USO DARK HORSE (for at least the semis)

[Rago]

Corona

 

[Nordung]

Cilic.

 

[nounforcederrors]

Dark horse - very dark - J.J. Wolf to get to the quarters, maybe not the semis.

 

[James P]

I'll go with a different American. Tennys Sandgren. Because why not.

 

[Federev]

I'll go with a different American. Tennys Sandgren. Because why not.

Fed was not at his worst last year and Sandgren wore him down.

Would be interesting to see him running on all cylinders!

 

[mental midget]

deminaur is a good call. i’m sure he’s been working like crazy and would be a nightmare for anybody not on their game. i don’t know if guys like tsitsipas can be called dark horses anymore.

is opelka playing? i have a feeling he’s going to go deep at a major soon.

 

[mental midget]

I'll go with a different American. Tennys Sandgren. Because why not.

i like this call too. he is sneaky good when on.

 

[mental midget]

@Tennis sprew -- you must have missed Felix's incredible statement (no joke) about last year's Wimbledon. Felix said, "Arriving at Wimbledon. I heard people say that I was pretty much among the favourites for the title.”

So if Felix seriously believed he was one of the favorites to win Wimbledon in 2019, I'm sure he believes he's a shoe-in for the USO trophy in September.

https://www.essentiallysports.com/i...sime-on-coping-with-pressure-atp-tennis-news/

he’s really good and so young still, but there’s something about his game that seems vulnerable. there’s the double fault issues, but even though his strokes seem solid i feel like guys “figure him out” at some point. again, super talented and a lot of runway for improvement but for the moment i have more belief in a shapovalov for example, as streaky as he can be, to pull through on the big stage.

 

[Beckerserve]

Isner if he plays and Rublev

 

[Meles]

It is kind of hard to tell how they would do with 5 months layoff. I will include those NexGen and Lost Gen to my post. If I had to choose one, from each era, it's FAA for nextgen, Raonic for Lost Gen, and Monfils for outside of those generation. Who will have the advantage of just practicing for 5 months? I would say, Raonic due to his serve and he can work on serve alone and still won't lose his service velocity with variety net game he has. ROS is another thing but he had opportunity to shore up his returning weakness so we'll see if it becomes a reality. FAA is another type of guy who can improve his groundstrokes including serve to his already established game for his age and can go for a deep run if he can reduce the double faults that have been plaguing for a while. Monfils is a wildcard for me. He could improve his finishing stroke to his already strong pusher game with 5 month layoff and learn something about his game after a long layoff. Those are my choice for a deep USO run.

Monfils not playing the Real Slam so unlikely to play US Open; do you have an alternate? Raonic really not a bad pick as he's so injury prone and really is that much to ask for him to stay healthy for a couple tournaments? We've had some time off and younger players still physically developing so like the Felix pick, but asking a lot given his age.

 

[Meles]

Either Kyrgios or Monfils.

Brilliant. Neither playing Real Slam so very unlikely to even play US Open.

 

[Meles]

Berrettini and Rublev. I expect to see both in the Semis if they won’t meet each other before.

This is the Way.

 

[Meles]

Nakashima will make a name for himself, like Chung at the Australian. Not racially stereotyping, I swear. Similarly solid all around. Solid play will win out over weapons this tournament, I think, due to an abundance of weirdness. So, who are some other Mr. Solids? De Minaur?

Wow. Nakashima really looked good before things shut down. Excellent choice.

If we go recent Elo rating. De Minaur, Shapo, and Rublev all were heading towards the top ten this year. I've seen Rublev play in Exhos and looked good, but not some kind of Medvedev quantum leap. Given their lack of play hate to put much stock in the Demon or Shapo, but like Nakashima their physical level could explode given their ages.

 

[FCarmo]

Schwartzman!

 

[zipplock]

Raonic

 

[FRV3]

I'm gonna go with Pablo Carreno Busta.

 

[Swingmaster]

Shapo or bust

 

[FRV3]

Shapo or bust

This was for USO, correct answer was PCB

 

[beltsman]

Rublev

 

[Beckerserve]

No Djokdal, Thiem, Med, or Tsitsi. Not even the Sash.

And no lost gen Dimi Lostvato while we’re at it.

So...Who’s your Dark Horse fave for at least the semis at the USO??

I’m going Coric.

Go

Shapolav

 

[Swingmaster]

This was for USO, correct answer was PCB

Oh. Ha. Why the hell are people still posting then? You’re right as always, FRV3. Best poster to come around in a long long time.

 

[FRV3]

Oh. Ha. Why the hell are people still posting then? You’re right as always, FRV3. Best poster to come around in a long long time.

Lol I revived this thread from the dead. Just wanted to bump and congratulate anyone who chose PCB, which was no one.

 

[Swingmaster]

Lol I revived this thread from the dead.

Then we might as well use it as an experimental zone. Try something new, FRV3. Try to reinvent yourself. Maybe I should pick a player to obsess about and be protective of. Tsitsipas maybe. From now on I’m defending Tsitsipas. Maybe I’m from Greece. I’m from Greece. Sakari all the way, baby!

 

[FRV3]

Then we might as well use it as an experimental zone. Try something new, FRV3. Try to reinvent yourself. Maybe I should pick a player to obsess about and be protective of. Tsitsipas maybe. From now on I’m defending Tsitsipas. Maybe I’m from Greece. I’m from Greece. Sakari all the way, baby!

If you say so, NADAL THE GOAT, oh man, I vomited a little bit

 

[Swingmaster]

If you say so, NADAL THE GOAT, oh man, I vomited a little bit

You don’t like Nadal? I’m indifferent. Who’s your dude, then?

 

[FRV3]

You don’t like Nadal? I’m indifferent. Who’s your dude, then?

Fed and Djoker. I like Nadal as a person, used to hate him as a player. Becoming indifferent myself as well as I come to accept he may go down as GOAT. Still a hard pill to swallow.

 

[Swingmaster]

Fed and Djoker. I like Nadal as a person, used to hate him as a player. Becoming indifferent myself as well as I come to accept he may go down as GOAT. Still a hard pill to swallow.

I don’t love Nadal and Djoker as tennis players, but I think they represent tennis well. I think those two hold up well against Messi, Ronaldo, Lebron or whoever. Djoker and Nadal might be the world’s greatest athletes. I’m proud of them as a tennis fan versus other sports fans.

 

[FRV3]

I don’t love Nadal and Djoker as tennis players, but I think they represent tennis well. I think those two hold up well against Messi, Ronaldo, Lebron or whoever. Djoker and Nadal might be the world’s greatest athletes. I’m proud of them as a tennis fan versus other sports fans.

Yeah, it's really hard to tell which sports are more challenging than the other. I remember when I used to skateboard and read an article about how low skateboarding was ranked in ESPN's Sport Skills Difficulty Rankings and they brought up how tennis was #7 and made fun of it. I agreed with the article at the time. Now that I've watched how nerve wracking tennis can be, I think it should be ranked even higher.

Edit: Though I think skateboarding should be pretty high up as well

 

[Swingmaster]

Yeah, it's really hard to tell which sports are more challenging than the other. I remember when I used to skateboard and read an article about how low skateboarding was ranked in ESPN's Sport Skills Difficulty Rankings and they brought up how tennis was #7 and made fun of it. I agreed with the article at the time. Now that I've watched how nerve wracking tennis can be, I think it should be ranked even higher.

Well, I heard that tennis adds more years to your life than any other sport, so that says something, right? Or does it? I’ve been drinking.

 

[FRV3]

Well, I heard that tennis adds more years to your life than any other sport, so that says something, right? Or does it? I’ve been drinking.

It's definitely one of the greatest sports on the planet for that reason. Many sports are not healthy.

 

[mental midget]

I'll say Shapovalov if he is playing.

Edit: Just looked him up to see if he is playing.... oh dear God https://www.atptour.com/en/news/shapovalov-rap-music-august-2020
(actually better than what I was expecting, but still amateurish compared to his tennis game)

agree but is he really a dark horse at this point? he’s 10 in the world, i’d say semis would be a great result but hardly out of nowhere. to win...yes.

 

[mental midget]

Dark horse - very dark - J.J. Wolf to get to the quarters, maybe not the semis.

fun call, i’ll roll with that. haven’t seen him on clay but conditions will be slow and he can definitely hit through the ball.

 

[FRV3]

Sorry for the confusion, I shouldn't have bumped this thread. This is the thread from US Open, not French Open.