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Stircrazy


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Weeks 3 & 4 - Australian Open - men's singles (outdoor hard)
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Coup Droit wrote:
JonH comes home wrote:
Coup Droit wrote:
Madadman wrote:
JonH comes home wrote:

Rublev and Shelton both get through the last 8. Massive for Shelton

 Think Shelton is now into the top 50. Was outside 500 only last May.

 Yes, and played such a great match with Paul Jubb only a few months ago, that Paul should have won, but just lost at the last.

Great guy to watch play. 

Think his dad knows what he was doing.....great knowledge and support (although he only made the fourth round of a slam ) Knows that if the tennis is there, the ranking is irrelevant. Great that he didn't make him pound the courts all round the world, just honed his skills at home. 

His uncle on his mum's side was also a top-50 player. Unusual to have both sides.  

 Who was the uncle on the mums side , out of interest ? 

 Todd Witsken, apparently

Sorry to any Todd fans but I'd never heard of him - but he used to be ATP 4 in doubles, and 43 in singles  

https://www.sportskeeda.com/tennis/news-who-ben-shelton-s-tennis-playing-parents-heptathlete-girlfriend-know-american-sensation-s-support-system

Not a fan, but the name certainly rings a bell from the dim & distant past, when it could have been only as a result of matches he played at Wimbedon.



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JonH comes home


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Ok, I remember Witsken, he beat Connors one year in a big upset at the US Open

Sadly he died of a brain tumour back in 1998 it seems

apnews.com/article/3f5923e00168b3b195301125a4bfefac

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GAMEOVER


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Sadly Ben Shelton would never had known his uncle as he was born in 2002.



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Stircrazy


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Interview with Ben.  Includes a picture of him with his dad, Bryan.



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Born2WinTennis


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I make the combined ranking of the men's quarter finals a staggering 261. Does anyone know if this is the largest it has ever been? I certainly can't remember one

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JonH comes home


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Born2WinTennis wrote:

I make the combined ranking of the men's quarter finals a staggering 261. Does anyone know if this is the largest it has ever been? I certainly can't remember one

 Well Im going to frustrate you here! When I was a lad, some 40 years ago, late 70s and 80s , this is a stat I religiously kept and tracked - the combined ranking of the last 8 in slams. Seriously. But it was all on paper and at some point , probably when I moved house or something, I chucked it all out - and I never bothered again. So I actually have no idea as I cant remember back 40 years nor have I looked more recently.

 

for some reason it seemed an important stat at the time, although again I have no idea why I thought that or tracked it! 

sorry 



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Elegant Point


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Coup Droit wrote:

Looking at men's tennis, taking the last 16 to be a good snapshot, the performance of the US players is a major talking point:

Four US players in the last 16, including:
complete newbie Ben Shelton ATP 89;
pretty much newbie Wolf ATP 67;
unseeded Tommy Paul ATP 35, and
the most 'established' player, Korda, ATP 31

Age 20, 24, 25, and 22 respectively

It's a big deal, maybe a changing of the guard; big boost for college tennis too

Another major outsider is Lehecka, ATP 71 and only 21
Great for the Czechs to have a man to add to their amazing female contingent. But another completely new name at this level (although he made the finals of the Next gen last year, which announced his intentions well)

Apart from that, there's a reasonable smattering of the tried and tested, with Djoko leading that charge, at age 35

But rather a different look to the last 16, I'd say, from normal

 Article on Ben Shelton in the WSJ (ignore pop up with fee). Wonder how many Brits under 25 will be top 50 in the next ATP rankings?

Shelton isnt alone in his rise through mens tennis. Though no American man seems quite ready to break a Grand Slam dry spell that dates back to Roddicks U.S. Open in 2003, hes part of a building wave of young talent. When the next ATP rankings are published, 10 Americans including Shelton are expected to be in the top 50nine of them are 25 or younger. 

https://www.wsj.com/articles/ben-shelton-australian-open-florida-tennis-11674483325



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JonH comes home


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Tommy Paul won the US battle. 4 sets over Shelton

So we have

Tsitsipas v Khachanov
Paul v Djokovic or Rublev





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Jaggy1876


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Do we just hand Djokovic the trophy now then. He wont be stopped.

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Stircrazy


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Jaggy1876 wrote:

Do we just hand Djokovic the trophy now then. He wont be stopped.

More's the pity!  furious



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RainDelay


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Jaggy1876 wrote:

Do we just hand Djokovic the trophy now then. He wont be stopped.

 if only he wasn't so unlikeable. 



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Jimmy09


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Hardly say hes unlikeable. Hes just not a Rafa or roger. A lot of people say the same about Andy.

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Stircrazy


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Jimmy09 wrote:

Hardly say hes unlikeable. Hes just not a Rafa or roger. A lot of people say the same about Andy.

But he IS unlikeable!  Not much of a fan of Rafa or The Lodger, either.  no



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indiana


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Stircrazy wrote:
Jimmy09 wrote:

Hardly say hes unlikeable. Hes just not a Rafa or roger. A lot of people say the same about Andy.

But he IS unlikeable!  Not much of a fan of Rafa or The Lodger, either.  no

 Certainly I am one of the many folk who have for a long time found Djokovic to be really unlikeable, very unlike how I feel about Andy, Fed and Rafa - each of whom yes has people who don't like them

Great player, still arguably the best ever. But just so puts me off in quite a number of ways. Just how I feel.



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JonH comes home


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indiana wrote:
Stircrazy wrote:
Jimmy09 wrote:

Hardly say hes unlikeable. Hes just not a Rafa or roger. A lot of people say the same about Andy.

But he IS unlikeable!  Not much of a fan of Rafa or The Lodger, either.  no

 Certainly I am one of the many folk who have for a long time found Djokovic to be really unlikeable, very unlike how I feel about Andy, Fed and Rafa - each of whom yes has people who don't like them

Great player, still arguably the best ever. But just so puts me off in quite a number of ways. Just how I feel.

 On a scale of 1 to 10, I like Novak as a 2; Rafa as a take him or leave him 5, Roger a 7 and Andy a 9! 



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