Question for Big 3 fans, who are you going to champion after the Big 3 retire?

Sephiroth

Hall of Fame
I'm interested to see who you'll guys follow or really get behind after the Big 3 retire

I'm sure not all Federer/Nadal/Djokovic fans will follow the same path :unsure:

For me Felix

anti- Tsitsipas and Zverev
 
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clayqueen

Talk Tennis Guru
No one is the short answer. Right now, without Rafa in the draw I often forget there is a tournament on. When Rafa is playing my schedule revolves around tennis tournaments.
 

Sephiroth

Hall of Fame
No one. Next Gen players are terribly uninteresting to me, both as players and as people. I'll probably lose interest in current tennis after fed calls it quits and move to youtube to watch his old matches.
No one is the short answer. Right now, without Rafa in the draw I often forget there is a tournament on. When Rafa is playing my schedule revolves around tennis tournaments.

Quitting tennis after Federer/Nadal retire?
 

Federer and Del Potro

Bionic Poster
None of them are worth the time or effort at the moment to me. Them winning slams won't magically make me think they're more interesting as a player or person.

Which is precisely why I've rooted for each of the Big 3 at various times to keep them away from winning slams as long as possible.

Put even more plainly than that: Probably done with tennis after they retire. Might check scores but sitting down and watching? Not looking likely.

I can't grow up a second time so these players are not going to resonate with me like players I grew up with could and did.
 

Standaa

G.O.A.T.
Quitting tennis after Federer/Nadal retire?

yeah mostly likely. if there was a player like Stepanek on tour nowadays (or someone playing a similar style) I would have kept watching but I can only dream. and there is only one fed.

in the end tennis is about who can make people want to watch their matches. it's why tennis players can have their job. Fed is unrivaled in this category. probably forever will be.
 

10S-Junkie

Semi-Pro
If they're smart, the Big 3 should get together and start the "Big3" network where you can pay to stream their previous matches :D
 

Federer and Del Potro

Bionic Poster
Gun to my head and I'm absolutely forced to pick it would be Tsitsipas which I've said a few times before. He runs hot and cold for me in terms of me feeling like rooting for him. He started out with some pretty good support from me then it waned for a while then it came back. That's more than I can say of any other player in Next Gen or otherwise at least.

I think it's less about the players themselves for me and more the fact that I'm not a kid anymore. To me I find it hard to relate to the players or look up to them like I did in my youth.

I don't have any real actual ill will towards them and am sure they will cultivate themselves a lot of fans and young people growing up with them will relate to them way better than I ever could. I wish them success in that but do not feel like I will be a part of that at this current time.
 

tudwell

G.O.A.T.
At the moment, Medvedev. I like watching Tsitsipas and Zverev when they're in full flight – they definitely got game – but their personalities make it hard for me to actually root for them. Medvedev can be a bit of an ******* too, but he's got a certain charisma to him, and a craftiness in his approach to the game, even though his strokes aren't exactly what I would call pretty and he's not the type of instinctively attacking player I tend to gravitate toward.

Interested to see how Korda and others progress. Once Novak is well and truly gone (in, like, five years or so), I think we'll see a genuine flowering of the game. In the short term, there might be a bit of a Big 3 hangover, but there's more money and media in the game than ever before and there will always be new storylines and rivalries to hype up. Once we have a new generation of players with a couple of slams apiece, the stakes will start to feel bigger once again and I think more people will get back to watching.
 

The Blond Blur

G.O.A.T.
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Standaa

G.O.A.T.
Gun to my head and I'm absolutely forced to pick it would be Tsitsipas which I've said a few times before. He runs hot and cold for me in terms of me feeling like rooting for him. He started out with some pretty good support from me then it waned for a while then it came back. That's more than I can say of any other player in Next Gen or otherwise at least.

I think it's less about the players themselves for me and more the fact that I'm not a kid anymore. To me I find it hard to relate to the players or look up to them like I did in my youth.

I don't have any real actual ill will towards them and am sure they will cultivate themselves a lot of fans and young people growing up with them will relate to them way better than I ever could. I wish them success in that but do not feel like I will be a part of that at this current time.

Gun to my head and I would have let them shoot me.
 

Arak

Legend
I actually have several favorites already. I’m not sure whom I like the most yet, but definitely Thiem, Zverev, Medvedev, Shapovalov and Musetti. It’s nice to root for several players for a change.
 

BlueB

Legend
I think it's going to be quite an interesting era, with lots of players taking titles. I guess, I'll cheer Shapo, as a Canadian and having interesting game. However, I don't think he's consistent enough to be a constant presence. I don't mind Meddy and Zverev, even Rublev. I'm starting to dislike the Philosopher...
I'll also have to pick a Serbian guy to cheer... maybe Kecmanović?
 

Sephiroth

Hall of Fame
I think it's going to be quite an interesting era, with lots of players taking titles. I guess, I'll cheer Shapo, as a Canadian and having interesting game. However, I don't think he's consistent enough to be a constant presence. I don't mind Meddy and Zverev, even Rublev. I'm starting to dislike the Philosopher...
I'll also have to pick a Serbian guy to cheer... maybe Kecmanović?

Felix?

Shapo has to be infuriating to watch, I'd get too angry lol
 

10S-Junkie

Semi-Pro
No one right now... Might get on board with sinner or Shapo if they become more consistent
+1
I enjoy watching Thiem's and Shapo's big wind ups but wonder about their long term arm/shoulder health.
Medvedev and Tsitsipas will probably be the most successful ones out of this bunch but they don't have the same "must watch" factor for me.
 

DjokoLand

Hall of Fame
I like Med. His game is funky he is tops on HC and has proven that he can beat the best even now. The rest so far are so inconsistent.
Shap has a game I like and will always watch but his top level is so high and bottom is so low.

How I sum up the next gen is this. The best match of the year was Djokodal on RG due to the level and rallies which next gen aren’t capable of. Yet Nadal is in decline and 35, Djokovic is also in decline(still looks great) yet the level was miles ahead of all next gen.
 

clayqueen

Talk Tennis Guru
I like Med. His game is funky he is tops on HC and has proven that he can beat the best even now. The rest so far are so inconsistent.
Shap has a game I like and will always watch but his top level is so high and bottom is so low.

How I sum up the next gen is this. The best match of the year was Djokodal on RG due to the level and rallies which next gen aren’t capable of. Yet Nadal is in decline and 35, Djokovic is also in decline(still looks great) yet the level was miles ahead of all next gen.
Nadal is injured.
 

clayqueen

Talk Tennis Guru
Nothing will change after the B3 retire irrespective of the numbers. Each of them will be the greatest in the eyes of their fans. The establishment will still promote Federer as the greatest by some nebulous measure and Nadal will always be the King of Clay.
 

BeatlesFan

Bionic Poster
Most non tennis fans will probably stop following tennis for a while
As soon as someone starts racking up slams they will be back..
Then they're nothing but glory hunters and there's a plethora of them on TTW. Legit tennis fans don't stop watching tennis when their boy retires, which proves they never were tennis fans to begin with. Just people living vicariously through a stranger. Very common in the social media age.
 

egrorian

Rookie
Good question. I quite like all of the "pretenders" - Thiem, Medvedev, Zverev, Tsitsipas, Shapovalov and Berrettini - but when it came down to it at the US Open 2020, I wanted Thiem to win it, so I'd probably stick with him.
 

initialize

Hall of Fame
Thiem, Karatsev, and Tsitsipas. Tsitsi gets too much unneeded hate, and his game especially on clay is special
 

Standaa

G.O.A.T.
another thing that can’t get me engaged with the NextGen is that none of them seem to care as much about winning as the previous gens.
 

Mark-Touch

Legend
I'm going to be blunt. I've said this before many times here.
When Fed retires I'm outta here (for men's tennis) unless/until another
player comes along with a set of tennis skills as remarkable as his are/were.

I said the same thing when Sampras retired. And I stuck to it.
Problem was that by the time I learned there was a player to rival Sampras' skills
Fed had already won 5 or so slams! :) So I had to play catch-up on the guy.

There is no non BIG 3 player on the ATP tour that does it for me.
Sure I have some favorites but none would compel me to watch their tennis
matches for hours on end.

To sum up, I/we have been spoiled and watching these next-genners ply their trade just
doesn't cut it for me.

Of course they're soon going to be piling up a sizable amount of slams between them, but even if one or more were to amass 10+
I wouldn't be drawn to them. If they couldn't draw me in now, they won't be able to do it down the road.
That's tennis life!
 

egrorian

Rookie
I'm going to be blunt. I've said this before many times here.
When Fed retires I'm outta here (for men's tennis) unless/until another
player comes along with a set of tennis skills as remarkable as his are/were.

I said the same thing when Sampras retired. And I stuck to it.
Problem was that by the time I learned there was a player to rival Sampras' skills
Fed had already won 5 or so slams! :) So I had to play catch-up on the guy.

There is no non BIG 3 player on the ATP tour that does it for me.
Sure I have some favorites but none would compel me to watch their tennis
matches for hours on end.

To sum up, I/we have been spoiled and watching these next-genners ply their trade just
doesn't cut it for me.

Of course they're soon going to be piling up a sizable amount of slams between them, but even if one or more were to amass 10+
I wouldn't be drawn to them. If they couldn't draw me in now, they won't be able to do it down the road.
That's tennis life!
It's strange, I have only paid scant attention to women's tennis for many years until belatedly becoming a huge Pliskova fan and found myself more interested in what was happening in Montreal than Toronto last week...!
 

Mark-Touch

Legend
It's strange, I have only paid scant attention to women's tennis for many years until belatedly becoming a huge Pliskova fan and found myself more interested in what was happening in Montreal than Toronto last week...!

For me women's tennis is almost like another sport. :)
It's like watching tennis in slow motion, which is kind of cool.

Plus of course you get the eye-candy aspect of it from time to time as well. :)
My faves are Andreescu (when she's on), Kenin, Osaka, Konta, Mertens, Anisimova, Collins, Hsieh ...
 

nolefam_2024

Talk Tennis Guru
Tsitsipas is great game wise but what a stupid boy.

Meddy can be quite boring on court. Zverev is an idiot. Who hits 20 df.

Thiem was the most interesting guy but he too has completely lost his way.

Will probably watch highlights of tennis tournaments once Novak and Rafa retires. Unless Tsitsipas improves his weaknesses and becomes less quirky.
 
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