2022 In Between Grand Slam Thread

so the most successful clay court player ever has won 1 title there in the last 8 years where he has won 3 each in both Rome and Monte Carlo in the same timeframe

where Federer who has never one a single clay court masters in Rome or Monte Carlo has won multiple titles on the clay at Madrid

but there's nothing much different about it - sure!

it's the clay court masters where players who could never come close to Nadal at Roland Garros or rarely at Rome or Monte Carlo have been able to beat him and they have had more success there

2021 for Alcaraz you're quoting - that's quite funny given that Alcaraz only made his breakout in Autumn 2021 near the end of the season and obviously really came on in 2022 - expecting that to be taken seriously as a point is a bit rich

and taking 2022 ->

hard court win-rate = 87.5 %

clay-court win-rate = 86.2 % (including "Madrid")

Also Alcaraz's ELO rating is also higher on hard-court than on clay-court (ELO ratings give credit for the ELO strength of opponents)

http://tennisabstract.com/reports/atp_elo_ratings.html

Amazon prime don't play the music at the venues and they can't have commentary for every minor match in a joint ATP 500 / WTA 250 tournament really which is both a male and female event so double the amount of matches.

I'm guessing the cameras may be automated and / or fixed for the outside courts also to save on personnel.

Considering that it's included with Amazon Prime and covers a lot of tournaments AND has the replays available also I don't have too many complaints - some on the commentary side occasionally depending on who is rostered lol

First time Raducanu has managed 2 wins in a tournament on an outdoor hardcourt since the US Open last year but 50 Unforced Errors from her in just 2 sets - not going to get too far with that tbh.

I'm sure that the heat doesn't help but Samsonova who is the next opponent was also playing in the heat and didn't hit anything like that (match 20 minutes shorter)

if Raducanu manages to win would be the first time since September 2021 at any tournament to get 3 wins

has a Russian coach Tursunov - on a temporary contract of course.

created a bit of a stir in parts.

Zverev has been Type 1 diabetic since age 4

Ostapenko's circus-worthy-attire outfits have been a recent "eye-catching" feature on the WTA tour.

but looks like she has just gone and out-done herself with the latest Toronto "married-with-children" Peggy Bundy leopard-print number!

Careful now.

you're not allowed to point out the obvious apparently

Don't care for Murray's ranting on court these days but at least he cares which is to be admired even if he's a little deluded about being as effective as he once was.

Medvedev - Kyrgios on "from 6pm" Irish time today - meaning could be up to 90 minutes later depending on previous matches I would guess

Raducanu out to the dainty but hard-hitting Giorgi in 2 sets (WTA 29 even if she did win there last year, not the favourite by any means for the tournament at 50/1), not exactly fighting for the tie-break as it went 0-7, hitting a grand total of 3 winners in the entire match and the second set went 2-6

Murray is Scottish (not a big spender lol) and is estimated to be worth at least $100 million from multiple sources and up to $150 million plus, including owning a 5-star hotel up in Scotland

He doesn't need the money

He just has the genuine desire to play - coupled with a bit of delusion driving it also

Off-court coaching allowed on trial for the rest of the year on the ATP

Has been going on anyway and very hard to deal with for officials due to hand signals and foreign languages.

Also very inconsistent reactions to it too - Tsitsipas getting heavily panned but no real mention of it in others' cases like Alcaraz for example. (and there are plenty plenty more on both the ATP and WTA tours)

Alcaraz into a third set vs Paul - probably should have finished it in two and has a match on now

on the other hand Raducanu hasn't been able to string together 3 wins at any tournament since September 2021

you won't find anyone in the Top 65 of the WTA who hasn't managed to do that in the same timeframe

she has been terrible - as if Raducanu is remotely as capable as Alcaraz in the game of tennis!

yep she has a slam but that's an embarrassment for the WTA Tour more than anything else considering the actual level shown over the full year

No, Alcaraz is strong mentally - he was just a bit lackadaisical on a couple of key points today - that's about it - he would have the win otherwise

That he will learn from

He's still having an amazing year at 2nd in the Race to Turin he's up to 4th in the world.

He's the youngest player to get inside the ATP Top 5 since Nadal - that's the most impressive talent in over 15 years

Hardly not performing!

Djokovic didn't win a slam until he was 20, Federer was a couple of weeks off 22 and they are two of the best ever to play the game - it's not easy to win a slam on the ATP

Seles had 8 slams before she turned 20 on the WTA - it's just not comparable in that respect

Nadal got one earlier because he was a freak on clay even at 19

his serve needs to be more consistent at times - lost too many points on his second serve today compared to his usual stats on second serve

he's not the tallest at just 6 feet so is never going to be the biggest server but I think that he'll find a solution

who said he was going to win 30 slams - only an absolute moron would say that.

he'll definitely win some slams but nobody can say how many.

Djokovic is the only real ranking aberration at the moment - Alcaraz would still be in the Top 5

The ATP has at least 10 decent consistent players who get to the quarterfinals of big events with regularity - they are not "terrified"

Nadal and Djokovic (barring injury he will stay until 40 but will be fading as time goes on obviously) will go eventually and as 2 of the best players ever by definition are going to have a gap but there are consistent performers who have rivalries and that's what's most important

if you take the WTA as a comparison there hasn't been consistency in many years - a slam winner can be seen to lose multiple early rounds soon after

I haven't seen it - you must be frequenting the silly parts of the web tbh!

It's just as idiotic to expect a player to be the greatest every single tournament in his development- having a successful season each season and showing progression is what's most important and he's done that in spades over the last year winning 2 masters titles on the way - Sinner who has been around a year longer doesn't have one for example

the guy is great to watch and is a winner - should have finished off Paul today and that's something he will be less likely to do in the future