Talk About Tennis 2.0

The things that young, and healthy people can do with their bodies. I don't think it should come as any surprise to anyone who's watched his tennis, he cannot concentrate, and sit still at the same time.

I'm not sure how the assignment of players from each team to each match is set. In this particular case it looks like there was a concerted effort to create a match-ups that are inconvenient for team Europe, to level a ranking disparity, so to speak. But looks like they overshoot with this. Or maybe it was a coincidence. Of course, the actual results often have a tendency to go unexpected way. I.e Medvedev always had an upper hand over Tiafoe. But recent loss of Tsitsipas to Kokkinakis suggested that there might be a vulnerability, Zverev lost to Fritz two times in a row, Alcaraz had a tough match against Shelton last time and overall out of all Team World he is the toughest for Alcaraz (maybe equal to Tiafoe).

The matchups were set differently each day:
Day 1 - blind - each team nominated the players without knowing who they would play
Day 2 - Team Europe selected first, and Team World could then pick the match up
Day 3 - Team World selected first, and Team Europe could then pick the match up

Well, Europe won, but this is getting to be competitive.
You have to wonder if the World team can get a couple of better players (if you have to field Kokkinakis, you know you are not). But the EU team was also a bit soft without Sinner or even Novak.
This event is still not on totally solid ground.

saw a bit of Alcaraz vs Fritz.. Alcaraz is certainly the best volleyer we have seen after McEnroe and the best player, period, I have ever seen.. he needs to work on his service motion, though! He will suffer all kinds of back and shoulder injuries if he doesnt..
the court was slow, though, which favored Alcaraz.. even Fritz couldnt blast too many serves past Alcaraz..

ashkor87 wrote: ↑Tue Sep 24, 2024 4:43 am saw a bit of Alcaraz vs Fritz.. Alcaraz is certainly the best volleyer we have seen after McEnroe and the best player, period, I have ever seen.. he needs to work on his service motion, though! He will suffer all kinds of back and shoulder injuries if he doesnt..
the court was slow, though, which favored Alcaraz.. even Fritz couldnt blast too many serves past Alcaraz..

Remember that Swedish guy, Stefan something? And there was an American kid, Peter what's his name. Both of them were very adept at the net.
Patrick Rifter (I think), was also adequate there

For you to be considered "the best volleyer" at any given time, you have to be able to serve and volley effectively and constantly. That category got closed after the game moved to just baseliners.
Heck, I would say even Roger was better.
Is he the best one now? That, I can agree with.

(And I remember how Mac was the best volleyer at the beginning of his career but, after his annus miraculous of 1984, his accuracy went away. That was the reason he only made one more slam final, the 85 USO. So I don't even place him at the top of the list of all time volleyers.)

I don't think either Sampras or Federer was that good a volleyer..not in the class of McEnroe or even Edberg. I have watched McEnroe live in California since his Stanford days..and his touch was magical.. edberg, yes..and there are many other good volleyers of the past..Gorman, Stockton, Rafter and Cash...but in today's world, Alcaraz is the best ...

this is the slowest court I have ever seen, and low bounce.. what can anyone do on this court?!
BTW, I am not the only one saying this.. please see Roddick's Served podcast and you will see him saying the same thing... this court is even more painfully slow than IW

I didn't see any of it but the World team won? On a slow court?? Behind Fritz?