Hypothetical career?

[BGod]

Late bloomer comes up and makes 5 Slam Finals in 5 seasons winning 2 Majors. Overall Slam record of 91-37.

Wins 4 Masters titles going 4 of 5.

Qualifies for 5 WTFs, knocked out in 2 Semifinals and makes 1 Final.

Career high ranking of #3, three YE Top 5.

How do you classify this player? Surely Hall of Fame no? The standards there not too high. This occurs sometime during the Big 3 era (prior to 2018).

Yes this is a possible projection of a real person. Mmmmmkay?

 

[TennisPinkBabe]

Sounds a bit like Stan.

 

[TripleATeam]

I have no idea who this is supposed to be. Juan Martin? Wawrinka?

Either way, possible Hall of Famer. Seeing as soon we'll run out of people to put in, what with only 5 players in the last 15 years getting multiple slams, this hypothetical person should get into the HOF.

 

[-NN-]

I think the player is BGod.

HoF - yes.

 

[BGod]

Let's just say this guy gets lost in the shuffle now where several posters think he wouldn't have won any Majors.

 

[MichaelNadal]

Well, he's outdone Andy Bae Roddick

 

[BGod]

This needs a bump. This is my projected career extension of Robin Soderling in 2012-13 if he obviously isn't suffering from mono.

It's hard to even guage his 2011 but I have him winning Paris Masters. He doesn't lose as badly to Nadal at the French. In 2012 he actually wins the French and makes USO final which he loses to Djokovic.

He then defends his FO in 2013, makes USO semifinal.

I think he wins Miami one of those years too. Add in one more Masters somewhere.

 

[Phoenix1983]

Yes, HoF career.

 

[Goof]

You could have stopped at won 2 Majors. That alone has historically made anyone who accomplished it a HOFer.

 

[BGod]

You could have stopped at won 2 Majors. That alone has historically made anyone who accomplished it a HOFer.

Well yes, but I was also asking about rankings. Plus

Took a while and.....

Still waiting.

 

[The Safinator]

This needs a bump. This is my projected career extension of Robin Soderling in 2012-13 if he obviously isn't suffering from mono.

It's hard to even guage his 2011 but I have him winning Paris Masters. He doesn't lose as badly to Nadal at the French. In 2012 he actually wins the French and makes USO final which he loses to Djokovic.

He then defends his FO in 2013, makes USO semifinal.

I think he wins Miami one of those years too. Add in one more Masters somewhere.

Not likely.

 

[The Safinator]

I have no idea who this is supposed to be. Juan Martin? Wawrinka?

Either way, possible Hall of Famer. Seeing as soon we'll run out of people to put in, what with only 5 players in the last 15 years getting multiple slams, this hypothetical person should get into the HOF.

JMDP only has one GS and the Stanimal has 3.

 

[TripleATeam]

JMDP only has one GS and the Stanimal has 3.

"Yes this is a possible projection of a real person. Mmmmmkay?"
"This occurs sometime during the Big 3 era (prior to 2018)."
"Career high ranking of #3, three YE Top 5."

Big 3 Era prior to 2018 = 2003-2018. (Really 2006-2018 but for sake of argument)

How many people during this time period won a slam? Federer, Nadal, Djokovic, Murray, Wawrinka, Cilic, Del Potro, Gaudio, Safin, Agassi, Ferrero, Roddick.

Remove everyone who reached #1. Wawrinka, Cilic, Del Potro.

Cilic: Nowhere near a WTF final. No YE Top 5 finishes. 1 slam. 1 Masters, no Masters finals.
Del Potro: 1 WTF F, 1 WTF SF, 5 qualifications. 3 YE Top 5 finishes. 1 slam. 1 Masters, 3 Masters finals.
Stan: 3 WTF SF, 5 qualifications. 3 YE top 5 finishes. 3 slams. 1 Masters, 3 Masters finals.

With the information I had, only Stan and Delpo were close to the player described. At first I thought Safin and Hewitt, then I remembered they were #1. Honestly, I think Del Potro was the closest player to this hypothetical career- only 1 slam, 3 masters, and 1 WTF SF short.

 

[TennisPinkBabe]

Can we say this hypothetical player cheats by taking extra time to rest between points? Because the data indicate that that can lead to several additional slams and other titles.

 

[helterskelter]

Soderling to win both RG2012 and RG2013 is a bold call. I'd have loved it to have happened, but it's a bold call. Nadal at RG2012 was pretty formidable. RG2013 is more likely but even then I wouldn't have put him as favorite.

 

[BGod]

Soderling to win both RG2012 and RG2013 is a bold call. I'd have loved it to have happened, but it's a bold call. Nadal at RG2012 was pretty formidable. RG2013 is more likely but even then I wouldn't have put him as favorite.

It's sad how Soderling's status has fallen so low people just look at him as lucking out in two Slam runs. The man was going to be better than Wawrinka, YES I said it. And YES if he doesn't get mono in 2011 he continues to progress, doesn't win the French but continues. I think 2012-2013 would have been perfect for him. I'm not saying for sure he wins both but I feel if he got over the hump he'd stay there at least for a bit. Man he was good. Just have to look at his 2010 for reference. He would be a contender at USO on slow surface for sure as well and even battling mono he had actually improved on the clay Masters in 2011. He would have at least one.

 

[Milehigh5280]

I haven't looked at a list of all the Hall of Famers, but winning 2 majors should be enough to get in.

 

[helterskelter]

It's sad how Soderling's status has fallen so low people just look at him as lucking out in two Slam runs. The man was going to be better than Wawrinka, YES I said it. And YES if he doesn't get mono in 2011 he continues to progress, doesn't win the French but continues. I think 2012-2013 would have been perfect for him. I'm not saying for sure he wins both but I feel if he got over the hump he'd stay there at least for a bit. Man he was good. Just have to look at his 2010 for reference. He would be a contender at USO on slow surface for sure as well and even battling mono he had actually improved on the clay Masters in 2011. He would have at least one.

I'm not denying he had the change of winning two Slams. I am saying that picking any particular two is a long shot for any player outside the big three. Especially two Roland Garroses, one of which is one of Nadal's best. I honestly think there's a case for 2012 as Nadal's third best at RG. Sure, if Soderling played him in a final there and it rained the whole time and they kept playing anyway, Soderling would have a chance. As for 2013: Nadal wasn't as good, but Djokovic was better than he was in 2012, so that's two major obstacles.

Also, in 2012, you called him over Djokovic at the US Open. Fair enough that Djokovic looked to be playing the best of anyone (it was one of his best US Open runs prior to the wind coming in). But the conditions that led Murray to win would have harmed Soderling, too. He had big swings.

Yeah. Soderling might well have won a Slam or two. But that's one or two from 2011 through now. Which one or two or possibly three, it's really hard to tell.

 

[King No1e]

This needs a bump. This is my projected career extension of Robin Soderling in 2012-13 if he obviously isn't suffering from mono.

It's hard to even guage his 2011 but I have him winning Paris Masters. He doesn't lose as badly to Nadal at the French. In 2012 he actually wins the French and makes USO final which he loses to Djokovic.

He then defends his FO in 2013, makes USO semifinal.

I think he wins Miami one of those years too. Add in one more Masters somewhere.

If Djokovic couldn't win RG in 2012, Soderling wouldn't. I'd say a few years later, 2014 or 15.

Maybe some minor technical disagreements, but I strongly approve of this thread. Soderling was such a great player, and he was just getting to his peak level when he got cut down. So much potential, killed by the virus. I still maintain that beating Nadal at RG09 should've been his breakthrough performance, not his main career highlight.

He was staying even with Murray, overtaking him for #4 often, and it really looked like it would be a Big 5 not a Big 4. It was like Wawrinka picked up where Soderling left off.

 

[The Safinator]

Projected career? What a joke. The only thing Soderling ever did was beat Rafa at the French and put his name on a can of tennis balls. If means nothing in tennis, or in life. Bottom line, Soderling's career spanned 14 seasons, or 10 if you want to be picky. He made it to 2 slam finals and was crushed in both, won 10 titles, and reached #4 ranking. That's a nice tennis career, but there is no projecting. That was his career, period. Every player battles injury and whatever else. We can project anyone being better than they are/were, but it's meaningless.