Paris, ATP 1000

[stotty]

You can't find anyone who sides with the primadonna stuff. Everyone dislikes it so if spectator democracy were to get a vote, primadonna behaviour would be gone.

Jim's take on the homogenizing of tennis is interesting and one that's been raised on the forum many times before. But don't forget that up until the early 1970s most tournaments were played on grass, including 3 of the 4 slams. So the game was bent in favour of the greats then too. You can only play on the surface of the day and with the equipment of the day. By any metric what the big 3 have done is amazing and unrivalled.

One thing about the players of yesteryear that really skews the barometer is amateur/pro dilemma. Hoad and Gonzales and co. turned pro very early and so were excluded from competing in slams. Borg (and other good players) never played down under so couldn't accumulate the five slams he would doubtless have won.

The slam/tournament tally only really started from the early to mid 80s so perhaps that's where we can only truly start from. I like the big 3's chances in any era, though.

Where the game goes post Novak is going to be interesting...or not very interesting at all. I suspect we need a couple more Alcaraz's to come along.

[jimlosaltos]

You can't find anyone who sides with the primadonna stuff. Everyone dislikes it so if spectator democracy were to get a vote, primadonna behaviour would be gone.

Jim's take on the homogenizing of tennis is interesting and one that's been raised on the forum many times before. But don't forget that up until the early 1970s most tournaments were played on grass, including 3 of the 4 slams. So the game was bent in favour of the greats then too. You can only play on the surface of the day and with the equipment of the day. By any metric what the big 3 have done is amazing and unrivalled.

One thing about the players of yesteryear that really skews the barometer is amateur/pro dilemma. Hoad and Gonzales and co. turned pro very early and so were excluded from competing in slams. Borg (and other good players) never played down under so couldn't accumulate the five slams he would doubtless have won.

The slam/tournament tally only really started from the early to mid 80s so perhaps that's where we can only truly start from. I like the big 3's chances in any era, though.

Where the game goes post Novak is going to be interesting...or not very interesting at all. I suspect we need a couple more Alcaraz's to come along.

All I want for Christmas is >> a couple more Alcaraz's to come along. <<

I hope we get your wish, stotty. That would be awesome. I might settle for Carlitos to live up to his early potential.

[jimlosaltos]

You can't find anyone who sides with the primadonna stuff. Everyone dislikes it so if spectator democracy were to get a vote, primadonna behaviour would be gone.

Borg (and other good players) never played down under so couldn't accumulate the five slams he would doubtless have won.

I appreciate the rest of your post and I had forgotten about the issue with the Aussie's lack of prestige combined with the flight time to Australia.

But I'm not sure I ever thought about the impact of that on Borg's career stats. The inverse impact on Margaret Court yes, but not on Borg.

Certainly, during his Wimbledon run he'd have carved up the field in Australia. If he wasn't too jet lagged.

[stroke]

Great analysis of the Final.

https://open.substack.com/pub/hughclarke/p/djokovic-v-dimitrov-paris-final-recap?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=1t7zzc

[jimlosaltos]

Play starts Sunday. Djokovic & Sinner, playing in is home town, are in the same group.

ATP: Four of the eight singles competitors have lifted the trophy before. Djokovic (6x), Zverev (2x), Medvedev and Tsitsipas have all earned the ultimate championship in the sport.

SINGLES
Green Group: Novak Djokovic (1), Jannik Sinner (4), Stefanos Tsitsipas (6), Holger Rune (8)

Red Group: Carlos Alcaraz (2), Daniil Medvedev (3), Andrey Rublev (5), Alexander Zverev (7)

The defending champions are Ram and Salisbury. Bopanna and Ebden, Gonzalez and Roger-Vasselin, Gonzalez and Molteni and Hijikata and Kubler are all making their team debuts at the Nitto ATP Finals.

DOUBLES
Green Group:
Ivan Dodig and Austin Krajicek (1), Santiago Gonzalez and Edouard Roger-Vasselin (4), Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos (5) and Maximo Gonzalez and Andres Molteni (7)

Red Group: Wesley Koolhof and Neal Skupski (2), Rohan Bopanna and Matthew Ebden (3), Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury (6) and Rinky Hijikata and Jason Kubler (8)

[stotty]

Play starts Sunday. Djokovic & Sinner, playing in is home town, are in the same group.

ATP: Four of the eight singles competitors have lifted the trophy before. Djokovic (6x), Zverev (2x), Medvedev and Tsitsipas have all earned the ultimate championship in the sport.

SINGLES
Green Group: Novak Djokovic (1), Jannik Sinner (4), Stefanos Tsitsipas (6), Holger Rune (8)

Red Group: Carlos Alcaraz (2), Daniil Medvedev (3), Andrey Rublev (5), Alexander Zverev (7)

The defending champions are Ram and Salisbury. Bopanna and Ebden, Gonzalez and Roger-Vasselin, Gonzalez and Molteni and Hijikata and Kubler are all making their team debuts at the Nitto ATP Finals.

DOUBLES
Green Group:
Ivan Dodig and Austin Krajicek (1), Santiago Gonzalez and Edouard Roger-Vasselin (4), Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos (5) and Maximo Gonzalez and Andres Molteni (7)

Red Group: Wesley Koolhof and Neal Skupski (2), Rohan Bopanna and Matthew Ebden (3), Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury (6) and Rinky Hijikata and Jason Kubler (8)

The green group looks the toughest. The home boy has some work to do.

[stroke]

https://lastwordonsports.com/tennis/2023/11/13/atp-finals-day-3-predictions-djokovic-sinner/