Meles: "...we're in one of the great transition years..."
- Thread starter NatF
- Start date
-NN-
G.O.A.T.
Rafa popped that balloon today.
Goffin popped it.
Meles
Bionic Poster
Goffin likely playing Djokovic tomorrow. I like his chances. Not surprised he beat Thiem today though frankly the match was on Thiem's racquet.
Wawa and Murray gone so plenty of opportunity.
-NN-
G.O.A.T.
Goffin likely playing Djokovic tomorrow. I like his chances. Not surprised he beat Thiem today though frankly the match was on Thiem's racquet.
*shrugs*
Thiem lacks game sense. When will you see it.
Now that doesn't mean he can't win or can't become really good but the point is that he's not good at thinking.
C
Charlie
Guest
Goffin to expose Djokovic false dawn thread coming... Please?Goffin likely playing Djokovic tomorrow. I like his chances. Not surprised he beat Thiem today though frankly the match was on Thiem's racquet.
Meles
Bionic Poster
Not quite. I think he could give him a good match.Goffin to expose Djokovic false dawn thread coming... Please?
TheMusicLover
G.O.A.T.
tennisaddict
Bionic Poster
Young guns Raonic, Nishikori will be back in action in Madrid and will restore order
Steve0904
Talk Tennis Guru
Missing a LAWL in there somewhere. Guarantee you did not type that without laughing at least once.
tennisaddict
Bionic Poster
What can I say ? Trying to make up for 90's clay ROTFLMAO , something we have missed since the Donskoy-Fed match
MichaelNadal
Bionic Poster
Thiem can't catch a break. Where's the Thiem from clay season last yr?
Meles
Bionic Poster
Nadal flourished today. Nole barely survived. Wawa and Muzziah false dawns exposed. Really an excellent day for the younger players as a whole save Zverev. Thiem was more than passable against a Goffin in fine form today and may yet get his shot at Rafa in Barcelona next week.
I like Goffin's chances a lot against Djokovic tomorrow. I really doubt Pouille makes much of his draw, but would love to see him in the final with you know who.False dawn of three of the four top players continues to be exposed. The transition is still on big time.
Meles
Bionic Poster
The tour is really opening up nicely for Schwartzman
24 years old. He more than counts.
Meles
Bionic Poster
Its mental. He simply gets lazy/lets down from what he was doing last year. He's playing better than this time last year on clay, so give him some time. He'll be looking to tangle with Rafa next week in Barcelona.
MichaelNadal
Bionic Poster
Its mental. He simply gets lazy/lets down from what he was doing last year. He's playing better than this time last year on clay, so give him some time. He'll be looking to tangle with Rafa next week in Barcelona.
Playing better than last year? Pass the J!
Meles
Bionic Poster
His serve game got him through the 2nd set today. It's not pretty in a lot of ways, but have some patience. For the year so far he has much more clay points than last year.
Slow and steady wins the race.Thundergod
Hall of Fame
No offense to Goffin, but Thiem needs to be able to consistently beat a player like him if he wants to be a top player.
Poisoned Slice
Bionic Poster
Steve0904
Talk Tennis Guru
Lack of game sense meaning "tennis IQ", and being a nice way of saying he's a moron?
-NN-
G.O.A.T.
Yeah I'm saying he lacks a sort of game sense and makes a lot of random decisions and produces phases of play with no rhyme nor reason. If Dimitrov is aimless, Thiem is random and nonsensical. He doesn't correlate patterns with context.
The worst thing I've seen all year was him vs Coric in Miami and how he used his forehand. It was some of the most bizarre tennis tactics I've ever seen. He was pounding forehand after forehand with pointless topspin refusing to flatten it out or kill the ball when he had the chance even on shorter replies from Coric, like he was a computer set to one mode that he couldn't get out of. It was infuriating.
Meles
Bionic Poster
I think that's out the door for Thiem while the Big 4 are around except maybe on clay. Thiem right now just looking for bigger and better titles. Muster finally won French in his 28th year which would be 2021 for Thiem.
Meles
Bionic Poster
Watch his entire RG match with Goffin; that's what he can do when his mind is in the right place.
Meles
Bionic Poster
-NN-
G.O.A.T.
I feel like his mind is in the right place at random. Like sometimes the arbitrary modes and phases he decides to use happen to coincide with what's needed in a match. Probably harsh and somewhat hyperbole, but sometimes actually true.
Steve0904
Talk Tennis Guru
You mean the one last year where he was almost down 2 sets if not for a miraculous get and a bit of luck?
Gary Duane
G.O.A.T.
Have to agree. I see all the weapons he needs, at least on clay, but he makes horrible choices.
metsman
G.O.A.T.
like it would matter
metsman
G.O.A.T.
He has the tools I would say. He doesn't even have the weapons because having weapons would see him back into quite a few wins like Kyrgios. He has the tools to have big weapons but his strategic choices and gamestyle are god damn terrible and don't utilize the natural tools he has.
Steve0904
Talk Tennis Guru
I haven't actually watched him in a while now, but clearly he hasn't gotten better to any noticeable extent because his results haven't improved, but I know what you mean. Watching him is torture because I feel like he just hits the ball with no purpose and no plan of what he's doing next (i.e setting up a point to get to the final goal of winning it). If you get enough balls back against him he'll make an error most of the time as well. He hits a few nice looking 100+MPH BH's during a match, but most of them go 2 feet (or more) long. It's just all around not a fun experience watching him.
-snake-
Hall of Fame
Should we start calling his playing style as "horny teenage tennis"?
ChaelAZ
G.O.A.T.
I said that last year about the previous two years. I don't think this transition will be quick or anything concrete in rankings will settle for at least a few more years. Seems you have young guns who can be dangerous at times, the journeymen players who can be dangerous at times, and now the top players who can be dangerous again at times, but no one willing to be dangerous all the time so the shuffle will commence.
rainingaces
Legend
tennisaddict
Bionic Poster
@Meles
This guy has got potential and he isn't even a month old. Maybe next year he will be in the top 100 ranked players.
Adding Serena's fetus to the list of young guns ready to make the transition !!
rainingaces
Legend
It just needs to grow some arms and some legs and it will have the potential!
tennisaddict
Bionic Poster
Well, Vika's boy is already a shoe in ! May be two more months for Serena's baby
Krish872007
Talk Tennis Guru
Bear in mind that Serena's foetus has already won more Slams than all these young guns combined. Harsh, but true.
mike danny
Bionic Poster
mike danny
Bionic Poster
Well, I will give the #NextGen a bit more time, but for now, it is very possible to have back to back terrible generations after Djokovic-Nadal-Murray.
V
VexlanderPrime
Guest
Stop disrespecting teh yung guns. They're gonna start gun sling'n. . . Any day now...
V
VexlanderPrime
Guest
manley0702
Rookie
Agreed. Goffin is a fine player, but he's kind off like the ferrer of this generation: solid player who puts the ball in play but not a threat to win majors. The very definition of a gatekeeper.
Gary Duane
G.O.A.T.
Man, I don't want to get into the semantics of the difference between weapons and tools. But the biggest weapon in tennis is the mind itself, which is why we see players who appear to have far less talent finding ways to win, and players who are obviously very talented losing so often.
The mental toughness of top players is usually underrated. The great ones coast on their talent when everything is working but fall back on everything else when things go wrong. I think "winning ugly" is an absolute necessity in a GOAT career.
Similar threads
