Talk About Tennis 2.0

So Kafelnikov lost the 2003 Roland Garros final, but obviously that's not the answer you're looking for.

It is a very hard question.
I have ruled out: Hewitt, Cilic, Delpo, Safin, Ferrero, Gaudio and Costa. And I can't still find him.

skatingfan wrote: ↑Sat Dec 03, 2022 10:56 am So Kafelnikov lost the 2003 Roland Garros final, but obviously that's not the answer you're looking for.

It is not. I should've stated it better in the question. Either exclude Kafelnikov itself from the list, or move the date "since 2003 Roland Garros". Works either way.

ponchi101 wrote: ↑Sat Dec 03, 2022 4:19 pm It is a very hard question.
I have ruled out: Hewitt, Cilic, Delpo, Safin, Ferrero, Gaudio and Costa. And I can't still find him.

I imagine how massively surprised you will be, when you finally find the correct answer ))

Pay attention to the fact, that I said "result in the doubles slam", without stating specific slam. It looks like you mistakenly concentrated on French Open.

I was eliminating all one slam wonders...

mick1303 wrote: ↑Sat Dec 03, 2022 10:05 am Ok, I see that without a hint nobody else tried to answer the trivia. Giving it up: the result in question (reaching semifinals in the doubles slam) happen before said player won his first singles slam titles. So at that moment he was not yet a singles slam champion. But overall career-wise, he has that result in doubles and also single title(s). And that result in doubles happened after 2002 Roland Garros. Who is that player?

Given the time frame you mention ("after 2002 Roland Garros"), I'm sticking with the Swiss and saying it's Federer.
He won his first Major in 2003, and it's conceivable that he reached the semis in doubles at a Major between 2002 Roland Garros and his first singles Major at Wimbledon 2003.

Ok, I found it. Truly surprising.
But as I did web searches, I disqualify myself. Let's see who else has a better memory than I.

Deuce wrote: ↑Sat Dec 03, 2022 6:32 pm

mick1303 wrote: ↑Sat Dec 03, 2022 10:05 am Ok, I see that without a hint nobody else tried to answer the trivia. Giving it up: the result in question (reaching semifinals in the doubles slam) happen before said player won his first singles slam titles. So at that moment he was not yet a singles slam champion. But overall career-wise, he has that result in doubles and also single title(s). And that result in doubles happened after 2002 Roland Garros. Who is that player?

Given the time frame you mention ("after 2002 Roland Garros"), I'm sticking with the Swiss and saying it's Federer.
He won his first Major in 2003, and it's conceivable that he reached the semis in doubles at a Major between 2002 Roland Garros and his first singles Major at Wimbledon 2003.

You're thinking in the right direction ) But the answer is not correct. Roger's best result was QF at Wimbledon and it was before specified timeframe.

Rafael Nadal

I was thinking Federer or Nadal - or even possibly Roddick... but, of the 3, Federer was pretty clearly the most likely to have achieved doubles success, so I chose him.

I chose Nadal based on his doubles prowess and after your Federer answer. Federer was my first answer until you posted it

patrick wrote: ↑Sun Dec 04, 2022 8:25 pm I chose Nadal based on his doubles prowess and after your Federer answer. Federer was my first answer until you posted it

You're welcome!

Federer was always a natural volleyer, but Nadal wasn't. Nadal has definitely improved his volleying, and is a very capable volleyer now. But when we think of Nadal, we didn't think of a great volleyer - especially back 15 years or so ago. We think of a heavy topspin baseline player. And so, we don't think of Nadal as a doubles player.

Of course, neither Nadal nor Federer played much doubles in tournaments - it was more a 'special occasions' thing for them - Davis Cup, Olympics, etc. But, of the two, Federer was certainly the better doubles player 15 - 20 years ago due to his natural volleying skills. So I chose Federer as the answer.

Roddick could never volley to save his life, of course - he had the absolute ugliest and most unnatural game I've ever seen at the pro level, by far - and I wouldn't pick him as a doubles partner even in a club match. But maybe he got extremely lucky in a doubles draw once, and so could have been the answer to Mick's question that way.

I think it's Murray and the result may have been in Mixed Doubles (thus "questionable"). But the French is throwing me off.

mmmm8 wrote: ↑Sun Dec 04, 2022 10:25 pm I think it's Murray and the result may have been in Mixed Doubles (thus "questionable"). But the French is throwing me off.

It's not the French - it's since the French Open in 2003 - Kafelnikov made the final, and since then the best result for a singles champion in doubles is a single semifinal.