US Open Tennis

[dukemomLA]

Okay, Duke BB is still weeks away (sigh), and Tiger is out for the year (sigh), so I thought I'd start a thread about the US Open.

There has been some wonderful tennis played. Yahoo.

But here's my thoughts:

Greatest male player of all time? Federer? Sampras?

Greatest female? IMO Steffi Graf, no question. Martina N comes in second.

Has a place is history? Rod Laver, Arthur Ashe, Billie Jean King.

Most fun to watch and root for? No question for me: Andre Agassi.

Most fun to see what the hell they might do next? Ilie N. John McEnroe

Best commentators: Mary Carillo, John McEnroe

Have not lived up to their potential? Andy Roddick, Venus & Serena Williams.

Up and comers? Love to hear your thoughts.

[Bluedog]

Greatest male player of all time? I think you could make an argument for Sampras, Federer, or Laver. Tilden and Lendle could be dark horse selection. Or even Borg and Emerson. Personally, my vote goes to Laver for winning all four Gram Slams in a single year TWICE. Sampras and Federer haven't done that once. Complete domination in my book gives Laver the edge, even if he has fewer total grand slams than Sampras and Federer.


Greatest female? I'd agree with your top two. Graf is the best of all time followed by Navratilova. Smith-Court has to be #3 with here TWENTY-FOUR grand slams, followed by Evert and King.


Has a place is history? Rod Laver, Arthur Ashe, Billie Jean King. Can't dispute that list. I'd say Arthur Ashe for the men and Billie Jean King for the women.


Most fun to watch and root for? I'll say Federer because he makes it look so damn easy (although not as much as of late) and is just ridiculously good (and I haven't been able to watched the old-timers as much). I'll also add Connors.


Most fun to see what the hell they might do next? Ilie N. John McEnroe Connors too.


Best commentators: Mary Carillo, John McEnroe I like Dick Enberg even though people think he's getting senile in his old age. Mary Joe Fernandez is pretty good too. Mary Carillo got some major face time at the Olympics. Patrick McEnroe not bad either.


Have not lived up to their potential? Andy Roddick, Venus & Serena Williams. Well, the Williams have won 15 grand slams between them, so you can't say they haven't done well...but I agree they could be even better if they didn't have so many distractions/injuries. For the men, it's clear to me that right now it's Safin. That guy is just ridiculously talented and if his head was in every point, he'd be racking up the grand slams. I'll put Carlos Moya on the list too; thought he should have won more than one grand slam.


Up and comers? Sam Querrey (at least, I hope so!), Andy Murray (although he's #6 in the world now)

[phaedrus]

Greatest male player of all time? Federer? Sampras?


A very time-sensitive discussion; in 3-4 years there will be no point in arguing about it because the answer will be obvious.

http://fearofbliss.files.wordpress.com/2007/12/rafael-nadal-hitting-one-handed-backhand.jpg

[Bluedog]

A very time-sensitive discussion; in 3-4 years there will be no point in arguing about it because the answer will be obvious.

http://fearofbliss.files.wordpress.com/2007/12/rafael-nadal-hitting-one-handed-backhand.jpg

I think he needs to win at least one Grand Slam on hard courts before we even include him in the discussion. Right now, he's not even close, although he certainly has potential. Yes, I think hard court is the most important as 1/2 the grand slams are hard court and the majority of tournaments in general. There are tons of clay-court specialists...although you can't say that about Nadal anymore.

[JasonEvans]

Silly me, I thought this thread would be about the current US Open being played. Instead, it appears to be a discussion of tennis history.

Too bad, I am really looking forward to Roddick and Djokovic in the quarters tomorrow.

--Jason "anyone want to bet against the winner of Venus and Serena winning this thing?" Evans

[Schwarz]

I saw a graphic where the Williams sisters have each won as many grand slam events as the rest of the Open field. (Serena 8, Venus 7, rest of field 7) I wouldn't call them underachievers. They just don't play enough events to be ranked at the top. They play each other tonight in the quarterfinals, and the winner will be favored to win the whole tournament.

The up and comers on the men's side are Del Potro, Gulbis and Cilic. I think all are 19 years old and made good runs in the Open.

[phaedrus]

I think he needs to win at least one Grand Slam on hard courts before we even include him in the discussion. Right now, he's not even close, although he certainly has potential. Yes, I think hard court is the most important as 1/2 the grand slams are hard court and the majority of tournaments in general. There are tons of clay-court specialists...although you can't say that about Nadal anymore.

I guess we can wait until Sunday to include him in the discussion, then.

By the way, is Olympic tennis on hard court or grass?

[Bluedog]

I guess we can wait until Sunday to include him in the discussion, then.

By the way, is Olympic tennis on hard court or grass?

It depends on where the Olympics are. This year, it was on hard. In 2012 London, it's at Wimbledon, so clearly, it'll be on grass. In 2016, if it's in Chicago, it'll be hard.

Edit: Woo hoo! Johnny Dawkins status! Not commenting for a while now! :)

[ugadevil]

I love Novak Djokovic. He doesn't get a lot of attention because his name isn't Federer or Nadal, but he's a fantastic player who seems to really enjoy himself on the court. I hope he destroys Andy Roddick!