There are now tons of little (niche?) sports that are seriously competitive and organized. Sports like lacrosse, squash, field hockey, volleyball, and now mma. A kid can choose a pretty obscure sport and his or her parents can treat it like a major sport in terms of time spent and financial commitment. No one will ever know about these little squash players, but they get college scholarships and become bankers or whatever.
Names?
So they are prospects but not ATG's. Surely there are agreed upon ATG players in other sports from ages 23-29 or is this drought common among all sports?
It’s tempting to imagine the best white guy in the NBA playing tennis, but I’m not sure if Doncic has the right body for it. Like, could Larry Bird have excelled at tennis? I doubt it.
Admittedly, I'm now picturing Bird v Magic on Wimbledon, Center Court. Bird upset an aging Dr. J (I'm a little bummed) while Magic just held off a young Michael Jordan.
Ha. Or Stanford vs Indiana State coming down to McEnroe and Bird for the tennis national championship. I think the years would’ve actually matched up.
Mac's the same age as Magic; Bird actually has 2-plus years on both.
I doubt it. Facts are indisputable. If it is a fact, then provide indisputable evidence that a smaller percentage of talented kids choose tennis than in the past. I doubt you can do it.That is not a "notion". It is a fact.
It is not a fact. It is an excuse that happened to emerge exclusively from the Federer fanbase due to inherent interests (to demerit Nadovic's longevity).That is not a "notion". It is a fact.
True, but they were all in college during McEnroe’s one year at Stanford. Joe Montana at Notre Dame also. Sorry about all the America-centric posts.
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I don’t know about the Federer argument, but I agree that there’s no shortage of freakish young talent in tennis. Definitely ATG caliber. The problem is probably as simple as smart phones.
How many of those that we would all agree are/were ATGs have (had) both the eye-popping tennis skills and the athleticism of The Big 3?
Nice word saladThere aren't younger ATGs, so I don't know what you call a "fact", but you seem to have a problem.
Impossible to accomplish tasks are not "proof" of anything, but since you are not stopped by logical fallacies you are aiming for that approach. Enjoy.
They’re incredibly agile and powerful for their size. Even a guy like Opelka moves pretty well. They’ve got the athletic part down for sure.
Agreed upon is the tough part. Is Neymar an ATG? Maybe not if you compare him to Messi and Ronaldo. When Messi was Neymar’s age he was definitely better than Neymar is now.
Three bad quarterbacks in there. Man, that’s sad.
To draw another analogy, Kasparov played in a very weak era compared to Fischer or Spassky or Karpov. When he went through the candidates his final opponent was freaking Smyslov who was 60 years old and hadn’t done anything of worth for almost two decades during the golden era of the 60s and 70s. His prior opponent in the semis was Kortchnoi who also played second fiddle in his prime when Spassky, Fischer, Petrosjan, Tal etc were around and only became world class when most of those were past it. This leaves us with Karpov who of course was a strong opponent but was also 12 years older than Kasparov and would have crushed him in 84 if it wasn’t for this strange rule of unlimited match length. Kudos to Gary for finally conquering him, but all those matches were as close as it could possibly get. You are also only partially right that he fought of the younger generation. Guys like Short, Nunn, or Tinman were relatively weak, Topolov and Shirov were also no ATG material, and against Kramnik he lost. His tournament wins were still impressive and also good for him to beat Anand in 1995 but what we shouldn’t forget is that Kasparov peaked during a time where a) money in chess for the first time became really good and b) computer became strong enough to make a notable difference in preparation. These two facts played into his cards as he was by far the richest player and could afford the best seconds analyzing for him with the aid of engines. It is not a coincidence that Kasparov was particularly known for his great knowledge in openings.
You must have missed the half-billion dollar contract that 25-year-old Patrick Mahomes inked last year.
2020 list of richest athletes from Forbes:
Doesn’t kick in until next year.
I'm not American...lol, no American would make such a thread (or even think of asking such a question).
Better luck next time, OP.
Probably why you asked the question.
Oh right, Americans are the centre of the world, I forgot.Probably why you asked the question.
If only you were American. Then we wouldn't have been subjected to this thread.
Perhaps in this case the relevance concerns the fact that there are literally thousands of examples of supreme young athletes here that get paid king's ransoms to play their respective sports.
If there's nothing to discuss leave the thread instead of acting like a jackass.Perhaps in this case the relevance concerns the fact that there are literally thousands of examples of supreme young athletes here that get paid king's ransoms to play their respective sports.
There is nothing to discuss.
You were distracted or something. But there's a plague happening. Wait, you can't use that excuse in Oz.
lol, no American would make such a thread (or even think of asking such a question).
Better luck next time, OP.
Lolololololol
Already addressed in a previous conversation with you.
Thiem's results in the Majors in the last 6 years (aged 21-27):
4 R1 exits
4 R2 exits
2 R4 exits
4 R4 exits
2 QF exits
2 SF exits
3 Finals
1 Win
^
The amount of early exits where he didn't meet any of the big three indicates whether your theory is true.
Also, Thiem is the only one who has had anything that remotely resembles "great" career from the entire crop behind Nadal/Djokovic.
2007-2010 Djokovic still better than Thiem, though.I never underestimate the possibility for a player to become a contender and eventually an ATG, but the results need to show it. No awarding players status for periods when they weren't such. Just like I don't consider Federer an ATG level in the 1998-2002 period, just like I don't consider Djoke an ATG level in the 2006-2010 period etc., so no amount of claims that they were will change that.
This is a great point.
