows you to gradually build up pressure on your opponent as you move pieces forward or open up more angles. chess players have a lot of sequences that they put into play to gain position and adapt as the match goes on.

In tennis, you construct points by positioning yourself in a manner where you have attacking angles and can use various shots to put pressure on your opponent. you build this gradually one shot at a time picking from the arsenal of shots that you have (your pieces) e.g. serve out wide, move into position, hit inside-out forehand and then you have an easy winner into an open court. Tennis players have a lot of sequences that they put into play to gain position/footing and adapt as the match goes on.

in tennis as in chess, you have to adapt to your opponent's strategy. it's dynamic. it requires focus. it requires mental toughness.

Nope, tennis is far simpler than you make it out to be. Most tennis players aren't that smart, let's face it - and I don't think I'm shocking anyone by saying that!

Tennis is not very tactical. 99 times out of 100, players will just pick one tactic and use it exclusively.

Take Nadal, he has one general tactic: hit forehands to the backhand. Serve to the backhand. Volley to the backhand. Slice to the backhand. Dropshot to the backhand. Lob over the backhand.

And he uses it against everyone, all the time. If you were so limited that you only had one thing you did to everyone, all the time in chess, you'd get brutalized. But in tennis, there is nothing anyone not named Djokovic can do about it. And Nadal still has a winning record over Djokovic.

[BeHappy]

Originally Posted by corners

I think he moves very well considering his size. He has an awkwardness about his movements but I think that deceives: I think he moves more quickly and changes directions better than you'd think watching him. He's the type of player that looks a little like they are in slow motion OR like they are not in a hurry. And a player who can beat guys in the top 100 while looking like he's not in a hurry is frightening.

The serve is week though, that's for sure. And it kinda looks like he'd need to revamp his technique to get into the 130s like he should be able to, given his size. I doubt he'd risk making radical technical changes at this age, though.

He's 6'5"

Ivanisevic, Monfils and Tsonga = lightning fast at 6'5"

Greg Rusedski, Cilic= move extremely well at 6'5"

EVen Ljubicic moves like greaed lightning compared to Tomic.

Maybe SOderling is as slow but he serves 145mph.

Honestly, hand on heart, I have never seen a player with athleticism this bad. Still, with the courts this slow rendering a big serve useless and speed optional, maybe I'll have to get used to this.

[namelessone]

He's an annoying kid but how the hell is he the worst athlete ever?

[BeHappy]

Originally Posted by namelessone

He's an annoying kid but how the hell is he the worst athlete ever?

He's slow and weak. He moves like Safin after his knee injury. He serves like Martina Hingis.

Players like Scheng Shalken and Miroslav Mecir have had weak serves like Tomic. Players like Soderling and Almagro have moved as bad as him, but I have never ever seen both attributes in one player. It is shocking.

[Mick3391]

Originally Posted by BeHappy

Of any ATP top 100 professional that is.

110mph serve and he cannot move.

Are you out of your mind? You'd DREAM to move like him. Yea, he doesn't move as well as others, but he's still 1000% better than you.

There is a point of diminishing returns in sports. In boxing, it's 6'3", above that and you are awkward, under you have distance issues. Same deal Tennis, 6'1" is about right, DelPortro, the dude in Canada, these 6'5" guys have advantages over others, but lose in the agility, so in the highest level of tennis it hurts, but bad athelete? Please, you should be so bad.

[BeHappy]

Originally Posted by Mick3391

Are you out of your mind? You'd DREAM to move like him. Yea, he doesn't move as well as others, but he's still 1000% better than you.

There is a point of diminishing returns in sports. In boxing, it's 6'3", above that and you are awkward, under you have distance issues. Same deal Tennis, 6'1" is about right, DelPortro, the dude in Canada, these 6'5" guys have advantages over others, but lose in the agility, so in the highest level of tennis it hurts, but bad athelete? Please, you should be so bad.

I don't know, I never thought this about a pro before but I think your average amateur is much faster than Tomic. "Movement" encompasses footwork as in setting up for the shot and he's obviously amazing at that, but he can't "move" as in defend.

Del Potro and Raonic are both way faster than Tomic. They move well.

[RAFA2005RG]

Interesting that Tomic is extremely good at retrieving side-to-side and also very good at running down drop-shots for cold winners. I definitely wouldn't say the same about Raonoaf, but Del Potro is decent (although maybe not as good as Tomic). The only surface that Tomic doesn't move great on is clay. He won't be winning Roland Garros anytime soon.

[Timbo's hopeless slice]

Originally Posted by Timbo's hopeless slice

lo @ the idiotic comments

as for Tomic..

http://youtu.be/g0NSjem4exY?t=1m39s

just watch it.

(y'all are talking about a version of Tomic that is obsolete, it is like talking about Federer's on court tantrums and mental fragility, it was true when he was 18..)

just watch it, sheesh

[Thud and blunder]

Yeah, the guy has got It - the X-factor; you can see that there's a beast in the making...

X Commentator doesn't like his forehand, his serve, his movement, his hairstyle, his car, his dad...and yet, the beast gets stronger...you can see it, unless you don't want to.

[Feather]

Originally Posted by RAFA2005RG

Interesting that Tomic is extremely good at retrieving side-to-side and also very good at running down drop-shots for cold winners. I definitely wouldn't say the same about Raonoaf, but Del Potro is decent (although maybe not as good as Tomic). The only surface that Tomic doesn't move great on is clay. He won't be winning Roland Garros anytime soon.

There was another poster who was also fond of Rafa and Tomic

Originally Posted by nadalwon2012

My favorite players in order are:
1. Nadal
-daylight-
2. Tomic
3. Federer

Tomic just grabbed the number 2 spot last year at the AO when he played Nadal.

I would usually want Tomic to beat Federer, but not this time. I want nothing else than a Nadal vs Federer SF.

I agree that Tomic can beat Federer. I just don't really want it to happen, because I think Nadal vs Tomic will be too lopsided win for Nadal, and I desperately want Nadal to go up 2-0 in the hardcourt slam h2h over Federer.