Diamond Age has Begun

@Meles - I don't see the career leader in #aces/match on your Diamond Age list? :-)

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Zara said:
Don't lie to yourself now. You've never waited for anyone to come along. You just want Federer (same with other fanbases) to stick around forever. It's some of your (not just you) harsh judgements of these young players' always make me question things. Instead of encouraging them you lot resort to calling them mugs whenever you get a chance. And not only that, you criticize every move they make. It's just pathetic.
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Federer retired 2022. End of the year .
 
Meles said:
Golden Age was the big 4.
Now until 2030 we have Diamond Age:
1. Five players form the core of the Diamond Age with elite potential and the ability to win all four slams; Tsitsipas (20), Auger-Alliasime (18), Shapovalov (19), Zverev (21), Coric (21). Coric likely to have more of a Murray/Wawrinka career. The rest high single digit slams, maybe more for one or two.
2. de Minaur (19), Rublev (20), and Tiafoe (20) all have slam potential and also very young. Throw in the big serving Medvedev and Khachanov as one or two hit wonders possibly.
3. The early part of the Diamond Age will be Big 3 (maybe 4 or 5) and Thiem contending for majors, but the younger players will be making deeper runs by 2020.
Its really quite a group of players and the earliest cross age clashes between Gold and Diamond will continue to be historic and fascinating encounters. ATP in great shape if you have a clue on what to expect. More support discussion to follow in next post so those without a clue may get some.
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tennis_pro said:
250s that nobody plays - check.

Next stop, a Masters 3rd round.

:cool:
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TP?:sneaky:
Diamond Age firing on all cylinders:
1. Younger player Khach won Paris over Big 3/5 player (see step 3 above). Fed lost to Djoko in SF, Thiem went down to Khachanov.
2. NextGen Zverev WTF over Djoko (also knocked out Fed) LostGen/Geriatric Pigeon Anderson loses 6-2, 6-2 to Djoko in other SF
3. Big 3 clash in Auz Open final. Fed lost to Diamond Age elite Tsitsipas
4. Thiem wins over Fed. Nadal SF. Raonic makes credible LostGen run to SF. Djoko loses to geriatric Kohly

That is slim picking for LostGen/Geriatric Pigeon set with just two SF appearances in 4 events. Diamond Age confirmed.

Player by player:
1. Tsitsipas - 3rd in ATP race and of course Auz Open SF, big checkmark
2. Auger-Alliasime - unbelievable progress this year on clay and paying off on hard courts; just qualified for Miami, 26th in ATP race at 18.:eek:
3. Zverev - better start than last year with Acapulco final where he played well, but lacking against Kyrgios
4. Shapovalov - change to serve mid-season 2018 starting to payoff and back already up to 67.4% points won on serve after dipping to 64.0% after serve change in 2018. Unbelievably hitting harder than ever. Has beaten lively Berdych this year and easy win over Cilic at IW. The backhand has been standing out and he may fair well on clay once again as Shapo will really have time to tee off from both wings on clay.:whistle: 41 ATP race
5. Coric - nothing amazing yet so far this year, but not horrible; 30th atp race

6. Medvedev - 9th in ATP race and has continued solid ground game and even was 2nd in hard court return behind Djokovic with a very strong 43% of return points won on hard in 2019. The Medvedev serve has tailed off tremendously, but just a matter of time before he gets back to the great serving of the Fall.
7. Khachanov - won Paris of course beating a bunch of top players. Rough start to 2019 with racket change and illness, but gave Nadal another rough match at IW (Nadal withdrew next match). He's fine. 53 in race
8. Rublev - still returning well, beat Tsonga and Pouille this year. 52.9% 2nd serve won which is well up from abysmal 44.3% of 2018. His ranking has dropped a lot, so not getting good draws and had to qualify at IW and now Miami. 60 in ATP race
9. Tiafoe - good QF at Auz beating Cilic and Dimitrov, but rather poor play since this breakthrough:sick: 25 in ATP race
10. Demon - won Sydney (a goal), rather quiet since with limited play, 20th in atp race

11. Big 5 plus Thiem - all doing well enough, even Wawrinka:love:, but Murray has retired and Nadal retired from IW and sitting out Miami to protect knee for clay.:sick:

Surprises:
1. Pouille, Djere, Opelka, and Kyrgios, all top 15 in ATP race and younger players
2. Monfils got back and is gone now with Achilles injury and is the main pigeon/geriatric besides Bendych trying to hold down that fort. Journeyman Pella in top 15 for now with more clay coming up soon.
 
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I dont know if "Diamond Age" is the proper name for an era with slam winners that coudnt beat Big4 until they used crutches on court...
 
Druss said:
I remember similar write ups about the likes of Donald Young, Ryan Harrison, Bernie Tomic etc....What have they done? Sometimes a 'young gun' shows potential early on, but whether they deliver, that's a different matter altogether.
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I agree. I also think that you shouldn't really rule out people making quick progress at an older age. Everyone on the ATP tour is reaching their best later now.
 
Just like the tide goes in and out, these posts by Meles are always followed by beat downs of NextGen; Thiem, Khakanov, Pouille and more to follow...
 
hush, hush darling ... don't talk :).

Well, Meles won here. Monty Python :laughing:. Now, I do know that 'youngsters' on this board probably don't know who they are but google it. That's a real diamond. Gee Meles how did you come up with this (y)? Well done.
 
BGod said:
I got Zverev winning 5 Slams.

QTJHIwr.png

NFQ0r6U.png


Somebody has to win those Masters.
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Next level BGod; Zedrot should have this on his wall.

You can't really call these players until age 24 (25 in the case of Thiem it seems). Even down in the dumps back broke Rublev had a great Miami tournament that included slamming Cilic and taking a red hot Shapo to the wall. He may get back on the radar on clay. Rublev has a credible return game and if he makes a serve jump like Medvedev did at age 22.5 then could deliver nicely.

The one young player that I'll say is an absolute GOAT threat right now is Felix, aka FAA. He's at 53.1% points won so far on hard courts in 2019 which is beyond any of the Big 4 save Nadal in 2005 who was 2 months *******. Felix also looks like a boy right now with a lot of maturing yet to come physically.

You can't fully predict anything at age 18 and I wouldn't even cap Zverev quite yet as he's still got 2020 to make his big surge, something that happens for a lot of the betterer players around age 22 or a bit laterer.
 
Luka888 said:
hush, hush darling ... don't talk :).

Well, Meles won here. Monty Python:laughing:. Now, I do know that 'youngsters' on this board probably don't know who they are but google it. That's a real diamond. Gee Meles how did you come up with this (y)? Well done.
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@Meles is older than he acts around here.
 
Luka888 said:
hush, hush darling ... don't talk :).

Well, Meles won here. Monty Python:laughing:. Now, I do know that 'youngsters' on this board probably don't know who they are but google it. That's a real diamond. Gee Meles how did you come up with this (y)? Well done.
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That's been in the bag for .... since early 2018 as has this favorite:
O2e77Dd.gif


Python style animation not so hard to edit:
PepeWorm.bmp
 
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Meles said:
Next level BGod; Zedrot should have this on his wall.

You can't really call these players until age 24 (25 in the case of Thiem it seems). Even down in the dumps back broke Rublev had a great Miami tournament that included slamming Cilic and taking a red hot Shapo to the wall. He may get back on the radar on clay. Rublev has a credible return game and if he makes a serve jump like Medvedev did at age 22.5 then could deliver nicely.

The one young player that I'll say is an absolute GOAT threat right now is Felix, aka FAA. He's at 53.1% points won so far on hard courts in 2019 which is beyond any of the Big 4 save Nadal in 2005 who was 2 months *******. Felix also looks like a boy right now with a lot of maturing yet to come physically.

You can't fully predict anything at age 18 and I wouldn't even cap Zverev quite yet as he's still got 2020 to make his big surge, something that happens for a lot of the betterer players around age 22 or a bit laterer.
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6-3 7-6(5) for Shapo and it only got close when The Hat regressed into walkabout mode in the second set. The Tsits match was the one where Denis was on the ropes to the end.
 
stringertom said:
6-3 7-6(5) for Shapo and it only got close when The Hat regressed into walkabout mode in the second set. The Tsits match was the one where Denis was on the ropes to the end.
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You watched the match? Rublev looked very good and of course a tiebreaker is close especially with Shapo's penchant until this event of blowing leads.
 
Meles said:
You watched the match? Rublev looked very good and of course a tiebreaker is close especially with Shapo's penchant until this event of blowing leads.
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Russian Rublette enters TBs with five out of six chambers filled with bullets. His idol on tour is Robin Haase.

I remember Andrey fearing the net big time when he could have made the match a lot closer than it wound up.
 
stringertom said:
Russian Rublette enters TBs with five out of six chambers filled with bullets. His idol on tour is Robin Haase.

I remember Andrey fearing the net big time when he could have made the match a lot closer than it wound up.
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Let's see how much Federe comes to net against Shapo before completely throwing Rublev under the bus. I've seen Rublev come to net plenty and he does have a doubles title. He's also just starting to get back some of his great game from a year ago.:p
 
Meles said:
Let's see how much Federe comes to net against Shapo before completely throwing Rublev under the bus. I've seen Rublev come to net plenty and he does have a doubles title. He's also just starting to get back some of his great game from a year ago.:p
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Whatever, dude. Nobody was throwing him under the bus; I just know his limitations currently. If you look at @falstaff78 ’s dedicated Rubylev thread I’m one of his more active supporters, unlike you jumping on every frigging bandwagon after one of your gems plays a good match or, in this case, part of a match.
 
Meles said:
Like shooting geriatric pigeons in a barrel
pmvR2bg.gif
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Well this is a whole new era, there are now no players in their 20s in the SFs:)

Players now have an early peak before 20, then they start to peak again when they move out of their parents house in their 30s;)
 
stringertom said:
Whatever, dude. Nobody was throwing him under the bus; I just know his limitations currently. If you look at @falstaff78 ’s dedicated Rubylev thread I’m one of his more active supporters, unlike you jumping on every frigging bandwagon after one of your gems plays a good match or, in this case, part of a match.
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Try watching rather than looking at tickers.;)
 
OP didn't even have Medvedev on the radar. Amazing how he's really put himself in the mix as on of, if not the prime contender. (Also amazing how Zverev put himself up there too)
 
King No1e said:
OP didn't even have Medvedev on the radar. Amazing how he's really put himself in the mix as on of, if not the prime contender. (Also amazing how Zverev put himself up there too)
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Medly was the whole reason this thread was created and my certainty that the below were no threat.
www.eurosport.com

Predicted: The men’s top 10 players in 2018

It's always incredibly tough to forecast the ups and downs of tennis players, but sometimes - just sometimes - experts get it just right.
www.eurosport.com www.eurosport.com

b5KXhV1RYf7NKfoDtxnfg6Dwrzo0u6_kOseMoU7eSSo.jpg
 
Meles said:
Fair enough and he's decidedly floundering just a bit in my mind this year so the rankings projections graph maybe not so good....
ATGNextGenRankingGraph.png

FAA was the leader in this pack, but even with heart issues still tracking awfully well. All these rocketing up ranking like ATG.
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Still on track except Zed’s slump, but that could be ending real soon.
 
Meles said:
I'm not even going to compare Bendy, Nishi, or Ferrer because they just don't have remotely similar accomplishments at the same age.

Let's do take a look at the Golden component of the diamond age. I'm willing to write off Murray at this point because his comeback from hip surgery has just been too slow. Wawrinka may yet have some fight left in him and I think Magnus Norman back with him means they think something is possible. Looking at his recent results he's clearly at least at top 20 level.

Federe still will have opportunities at Wimbledon and the upcoming Auz Open for sure, but I think we can write off the US Open at this point. He's not been NextGen resistant enough and they are good on outdoor hard courts. I thought he'd play until age 40, but now I expect to hang around in top ten through Tokyo. With Djokovic back on the prowl it would be a miracle if he got two more slams.

Nadal will be player to beat for 2019 RG, but I think the cracks will really be apparent that his days are numbered on clay. Thiem, Zverev, Tsitsipas are big threats and will be on close footing with Djoko on clay in 2019. Coric may finally emerge as a real clay threat in 2019. Khachanov has done well enough to have hopes of taking another step. Shapo should continue to develop on clay nicely. I'd say two more RGs tops for Nadal and maybe somehow a total of three slams.

Djoko will have a lot more staying power than Nadal. He'll be the favorite at Wimbledon and I don't see any of the young players ready to cause trouble in 2019. Somebody has to win 2019 Auz and if its not Fed, Djoko looks good. Tsitsipas is a bit of an unknown at Auz so hard to see him contending. Shapo might suprise because really his early 2018 showed great potential:
3 / 2018 Australian Open
R64 Hard Jo Wilfried Tsonga Denis Shapovalov 3-6 6-3 1-6 7-6(4) 7-5 H2H 1.69 - 2.10 (Tsonga had won 5 tournaments in 2017 so no slouch at this point.)
R128 Hard Denis Shapovalov Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-1 6-3 7-6(5) H2H
2 / 2018 Auckland
R16 Hard Juan Martin Del Potro Denis Shapovalov 6-2 6-4 H2H 1.33 - 3.20 (won Auckland in top form)
R32 Hard Denis Shapovalov Rogerio Dutra Silva 6-3 6-2 H2H 1.30 - 3.40
52 / 2017 Brisbane
R32 Hard Kyle Edmund Denis Shapovalov 6-7(5) 7-6(4) 6-4 H2H 1.91 - 1.91 (SF at Auz)

Lets say Djoko and Fed split Auz Open 2019. We won't know for sure until Djokovic produces results on the new, faster surface. With US Open set to be a touch slower with the changes this year. Djoko the favorite in 2019, but will have to see how US Open series hard courts goes in 2019 which has been a great surface for NextGen.

Slam outlook:
2019 Auz Fed/Djoko/Nadal
2019 RG Nadal or other if Nadal unhealthy
2019 Wimby Djoko
2019 US Open Djoko
2020 Auz ????
2020 RG Thiem or NextGen or Nadal
2020 Wimby Djoko
2020 US Open ????
2021 All NextGen (or Thiem) except possibly Wimby

I definitely would favor Djoko for those questions marks and something in 2021, but we won't really know until we're through 2019 Auz.

Do you see more beyond this? Do you see LostGen (and I include Cilic and Delpo) or Isner/Anderson somehow winning a slam? Maybe one LostGen slam is the most I see. Somebody has to win slams in the 2020s and its pretty clear in my mind that it will be the NextGen players I identify and perhaps a few for LostGen and Thiem.
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@tennis_pro
Prediction from two years ago not too shabby so far.
 
tennis_pro said:
If they suck at 21 they aren't going to magically start racking up Slams at 26. Stop fooling yourself. They aren't knocking on the door and losing to the big 3. They are barely making the 2nd or 3rd rounds.

I wouldn't be surprised to see someone like Raonic or Dimitrov win a Slam in 2021.
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:-D:-D:-D:-D:-D:-D
 
tennis_pro said:
I don't see a reason why Dimitrov/Raonic/Nishikori at the age of 30/31 can't beat a 24/25 year old Khachanov, Tiafoe or Medvedev in a Slam. They have all had good and bad years and not a lot of consistency in their career. You're basically saying that they are all done which is crazy given their still relatively young age (especially for today's standards).

This is all cherry picking. Nishikori, Raonic and Dimitrov have all underperformed recently. Nishi had some really good performances but not even close to his peak performances of 2013-2016.

I'm not gonna make any predictions because I have no clue how the tour is going to look like 3-5 years from now (probably Federer, Nadal, Djokovic in the top 3 though) nor will I care about a Raonic-Tiafoe Slam final or something.
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:sick:
 
vex said:
I still think Rublev will have a significantly better career than Coric.
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Correct prediction. Coric's Great return game from Miami 2018 just has not really materialized. Played the South American swing but he's really done nothing on Clay. Rublev is getting back on track and then some. Heard a Connie say that he was third in first serve points one this year which is astoundingly high.
 
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abmk said:
another one of those sh*tposts from Meles.
After that Oly. 2004 loss, Federer dominated Berdych, winning like 8 or 9 matches in a row from 2005-09.

and the bold part is another load of bullcr*p.
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Still doubling down on bendy over Medly?:sneaky:
 
reaper said:
De Minaur is the least physically mature of the upcoming players. He looks like a skinny kid. If he puts on some weight and gains strength he might be able to be more of a powerful attacking player rather than a scrambling counter puncher.
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Just so now. Serve game a huge surprise now two years later.
 
abmk said:
if Nishi is "effectively" in the top 10, the win vs Wawa in Wim 17 is "effectively" null&void since Wawa was injured.

and like I said ..

"2003-2007 >> 2016-2018 and 2003-2007 was nowhere near a vacuum, utterly clueless fella.
Berdych had won a Masters by then.
Was 11-25 vs top 10

Medvedev is 1-7 vs top 10 as of now and that win was vs an injured Wawrinka. bah !

berdych had 1 slam QF and 4 4Rs in slams by the end of 2007.
medevedev hasn't even reached 4R of a slam till now. "

at the same age, medvedev had nothing close to what Berdych had done, even with the current clear weak era as compared to the strong era in 2004-2007.

oh and your thread has been EXPOSED.
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:unsure:
 
abmk said:
not even relevant to my post made in Oct 2018. My post at that time was correct for that time.
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What? That Bendych was a superstar? Only held back by Fed?:-D:-D:-D

You said Medly was garbage; don't deny it.:sneaky: The tales that would be told if we compare Med v Bend just one year ago?:-D:-D:-D A scant year after your "correct" poast.
 
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