Next-Gen(My detailed opinion)

L

lordlosh

Semi-Pro
Here it may take on Next-Gen, what is wrong with them in generally and which one have the best chances:

Before i start with the names i think the main problem with them is they absolute lacks vision and how one(they) should play on the court, as well as style and so. Also their training and whole idea is to just smash the ball as hard as possible, until you either hit a winner or UE. Zero thinking on court how to open your opponent, how to play angles and put him on the run, and how to build the point in generally.
They obviously also lack the right preparation before tough matches against opponents like Djokovic, Nadal and so. Mentality is one thing, but there is a think called the right preparation, and the right attitude to go on the court and have the right belief you can win. Their team is also to blame for that, because they obviously are not prepared for that.
It's so long so i will make 2-3 post with it.

Karen Khachanov - when he was a hot topic back in the 2018(where i lost hope in him and most of the next-gen), there was a match between him and Nadal i think it was at USO. Khachanov showed that he have a very solid game, strong serve, good return, good forehand/backhand, and he also move great for his height. But in that match that was very close, at one point Nadal injured himself(or whatever happen) and started moving at around 30-40% of his usual. This happen in the 3rd set i think, and the result was 1-1 at that time. And what Khachanov did to capitalize on that? The braindead Russian continue to smash the ball as hard as possible mainly at the center of the court, where Nadal is, and guess what happen ? He somehow managed to lose the 3rd set, and then Nadal started moving better in the 4th and beat him. This was the moment i totally give on that mug. He is all power. Smash as hard, and thats it, no angle, no idea how to conducts/build/construct the rally, not thinking for a moment at the court, just smash the ball and play it all mechanical.
I was screaming like mad at that point, just take some power away, and just put him into rallies and make him run, it was so so obvious what it needed to be done to win that set, and also the match.
But no this guys are build/trained to just not use their brain on the court, but all of their play/training is to smash the ball as hard as possible. Not using angle, not varying their shots, nothing else than just smash as possible.
Another thing this mugs are doing when serving is to just hit it as hard as possible, without even thinking. Nadal is next to the linesman, and yet no one of this youngster did not find a solution how to make him suffer for returning so far deep on the court. The word angles for them doesn't exist.
He is an absolutely waste. His game didn't move an inch since 2018. Its actually getting worst.

Jannik Sinner - pretty much he is build the same. And while he is very young and very promising, he doesn't visualize his game. Not looking for weakness on his opponent, just smash it left-right and choke on every opportunities. He chocked last year against Nadal in the first set, he did it this year as well.
He is playing great to a moment, where opportunities come to win a set/match/so, and instead to be calm and to understand that the pressure should be on his opponent, he start chocking big time. And the moment he miss a big opportunities and lose the set, he just gives up.

Lorenzo Musetti - another very young lad with great potential and shots on paper. The thing i like with him is that he actually thinks on the court, and it's a smart kid, and see the opening and reading the game and how to play in certain moments. He also have great variety in his game, and its not just mindless smasher. Maybe sometimes he is giving way too much fantasy to his game, and goes for way harder shots, than he should have, but this is fixable. He is a f***** speedster as well.
Still he is lacks physicality and this will absolutely hurts him. His frame is kinda narrow and will be hard to build functional muscle without hurting himself in the process. His forehand is also a weakness, which is massive.

Alexander Zverev - just insane how he managed to f******* everything with his s**** attitude and to not win big titles of yet. He was insane for his age at 19-20 in 2016-2017, and instead to upgrade on that, and work harder and on the right components, he totally hit a plateau and pretty much not moved an inch. I blame his attitude and his devotion to training and get better. I got no problem with his ego, but he obviously can't back it up, and not put the work to make it happen.
Also for a huge guy like him, he is totally play the wrong game/style. Most of the time he is playing defensively, rally with the opponent, waiting for an error, and constantly rally till ****. He have solid shots all around, he should look for openings, and go for winners. Again the same problem, instead of just rally and let your opponent outsmart you, you should dictate the pace of the rally, and look for a winners. You are a huge dude, you should command the point, not running like a ***** left to right, and try to play a game, that absolutely is not good for you.
His mentality, match preparation and i would say his tactics is all bad.
I don't know what he is waiting and not get a sport-psychologist. He should have done that long time ago.

Andrey Rublev - another mindless smasher. He is just trying to kill the ball with every shots, and he runs out of energy so so often. He have insane explosiveness, and he swing so fast it's unreal.
Still i think he could be much more with the overall game he have. He again is zero thinking, and just all mechanical smash, smash, smash it. His serve is also a big weakness, cause he is 1.88.
He also should have used sport-psychologist, cause his mentality is not great. He works very hard, but obviously also have zero visibility where his game should be, and how exactly to play the rally, and not just smash it left-right. Yeah he is dangerous when he have a day, but he is so much hit and miss.

Denis Shapovalov - another mindless smasher, but even more. He absolutely lacks any brain and thinking on court. He also have one of the worst shot selection of all. And as we see, even when he have a perfect day, like the match with Djokovic, he is still able to f***** up all. His mentality is pure china in boxing terms.
I also see zero improvements in him. To be fair his mentality was probably better back in 2018, where he shine when he beats Nadal at some Master1000. Back then he was still playing all in, and put zero thinking on court. He is a bit different than the ones above, cause he actually know how to rally and to open the court, and to make himself a good opportunities to land a winner. But just like we see with Djokovic, he so often have empty court, and the mug still managed to ****** up. He is build that way, hit as hard as possible, no matter if the court is open or not.
Million UE and million winners. Instead of stabilizing his game, still be aggressive, but lower the UE by huge margin, he is just going to be a wonder when he have a good day, and its still not sure, cause his mentality will drag him back.
Instead of constantly changing coaches, he need sport-psychologist big time.

Hubert Hurkacz - while i don't follow him closely i think he is living to his potential. I don't expect much more of him, but be a 1-2 hit wonder with a great tournaments, but nothing more. A solid top 15-20 player.

Alex De Minaur - pretty much not worth of our time. A great speedster, with garbage style, just put the ball in play. Just not worth our time. I expect nothing from him.

Matteo Berrettini - mug of the mugs. The guy has 1 big serve, and that's it all. Worst Backhand in the history. I was thinking his Forehand is good, but its quite average. He is producing more UE than winners, when someone bring back the ball in play. He also is very breakable when put on pressure. The guy is almost 100kg., and should have hit winners from both side, yet he is putting half of his backhand in the net, and the other half short as hell. His passing shot is probably one of the worst i even seen. He is like 10x worst than the guys with OHBH. His serve is going to carry him, but don't expect much from him.

Felix Auger-Aliassime - another player that hits plateau and his game is in stagnation. On paper he have the shots, great head acceleration, good speed on the court, but again he have poor shot selections, lacks visualization of his game, and need someone else to told him how to play the game. Also he is way too fast and too easy to give up when things are not going his way.
 
L

lordlosh

Semi-Pro
Stefanos Tsitsipas - he is the guy to look for in my book. He is constantly improving, and his game is getting better and better. I think his game took a hit in 2020, where he pretty much was in stagnation, but let's not forget COVID struck that year.

He is everything that most of the guys above are lacking. He is working hard, he had great self-confidence, which is super important if you want to be a big name. He absolutely know where his game needs to be, he obviously understand his weakness, and it's working on them, like his slice(still lacking), which in the past he was not able to even land in the court. And while he is a powerhouse, he don't go winners at all cost, he is building the rally, he is playing angle, and creating opening to hit the winners. He is also playing with huge topspin that gives him safety, and he is very stable, when his game is ON.

He is such a great player, and his level is so high, yet looking at him closely, he still have so much room for improvements, and a lot of them will just come naturally with time and the right training. He also have great variety in his game, but not too much to play ridiculous shots.

He is working full-time with his sport-physiologist, and also mediate to be clutch on difficult situations.
As i have said playing that many matches this year cost him, and his energy level drops in some matches, where there was a tough battles, which was to be expected, and he could not keep the high level he is playing for the whole time. Still there is a reason he played that many tournament, and it was to raise his consistency level, and to be able to gets win, when he is not playing his A+, A level game. He and his team are also looking closely at the stats(data) and are using them to make him better.

Still i would like him to totally forget about doubles, it only hurts him, and also to not play that far behind the baseline. His preparation for shots needs to be a bit faster and i hope he works on that. His other aspects to work on is obviously his ROS, but also his serve. He need higher % IN, as well as better speed and placement on it

Daniil Medvedev - a big guy with great movement for his size, but i just can't like his style at all. Not following him closely, but i think he also need to work on his preparation or mentality before matches. He is getting mad very often, and in some tough matches, against top opponents, he kinda lose moral. It happen against Djokovic at AO, it happen against Nadal, where he totally ruin from 5-1 and a match point. He is 25 and i think he is absolutely at his peak, and should challenge for big titles.

Dominic Thiem - i include Thiem as well. He is already 27, and while his best surfaces is Clay, he didn't even have Masters1000 title. Actually he have just 1 Masters1000 title, that was gifted by Federer, as well as his 1 GS title on USO, that Zverev gifted him.

He was the guy that should have taken the baton from Nadal/Djokovic, but he failed miserable. Looking at his game, he had it all, movement, serve, forehand, backhand, and recently he started mixed his game more and use more variety with drop shots, and slices. He also on paper doesn't have a weak mentality. He is able to produce great winners on both sides, know how to rally and open the court. My main thing with him is missing big opportunities in a lot of time, and not shows up when its matter. Also lose too many matches to way lesser opponents, because of lack of focus, right preparation for the game. I also think his tactic is very often questionable. One of his problem is losing focus in some of the games, that cost him big time. Even when he is overall playing great, and his level is high, he still have this OFF moments in his game, where big players capitalize. He also have problem sustaining his level due to his power play, and his energy drop quite often in best of 5. So he and his team should have figured that out long ago. He also need to understand how to keep the momentum, when he is on. Cause so often he is playing great, and allow the momentum to shift and to lose set/matches badly that way. Like the match against Nadal in 2018 at USO. He was leading, constantly in the lead in the 3rd, even serve for it, and still managed to f***** up and at the end loses the match. He should take way better advantages when he is the better player on the court.

In my books he already should have 1-2 RG, and should have won the AO in the match with Djoko.
Also big disappointment with his attitude after he won USO. I hope he understand that he is still in his prime years, and should focus all in the tennis.
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When we draw the line, the main problems with the Next-Gen is the lack of right attitude, constant motivation to get better and to change the result next time, lack of right training, lack of hard training(this is generalization, not all lacks this), absolutely lack vision and also variety in most of them, and play mechanically most of the time, without even thinking on court.
Other big thing they are lacking and do zero about it, its the mentality and the right mindset to win.
A sport-psychologists should be a mandatory in every team. There is so much things to learn, and there is so much technique to stay calm in pressure moment(for example a simple one is with the breathing), that is big time mistake so few players are working on that part, which makes huge difference.
In the previous generation there was obviously big time lack of talent and all game parts, while in this there is plenty of it, but they are wasting it, because of some or many of the factors i said above.
The right team is an absolutely a must, and so many of the next-gen is lacking this.
My last example will be with a football coach. Like Klopp and Conte for example, they can take a team with not so much great players, and make them produce a way higher level, than they are on. They are absolutely fight till the last second, and give it all. This coaches integrate/impose a championship mentality. Same team, same player/s play completely differently with different coaches. I give this example just to show how important the right team is.
Let's not forget in what state Djokovic and his mentality and fighting spirit was, when he departure with Marian Vajda. Was he a mental beast in there ? I think a lot of people are belittle the work done by the coaches and their contribution.
 
J

Jonas78

Legend
- lack of talents. In most countries not the sport that attracts the best talents
- lack of dedication. The smartphone and playstation is too tempting and easily accessible.
- Usually played by kids who dont live in poverty. Why should they use all their time playing tennis when they can party and have fun?
- bad coaching. Tall players dominating as juniors, isnt pushed to develop all parts of the game.
 
Aabye5

Aabye5

G.O.A.T.
Interesting analysis...

I mostly agree about Khachanov and Rublev, but I think Sinner has quite a bit more going for him. He has a lousy serve compared to the other two, so he doesn't get as many free points, and has still had some decent success. I think you are right about these players not visualizing that well, but Sinner has more control over where he hits it compared to the other two. Rublev has the most heart among this bunch. He really wants to win. The question is, is he willing to improve?

Shapovalov is not a true ball basher. Sure, he hits the ball hard, but I think his problem is that he overthinks it a bit. He can angle the ball from anywhere, unlike someone who just hits through people. He really just needs to decide what he wants to do. Is he going to lean on his aggressive nature? Then he needs to have some great volleys and fix his ball toss. If he's going to stick to the baseline with the big guys, he needs to work on his court-positioning and defensive skills. And fix his ball toss!
 
Jokervich

Jokervich

Hall of Fame
Read some of your post, not all of it. Liked it anyway because you put a lot of effort into your analysis.

I thought Mevdevev would win multiple slams after I saw him in 2019. Reminded me of Djokovic how he could just defend at the baseline. Then after seeing him get straight setted by Thiem at USO, Djokovic at AO and Tsitsipas at FO, I realized he wasn't actually that good. He also goes into mental meltdown too easily if matches don't go his way. He should win a slam at some point though. I think he will have a career similar to Murray, where he wins 3 slams with easy draws/when big 3 have an off-day.
 
daggerman

daggerman

Hall of Fame
Tommy Haas said:
FAA is overrated.
Click to expand...

If anything he's a little underrated at this point. He's the highest-ranked U21 player in the world, yet I think most fans are drawing premature conclusions about his upside based on his record in tour-level finals.

Even the OP claims Felix has "stagnated," but I don't see evidence of that. On the contrary, I see a much-improved serve, both first and second, the foundations of strong tactical awareness, and a promising forecourt game. He's already probably one of the 7 or 8 best grass court players in the world, and imo it's just a matter of time before his hardcourt level catches up. Clay might take a bit more time, although it's not like he hasn't had some good results on the dirt.
 
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Aabye5

Aabye5

G.O.A.T.
daggerman said:
If anything he's a little underrated at this point. He's the highest-ranked U21 player in the world, yet I think most fans are drawing premature conclusions about his upside based on his record in tour-level finals.

Even the OP claims Felix has "stagnated," but I don't see evidence of that. On the contrary, I see a much-improved serve, both first and second, the foundations of strong tactical awareness, and a promising forecourt game. He's already probably one of the 7 or 8 best grass court players in the world, and imo it's just a matter of time before his hardcourt level catches up. Clay might take a bit more time, although it's not like he hasn't had some good results on the dirt.
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His only problem is that he was the only player in the top 30 without a title...he needs that win to prevent him from getting the shakes like Zverev....

I agree though he has hardly stagnated. Uncle Toni and his regular coach have helped him temper his aggressive game by putting a bit more margin. At times he almost puts too much margin, but you could see how dangerous he could be at Wimby.
 
F

Forehand_Slice

Semi-Pro
Very good write-up and pretty much agreed with most points.
Maybe a bit more emphasis on FAA's mentality.

Even if he doesn't play like it, tactically Medvedev I class as higher than most of the others. He is held back greatly of all the top Nextgen with his forehand though. Struggles way too much to consistently generate attacking play.

Tsitsipas has overall the best game though. The closest to being an all rounder and one of the few NextGen who can truly dictate play non brainlessly. Unfortunately has a terrible return game. He may improve it with a better slice over time. On clay, the one to watch to win Slams's in a few years.

Agreed that Zverev is most disappointing. I still think his game has the best upside so he is still clearly the most dangerous NextGen when peaking. Also his game translates to all surfaces which gives him and edge over the other two.
 
Bartelby

Bartelby

Bionic Poster
Two years from now the old gen will be history. As Djokovic proved this year, you need to wait your time to pounce.
 
stringertom

stringertom

Bionic Poster
daggerman said:
If anything he's a little underrated at this point. He's the highest-ranked U21 player in the world, yet I think most fans are drawing premature conclusions about his upside based on his record in tour-level finals.

Even the OP claims Felix has "stagnated," but I don't see evidence of that. On the contrary, I see a much-improved serve, both first and second, the foundations of strong tactical awareness, and a promising forecourt game. He's already probably one of the 7 or 8 best grass court players in the world, and imo it's just a matter of time before his hardcourt level catches up. Clay might take a bit more time, although it's not like he hasn't had some good results on the dirt.
Click to expand...
Had is the operative tense concerning Felix’s clay results. Felix is 5-9 on the dirt in 2020-21 and that includes two horrible 1R losses at RG to Nishioka and Seppi. Yes, two of the eight finals are on clay but the more recent of those was the week prior to RG’19. That’s ancient history so, yes, Felix has stagnated on the dirt.
 
daggerman

daggerman

Hall of Fame
stringertom said:
Had is the operative tense concerning Felix’s clay results. Felix is 5-9 on the dirt in 2020-21 and that includes two horrible 1R losses at RG to Nishioka and Seppi. Yes, two of the eight finals are on clay but the more recent of those was the week prior to RG’19. That’s ancient history so, yes, Felix has stagnated on the dirt.
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OP didn't make the claim that he's stagnated on clay; he made the claim that he's stagnated full stop, which isn't true.

Federer made the Wimbledon QFs in 2001 and lost in the first round the next year. Isolated early losses at slams aren't particularly noteworthy for developing players. It happens regularly to players who are otherwise progressing nicely.
 
stringertom

stringertom

Bionic Poster
daggerman said:
OP didn't make the claim that he's stagnated on clay; he made the claim that he's stagnated full stop, which isn't true.

Federer made the Wimbledon QFs in 2001 and lost in the first round the next year. Isolated early losses at slams aren't particularly noteworthy for developing players. It happens regularly to players who are otherwise progressing nicely.
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Believe what you want, that’s your right and obviously your agenda on this matter when you ignore he’s 5-9 on clay since his last final on the dirt. His record at RG is withdraw, 1R, 1R. That is not “isolated early losses.”
 
daggerman

daggerman

Hall of Fame
stringertom said:
Believe what you want, that’s your right and obviously your agenda on this matter when you ignore he’s 5-9 on clay since his last final on the dirt. His record at RG is withdraw, 1R, 1R. That is not “isolated early losses.”
Click to expand...

Losing in the first round of 2021 Roland Garros counts as an "isolated early loss" when his other two slam results this season are QF, 4R.

I'm not sure why you're so fixated on his clay results. That's obviously his weakest surface, and my first post acknowledged that his progress on clay would probably take longer. Why are you carrying on about it? Take a nap, homie.
 
stringertom

stringertom

Bionic Poster
daggerman said:
Losing in the first round of 2021 Roland Garros counts as an "isolated early loss" when his other two slam results this season are QF, 4R.

I'm not sure why you're so fixated on his clay results. That's obviously his weakest surface, and my first post acknowledged that his progress on clay would probably take longer. Why are you carrying on about it? Take a nap, homie.
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That’s pretty rude there, dude.,You’ve just earned ignore status with your panties all twisted in a wad by someone stating plain facts. I ain’t your homie, arsewipe!
 
P

pcft369

Rookie
lordlosh said:
Stefanos Tsitsipas - he is the guy to look for in my book. He is constantly improving, and his game is getting better and better. I think his game took a hit in 2020, where he pretty much was in stagnation, but let's not forget COVID struck that year.

He is everything that most of the guys above are lacking. He is working hard, he had great self-confidence, which is super important if you want to be a big name. He absolutely know where his game needs to be, he obviously understand his weakness, and it's working on them, like his slice(still lacking), which in the past he was not able to even land in the court. And while he is a powerhouse, he don't go winners at all cost, he is building the rally, he is playing angle, and creating opening to hit the winners. He is also playing with huge topspin that gives him safety, and he is very stable, when his game is ON.

He is such a great player, and his level is so high, yet looking at him closely, he still have so much room for improvements, and a lot of them will just come naturally with time and the right training. He also have great variety in his game, but not too much to play ridiculous shots.

He is working full-time with his sport-physiologist, and also mediate to be clutch on difficult situations.
As i have said playing that many matches this year cost him, and his energy level drops in some matches, where there was a tough battles, which was to be expected, and he could not keep the high level he is playing for the whole time. Still there is a reason he played that many tournament, and it was to raise his consistency level, and to be able to gets win, when he is not playing his A+, A level game. He and his team are also looking closely at the stats(data) and are using them to make him better.

Still i would like him to totally forget about doubles, it only hurts him, and also to not play that far behind the baseline. His preparation for shots needs to be a bit faster and i hope he works on that. His other aspects to work on is obviously his ROS, but also his serve. He need higher % IN, as well as better speed and placement on it

Daniil Medvedev - a big guy with great movement for his size, but i just can't like his style at all. Not following him closely, but i think he also need to work on his preparation or mentality before matches. He is getting mad very often, and in some tough matches, against top opponents, he kinda lose moral. It happen against Djokovic at AO, it happen against Nadal, where he totally ruin from 5-1 and a match point. He is 25 and i think he is absolutely at his peak, and should challenge for big titles.

Dominic Thiem - i include Thiem as well. He is already 27, and while his best surfaces is Clay, he didn't even have Masters1000 title. Actually he have just 1 Masters1000 title, that was gifted by Federer, as well as his 1 GS title on USO, that Zverev gifted him.

He was the guy that should have taken the baton from Nadal/Djokovic, but he failed miserable. Looking at his game, he had it all, movement, serve, forehand, backhand, and recently he started mixed his game more and use more variety with drop shots, and slices. He also on paper doesn't have a weak mentality. He is able to produce great winners on both sides, know how to rally and open the court. My main thing with him is missing big opportunities in a lot of time, and not shows up when its matter. Also lose too many matches to way lesser opponents, because of lack of focus, right preparation for the game. I also think his tactic is very often questionable. One of his problem is losing focus in some of the games, that cost him big time. Even when he is overall playing great, and his level is high, he still have this OFF moments in his game, where big players capitalize. He also have problem sustaining his level due to his power play, and his energy drop quite often in best of 5. So he and his team should have figured that out long ago. He also need to understand how to keep the momentum, when he is on. Cause so often he is playing great, and allow the momentum to shift and to lose set/matches badly that way. Like the match against Nadal in 2018 at USO. He was leading, constantly in the lead in the 3rd, even serve for it, and still managed to f***** up and at the end loses the match. He should take way better advantages when he is the better player on the court.

In my books he already should have 1-2 RG, and should have won the AO in the match with Djoko.
Also big disappointment with his attitude after he won USO. I hope he understand that he is still in his prime years, and should focus all in the tennis.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When we draw the line, the main problems with the Next-Gen is the lack of right attitude, constant motivation to get better and to change the result next time, lack of right training, lack of hard training(this is generalization, not all lacks this), absolutely lack vision and also variety in most of them, and play mechanically most of the time, without even thinking on court.
Other big thing they are lacking and do zero about it, its the mentality and the right mindset to win.
A sport-psychologists should be a mandatory in every team. There is so much things to learn, and there is so much technique to stay calm in pressure moment(for example a simple one is with the breathing), that is big time mistake so few players are working on that part, which makes huge difference.
In the previous generation there was obviously big time lack of talent and all game parts, while in this there is plenty of it, but they are wasting it, because of some or many of the factors i said above.
The right team is an absolutely a must, and so many of the next-gen is lacking this.
My last example will be with a football coach. Like Klopp and Conte for example, they can take a team with not so much great players, and make them produce a way higher level, than they are on. They are absolutely fight till the last second, and give it all. This coaches integrate/impose a championship mentality. Same team, same player/s play completely differently with different coaches. I give this example just to show how important the right team is.
Let's not forget in what state Djokovic and his mentality and fighting spirit was, when he departure with Marian Vajda. Was he a mental beast in there ? I think a lot of people are belittle the work done by the coaches and their contribution.
Click to expand...
Great write up, enjoyed it. What about Taylor Fritz? He seems to be working hard to improve his game.
 
Tommy Haas

Tommy Haas

Hall of Fame
daggerman said:
If anything he's a little underrated at this point. He's the highest-ranked U21 player in the world, yet I think most fans are drawing premature conclusions about his upside based on his record in tour-level finals.

Even the OP claims Felix has "stagnated," but I don't see evidence of that. On the contrary, I see a much-improved serve, both first and second, the foundations of strong tactical awareness, and a promising forecourt game. He's already probably one of the 7 or 8 best grass court players in the world, and imo it's just a matter of time before his hardcourt level catches up. Clay might take a bit more time, although it's not like he hasn't had some good results on the dirt.
Click to expand...

He does hit very hard which I like to watch, but a bit one dimensional. Imagine if he was American, the TC/ESPN talking heads would never stop talking him up. Annacone did that often.
 
Tommy Haas

Tommy Haas

Hall of Fame
No one has mentioned Tiafoe. What happened to him? I liked him and his raw power and happy attitude on the court. It reminded me of Baghdatis
 
Tommy Haas

Tommy Haas

Hall of Fame
Gary Duane said:
Come up with a list of ATGs who came from poverty. Tennis has always been mostly a rich man's sport.
Click to expand...

Aren't the Williams sisters from the ghetto or was that just a myth their agents concocted and they grew up privileged? Most of the Eastern Europeans are from the ghetto and that's sort of where the word originated. Djokovic and Ivanavic supposedly practiced playing tennis in an empty swimming pool while bombs rained from above during the civil war.
 
L

lordlosh

Semi-Pro
daggerman said:
If anything he's a little underrated at this point. He's the highest-ranked U21 player in the world, yet I think most fans are drawing premature conclusions about his upside based on his record in tour-level finals.

Even the OP claims Felix has "stagnated," but I don't see evidence of that. On the contrary, I see a much-improved serve, both first and second, the foundations of strong tactical awareness, and a promising forecourt game. He's already probably one of the 7 or 8 best grass court players in the world, and imo it's just a matter of time before his hardcourt level catches up. Clay might take a bit more time, although it's not like he hasn't had some good results on the dirt.
Click to expand...
Okay let me explain it.
Back in 2019, Felix was the same dangerous player with super great potential, and the same shots, he is today. Yeah he obviously going to improve naturally, but does he improve over that ? I mean by working hard on some of your shots for example or to cut the UE by a lot, and still have that aggressive approach.
Back in the 2019, where his name was all over the papers, he was 2-0 over Tsitsipas in ATP, and Tsitsipas have said that he was never able to beat FAA, in men tennis, juniors and so on.
He said they have played a lot and that Felix is just better player and he can't beat him, and that he will work very hard to change that.
After that match/press and time, Tsitsipas did what he said and beat him 4 straight time, losing just 1 set to him.
Tsitsipas game by that time improved dramatically and he is by FAR margin the better player, when back in the day FAA was the better one. I know very well tennis is style dependent and its all about matchups, but improvements in Tsitsipas game is day and night, and actually 2020 season was a hard one for him, and he didn't produce the quality, but in 2021 he is a totally different player.
Just looking at the 2 guys, you can understand who is doing the right things, and who actually improve his game, not juist waiting to naturally happen, by maturing and getting more experience and consistency.
He got 8 f***** finals, and still could not win a title. He didn't even win a single set in this finals.
Yeah he is still 20 years old, no doubt about it, and he still have insane potential, but i pretty much see the same player that he was 2 years ago. He pretty much wasted that time. And doesn't understand what he needs to do to get to the next level.
 
S

Sampras-Bruguera 1993

Legend
Wow.. Thats takes talent to dedicate 2 posts to these worthless snowflake mugs of a generation. I applaud your persistence. Its easier to detail this generation for a broad single picture of something you drop in the toilet before a courtesy flush on Tiktok
 
Last edited:
Aabye5

Aabye5

G.O.A.T.
Sampras-Bruguera 1993 said:
Wow.. Thats takes talent to dedicate 2 posts to these worthless snowflake mugs of a generation. I applaud your persistence. Its easier to detail this generation for a broad single picture of something you drop in the toilet before a courtesy flush on Ticktok
Click to expand...

The next time a NextGen wins a Slam (and it could be soon), I will buy you a soda. :D
 
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