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On 11/01/2019 at 08:23, villa4europe said:

1) decline of tennis in general, he's a superstar in a sport that's rammed down our throats

2) he's a miserable ****

1st one is interesting comment, decline of tennis? This has been golden age compared to 90s and early part of 00s imo.

Obviously early 80s with Borg and McEnroe was pretty cool period aswell.

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Not sure it has declined, but not clear to me it's in a better state. The courts are slower than ever, that combined with technical changes (e.g. much larger racket heads) makes for a duller game that has allowed hackers to flourish. Personally I find 20+ shot rallies boring, it was a more entertaining game when the points were shorter.

Players like Djokovic, Nadal and Murray were always extremely dull to me.

Edited by Dr_Pangloss
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I have to say, although i’m no Murray fan I think he can be proud of his achievements within the game.

arguably he’s competed in an era of tennis containing some of the very best of all time, Federer, Nadal and Djokovic and held his own and making World No.1

sure, he hasn’t won the silverware compared to the other three which just shows what a tough competition men’s tennis has been during his career. 

Its not going to be the end of a career he wanted but that’s something hopefully he’ll come to terms with overtime. 

Saying all that, the typical media hyperbole surrounding his imminent retirement is nauseating but that’s not his fault. 

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1 minute ago, Dr_Pangloss said:

Not sure it has declined, but not clear to me it's in a better state. The courts are slower than ever, that combined with technical changes (e.g. much larger racket heads) makes for a duller game that has allowed hackers to flourish. Personally I find 20+ shot rallies boring, it was a more entertaining game when the points were shorter.

Players like Djokovic, Nadal and Murray were always extremely dull to me.

Don’t agree, so glad we left the period of ‘big serve’ domination a la Stich, Sampras and Ivanisovic - that was dull.

at least there’s rallies now with some variety of shots (depending on court surface)

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4 minutes ago, theboyangel said:

Don’t agree, so glad we left the period of ‘big serve’ domination a la Stich, Sampras and Ivanisovic - that was dull.

at least there’s rallies now with some variety of shots (depending on court surface)

Most rallies are wars of attrition rather than having variety, most 'top' players hit it straight back to the opponent. The beauty of Federer is his winner first mentality. 

We don't necessarily have to go back to big serve domination, but simply making the courts faster (as they used to be) would reduce the length of rallies for the better IMO.

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1 minute ago, Dr_Pangloss said:

Most rallies are wars of attrition rather than having variety, most 'top' players hit it straight back to the opponent. The beauty of Federer is his winner first mentality. 

We don't necessarily have to go back to big serve domination, but simply making the courts faster (as they used to be) would reduce the length of rallies for the better IMO.

Yes, some rallies are baseline to baseline which can be tedious but at they’re playing tennis instead of just waiting for their turn to serve to win a point. 

Federer is the greatest of all time and has the ability to pick off his opponents as when he chooses, with the added ability of multiple styles of play to rely upon. 

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12 minutes ago, Dr_Pangloss said:

Not sure it has declined, but not clear to me it's in a better state. The courts are slower than ever, that combined with technical changes (e.g. much larger racket heads) makes for a duller game that has allowed hackers to flourish. Personally I find 20+ shot rallies boring, it was a more entertaining game when the points were shorter.

Players like Djokovic, Nadal and Murray were always extremely dull to me.

I quite like the long rallies tbh. Shows the athleticism, defence, concentration and eventually offence when a Nadal or Federer goes for a briliant down the line winner.

Two servebots just whacking down aces all the time at Wimbledon, I find that boring tbh unless one of them is a great volleyer.

Tennis ultimately comes down to match ups. Nole-Murray had some brilliant games but also a fair few boring finals when it's felt like a tennis ball between two brick walls. Some of the best finals I've seen in recent years were between Djokovic and Wawrinka. That French open final when Stan was just endlessly hitting backhands down the line was beautiful to watch.

Federer-Nadal match up speaks for itself and will still be talked about in 50 years such is the legacy both will leave.

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Actually this year's Wimbledon semi final line up good example of different styles:

Nadal-Djokovic

Anderson-John Isner

Two hackers waiting for opponent to make a mistake v two players who'd win a point after 1-3 shots...

After 5 hours of watching both can't say it was a difficult decision over which match I wanted to go on and on and the other I was desperate to finish!

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39 minutes ago, VillaChris said:

1st one is interesting comment, decline of tennis? This has been golden age compared to 90s and early part of 00s imo.

Obviously early 80s with Borg and McEnroe was pretty cool period aswell.

more people watched the womens final than the mens last year (world cup final was on the night) 

the main decline is america, theres a huge slump in america both in terms of viewing figures and participants (mainly because they havent had a good male player since roddick) they need a new sampras / agassi, which ironically would point at the 90s being the golden age for americans 

what tennis needs is the current 4 to retire and the 2020s to be dominated by an american playing a chinese for every grand slam...

Edited by villa4europe
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  • 2 weeks later...

I don't he's brought tennis to a new level. Today he was so good he made Nadal look average. 15 slams now could still surpass Federer but even if he doesn't I think he's the best tennis player I have ever seen. 

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12 hours ago, PaulC said:

She’s not that bad. Can’t see beyond Djokovic winning the men’s again. Women’s is open. Clare balding is as bad as ever. Mistake after mistake, 

Yeah I said that after she lost the first set, I'm no expert that's for sure

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