Weeks 6 & 7 - Australian Open, Melbourne, Australia Hard

Jaggy1876 · Grand Slam Champion

Weeks 6 & 7 - Australian Open, Melbourne, Australia Hard

ROSAMUND · Futures level

Jaggy1876 wrote:
I dont really see it as a building block sadly. Dan, Cam and Kyle have a ceiling for me of last 32 or 16 at best. The players ahead of them are up a level now.

Kyle has yet to match his semi final of 2018 but he has not been helped by his recent knee problems.

Jaggy1876 · Grand Slam Champion

Regardless of Kyles knee injury I dont think we can compare him to the likes of Zverev, Thiem, Medvedev and Tsitsipas. I cant see any of our current players making a Grand Slam quarter final for a long time. We may be in for a long wait judging on the lack of any talent with a chance just now.

ROSAMUND · Futures level

Jaggy1876 wrote:
Regardless of Kyles knee injury I dont think we can compare him to the likes of Zverev, Thiem, Medvedev and Tsitsipas. I cant see any of our current players making a Grand Slam quarter final for a long time. We may be in for a long wait judging on the lack of any talent with a chance just now.

Would agree with your comment there. We have a small pool of both men and women. For the men we basically have 4 players(Andy, Dan, Kyle, Cam) plus the occasional qualifier and Wimbledon wild cards. The womens game is the same with Jo and Heather being the mainstays since 2014 and a small support group. A 3rd round for Harriet at Wimbledon 2019 is the best anybody else has managed in that period.

ROSAMUND · Futures level

ROSAMUND wrote:
Mike Dickson in the Mail on Sunday points out that Cam's defeat marked the 8th out in the last 11 Grand Slams in which no Brit has made the second week of the singles. The 3 in question are all Johanna Konta in 2019 and the last British man to reach the last 16 was Kyle Edmunds' -semi final at the 2018 AO. He does add that the AO should prove a building block for Cam.

I had a look at Andy Murray's Grand Slam record and he single handedly guaranteed us interest in the 2nd week for many years. Starting at Wimbledon 2008 running through to Wimbledon 2017 , the only time he didn't make the 2nd week was US Open 2010( 3rd rd) and the French 2013 (dnp). So that was 35 out of 37 Grand Slams in the 2nd week. In that period Kyle had a 4th round at the 2016 US Open and Dan had his only 4th round at the 2017 AO.

Jaggy1876 · Grand Slam Champion

I had ruled out a Rafa v Novak final and doubted if either of them could make the final but Rafa looks more like his old self against Fognini first set and an injured Novak already in the quarters. Hopefully we get the crowds back for the semis, both the womens and mens shaping up nicely.

ROSAMUND · Futures level

Tsitsipas has a walkover over Berrettini who withdrew with an abdominal strain. Sounds familiar.

indiana · Tennis legend

So quite a QF line-uo with 6 of the top 7 seeds and, including (3) Thiem and the absent Federer, 6 of the very clearly current top 8 ranked in the world.

(1) Djokovic vs (6) Zverev
(18) Dimitrov vs (Q) Karatsev
(7) Rublev vs (4) Medvedev
(5) Tsitsipas vs (2) Nadal

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Usually do this for the last 16 (which is more revealing, I feel) but just for the last 8 that Indy's put above, coz that's the stage we're at now, we have:

3 (THREE) Russians
1 Greek
1 German
1 Bulgarian
1 Spaniard
1 Serbian

So ALL EIGHT from Europe......

SIX out of eight are seeded to be at this stage. And one is very close. Only the qualifier, Karatsev, stands out - but he stands out majorly - a real journeyman at best, if you look at his history. Well done to him.

The average age of the eight is 27

Two are above 30 (age 33 and 34). One close (29)

But four are age 25 or younger, which does show the 'next gen' arrival

(as does the gap in the middle, as there's only Dimitrov and Unknown Quali Guy in the age 26-32 band)

And as I twitter on about height quite a bit, just to note this is a very tall group - the average height is 191 cm !

And relatively little range - the shortest being 185, the tallest 198.

ROSAMUND · Futures level

ROSAMUND wrote:
Tsitsipas has a walkover over Berrettini who withdrew with an abdominal strain. Sounds familiar.

Rublev won his match when Ruud retired with an abdominal strain. Is this just councidence?

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

It does seem a prevalence of abdominal strains are happening. I am no medic but could they have untoned during their quarantines and have weaker stomach muscles as a consequence? Surely they would, as a group, have been doing exercises in their rooms?

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

ROSAMUND wrote:
ROSAMUND wrote:
Tsitsipas has a walkover over Berrettini who withdrew with an abdominal strain. Sounds familiar.
Rublev won his match when Ruud retired with an abdominal strain. Is this just councidence?

What else could it be????

It's only two (unless you're throwing Konta into the mix too)

Ruud is very young - at two sets down, he'd may well retire even if it was just a small twinge.

-- Edited by Coup Droit on Monday 15th of February 2021 09:35:08 AM

ROSAMUND · Futures level

Coup Droit wrote:
ROSAMUND wrote:
ROSAMUND wrote:
Tsitsipas has a walkover over Berrettini who withdrew with an abdominal strain. Sounds familiar.
Rublev won his match when Ruud retired with an abdominal strain. Is this just councidence?
What else could it be????
It's only two (unless you're throwing Konta into the mix too)
Ruud is very young - at two sets down, he'd may well retire even if it was just a small twinge.

-- Edited by Coup Droit on Monday 15th of February 2021 09:35:08 AM

Well one could add Jo and hasn't Djokovic had some problems there as well.

emmsie69 · Top national player

ROSAMUND wrote:
Coup Droit wrote:
ROSAMUND wrote:
ROSAMUND wrote:
Tsitsipas has a walkover over Berrettini who withdrew with an abdominal strain. Sounds familiar.
Rublev won his match when Ruud retired with an abdominal strain. Is this just councidence?
What else could it be????
It's only two (unless you're throwing Konta into the mix too)
Ruud is very young - at two sets down, he'd may well retire even if it was just a small twinge.

-- Edited by Coup Droit on Monday 15th of February 2021 09:35:08 AM
Well one could add Jo and hasn't Djokovic had some problems there as well.

Jo has, the jury is out on Djokovic

Jaggy1876 · Grand Slam Champion

Karatsev is doing a Kyle here from a few years ago. A combination of beating off form opponents and a bit of luck with the draw. Would appear Dimitrov cant continue and is 2-1 down in sets. With Djokovic not fully fit Zverev will be smiling no doubt.