Tennis: All Purpose Tennis Thread XI

[kihei]

Well, the Next Gen in the form of Khachanov and Zverev certainly finished the year on a high note. I look forward to see the improved service games of both players clash with one another in the new year.

 

[Hadoop]

Impressive stuff from Zverev. Still needs to prove himself worthy of being the next big thing in the grand slams, but as with all the next gen time is definitely on his side.

 

[kihei]

Time to see how my predictions went:

A Baker's Dozen Predictions for the New Year, all of them guaranteed to come true:

Four different players will win Grand Slams, none of whom will be Roger Federer---wrong on all counts

Novak Djokovic will end the year #1 once again---good call

Grigor Dimitrov will remain in the Top Five and may even challenge for #1---bad call

Thiem, Zverev and Goffin will all continue to prosper and remain in the Top Ten--2 out of 3 ain't bad

Elina Svitolina will end the year #1---she got to #4 so maybe next year

Sloane Stephens and Madison Keys will crack the Top Ten--both did but only Stephens stayed

Nick Kyrgios will finally land in the Top Ten--ah, Nick, time is passing....

Denis Shapovalov's rise will slow, though by end of the year he should be in the top 25--not bad--his rise did slow but he ended the year ranked #27

Jack Sock will win a Grand Slam (after which hell will indeed freeze over)--well, if it were doubles I would be right--but hell's temperature has not noticeably cooled

Milos Raonic will not return to the Top Ten--good call

Hyeon Chung will finish in the Top Twenty (I love his footwork. Seriously)--he didn't finish in the Top Twenty but at least he got there briefly

Andrey Rublev will finish slightly ahead of Chung--bad call as Andrey had a poor, one-dimensional year

Roger Federer will start musing about retirement--retirement seems to finally be on his radar but in truth he didn't do much musing about it

Serena Williams will play some tournaments, but not enough to get her back to #1.--good call

As predictions go not great, but not absolutely terrible either.

 

[kihei]

New predictions:

Sascha will not win a Grand Slam

Shapovalov will end the year in the Top Fifteen

Tsitsipas, Khachanov and Coric will finish higher in the rankings than they did this year (15, 11, 12, respectively)

Edmund and Medvedev will finish lower than they did this year (14 and 16 respectively)

Next Gen players will win two Grand Slams

Roger Federer will fall from the Top Three because of his play for the first time since dinosaurs roamed the earth

Stan Wawrinka will announce his retirement

Rafa will win the French Open once again

De Minaur will make the Top Twenty (currently #31)

Svitolina will finish the year #1 on the women's side

Taylor Fritz will move up to the #2 ranked US player behind Isner

Nick Kyrgios will be comeback player of the year (currently #35)

Anett Kontaveit will land and stick in the Top Twenty

The new Davis Cup format will be almost universally panned--an investigation will find that a lot of shady money changed hands to alter the traditional competition.

FAA will have a break out year and get to the semi-final of a GS tournament.

 

[Hadoop]

New predictions:

Sascha will not win a Grand Slam

Shapovalov will end the year in the Top Fifteen

Tsitsipas, Khachanov and Coric will finish higher in the rankings than they did this year (15, 11, 12, respectively)

Edmund and Medvedev will finish lower than they did this year (14 and 16 respectively)

Next Gen players will win two Grand Slams

Roger Federer will fall from the Top Three because of his play for the first time since dinosaurs roamed the earth

Stan Wawrinka will announce his retirement

Rafa will win the French Open once again

De Minaur will make the Top Twenty (currently #31)

Svitolina will finish the year #1 on the women's side

Taylor Fritz will move up to the #2 ranked US player behind Isner

Nick Kyrgios will be comeback player of the year (currently #35)

Anett Kontaveit will land and stick in the Top Twenty

The new Davis Cup format will be almost universally panned--an investigation will find that a lot of shady money changed hands to alter the traditional competition.

FAA will have a break out year and get to the semi-final of a GS tournament.

I bolded your eye-popping prophecies for emphasis and shock value

 

[Hadoop]

I'll make my predictions for next year before the 2019 season starts, but I'll follow kihei and revisit my predictions from Dec. of last year.

10 predictions for 2017, because I'm still awake and have the week off:

In the ATP...

1) Djokovic will win the AO and will regain the #1 ranking before the end of the year
2) Injuries will derail both Federer and Nadal's seasons, however...
3) Federer will win GS #20 at Wimby, defeating Dimitrov in an epic, 5-set final
4) Raonic will return to the Top 10 and win his first Masters title
5) Krygios will end the year in the Top 10 (he's got to mature at some point, right?)
6) Shapovalov's progress will slow, but he will be seeded by the USO and will end the year in the 20-25 range
7) The USO will be won by someone other then the big 4.

And a few for the WTA...

8) Pliskova will win her maiden slam at Wimby
9) Serena will win GS #24 at the USO
10) Bencic will return to the Top 15 by the end of the year

P.S. Didn't predict anything for Bouchard because I don't consider tennis her primary profession anymore, but I assume she'll take a few thousand selfies, many of them flirtatious, and post them on social media.

Seriously these are awful!

 

[MsMeow]

I'll make my predictions for next year before the 2019 season starts, but I'll follow kihei and revisit my predictions from Dec. of last year.



Seriously these are awful!

The Bouchard one was dead on!

 

[kihei]

In the Davis Cup, Pouille loses a tie breaker to Cilic. Pouille played well early in the set and then gradually tightened as the set progressed. You could feel his nerves. Poor guy, being inexplicably passed over by his captain in favour of Chardy, of all people, the first day couldn't have done anything good for his confidence. Then getting thrown into a must-win situation--no wonder he looks fragile at the moment. If he loses now, it could take him a long, long time to recover.

In the second set, Marin, finally finding some rhythm, has a much easier time of it, 6-3.

Lucas puts up little resistance in the final set, going down without a whimper, 6-3.

Congrats to tiny Croatia winning its second Davis Cup--and the last one that will have any special meaning.

 

[kihei]

France was outgunned by Croatia from the time the line ups were announced and a trio of French stars (Gasquet, Simon, Monfils) were not chosen either because of injury or whim. Though legitimate underdogs no matter what they did, I still think that team captain Yannick Noah cost France whatever chance they had to win with bad decisions both in selecting the team and in managing the team in the finals. He bears a lot of responsibility for how France lost.

 

[MsMeow]

Have you been following the latest Gimelstob drama?

Exclusive: Tennis supremo Justin Gimelstob facing explosive assault allegations

"The former grand-slam tennis doubles champion seen as a leading contender to become the most influential figure in men’s tennis is fighting to save his career amid claims of violent behaviour dating back several years. He will appear in a Los Angeles court next month over an alleged assault."

 

[kihei]

Have you been following the latest Gimelstob drama?

Exclusive: Tennis supremo Justin Gimelstob facing explosive assault allegations

"The former grand-slam tennis doubles champion seen as a leading contender to become the most influential figure in men’s tennis is fighting to save his career amid claims of violent behaviour dating back several years. He will appear in a Los Angeles court next month over an alleged assault."

What do you expect from a doubles player?

 

[Tuggy]

The offseason is almost over! Season kicks off next week with three 250's on the Men's side (Doha, Brisbane and Pune).

Felix is in Pune and is currently the next ALT in line to get direct entry. So one more withdrawal and he's in the MD. Otherwise, #1 seed in qualifying.

Raonic/Polanksy playing Brisbane and Pospisil/Schnur in Doha. Shapovalov isn't playing next week but he's in Auckland the week after.

 

[Hadoop]

It's always a shock to me now short the off-season is in tennis. Anyways 12 predictions for 2019 (the two big story-lines for me will be 1) how the GOAT generation adds to their legacy and 2) how much better the next gen will become and whether or not one or more of them will make a GS breakthrough)

- Djokovic will win the AO
- Rafa and Nole will meet in 2 of the 4 GS finals
- Not sure how he'll do, but Father time will not be kind to Father Fed this year
- Zverev will reach the semis at both the French and Wimbly, but will still be searching for his first slam
- At least two of Khachanov, Coric, and Tsitsipas will be in the top 10 by the end of the year
- Shapovalov will reach his first QF at the USO and will end the year just outside the top 10
- FAA will have a big season and will end the year inside the top 25
- Raonic will still be made of glass
- Serena finally wins her 24th GS
- Svitolina will become world #1 at some point during the year
- Sabalenka will prove to be the 'next big thing' and despite inconsistent results will finish the year in the top 5
- Venus will retire at the USO

 

[Dr Pepper]

Serena wins Female Athlete of the Year

Serena somehow won AP's Female Athlete of the Year, despite not winning a single tournament.

I'd have given it to Arike Ogunbowale, Chloe Kim, or even Brooks Henderson. All three actually won something this season.

 

[rangerssharks414]

Serena wins Female Athlete of the Year

Serena somehow won AP's Female Athlete of the Year, despite not winning a single tournament.

I'd have given it to Arike Ogunbowale, Chloe Kim, or even Brooks Henderson. All three actually won something this season.

Bingo.

 

[Tuggy]

Felix won his first round qualifying match today.

 

[kihei]

It's always a shock to me now short the off-season is in tennis. Anyways 12 predictions for 2019 (the two big story-lines for me will be 1) how the GOAT generation adds to their legacy and 2) how much better the next gen will become and whether or not one or more of them will make a GS breakthrough)

- Djokovic will win the AO
- Rafa and Nole will meet in 2 of the 4 GS finals
- Not sure how he'll do, but Father time will not be kind to Father Fed this year
- Zverev will reach the semis at both the French and Wimbly, but will still be searching for his first slam
- At least two of Khachanov, Coric, and Tsitsipas will be in the top 10 by the end of the year
- Shapovalov will reach his first QF at the USO and will end the year just outside the top 10
- FAA will have a big season and will end the year inside the top 25
- Raonic will still be made of glass
- Serena finally wins her 24th GS
- Svitolina will become world #1 at some point during the year
- Sabalenka will prove to be the 'next big thing' and despite inconsistent results will finish the year in the top 5
- Venus will retire at the USO

I like these guesses, but I'm not sure Serena will win a Slam in 2019. I doubt that she (or Roger) will be able to string together the requisite number of good to flawless matches necessary to make that happen. Just another way of saying that age finally catches up to both--though neither will be at the "toothless lion" stage just yet.

 

[Tuggy]

Felix won his final round qualifying match today in straight sets! He draws Karlovic in R1.

 

[Novak Djokovic]

I like these guesses, but I'm not sure Serena will win a Slam in 2019. I doubt that she (or Roger) will be able to string together the requisite number of good to flawless matches necessary to make that happen. Just another way of saying that age finally catches up to both--though neither will be at the "toothless lion" stage just yet.

I can never be confident in ruling anything out with those two though. Eventually, the day has to come...

 

[Tuggy]

Raonic and Bouchard both start off the 2019 season with straight forward wins.

18 year old Andreescu got through qualifying in Auckland. She dealt with a bunch of injuries in 2018, so hopefully she's back to full health. She has good potential.

 

[rangerssharks414]

Booooooooo

 

[Tuggy]

Felix lost in straight sets to Karlovic. Onto the AO qualifying next! Unless a handful of players withdraw...

Andreescu won her first round match and should hit a new career high ranking. Probably getting Wozniacki in the second round.

Raonic and Bouchard off today.

 

[Hadoop]

Fun mixed doubles match between Roger and Serena down under today (even though the Hopman Cup is a light-hearted competition). Definitely a case of GOAT recognize GOAT.

 

[Hadoop]

Felix lost in straight sets to Karlovic. Onto the AO qualifying next! Unless a handful of players withdraw...

Andreescu won her first round match and should hit a new career high ranking. Probably getting Wozniacki in the second round.

Raonic and Bouchard off today.

Dr. Ivo is still playing (and winning)?! 2 months shy of his 40th birthday and he's back in Top 100; gotta give Karlovic some credit!

 

[Tuggy]

Raonic and Bouchard into the QF's at their events.