us open dark horses thread

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Halba1

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Here are the us open dark horses in order of strength

1. Juan martin del potro. Former US open winner and has a beast of a forehand. Backhand starting to look better, but still slices too much. Serve is hard to break. Coming off an olympic silver medal in a close fought 4 setter with murray.

2. Marin Cilic - beat an in form murray in straight sets in Cinci, which plays similarly fast to the Us open. Like Del potro former us open winner.

3.Rafael nadal - once again a former us open winner, but form and injuries have rendered him a shadow of the former self. Could once again regain glory -his best chance is either at us open or french open.

4. Milos Raonic- baseline game appears too inconsistent to win a grand slam. doesnt move particularly well.

5. Kei nishikori- once stunned djoker in the SF of the open. best surface is us open hard courts.

6. Stan the man wawrinka - terrible on hard court this year.
 
These aren't dark horses. This is a weak era, remember. everyone in the top 10 is a very legitimate contender especially when Novak is not in form.

Dark horses are Thiem, Kyrgios, Zverev, Monfils, Fognini, Sock, Tomic, Isner.

Sure you all are probably laughing, but let's be serious. We aren't in a strong era anymore. It's a club tennis era.
 
VamosBamos987 said:
These aren't dark horses. This is a weak era, remember. everyone in the top 10 is a very legitimate contender especially when Novak is not in form.

Dark horses are Thiem, Kyrgios, Zverev, Monfils, Fognini, Sock, Tomic, Isner.

Sure you all are probably laughing, but let's be serious. We aren't in a strong era anymore. It's a club tennis era.
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Everyone but Djokovic and Murray is a dark horse to be honest. Could possibly throw the likes of Monfils and Kyrgios in the mix as well but they are very dark horses. Thiem doesn't seem to be in the form of earlier in the year and I'm not sure this is the best surface for him. As for Zverev don't think he's ready to be in that conversation 4th round would be a good tournament for him I think and making steps forward. The other 4 not really worth talking about in my view.
 
In my view all the players you named fall in the pack right behind Djokovic and Murray. They have all either won slams or been in slam finals and (barring Delpo) are all ranked in the top 10. A true dark horse is someone ranked outside the top 16 seeds at least.

For the USO I would say Cuevas and Karlovic are my picks.
 
Fridge said:
In my view all the players you named fall in the pack right behind Djokovic and Murray. They have all either won slams or been in slam finals and (barring Delpo) are all ranked in the top 10. A true dark horse is someone ranked outside the top 16 seeds at least.

For the USO I would say Cuevas and Karlovic are my picks.
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Karlovic in a best of 5, no thanks. I've seen him lose to players ranked outside the top 100 in the world in majors. To be honest, I would bet against him in the first round. He's never been known to do terribly well at the U.S. Open, and he's also 37...


skyline said:
It'd be so badass if Ivo took this at the age of 37. Not gonna happen, but it'd be badass.
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He won't make it past round 2.
 
VamosBamos987 said:
These aren't dark horses. This is a weak era, remember. everyone in the top 10 is a very legitimate contender especially when Novak is not in form.

Dark horses are Thiem, Kyrgios, Zverev, Monfils, Fognini, Sock, Tomic, Isner.

Sure you all are probably laughing, but let's be serious. We aren't in a strong era anymore. It's a club tennis era.
Click to expand...

Monfils is a mixed bag, plus he might be hurt. Fognini is a top 3 mug on the ATP tour along with Tomic. Isner and Zverev have gone completely off the boil. Kyrgios is more interested in catch Pokemon than playing quality tennis it seems.

Really the only two I see from that list are Sock and Thiem. I'm hoping Thiem is healthy, because he can be good, but he's played a lot this year, and it seems as though he's sort of burned himself out. Sock is okay, but he can be a bit of a choker at times, or find ways to make matches so much harder than they need to be.
 
046-funny-photos.jpg
 
Male dark horses: Del Potro, Kyrgios, Cilic, Sock, Johnson and I'll throw Monfils in there as well.

Ladies Dark Horses: Pliskova, Svitolina, Puig, Vesnina, Konta

I can't think of many lower ranked Women that I could call a dark horse to be honest.
 
Big_Dangerous said:
Monfils is a mixed bag, plus he might be hurt. Fognini is a top 3 mug on the ATP tour along with Tomic. Isner and Zverev have gone completely off the boil. Kyrgios is more interested in catch Pokemon than playing quality tennis it seems.

Really the only two I see from that list are Sock and Thiem. I'm hoping Thiem is healthy, because he can be good, but he's played a lot this year, and it seems as though he's sort of burned himself out. Sock is okay, but he can be a bit of a choker at times, or find ways to make matches so much harder than they need to be.
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I agree with what you've said about Thiem, he was looking to be in prime "dark horse" position right before Wimby, then.... I dunno what happened? Maybe delayed onset head trauma from the bleached hair?
 
Halba1 said:
Here are the us open dark horses in order of strength

1. Juan martin del potro. Former US open winner and has a beast of a forehand. Backhand starting to look better, but still slices too much. Serve is hard to break. Coming off an olympic silver medal in a close fought 4 setter with murray.

2. Marin Cilic - beat an in form murray in straight sets in Cinci, which plays similarly fast to the Us open. Like Del potro former us open winner.

3.Rafael nadal - once again a former us open winner, but form and injuries have rendered him a shadow of the former self. Could once again regain glory -his best chance is either at us open or french open.

4. Milos Raonic- baseline game appears too inconsistent to win a grand slam. doesnt move particularly well.

5. Kei nishikori- once stunned djoker in the SF of the open. best surface is us open hard courts.

6. Stan the man wawrinka - terrible on hard court this year.
Click to expand...
There seems to be a lot of dark horses running around in your imagination! :P

:D
 
This is a GS and played best of 5 in men's category. People who think Monfils, Krygios and the likes can win this are only dreaming. They don't have the stability to finish off a master's tournament.
 
donquijote said:
This is a GS and played best of 5 in men's category. People who think Monfils, Krygios and the likes can win this are only dreaming. They don't have the stability to finish off a master's tournament.
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Neither had Cilic when he won the US Open, he hadn't even won an ATP 500 tournament but he still somehow took the US Open.
 
Watch out for Steve Johnson to get very deep in the tournament. He's playing the very best of his career and looked quite good to reach consecutive QFs at Rio and TRS. He should be seeded #19 now with Berdych and Fed MIA and could pose the biggest risk to a high seed in R16. An upset there combined with any other stumble by a seed in his section could lead to him playing on the second weekend.
 
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Big_Dangerous said:
Monfils is a mixed bag, plus he might be hurt. Fognini is a top 3 mug on the ATP tour along with Tomic. Isner and Zverev have gone completely off the boil. Kyrgios is more interested in catch Pokemon than playing quality tennis it seems.

Really the only two I see from that list are Sock and Thiem. I'm hoping Thiem is healthy, because he can be good, but he's played a lot this year, and it seems as though he's sort of burned himself out. Sock is okay, but he can be a bit of a choker at times, or find ways to make matches so much harder than they need to be.
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Come on, Tomic has achieved far more then Sock this year. Honestly, Sock is very overrated.
Tomic just reached his 3rd Masters QF with two top 15 wins (Goffin #13 and Nishikori #7. Additionally reached the 4R at Wimbledon with a straight sets win over Bautista Agut who was top 16 I believe. Additionally reached his first ATP500 final and a Queens SF and 4R Aus Open for like the 3rd straight year.

Sock's best achievements have been in doubles with a slam in men's doubles and a medal in Rio. Hasn't proved anything to me that he's even a threat in singles.
 
Big_Dangerous said:
Monfils is a mixed bag, plus he might be hurt. Fognini is a top 3 mug on the ATP tour along with Tomic. Isner and Zverev have gone completely off the boil. Kyrgios is more interested in catch Pokemon than playing quality tennis it seems.

Really the only two I see from that list are Sock and Thiem. I'm hoping Thiem is healthy, because he can be good, but he's played a lot this year, and it seems as though he's sort of burned himself out. Sock is okay, but he can be a bit of a choker at times, or find ways to make matches so much harder than they need to be.
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Mixed bags are often dark horses. There is a good chance that 1 of: Monfils, Fognini, Tomic and Sock make a deep run.
 
donquijote said:
This is a GS and played best of 5 in men's category. People who think Monfils, Krygios and the likes can win this are only dreaming. They don't have the stability to finish off a master's tournament.
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The slam winner in your profile picture doesn't have a masters 1000, bruh. Get Murray and Djoker out and this tournament is as wide open as you can remember.
 
Fedole said:
The slam winner in your profile picture doesn't have a masters 1000, bruh. Get Murray and Djoker out and this tournament is as wide open as you can remember.
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Delpo was an exception and exceptional talent. He was only 19 years old and it was normal that he hadnn't won a masters title then. Nobody to that date had beaten Nadal and Federer consecutively to win a GS.
For this USO, if Murrovic falter then you need to check the guys like Raonic, Nishikori, Cilic, Delpo who played a GS final before and consistently staying in Top 10 (except for injuries). Anyone else winning it will be a surprise. Yes possible, but unlikely. Thiem and Kyrgios can't finish a long and tiring GS. Goffin is not in good form either. Apart from those guys Nadal also have a chance depending on his conditioning.
 
donquijote said:
Delpo was an exception and exceptional talent. He was only 19 years old and it was normal that he hadnn't won a masters title then. Nobody to that date had beaten Nadal and Federer consecutively to win a GS.
For this USO, if Murrovic falter then you need to check the guys like Raonic, Nishikori, Cilic, Delpo who played a GS final before and consistently staying in Top 10 (except for injuries). Anyone else winning it will be a surprise. Yes possible, but unlikely. Thiem and Kyrgios can't finish a long and tiring GS. Goffin is not in good form either. Apart from those guys Nadal also have a chance depending on his conditioning.
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He was 20, two weeks shy of 21, when he won USO'09.
 
I'm waiting for the draw before hitching my load to a specific dark horse.

Sad about Monfils...... How many more chances do you think he has to make something like a SF run in front of a big NY crowd?
 
JDogg said:
Katy Perry is my dark horse though.

giphy.gif
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I assume this is Katya Pernova, and, yes, this player would be an extraordinarily dark horse. Not much of a chance to even get into the qualifying draw, pernova would have to overcome remarkable odds to somehow make the draw at a slam.
But i do think the people at the usta would bend to her use of egyptian mystic symbols and pernoglyphics. So...yes, JDpgg, i agree, your candidate, katya pernova is a strong one.
 
junior74 said:
Tipsarevic's offensive play yesterday was easy to like.

I'm much impress!
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Tipsa, I don't like him for delaying the match to whine to the chair for the ejection of an "offensive" heckler.

Other than that, he looked to be much healthier than I expected and took it to self-destructing SamIAmNotTheDestroyer.
 
Typical dark horse performance by Harrison in his first set TB vs RaoMUG...gets the minibreak back to serve 4-5 and then goes UE/DF to lose 4-7.:(
 
stringertom said:
Tipsa, I don't like him for delaying the match to whine to the chair for the ejection of an "offensive" heckler.

Other than that, he looked to be much healthier than I expected and took it to self-destructing SamIAmNotTheDestroyer.
Click to expand...

Tipsa, I don´t like him either. But his tennis was quite good.
 
Harrison just protected his family jewels with a superb reflex volley to help his hold, 4-1 one break second set.

Love this thread! Thanks OP!
 
Duckworth is stepping up vs JWT, deep in a fourth set (down a set) and on serve. Another five-set upset? He beat Haase 1R in a thriller.
 
Cheers to the Ducky juggernaut.
Love that Baghdatis is playing well again!

This almost makes up for the fact that wawrinka attended the mtv video music awards.
I am rooting for stan and thiem to get to the final. I realize they meet in tournament's official quarterfinal, but it is the actual final of the topranking one handers in the draw.
 
Darky Ducky fails vs JWT.:(

Darky Harry is so erratic. Fails to break for 6-2 in a marathon RaoMUG service game, then gives a break to him with another DF. Now 5-5 after another hold by Miloshs.:(
 
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