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    interesting article on Roddick reflecting on his career

    https://www.gq.com/story/andy-roddick-us-open
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    At 2001 French Open, Kuerten defeated 4 former/future French Open Finalists - Who else has achieved this?

    3x at the US Open: 1. J.S. Connors, 1976 U.S. Open: defeated B. Borg, finalist in 1976, 1978, 1980-81; G. Vilas, 1977 champion; J. Kodes, finalist in 1971, 1973; V. Gerulaitis, finalist in 1979. Also notable that the '76 Open was on clay, and all those same guys listed above were...
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    Lendl vs. Connors?

    Indeed. I do think there is a small but real gap between them in Connors's favor, but rather than focusing on that small distance, I'd rather make the larger point that both men are and have been truly underrated/underappreciated. There is plenty of room to celebrate both of them in tennis...
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    The „great“ Fedal rivalry wasn’t one

    It's a great rivalry and has all the ingredients of a great rivalry, it's just been a dozen years since it was one. 1. They met almost exclusively in finals, a key factor in great rivalries, b/w 2006 and 2010. 2. Multiple GS title fights during that time frame, on all surfaces. 3. Both guys...
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    Now that we know Fed/Nadal will never play another ATP match

    Certainly the matches during the 2006 clay season, the Wimbledon trilogy, the two great clashes in Australia, etc. are appropriately up there in terms of quality, context, etc. I'll raise a glass to RG 2011 as well, which was a pretty high quality encounter in terms of ball-striking and also...
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    2022 US Open SF: [17] Karen Khachanov vs [5] Casper Ruud

    Such a clinical performance at 23. Sturdy game, sturdy mind. Impressive kid.
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    Dimon and Rothenberg say that the Alcaraz - Sinner QF is possibly in the top 3 matches this century (including Big 3 ones). Are they right?

    Never been certain how to "rank" one great match over another, but this one is in the conversation, and involves a 19 and 21 year old in 2022 - which is great to see. I'm sort of still hoping for one more Nadal-Djokovic title fight somewhere off clay next year, but the sport is in good hands...
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    Pop quiz hotshot - Who was the last mens player to win the most slams in a season but not become number one?

    Novak has a piece of 2016, rankings or no. That's a co-Player of the Year, split decision season if ever there was one.
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    The Tyranny of Metrics – a Defence of Federer

    You make a number of good points. Rog put a lot of money in his pocket over the years elevating the slam chase, and then slam count, to greater prominence, in a way that probably flattened out the sport (though the whole thing was inevitable once the bureaucrats sorted the tour out structurally...
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    Would Becker have beaten McEnroe at 1985 Wimbledon?

    Connors v. Becker in the 1985 final is an under-the-radar fascinating "what if" matchup.
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    Nadal: "Kyrgios is handicapped"

    Definitely some venting in there, though he also tells no lies. Was an enjoyable final, and Kyrgios is to be commended for giving the best version of himself on the biggest stage. That said, the result was never in doubt. Nobody's gonna win Wimbledon against somebody as great and unruffled as...
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    Did Connors in fact win tournaments on Red Clay?

    This comes up every few years - he won the Volvo in North Conway, NH, 3x on red clay, in 1975, 1976, and 1980. Source: https://www.conwaydailysun.com/news/remembering-the-days-of-the-volvo-30-years-later/article_374f67c2-f17f-5249-84e9-f612fbf51eaa.html Excerpt from source: "It's hard to...
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    Young or Older Rafa?

    The older version, suddenly remembering his Tennyson during set 5 of the 2019 Open final. Ulysses-dal: "old age hath yet his honour and his toil...."
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    Top 3 players per year from 1877 to 2020 (with a regular update)

    I always appreciate effortful analyses of tennis history, but this is a very subjective list, almost a paradigmatic example of retrofitting history to conform to player, tour, tournament, and structural biases. As an obvious example, your namesake, Ivan Lendl, would've killed for Bjorn Borg's...
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    Quarantine Deep Dives - Quality Wins at a GS Event

    Thanks for the feedback. Not meant to capture all there is to capture, and of course all title fight victories (like the 2004 and 2009 finals against Roddick) are self-evidently quality wins. I'd be fine with adding all GS title fight wins to the total; just wanted to capture faceoffs b/w...
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    Quarantine Deep Dives - Quality Wins at a GS Event

    II: Partial Attendance Era (Open Era Players born in the 1940s and 1950s) 1. Jimmy Connors, Quality Wins: 17 Australian Open (appeared 2x, 1974-75) None Roland Garros (banned/skipped, 1974-78) 1985 QF, d. Stefan Edberg RG Total: 1 Wimbledon 1974 QF, d. Jan Kodes 1974 F, d. Ken...
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    Quarantine Deep Dives - Quality Wins at a GS Event

    T11. Andy Murray, Quality Wins: 8 Australian Open 2010 QF, d. Rafael Nadal 2013 SF, d. Roger Federer AO Total: 2 Roland Garros 2016 SF, d. Stan Wawrinka RG Total: 1 Wimbledon 2013 F, d. Novak Djokovic Wimbledon Total: 1 United States Open 2008 QF, d. Juan Martin Del Potro 2008...
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    Quarantine Deep Dives - Quality Wins at a GS Event

    6. Andre Agassi, Quality Wins: 20 Australian Open 1995 QF, d. Yevgeny Kafelnikov 1995 F, d. Pete Sampras 1996 QF, d. Jim Courier 2000 SF, d. Pete Sampras 2000 F, d. Yevgeny Kafelnikov 2001 SF, d. Patrick Rafter AO Total: 6 Roland Garros 1990 QF, d. Michael Chang 1991 SF, d. Boris Becker...
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    Quarantine Deep Dives - Quality Wins at a GS Event

    Hello all - my best to you and yours in tumultuous times. To pass the days and pay homage to the greats of our beloved sport, I dug into a question that had interested me: what I'm calling "quality" wins at a given major championship during the Open Era (they're all quality on some level of...
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    Your definitive top ten winning performances of Big Match Rafa

    I think your list is great, though there's something to be said for the 2006 RG final, in which Nadal rallied from a first set breadstick to deny Rog 4 straight majors b/w 2005-06 (and probably halted what would've turned out to be a Martina-esque 7 straight majors b/w 2005-07 or something...
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    2019 Grand Slam winners predictions

    AO - Djokovic d. Zverev RG - Thiem d. Djokovic SW19 - Nadal d. Djokovic US Open - Djokovic d. Shapovalov YE #1 - Djokovic
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    Is Novak Djokovic the best ever?

    He could very well wind up being the best ever. He's in the perfect headspace right now to claim the throne over the next 1-3 seasons. As one example of many, look at recent comments about Federer and Nadal - glowing, but if you look closer, he has totally detached from the idea of being...
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    Nadal will end the year #1.....

    A few thoughts: 1. I agree that if Djokovic wins the YEC but Nadal finishes #1, it would be very, very hard to see 2018 as anything other than Djokovic's alone, based on the way I evaluate the question. I respect that some people just look at the YE ranking and are done with it (just like...
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    Nadal will end the year #1.....

    Should be a fun fall season - all outcomes are in play (Nadal #1, Novak #1, split decision). 2016 was absolutely a co-#1 season, by the way, which I think will become consensus as it fades into tennis history. Murray being considered sole #1 that year was a byproduct of novelty and recency...
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    Novak: Amazing and.. not very exciting?

    Novak isn't boring to watch - he is a master at the mental game (particularly against big hitters). There are stretches where it kind of feels like he resembles the computer player in an old tennis video game, but all that represents is an ability to maximize playing style according to the...
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    Utterly foolish new column about eliminating best of five matches

    The kind of people who are bored or have too short attention spans for Bo5 matches very likely feel the same about Bo3 matches - they'll just skip around and watch the highlights. Very rarely do changes made to a sport for the benefit of the "casual" fan, over the objections of most dedicated...
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    Nadal and Fed will never meet in the US open sadly.

    2008 and 2017 are the disappointing ones - I'm a fan of the Novak-Rafa trilogy from the first part of this decade, as well as Del Potro's fantastic '09 run, so the near misses in 2009-11 and 2013 are fine as is. 2017 was shaping up to be the battle for #1 for the season, but wasn't to be...
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    The Roscoe Tanner Appreciation Society

    Had a habit of chopping down big trees in big moments during their best years - Connors Wimbledon 1976, Borg US Open 1979 come to mind.
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