ESPN’s picks for the slam winners in 2024

Vincent-C said:
Nothing wrong with elitism. Elitism for all, I say!
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Life is unpredictable so we have to be humble and on our toes constantly!

Who knows maybe tomorrow a super Tsunami or a series of massive earthquakes 7+ on the Richter Scale could transform your elite household to poverty??? Or maybe 100 years down the lane your progenies could end up poor when the progenies of migrants take over your lands & wealth ?

Anything is possible tomorrow, the ones who are smug end up as losers. We live in an era where people who were GOAT ended up 3rd Wheel before their own retirement, all that smugness evaporated, didn't it ?

Elitism & complacency never pays.
 
Fans were asked who wins in 2024 though and Djokovic was selected in 4 out of 4 by fans. I think he is not winning CYGS now, a lot can happen to lose the match but especially RG will have Carlos looking for a payback. And USO is going to be very hard because this is Olympics year. But safest bet is Djokovic at all 4 slams as of January 1st.

 
BeatlesFan said:
So is everyone else on the planet. His chance of winning a slam this year are <2%. Hysterical to think he has one chance in a hundred. It's like saying Fucsovics is winning the AO. At that level of idiocy.
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Your predictions have always been wrong historically for years, people used to bump threads regularly showing your wrong predictions !

If I remember correctly you even touted Djokovic to win Wimbledon 2023 and I was right to feel a bit scared after reading your bold prediction and see what happened, because to be honest you a symbolic TTW representation of that 2019 wimbledon 40-15 lady who showed her index finger on MP and jinxed Federer.

Since you've said Ben has no chance, I think he has a good chance to do better than his SF performance last year in front of his home crowd. He is only 20 and despite not having a lot of tennis playing background in growing years his progress has been quick. His chances to win the title are as good as anybody's back home.
 
BeatlesFan said:
So is everyone else on the planet. His chance of winning a slam this year are <2%. Hysterical to think he has one chance in a hundred. It's like saying Fucsovics is winning the AO. At that level of idiocy.
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ESPN has played a massive part in ruining the Americans post-Roddick. The minute any of them does something even remotely of note there’s calls that they’re the next great American and are gonna be winning slams. No opportunity to learn, no opportunity to fail, nothing. You’re 20 and have made the top 50? Slams are up next bud.
 
Fabresque said:
ESPN has played a massive part in ruining the Americans post-Roddick. The minute any of them does something even remotely of note there’s calls that they’re the next great American and are gonna be winning slams. No opportunity to learn, no opportunity to fail, nothing. You’re 20 and have made the top 50? Slams are up next bud.
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Not sure if ESPN is to blame. Andy Roddick is a successful tennis player. But his problem is his last slam win came at age 21/22 so nothing to look forward to.

Since Roddick, there has never been a awe inspiring player. And most people will blame the American playstyle of hammering 1st serve and fh. In the baseline era, they needed someone like Agassi and not Roddick or Fritz.
 
Fabresque said:
ESPN has played a massive part in ruining the Americans post-Roddick. The minute any of them does something even remotely of note there’s calls that they’re the next great American and are gonna be winning slams. No opportunity to learn, no opportunity to fail, nothing. You’re 20 and have made the top 50? Slams are up next bud.
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Standard short-term USian thinking; truth be damned..
 
nolefam_2024 said:
Not sure if ESPN is to blame. Andy Roddick is a successful tennis player. But his problem is his last slam win came at age 21/22 so nothing to look forward to.

Since Roddick, there has never been a awe inspiring player. And most people will blame the American playstyle of hammering 1st serve and fh. In the baseline era, they needed someone like Agassi and not Roddick or Fritz.
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Roddick snagged a single Major; woo-hoo! Not "awe-inspiring" by my book.
 
Razer said:
Life is unpredictable so we have to be humble and on our toes constantly!

Who knows maybe tomorrow a super Tsunami or a series of massive earthquakes 7+ on the Richter Scale could transform your elite household to poverty??? Or maybe 100 years down the lane your progenies could end up poor when the progenies of migrants take over your lands & wealth ?

Anything is possible tomorrow, the ones who are smug end up as losers. We live in an era where people who were GOAT ended up 3rd Wheel before their own retirement, all that smugness evaporated, didn't it ?

Elitism & complacency never pays.
Click to expand...
You’re exactly right on this. Tragically there has been a series of massive earthquakes in Japan over night with severe tsunami. You never can allow for every contingency at every moment so best to be circumspect and be thankful for what you have.

It’s hard to take ESPN predictions too seriously because they have always been wrong. It’s also very hard to make predictions this far out.

The only person in tennis broadcasting with a good track record in this department is Gill Gross. He has a freakish ability to pick not only major winners, but the final four in each major.
 
Subway Tennis said:
You’re exactly right on this. Tragically there has been a series of massive earthquakes in Japan over night with severe tsunami. You never can allow for every contingency at every moment so best to be circumspect and be thankful for what you have.

It’s hard to take ESPN predictions too seriously because they have always been wrong. It’s also very hard to make predictions this far out.

The only person in tennis broadcasting with a good track record in this department is Gill Gross. He has a freakish ability to pick not only major winners, but the final four in each major.
Click to expand...

Yes. He will wait until the draw to speak of anything. Also, he was a kid when he started, now in many podcasts including tennis channel.

 
Subway Tennis said:
You’re exactly right on this. Tragically there has been a series of massive earthquakes in Japan over night with severe tsunami. You never can allow for every contingency at every moment so best to be circumspect and be thankful for what you have.

It’s hard to take ESPN predictions too seriously because they have always been wrong. It’s also very hard to make predictions this far out.

The only person in tennis broadcasting with a good track record in this department is Gill Gross. He has a freakish ability to pick not only major winners, but the final four in each major.
Click to expand...

Yes, need to be thankful for what we have, life could always get better or worse quickly for anyone, future is unpredictable. Similarly in tennis any sort of predictions are weird at this point without even seeing the draw, the form of players, the conditioning. A lot of young players must be working hard in the off season, the results of their work will only be seen in some weeks. We never know whats gonna happen. These guys like Sinner or Shelton whom we write off or hype could still surprise us, same for Alcaraz, if people are writing him off we never know he might even win 2-3 slams and surprise us if he is that good as people say. Nadal himself cannot be written off. Olympics is also there, it could affect Djokovic's slam performance because we know he has this "fetish" towards olympics gold. This year is totally unpredictable at this point.
 
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Fabresque said:
ESPN has played a massive part in ruining the Americans post-Roddick. The minute any of them does something even remotely of note there’s calls that they’re the next great American and are gonna be winning slams. No opportunity to learn, no opportunity to fail, nothing. You’re 20 and have made the top 50? Slams are up next bud.
Click to expand...
ESPN was in the tank to a ridiculous extent with Serena (they blamed the female lines person when Williams threatened to shove the ball down her throat), and also showed a Coco Gauff match in 2021 when Fed played Dan Evans In Qatar, one of his last matches.

Repetitive sin is their stock in trade, has been for years.
 
Fabresque said:
ESPN has played a massive part in ruining the Americans post-Roddick. The minute any of them does something even remotely of note there’s calls that they’re the next great American and are gonna be winning slams. No opportunity to learn, no opportunity to fail, nothing. You’re 20 and have made the top 50? Slams are up next bud.
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That's not quite true. Sofia Kenin actually did win the 2020 Australian Open. I'm surprised ESPN even bothered to show the finals.

So they don't hype EVERY American that does something. Only "certain" ones. I'm really not sure why they don't like Kenin, but they don't.
 
ESPN once again showing their stupidity by disrespecting Djokovic and thinking that Shelton will win a slam. I'm surprised they actually believe Djokovic will win only one slam next year.

Can't wait for Djokovic to destroy Alcaraz in an AO final.
 
nolefam_2024 said:
Fans were asked who wins in 2024 though and Djokovic was selected in 4 out of 4 by fans. I think he is not winning CYGS now, a lot can happen to lose the match but especially RG will have Carlos looking for a payback. And USO is going to be very hard because this is Olympics year. But safest bet is Djokovic at all 4 slams as of January 1st.

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Even if he’s not likely to win CYGS, he is still 100% the favorite at every slam.
 
it is just a trick to attract discussion and no one will seriously go back to point out what they said
apart from this, i think it is a criminal act to have the limited djoker's presence on AO's poster (as well as last year's Wimbledon promotional clip)
i am serious
no matter you likes his style or not, due respect to his achievement shall be given
 
Vincent-C said:
The hype that Tiny gets reminds me of Roddick's, ca 2002.

We'll uh, we'll see how it goes.
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carlos sort of has mental barrier at this moment
he may have everything to defeat djoker, he thinks too much to choose what to win it
if he just focuses on how to play his best game, there will be a bigger chance
patience will be the key to defeat djoker now
 
tennis3 said:
That's not quite true. Sofia Kenin actually did win the 2020 Australian Open. I'm surprised ESPN even bothered to show the finals.

So they don't hype EVERY American that does something. Only "certain" ones. I'm really not sure why they don't like Kenin, but they don't.
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She’s Russian. Not a good PR move to gas up Russians even if they play under the U.S. flag.
 
Shelton winning UO is a classic hype pick. Ben will have an interesting year ahead with more players aware of his game. Not much you can do if he is firing as he did sometimes in late 23 but has clear weaknesses and his return game is subpar.

Gill has a deep knowledge of the sport, is smart and tries to be disciplined so he does (far) better than most.
 
weakera said:
Australian Open:

Men’s: Carlos Alcaraz

Women’s: Coco Gauff

Roland Garros:

Men’s: Rafael Nadal

Women’s: Iga Swiatek

Wimbledon:

Men’s: Novak Djokovic

Women’s: Ons Jabeur

US Open

Men’s: Ben Shelton

Women’s: Aryna Sabalenka
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Honestly for me, on the WTA side I would have Iga in there until otherwise notified, but Gauff and Saby are right there, so fair enough.

ATP wise, I would pick Alcz as a top choice with Sinner in there as well. Nadal is a top pick as usual for the FO, but again I want to see where he is physically and mentally after the AO. Djo is in there but he is probably in his off year of his cycle so might see him do the crash out again.

And Ben who? lol. I mean, he is a good contender, and that would be a great dark horse bet, but outright fave as a winner...not with my money.
 
Don't know why they complicate matters to this extent. Djokovic in AO and Wim, Nadal in French - US will be open as it has been for quite a while now.
 
BeatlesFan said:
is that why he pronounced Holger's name as "Roon" until June, 2023? He only changed that when a reader's comment on YouTube alerted him to the embarrassing gaffe. That's not a deep knowledge of the sport.
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I speak quite a few languages and one can be quite competent within his line of work while mispronouncing something. One Italian show was even unable to write Jannik Sinner correctly after Italy won the Davis Cup!

Who is without sin…
 
Here's my prediction:

Australian Open: Novak Djokovic
French Open: Novak Djokovic
Wimbledon: Novak Djokovic
UsOpen: Janik Sinner
 
Vincent-C said:
What did Andy Roddick *actually do*? He beat a worn-out, under-rested JC Ferrero in one USO Final. That's it..
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He also got to five other finals and the misfortune of playing prime Fed in all five of those. Roddick deserved to win his slam he won, regardless of who it was against.
 
ESPN has never been the best for tennis coverage, but just in general ESPN is sad now.

Ever since Twitter came out and Sportcenter started going over players tweets, instead of just showing sports highlights/previewing big games it’s been horrible.
 
WayneBretsky said:
Multiple GS finals against god-mode Federer, decade in the top 10, he sucks though you’re probably right…
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It’s sad how disrespected Roddick gets, yes, as an American I’m sure he got more hype then he deserved during his career, but he’s extremely underrated now, gets treated like a scrub.
 
mavsman149 said:
ESPN has never been the best for tennis coverage, but just in general ESPN is sad now.

Ever since Twitter came out and Sportcenter started going over players tweets, instead of just showing sports highlights/previewing big games it’s been horrible.
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America centric agenda. And sadly in WTA they had Williams sisters.
 
Azure said:
This seems more realistic although RG is probably a toss up especially before we've seen how they all play on clay.
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I agree. Clay is iffy and Novak can be beaten there. Who knows if Nadal's body holds up - he could be a genuine threat.
Alcaraz didn't impress me last year after Wimbledon at all. His game has now been dissected by other players and he has shown some gaps. So I don't expect him to see winning slams this year.
 
To be honest It's not that bad, Gonna break my views down.

Australian Open ATP: Okay, Ok a little out there but semi buyable. 6/10
Australian Open WTA: A stretch. Sure she's getting better and won a slam on Hard but still, stretchy 4/10

Roland Garros ATP: Sure, I mean It's Nadal and based on his performance vs Thiem, It's not impossible. 7/10
Roland Garros WTA: Ok, Sure. No brainer. 10/10

Wimbledon ATP: No brainer. Mostly Agree unless age strikes. 9/10
Wimbledon WTA: Solid pick, She's folded a few times at he big stage but she for sure a contender. 8/10

US Open ATP: Wat. No, really. Wat.
US open WTA: Solid pick for sure, big hitting on those courts? Yeah. 8/10
 
BeatlesFan said:
is that why he pronounced Holger's name as "Roon" until June, 2023? He only changed that when a reader's comment on YouTube alerted him to the embarrassing gaffe. That's not a deep knowledge of the sport.
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couldn't find him doing this until i went back to June 2022; seems like he's pronounced it closer to the clip on Holger's ATP site (different from the original clip with the two middle names) since the 2022 indoor season. also couldn't find the Mailbag or other video where a commenter brought this up (though i recall that happened), but iirc his explanation was that he didn't want his pronunciation to be distracting and he tends to make a compromise between accuracy and legibility (e.g. don't pronounce Tsitsipas the way McEnroe does, but don't try to perfectly mimic the faithful pronunciation on his site either).
 
Razer said:
You sound like an elitist.

What makes you think you are better off than a fellow poster on the same forum that you post on ?
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I am quite sure next to everyone here can afford a plane ticket to the US lol. Even if not, nothing wrong with it and no reason to get arrogant.
 
Razer said:
Your predictions have always been wrong historically for years, people used to bump threads regularly showing your wrong predictions !

If I remember correctly you even touted Djokovic to win Wimbledon 2023 and I was right to feel a bit scared after reading your bold prediction and see what happened, because to be honest you a symbolic TTW representation of that 2019 wimbledon 40-15 lady who showed her index finger on MP and jinxed Federer.

Since you've said Ben has no chance, I think he has a good chance to do better than his SF performance last year in front of his home crowd. He is only 20 and despite not having a lot of tennis playing background in growing years his progress has been quick. His chances to win the title are as good as anybody's back home.
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Yes next to every prediction regarding Djokovic was wrong. While it was ofc not easy to foresee his success in later years, she always made her wrong predictions with some arrogant certainty as if everyone else was stupid. My favorite one was "Djokovic winning 18 slams is as likely as Mars being colonised".
I should maybe go and bet some money now on Ben winning the USO.
 
BorgTheGOAT said:
Yes next to every prediction regarding Djokovic was wrong. While it was ofc not easy to foresee his success in later years, she always made her wrong predictions with some arrogant certainty as if everyone else was stupid. My favorite one was "Djokovic winning 18 slams is as likely as Mars being colonised".
I should maybe go and bet some money now on Ben winning the USO.
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That poster is clearly is not the brightest bulb in the room & her elitism laced with overconfidence comes across as obnoxious too.
 
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