Tennis Forever

[omega]

Amazing how one guy can be both fans' & his peers' favorite for such a long period of time.
Roger Federer wins 12th consecutive Fan favorite award.
He also wins Edberg Sportsmanship award of the year for 10th time as well.

While I am happy for him it really is not good for tennis at all. There has to be someone picking up atleast the fan favorite award by now.
I know this is afterall an internet poll but hard to imagine how Rafa & Nole who are so popular in the social media world not able to win during their peak years.
Rafa has managed to win the Edberg Sportsman award in 2010 which is voted by fellow ATP players.

Tennis is going to suffer big when this guy put his racquet down!!

[JamesDap]

Well, that's what people thought when Sampras was on the decline. I know people who say with not a little pride that they stopped watching tennis after Sampras hung up his boots. It was even worse, popularity wise, given Agassi's tendency to blow hot and blow cold. ATP was virtually a one horse race. At least Nadal and Djoko have their share of rabid fanboys, who, annoying though they can be (well, just like rabid Fed fanboys), point to more depth in the game's popularity. The fact that Fed still wins the polls may be down to the fact that the US is completely sold on him. Given their liking for first strike tennis, maybe they find the Djoko-Nadal, Djoko-Murray matches rather reminiscent of the Lendl-Wilander epics...in other words, not their cuppa.

I am more concerned about the collective vacuum the Big Four will leave behind. They are all getting on gradually. In a couple of years, Djoko and Murray will also be past their best. All four have been just great athletes AND so technically accomplished. It's going to be very difficult to find a fresh lot to replace them. And in comparing the new players to the Big Four, people are going to feel disappointed even if the new ones play very well. Unlike how things have panned out in WTA, the Big Four actually used the power of modern equipment to take the baseline game to unthinkable heights and push tennis to the absolute limits. The post-Big Four phase is going to be very much like how WTA is now or, worse, how WTA will be after Serena retires.

[JamesDap]

Fed is fairly cruising through the RR. Knocked down both Raonic and Nishikori pretty easy. Didn't watch the Raonic match but Nishi was clearly below par today, missing lots of groundies on a regular basis. If Murray loses to Raonic later today, Fed is already through to the semis.

[Arvind Srinivasan]

The quality on display till now has been horrible. Up till today, there had been five breadsticks in eight sets. And today's match wasn't that great quality wise either. THe ATP better contemplate speeding up the courts for this one atleast. It's been a absolute borefest.

[JamesDap]

Also, at the year end, players are tired and drained anyway. Rarely is the WTF exciting as prestigious as it may be; this year the race to no.1 has created some interest in it. The heavy balls and medium paced courts don't help.

[JamesDap]

More than the surface, it's the heavy balls that hurt the quality of play most. With light balls, it's easier to hit outright winners. Becker and Sampras both won Aus Open twice without changing their serve volley style. You cannot even win US Open with a predominantly serve-volley game anymore, let alone AO. We know why they made the balls heavier....because the no. of aces began to go up like anything, especially at Wimbledon. But they have probably gone too far now with this business of making balls heavy. Just look at this Fed-Djoko clip from AO 2007. Tennis these days is not as fast as even this. Interesting that both players were willing to attack the net in that match, Djoko was a lot more attacking at that time.

[raagadevan]

Also, at the year end, players are tired and drained anyway.

Looks like all players are not "tired and drained" this year end!

[omega]

Humble Bull surely is.........

[raagadevan]

Humble Bull surely is.........

He surely is... "Humble Bull" still has not perfected the art of doing the right "stuff" before certain matches and/or during bathroom breaks when he is just about to lose the match!

[omega]

He surely is... "Humble Bull" still has not perfected the art of doing the right "stuff" before certain matches and/or during bathroom breaks when he is just about to lose the match!

Exactly. Just for this quality alone the King of MTO, Emperor of Time Violation etc has been awarded the "Best Sportsman award" voted by his peers year after year.....
What a role model for the future generation. Hail the Fake Bull!!