Alcaraz is carrying the tour

Fabresque

Legend
Nadal retiring. Djokovic close to retiring. That’s basically the two GOATs gone right there. There’s too much drama and controversy with Sinner’s doping and Zverev’s domestic violence cases. Sinner in general is just an aura-less carrot anyways.

Medvedev doesn’t inspire anyone and neither does the rest of the top 10. Just a bunch of names. Guys like Berdych, Tsonga, Davydenko, Gasquet had insane aura. Now we’ve got “Alex de Minaur”. I guess Dimitrov is still around…

Alcaraz is the last hope for the tour going forward. Kid is good and has incredible aura. Time to get behind him.

Carlos-Alcaraz-3.jpg
 

Aabye5

G.O.A.T.
Nadal retiring. Djokovic close to retiring. That’s basically the two GOATs gone right there. There’s too much drama and controversy with Sinner’s doping and Zverev’s domestic violence cases. Sinner in general is just an aura-less carrot anyways.

Medvedev doesn’t inspire anyone and neither does the rest of the top 10. Just a bunch of names. Guys like Berdych, Tsonga, Davydenko, Gasquet had insane aura. Now we’ve got “Alex de Minaur”. I guess Dimitrov is still around…

Alcaraz is the last hope for the tour going forward. Kid is good and has incredible aura. Time to get behind him.

Carlos-Alcaraz-3.jpg

Must be...

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No. Carlitos is not carrying the Tour. He almost was two years ago, but even then the big 3 were still pushing their way into the limelight. Those glorious gloryhounds.
 

jxs653

Professional
No individual is that important in tennis. Even when the Big #3 was alive and well it never occurred to me that they carry men's tennis. Is it human nature to have to find something/someone to worship.
 

JMR

Hall of Fame
Guys like Berdych, Tsonga, Davydenko, Gasquet had insane aura.

It shouldn't be necessary to indulge in off-the-wall mythologizing just to tout a current player. We're talking about four guys here with zero slams titles among them and just two slam finals combined. None of those guys had any appreciable "aura." Gasquet wasn't even a serious threat to win anything significant. The other three could at least put it together against a top guy on a big stage on rare occasions, but their reputation was more "Don't worry, he'll fall short in the end" than anything else.
 

vokazu

Legend
Ok, but if he's losing to Zverev or even Medvedev in the upcoming AO it's not a good look.

Will he do well in YEC? Losing in Shanghai Masters and Paris Masters to Machac & Umbert is not a good look for him.
 

nolefam_2024

Bionic Poster
Ok, but if he's losing to Zverev or even Medvedev in the upcoming AO it's not a good look.

Will he do well in YEC? Losing in Shanghai Masters and Paris Masters to Machac & Umbert is not a good look for him.
Don't wait for his failures. Maybe he won't fail even. You need to pick and choose come on.
 

socallefty

G.O.A.T.
Alcaraz and Djokovic are the only players left who will make me shell out big bucks to watch a semi or final. Otherwise I’m happy enough to watch young guys like Fils, Mensik, Perricard, Draper, Michelsen, Shelton, Lehecka etc. in the early rounds to see what their potential is. I’ll watch matches by Fritz and Ruud also from the top 10, but not much interest in watching Zverev, Medvedev, Rublev, deMinaur or Dimitrov. And I’ve been reluctant to watch Sinner even on TV since he got busted for drugs - I somewhat liked watching him before that as he plays at a high level even if he lacks star power for me.
 

mahatma

Hall of Fame
Nadal retiring. Djokovic close to retiring. That’s basically the two GOATs gone right there. There’s too much drama and controversy with Sinner’s doping and Zverev’s domestic violence cases. Sinner in general is just an aura-less carrot anyways.

Medvedev doesn’t inspire anyone and neither does the rest of the top 10. Just a bunch of names. Guys like Berdych, Tsonga, Davydenko, Gasquet had insane aura. Now we’ve got “Alex de Minaur”. I guess Dimitrov is still around…

Alcaraz is the last hope for the tour going forward. Kid is good and has incredible aura. Time to get behind him.

Carlos-Alcaraz-3.jpg
Alcaraz is incredible. A generational talent and quite likeable player.

Saying all this. I support Medvedev and Zverev going forward. lol
 

mahatma

Hall of Fame
Yes and then zverev beat up woman
I am choosing a player in sport. Not a person to teach me how to live a life lol.

It doesn't matter to me - what any player does in his personal life. What matters is - he is playing the sport in a right clean way. It's a tennis forum, not a life judgement forum.

So I choose a Zverev over a Sinner.
 
Guys like Berdych
had insane aura
is Tomas Berdych in some sort of Czech mafia? does he have blackmail on random people or does he just pay them for this kind of deranged propaganda?
Now we’ve got “Alex de Minaur”
It shouldn't be necessary to indulge in off-the-wall mythologizing just to tout a current player. We're talking about four guys here with zero slams titles among them and just two slam finals combined. None of those guys had any appreciable "aura." Gasquet wasn't even a serious threat to win anything significant. The other three could at least put it together against a top guy on a big stage on rare occasions, but their reputation was more "Don't worry, he'll fall short in the end" than anything else.
if Gasquet wanted to do drugs and lose 18 times to a single opponent while actually having aura he should have taken lessons from Gerulaitis
 

SonnyT

Legend
Nadal's gone, and Djokovic's a shadow of himself, all you have is the name! You need at least two players to carry the water. Besides, Carlos is often injured!
 

Winner Sinner

Professional
These threads are hilarious.
People who believe they are above justice and allow themselves to call Sinner a drug addict nonchalantly, perhaps supporting Alcaraz, one of the representatives of the most rotten sports movement in the fight against doping in the last 20 years.
A system so corrupt that in the famous Operacion Puerto several athletes from various nations were involved with severe sanctions but coincidentally no Spanish athlete was actually involved, all unpunished even though Doctor Fuentes' headquarters was in Madrid.

The scandalous cover-up that allowed the reigning Olympic triple jump champion, a Spaniard of Cuban origin, to get away with it is now just news.

Remember these phrases pronounced by Eufemiano Fuentes;

«If I spoke, Spain would no longer have either the European Championships or the World Cup»

“If I speak, sport in Spain ends..”
 
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FeroBango

Legend
You love your boring bots lol. I guess we are destined to be on opposite sides

He is a HC gloryhunter & so full of hatred against Rafa, that he hates his countryman Alcaraz as well, without any solid reason whatsoever (or made up, highly inflated reasons)
The perennial holder of line o the bots brings shame by betraying the big chunk of anti-Sinner Nolefam of the internet.

PavvyG and Puneet have a bounty on his head.
 

Winner Sinner

Professional
Winner, so you're implying that Spain is just above Russia, only, when testing times come!
I'm saying that it's absurd to define Sinner as someone who used illicit practices when the first-instance ruling of the independent court cleared him of such responsibilities, and Wada did the same thing with its appeal in which it doesn't accuse him of having used illicit practices to improve performance, but it accuses him that for his two positives for contamination he should have better controlled some dynamics within his staff.

Here for some despite these proven facts Sinner is not even given the benefit of the doubt.
Then I know very well that even the judicial system is not 100% reliable, sometimes one can even be cleared of certain charges precisely because it is impossible through evidence to demonstrate the thesis on purpose.
Regardless of what the final ruling will be, only Sinner and his staff will know the truth of the facts.

I simply say that to accuse someone of being a cheater you need evidence otherwise we could accuse everyone of being a cheater, even those who do not test positive for a doping test, since not testing positive for a doping test does not give you absolute certainty that athlete X has not used illicit substances, but only gives you absolute certainty that athlete X has not tested positive for a doping test, which are two different things.
It has been known since the dawn of time that doping in sport is always one step ahead of anti-doping, with the consequent possibility of circumventing the various controls.

So the case of the Spanish sports movement comes back into fashion, which is well known as the most accommodating movement in the fight against doping. A system that protects its representatives to the max.
I could cite the case of the cyclist Valverde, who while he was banned by the federations of France and Italy without permission to compete within the two aforementioned nations due to his involvement in doping-related issues, at the same time in Spain was unpunished and free to compete as if nothing had happened.
 

nam416

Semi-Pro
Nadal retiring. Djokovic close to retiring. That’s basically the two GOATs gone right there. There’s too much drama and controversy with Sinner’s doping and Zverev’s domestic violence cases. Sinner in general is just an aura-less carrot anyways.

Medvedev doesn’t inspire anyone and neither does the rest of the top 10. Just a bunch of names. Guys like Berdych, Tsonga, Davydenko, Gasquet had insane aura. Now we’ve got “Alex de Minaur”. I guess Dimitrov is still around…

Alcaraz is the last hope for the tour going forward. Kid is good and has incredible aura. Time to get behind him.

Carlos-Alcaraz-3.jpg
Davy had insane aura? Now I've heard it all... Agree with the rest of the post.
 

atatu

Legend
It's pretty clear that Alcaraz is focused on the Grand Slams and his goal is to get in the 20's, he doesn't really care that much about other tournaments. That's ok and really it makes sense, but in no way is that "carrying the Tour."
 
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Ehh not really. Dude sucks on hardcourts which makes up the bulk of the season. If anything sinner will be carrying the load next year if he doesn’t get suspended. He’s better across all surfaces
 
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nolefam_2024

Bionic Poster
Ehh not really. Dude sucks on hardcourts which makes up the bulk of the season. If anything sinner will be carrying the load next year if he doesn’t get suspended. He’s better across all surfaces
He doesn't suck but he is carrying nothing
A few shots in by Tiafoe and he has 1 slam season and then everything changes. He has such a bad floor. Its ok at 21. Let's see.
 
He doesn't suck but he is carrying nothing
A few shots in by Tiafoe and he has 1 slam season and then everything changes. He has such a bad floor. Its ok at 21. Let's see.

We’ll see what happens I guess. He’s lucky he won a slam at all this year. RG he was down to both sinner and Zverev and had to make a comeback. I expect sinner to be much improved on clay and grass next season as well
 

nolefam_2024

Bionic Poster
We’ll see what happens I guess. He’s lucky he won a slam at all this year. RG he was down to both sinner and Zverev and had to make a comeback. I expect sinner to be much improved on clay and grass next season
We don't need to see. He has kicked sinner out on hc two times out of two times this year.

Sinner better start beating him back again. Alcaraz is not that bad on hc.
 
We don't need to see. He has kicked sinner out on hc two times out of two times this year.

Sinner better start beating him back again. Alcaraz is not that bad on hc.

I don’t think he wins the channel slam again next year so that will pressure on him to win some hardcourt slams. I don’t care about best of 3. Means nothing really. Slams and year end of title is all that matters
 

nolefam_2024

Bionic Poster
I don’t think he wins the channel slam again next year so that will pressure on him to win some hardcourt slams. I don’t care about best of 3. Means nothing really. Slams and year end of title is all that matters
Who knows
Borg did it 3 times in a row. There is no one else close to raz on natural surfaces. It's very possible.

So you are just WRONG to say he has pressure. He has zero pressure if anything he is in most privileged position having won 3 different slams by age 21 and could complete career slam before turning 22.

Zero pressure.
 

Lauren_Girl'

Hall of Fame
Nadal retiring. Djokovic close to retiring. That’s basically the two GOATs gone right there. There’s too much drama and controversy with Sinner’s doping and Zverev’s domestic violence cases. Sinner in general is just an aura-less carrot anyways.

Medvedev doesn’t inspire anyone and neither does the rest of the top 10. Just a bunch of names. Guys like Berdych, Tsonga, Davydenko, Gasquet had insane aura. Now we’ve got “Alex de Minaur”. I guess Dimitrov is still around…

Alcaraz is the last hope for the tour going forward. Kid is good and has incredible aura. Time to get behind him.

Davydenko Gasquet and Berdych had aura? Not for me. Gasquet doped too so I don't see how he is better than Sinner. Berdych had a robotic game. I can agree about Tsonga... unfortunately he remained slamless so he will be quickly forgotten outside of France.

Djokovic may retire in 2028 or later as far as we know. I wouldn't say he is close to retiring until he officially announces it. This year he suffered from many injuries and made sacrifices for the Olympics. I think he said he will play more in 2025. He is still way more popular than Alcaraz at this point. Crowds are always full when Djokovic plays. Every Slams beat records of attendance in 2023 and he was the common denominator. I won't act like he will retire any minute. Many fans (myself included) still think he can win a Slam next year. He is still top-5 even when he is not at his best.

Not a Zverev or Sinner fan but they are innocent at this point, whether you like it or not. I am still keeping an open mind about Sinner until the case is over. Zverev's trial is officially done. Unless there is a new twist in this case I am not going to judge him over allegations that didn't amount to anything. In the eyes of the law these allegations weren't true. Again, not defending them, just stating the facts.

What's so bad about De Minaur? He is good for tennis. Don't know if he has "aura" but his tennis is way more entertaining to watch compared to Medvedev, Fritz, Ruud or Rublev for instance. I don't care for Medvedev but you say he doesn't inspire anyone and that's inaccurate too.

Then there are players like Rune, Shelton or Fils. I do think they have aura and will be popular if they start winning big titleds.
 
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It's pretty clear that Alcaraz is focused on the Grand Slams and his goal is to get in the 20's, he doesn't really care that much about other tournaments. That's ok and really it makes sense, but in no way is that "carrying the Tour."
Alcaraz is very likely to win 3 slams in a calendar year, because he won RG and Wimbledon this year, and he beat Sinner twice on hardcourt!
So would he be "carrying the tour" if he wins 3 slams in year?
Without much competition on grass, he'll win Wimbledon every year most likely, and as he matures he'll be more patient and that will make RG easier to win I think.
And yeah he's not as consistent at the hardcourt slams, but he's clearly good enough to win them.
 

Aabye5

G.O.A.T.
It shouldn't be necessary to indulge in off-the-wall mythologizing just to tout a current player. We're talking about four guys here with zero slams titles among them and just two slam finals combined. None of those guys had any appreciable "aura." Gasquet wasn't even a serious threat to win anything significant. The other three could at least put it together against a top guy on a big stage on rare occasions, but their reputation was more "Don't worry, he'll fall short in the end" than anything else.

Aura doesn't equal success.
 

Fabresque

Legend
You can have aura and still not be a great player or famous winner in tennis.

Fognini wasn’t that good, top 10 for a little and won a masters but had near unmatchable aura. Sinner on the contrary is the best player of his generation and has the aura and personality of a stick.
 

JMR

Hall of Fame
You can have aura and still not be a great player or famous winner in tennis.

Fognini wasn’t that good, top 10 for a little and won a masters but had near unmatchable aura.
No, you are confusing "aura" with being exciting, flashy, or unpredictable, or having charisma. A true tennis aura is an air of invincibility -- an intimidating impact on other players from just your identity and your past results. In the most extreme cases, "aura" results in the proverbial "he was beaten before he even stepped on the court."

Fognini had no aura. No one was afraid of him or in awe of him. But he was/is an entertaining player, I'll grant you that.
 

Fabresque

Legend
No, you are confusing "aura" with being exciting, flashy, or unpredictable, or having charisma. A true tennis aura is an air of invincibility -- an intimidating impact on other players from just your identity and your past results. In the most extreme cases, "aura" results in the proverbial "he was beaten before he even stepped on the court."

Fognini had no aura. No one was afraid of him or in awe of him. But he was/is an entertaining player, I'll grant you that.
Nadal was petrified of the Fogna.
 
Man, the circus seems to do the rounds on this board, hilarious stuff, possibly for unintended reasons.
Carlitos is an excellent player who has achieved many things already at a young age. Quite why this translates into 'carrying' the sport is frankly bizarre, especially as he has some worthy rivals, one of whom has had the best year on tour this year and is the number 1 ranked player. In any event, no player plays himself, all on the tour contribute to it.

The Big 3 have often said, and both Jannik and Carlitos say that their best rivals help them to play their best level, and to improve. This seems to be a more realistic take.
 

Rosstour

G.O.A.T.
is Tomas Berdych in some sort of Czech mafia? does he have blackmail on random people or does he just pay them for this kind of deranged propaganda?


if Gasquet wanted to do drugs and lose 18 times to a single opponent while actually having aura he should have taken lessons from Gerulaitis

lol WOW
 

FeroBango

Legend
You can have aura and still not be a great player or famous winner in tennis.

Fognini wasn’t that good, top 10 for a little and won a masters but had near unmatchable aura. Sinner on the contrary is the best player of his generation and has the aura and personality of a stick.
As much as he's despicable, Kyrgios got away with his antics because of the aura he had. Sure it was that brat aura but he wasn't bland.
 
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