Is the Big 3 success connected to Gen Z being mentally fragile?

[leodevlin]

You devoted a whole paragraph to entitlement, which could be applied to the bulk of professional athletes.

Your second point about mental toughness is more interesting. Jimmy Connors is well known for his mental toughness, and I am curious whether you'd put the big 3 are in that category. Still, their Slam counts are a lot higher.

When it comes to lacking mental toughness, we have Zverev and Korda. These are two young players who have a huge gap in that department. They have the talent to win big, but they have collapsed at key moments.

Medvedev is no Jimmy Connors, but he's not in this category.

I don't think you are reading carefully. Look at the title. Entitlement was NOT the main theme, mental strength was. Entitlement was mentioned as ONE of the factors contributing to the mental frailness of this generation.

 

[Aabye5]

I don't think you are reading carefully. Look at the title. Entitlement was NOT the main theme, mental strength was. Entitlement was mentioned as ONE of the factors contributing to the mental frailness of this generation.

I didn't say it was the main theme. I said you wrote a paragraph on it.

 

[mike danny]

You mean, he came less close to losing? Sure, I'll give you that.

Roddick had the bad luck of being Fed's contemporary. He didn't have the benefit of facing a mid 30's Fed like a certain someone.

 

[mike danny]

And that is a valid justification?
Both he and Davydenko could and should have won at least ONE of their Grand Slam matches against him and both failed miserably, leading Federer to inflate his number of Major titles as they lacked the confidence to beat the Swiss player, who was not always "unbeatable" as his die-hard fans have tried to explain for so long to justify his greatness and success.

I agree they choked, especially Davydenko, but it's definitely much worse to choke against the aging versions of Djokodal than against a Federer at the height of his career.

 

[GenerationTennisElbow]

Succumbing to mental stress isn’t exclusively a Gen Z thing. It forced Borg into retirement for one, and Mardy Fish could be a more recent example. Some of the next-gen’s failures have to do with the fact the the Big 3 haven’t just kept playing the same style as their bodies grow older. They’ve made use of modern sports science and developed parts of their games that allow them to compete past their expiration date. Zoomers who grew up watching “Nadal the baseline grinder” are taken aback whenever they come against “Nadal the expert volleyer” and so forth.

 

[UnderratedSlam]

We already know that Gen Z is much softer.

I already know WHY that is too. (But won't mention it here because it's not connected to tennis.)

What we need now is a plan, a master plan, to allow the next Genses to not be so soft.

Of course, I'd first have to divulge the reasons for their snowflakiness in order to discuss a cure with you all, but I already said I won't discuss it.

So we're stuck, back at square 1.

And Big 3 still dominate, well into the 30s. 2030s, I mean, not THEIR 30s, they've already dominated in those.

 

[UnderratedSlam]

Succumbing to mental stress isn’t exclusively a Gen Z thing. It forced Borg into retirement for one, and Mardy Fish could be a more recent example. Some of the next-gen’s failures have to do with the fact the the Big 3 haven’t just kept playing the same style as their bodies grow older. They’ve made use of modern sports science and developed parts of their games that allow them to compete past their expiration date. Zoomers who grew up watching “Nadal the baseline grinder” are taken aback whenever they come against “Nadal the expert volleyer” and so forth.

Comparing 70s tennis and Borg to this current situation...

No.

 

[UnderratedSlam]

My generation is very soft, yes. It can be a bit of a meme by conservative boomers but it’s mostly true.

Conservative Boomers actually exist?

 

[RelentlessAttack]

I don't really think its mental. It's not like there's a bunch of super complete next gens that just mentally fall apart in big moments. The closest thing would be Zverev with his service yips. FAA I guess also has shown mental weakness, since junior. The other guys all have super obvious technical weaknesses. Tsistipas - return, Shapovalov - return, point construction, Berrettini - backhand, movement, return, Medvedev - finishing power on groundstrokes, return position, inability to play on clay and to some extent grass, Rublev - everything but forehand, Sinner - movement/agility which then has a variety of downstream effects. Add to all of this a total lack of ATG caliber individual weapons.
I ask this all the time so I know its rhetorical, but other than Nick's serve, which younger player has an ATG caliber weapon? By that I mean weapons that can total unbalance a matchup like the Federer FH, Nadal FH, Delpo FH, Nole BH/return, Roddick serve, etc. Also lacking for most of the younger guys for some reason is the elite defensive movement and stamina of the big 3 (yes, including Federer).