MichaelNadal
Bionic Poster
Now what are you guys thinking about their potential and who will have a better career? After Rome, I was thinking Zverev. After the FO, I think Thiem....
Thiem/Zverev
- Thread starter MichaelNadal
- Start date
Krish872007
Talk Tennis Guru
We can keep flipping back and forth on them. I think Thiem has the brighter future on clay, could win at least 1 French Open. Zverev is good on the surface but I feel like Thiem could keep denying him in their rivalry.
Zverev's game better suited to grass - I would like to see him go past Round 3 at Wimbledon this year.
Hard courts is trickier.
Thiem - better overall movement, increasingly solid against the field but struggles against the very best and sometimes stands too far behind the baseline and resorts to bashing the ball. Zverev - nice strokes, is younger and has a bit more time to improve but will need to work on his temperament
Zverev's game better suited to grass - I would like to see him go past Round 3 at Wimbledon this year.
Hard courts is trickier.
Thiem - better overall movement, increasingly solid against the field but struggles against the very best and sometimes stands too far behind the baseline and resorts to bashing the ball. Zverev - nice strokes, is younger and has a bit more time to improve but will need to work on his temperament
gn
G.O.A.T.
Thiem - Ideal body & fitness, attacking game. Shy and humble. he will do well with better strategy/coaching.
Zverev- Has already won a Masters by defeating Djokovic. But he's too tall. I am afraid that he will suffer from injuries in the future. He has an attitude though. Some call him arrogant brat.
Overall, I feel Thiem will achieve more in the long run.
Zverev- Has already won a Masters by defeating Djokovic. But he's too tall. I am afraid that he will suffer from injuries in the future. He has an attitude though. Some call him arrogant brat.
Overall, I feel Thiem will achieve more in the long run.
smalahove
Hall of Fame
Zverev is more willing to go to the net, which is a must against the best defenders.
Thiem thinks he can win 5 setters by blasting away from the baseline. Not sustainable over the two-weeks, 5 set slam format, imo.
If Thiem (or Stan for that sake) wants to have a shot at the king, he's going to have to learn to volley better, and from the service line, doubles style.
Both can take out anyone from the top 10 though, which will make W17 so interesting: a lot of players have the game to take out any of the big names in the first week. Nobody's safe.
Thiem thinks he can win 5 setters by blasting away from the baseline. Not sustainable over the two-weeks, 5 set slam format, imo.
If Thiem (or Stan for that sake) wants to have a shot at the king, he's going to have to learn to volley better, and from the service line, doubles style.
Both can take out anyone from the top 10 though, which will make W17 so interesting: a lot of players have the game to take out any of the big names in the first week. Nobody's safe.
ChaelAZ
G.O.A.T.
Exactly.
One added big point is I think Thiem is more repeatable in his game and does better at problem solving on court. Zverev seem to either be invested, or not invested depending on the tournament. Stability of course comes with age, but Theim is already way ahead. And as you mention, humility will serve Theim very well not to get wrapped up in a few wins and rest on those laurels a few tournaments before performing again. He is consistently working each tournament more than the other young guns.
Agreed. Thiem has everything. His enemies are tactics and chokes. If he learns to play smart and dont choke, i definetly think he will have the better career. But his last results vs Djoker and Rafa says everything about his lack of consistency, from 1-6, 0-6 to 7-6, 6-3, 6-0, and 6-4, 6-3 to 3-6, 4-6, 0-6.
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Alba Barragan
Professional
On clay, Thiem all the way. But if we talk about an overall career I have to go with Zverev. I see Thiem as a RG champion, a perennial and solid top 10 player but I don't see in him the fire to fight and dominate the tour.
Zverev is something different. I know he's more immature, still has a long way to go, but his peak (at least in my opinion) is higher than Thiem's, he's improving day by day and his goals and self expectations seem much bigger than Domi's. That is, in my opinion, the most important thing in an athlete: how much he expects from himself. Some people call Zverev arrogant, and maybe he is, but to me he seems more ambitious.
Zverev is something different. I know he's more immature, still has a long way to go, but his peak (at least in my opinion) is higher than Thiem's, he's improving day by day and his goals and self expectations seem much bigger than Domi's. That is, in my opinion, the most important thing in an athlete: how much he expects from himself. Some people call Zverev arrogant, and maybe he is, but to me he seems more ambitious.
This barely gives you any answer to the OP's question, in my opinion, definitely not a good way to look into this.
Purplemonster
Hall of Fame
You hit the nail on the head, not once but twice. Thiem definitely needs a new coach, hitting the cover off each ball, wasting so much energy amounts to nothing in the end. And as much as Zverev has the strokes his height will always work against him, not just with injuries but also with lack of movement.
To be fair the OP seems to think you can make extrapolations about a player's decade plus career based on their performance at a single tournament (Zverev Rome, Thiem FO). The ranking at least gives a 12 month period as the basis for a view. There's nothing specific I can see in Zverev that would stop him continuing to rise: his attitude/work ethic seem good and he has no glaring on court weaknesses. He won a 250 late last year beating from memory 3 top 10 players including Wawrinka and Berdytch and his height seemed to help him make the court seem very small for his opponents, forcing them to overhit. Thiem's results off clay are pretty modest to this point and he might be better served with a less macho playing style: he hits himself off the court as often as his opponent.
Meles
Bionic Poster
A bit nauseous from all the armchair warrior posts on Thiem's mental deficiencies and playing style from others.
Thiem is a great clay courter and continues to improve on hard courts, but he's at best a Juan Carlos Ferrero type player on hard who might make a final at a US Open or Auz in his career (might even win). Thiem on grass was a nice phenomena last year and we'll find out soon enough if he's making a nice leap up in grass form this year (now or never type moment for him to continue to show improvement.) Hard court success won't happen this year.Zverev potentially has it all, but he's able to bloom early because of his great height. His serve game is exploding this year and seems on track to be even better for years to come. With all this I'd rate him with the potential for double digit slams for his career except for one thing; return. Despite all the success on serve, Zverev's return game appears to be flat lining in 2017.
His return game is a lot better than Kyrgios's at the same age, but it should be improving this year and it's not. The question is will the Zedbot get to Sampras quality on return as his serve game seems headed towards that level plus way better clay level than Sampras?
Slicerman
Professional
Clay is Thiem's best surface, but that doesn't mean he's not good on other surfaces. He's already won titles on all 3 surfaces. Remember when Rafa was an up-and-comer? Many experts were pigeonholing him as a clay court specialist until he eventually started going deep in the other 3 slams. I think Thiem has the talent, resources and the right people around him to help improve his game. I really want to see him make it into the top 5 soon, although he's gonna need some big results, probably a slam final or at least semi-finals in most of the slams.
MichaelNadal
Bionic Poster
Thiem is going to surprise some of you on HC
cc0509
Talk Tennis Guru
They both bore me to tears. I like Kyrgios' tennis the best but sadly he's a mental flake and he needs to improve that enormously.
Who will have more potential between Zverev and Thiem? At this moment I'd probably go with Zverev. I prefer Thiem's on court demeanor though.
Who will have more potential between Zverev and Thiem? At this moment I'd probably go with Zverev. I prefer Thiem's on court demeanor though.
Alba Barragan
Professional
Kyrgios?? really?
I just can't take him seriously. His sickening need to make hot shots from every point tires me to no end, he looks way too needy. I love a big and flashy point from time to time, but watching them so often makes them stop being special, the magic disappears. At least we agree he's a mental flake.
Incognito
Legend
Bukmeikara
Legend
Zverev is the first teenager in top 20 since Del Potro, Djokovic, Murray and Nadal.
Zverev won 4 titles already + a Master, no one born between 1989-1996 has done it
Zverev is maybe cocky but he is not Tomic, Paire type of cocky. He is the Muhammad Ali type, he eventually may lose a match because of arrogancy but you know that the next day he would learn his lesson and come back and try again .. and try again... and try again. In every single interview about him, you can see by other people words how eager is he to become an ATG type of player. I think that this quality alone gives him a notch advantage over Thiem because that thinking would push him forward while the austrian it seems a bit more satisfied with his top 3-8 ranking
The only thing against Zverev is his heigh and potential injuries
Alba Barragan
Professional
This. You just hit the nail on the head. The only people who transcend in this world are those who aspire to do great things. Even the humblest sports legends saw themselves as an ATGs and Zverev has that. I'm not saying this guy is going to enter that category, he's just starting his career and has a long way to go, but his mentality is already on the right path. And this isn't just a false image he's trying to sell to the public, it's the people who have spent time with him (family, team, even other players) the ones who are saying it.
Zverev is obsessed with being an ATG and he's not just leaving that as a dream, he's actually taking action on the matter to achieve it. His physique was horribly squalid in the past-he hired the fitness guru Jez Green, his net game was horrible-he went to play doubles with his brother... even his attitude on court has changed, since the match against Nadal at IW 2016 he has rarely choked because of nerves and the number of rackets he breaks have decreased immensely. His hunger and will to improve is something I'm not seeing in the other young players, Thiem included.
tennis24x7
Professional
I second that, Kyrgios is what tennis needs badly. I also think the other greek Aussie may go far. Thanasi Kokkisomething.
veroniquem
Bionic Poster
No contest
BeatlesFan
Bionic Poster
I'm thinking neither. I think both will have careers like Gasquet/Tsonga/Raonic/Dimitrov/Tomic. All hype and few results. Just go back 7 years and see the endless hype for Dimitrov. He's 26 and what results has he had? Two semis in majors and many thought he'd win 6+ slams.
Thiem is ludicrously defensive and Z simply doesn't have the proper tennis physique, he's too tall. Kyrgios has more potential and more talent than both Z and T combined. No head for the game and he's a complete tool, but he has massive game.
D
Deleted member 307496
Guest
Thiem is this eras Juan Carlos Ferrero.
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