Musetti...impressed
- Thread starter mental midget
- Start date
stephenclown
Professional
Carlos Garfia is arguably a better prospect than both, 17 and 203 in the world. 3 ITF wins and 1-1 on ATP. He reminds me of Nadal with his style.
Cashman
Hall of Fame
I stand by the initial statement. I haven't seen anything in the last 2 matches that make me think that a match against a top 150 player is on his racquet.
Until his game can actually hurt good players then he will only win matches where they are playing very badly, which is not enough to compete consistently.
Wander
Hall of Fame
Doesn't mean anything to you that he beat Miralles (#144) and Mayer (#123) in the qualies? What about the fact that he's in danger of breaking into the top 150 himself very soon?
Cashman
Hall of Fame
We will see. He is playing nicely this week, but a lot of players are out of form.
I think he has potential to be a Tour player, but his game needs a lot of work. I don't see him holding a top 150 spot at present.
It’s not about Stan, it’s about how the kid plays
D
Deleted member 771911
Guest
I said the kid was good. I said Stan can lose to anyone.
Where did I say it was only about Stan?
Last edited by a moderator:
mental midget
Hall of Fame
this just smells like oppositional defiance disorder at this point. you saw nothing in back to back wins against a three time slam winner and perennial top 15 player that made you think he could compete against, say...dennis istomin?
Cashman
Hall of Fame
Top players lose to no-names all the time. It doesn't automatically make those no-names tour-level players.
I know people on this forum had never heard of him before the other day, but Musetti has been playing Challengers and Futures for a while and his normal level is struggling to hang with guys ranked about 200. He's played well and been fortunate this week, but he hasn't turned into a different player overnight.
It will be nice if he can back this up, but (short of the odd WC) I don't expect to see him in too many more main draws until he has done some significant work on the Challenger tour.
mental midget
Hall of Fame
every great player turns a corner. tsitsipas was struggling similarly....until he wasn’t. musetti is better than him at the same age, and of course he’ll have his ups and downs. but man i’ve watched tennis for decades and you can spot talent...this is not another futures grinder, way too many highlights already on his highlight reel to chalk it up to luck or a hot streak. and he won the ao boys title which is significant imo. anyway, only time will tell but if we’re betting i’m pushing chips in his direction.
Common, the guy is just 18 years old. Last year he even was playing junior tour (and winning AO19, ex number 1 junior). Yesterday against Nishikori he regularly hit first serves of 200-210 km per hour. He hits all types of serves (flat, slice, kick) very well. What is important, that he hides his serve intensions very well. It was difficult to read the serve from the toss as he hides very well. He utilizes ad service box exceptionally well as his kick serve forces the opponent of the court. He used the kick to defend breakpoints, Nishikori couldn't step in and block the serve properly, or if he did, then Musetti would hit the cross court heavy topspin forehand.
I watched Musetti's matches on the challenger tour (last week and the week before as well as others), he beat very good experienced players. I also watched the match with the other new upcoming player Alcaraz (17/18 years old). The Spaniard won in 3 sets. What separates them, that Alcaraz is already a man, his body has matured already, he won't grow any more and because of physicality he won the match against Musetti. But it is a time matter. Musetti will become physically stronger, no doubt about it, there is no rush for him to show spectacular results right now (even if he is already showing them) as one of the best juniors in the world he has sponsorship deals, so he doesn't need money for development and he has time to do it properly and wisely.
No matter how Musetti will perform against Koepfer, he achieved his goals in this tournament. He will raise his ranking a bit and what is more important, he showed his sponsors that he meets their expectations so far.
Ronaldorro
Rookie
Excellent match.
That guy Alcaraz is a drop shot machine. I think he won all the points where he used it. Such a big talent. And he's 17. I'm very impressed.
TheGhostOfAgassi
Talk Tennis Guru
He won AO as a jr, has also reached USO final, QF Wimbledon and round 4 or something in RG as a jr, last year.
Clay isn’t even his best surface.
He is the first player in the year he was born to win an ATP match. Many good players with a nice career is on that list.
At worst he will get a career like Kyrgios is what I think. But Musetti seem level headed and well behaved, he will probably reach further.
oldmanfan
Legend
Good match from both. One thing is for sure; Musetti can hit drop shots, but Alcaraz just executes them better. Alcaraz should get far on tour. I think top 15 or maybe even top 10 is possible. I just think Musetti's ceiling is higher. Both are great prospects though.
As for Musetti, I'm a fan. I have a bias towards OHBH
. The reasons I'm a fan of Musetti are that his:1) FH has snap/whip, not too different from Fedr, but with more spin.
2) His BH is slightly worse than his FH, but not by much, and he seems to hit it with confidence from any position. VERY impressive. Fedr had to work on his BH for years to get it to Musetti's current BH level. Crazy thought
.3) He's not afraid of the net, and seems VERY competent when there. He even looks to attack net often and with great success. A youngster comfortable and winning at net, what a shocking idea
.4) He routinely half-volleys shots, and does it well. He looks to stay on the baseline as long as he can, a la Fedr.
5) He can hit every shot in the book; topspin, slice, half-volleys, volleys, and he can improvise well with his one hander from any position (a very pleasant surprise to me, and he's only 18!
). He even hit a shot against Nishikori that is very similar to Fedr's FH dropper from an awkward position at WB12 (see below):You said, "but he beat Stan" as if to diminish our expectations of him because of whom his opponent was. I replied that it was not so much about the opponent that he beat but more how he has been playing out there in this tournament that's impressive.
Benben245
Banned
The unfortunate problem is you cannot extrapolate 18/19 year old Federer to 22 year old federer, or any player really,ie Gasquet was overhyped. Federer worked so much on his game between that time, the death of his coach certainly propelled him. He was not the prodigy Nadal was, in fact Nadal is a once a generation prodigy disregarding his peak level, he was winning grand slams when I was wondering what kissing a girl might be like.
This is a tennis forum and opinion should never be taboo, including steriod talk MODs, however, I would hope that as fans of the game we protect and cherish our young stars rather than labeling them with binary evaluations before reaching their 20s. Technology is killing our next gen stars, limbic resonance paralleled through technology mimics our fears, anxiety, and primal desire, instagram etc for the sake of enslaving us as cogs in a mercantile machine. If I wanted to save american tennis besides, SW, junior development on clay, fast hard etc, I would BAN cell phones at all facilities and encourage more family time.
This is a tennis forum and opinion should never be taboo, including steriod talk MODs, however, I would hope that as fans of the game we protect and cherish our young stars rather than labeling them with binary evaluations before reaching their 20s. Technology is killing our next gen stars, limbic resonance paralleled through technology mimics our fears, anxiety, and primal desire, instagram etc for the sake of enslaving us as cogs in a mercantile machine. If I wanted to save american tennis besides, SW, junior development on clay, fast hard etc, I would BAN cell phones at all facilities and encourage more family time.
BeatlesFan
Bionic Poster
He just beat a former FO champion and a USO finalist back to back. Yes, neither were playing especially well, but a win is a win.
Sudacafan
Bionic Poster
I will now start to watch him because of your comments.
Sudacafan
Bionic Poster
Maybe I won’t watch him.
Wander
Hall of Fame
Have you changed your opinion on Musetti yet?
Immediately after the wins over Kei and Stan he went on to win a Challenger tournament where he beat 4 top 100 players. Now got a WC to a 250 and is through to quarters having beaten yet another top 100 player (Cuevas).
The kid is showing serious form on clay, and I think it's quite evident that he basically jumped from a Challenger level player to a main tour level player during the Covid break, at least on this surface. Lots of potential for more than that too.
Cashman
Hall of Fame
He played really well in Forli. He looks like he belongs on the Challenger tour now, which is more than I would have said a few months ago.
If he is still beating top 150 players in a couple of months, I’ll probably jump on the ‘main Tour player’ bandwagon.
Similar threads
