2013 ATP/WTA World Tour / general tennis thread (won, sport, Kings)

[BajanYankee]

Originally Posted by po-boy

Djokovic v. Murray has the potential to be a fantastic rivalry. They are two of the top four players in the world and are almost the exact same age.

That being said, I don't think it is a great rivalry yet b/c Murray has only managed to beat Djokovic in one grand slam match, whereas Djokovic has beaten Murray three times in grand slam tournamentds. And of course Murray just has the one major compared with six for Djoker. Murray is already excellent, but if he can raise his game that extra little bit, this will be an even more exciting match-up to watch for years to come.

How many times has Federer beaten Nadal in a Grand Slam tournament?

Wimbledon 2006
Wimbledon 2007

That's it. Nadal beat Federer in....

French Open 2005
French Open 2006
French Open 2007
French Open 2008
Wimbledon 2008
Australian Open 2009
French Open 2011
Australian Open 2012

So Federer has a 2-8 head-to-head record in the Slams against Rafa. That's actually worse than Murray's 1-3 record against Djokovic.

I don't think the Djokovic-Murray rivalry is (or will be) as exciting as the Federer-Nadal rivalry because there's not the same contrast in style of play. It's a lot of baseline bashing for the most part and each match becomes a war of attrition. With Federer and Nadal, you get a lot more risk taking from both sides (mainly from Fed, though).

[paull805]

Since when can a sport not have more than one rivalry? Roger is past his best and Rafa isn't back to his best so Andy v Novak is the top rivalry for now. Remember the Australian open semi-final 2012 and US open 2012? I rest my case.

[Timing2012]

Originally Posted by paull805

Since when can a sport not have more than one rivalry? Roger is past his best and Rafa isn't back to his best so Andy v Novak is the top rivalry for now. Remember the Australian open semi-final 2012 and US open 2012? I rest my case.

Remember the 2013 Australia Open final? Not much of a rivalry, was there?

[paull805]

God theres no point in debating with you. Murray played well for the first two sets of that match and had bad blisters on the sole of his feet. Over the past year Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic have had great encounters that have been close no matter who has won. Think what you want, in my opinion it is the stand out rivalry in mens tennis.

[BajanYankee]

Originally Posted by paull805

God theres no point in debating with you. Murray played well for the first two sets of that match and had bad blisters on the sole of his feet. Over the past year Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic have had great encounters that have been close no matter who has won. Think what you want, in my opinion it is the stand out rivalry in mens tennis.

That "rivalry" is not very entertaining. They've only met in Slams three times and the first encounter was a straight butt kicking by Novak. The last two involved very lopsided 5th sets with android-like, baseline bashing preceding those 5th sets. All of their other matches have been lopsided with the majority favoring Djokovic.

Federer-Nadal will continue to be the stand out rivalry in men's tennis so long as those guys are still on tour. They've given us way more competitive matches and the contrast in their playing styles is far more enjoyable to watch. Outside of the French Open, we all want to see a Federer-Nadal matchup regardless of what their rankings are. Who really cares that much about seeing a Djokovic-Murray match? That sounds like a good semi-final matchup, not a matchup made for the ages that will be shown every year on ESPN Classics.

Federer and Nadal giving us 50% of their epic 2008 Wimbledon Final is better than anything a Djoker-Murray matchup could ever give us.

[paull805]

I am talking RECENTLY, US Open, Aussie Open 2012, Olympics etc.

[BajanYankee]

Originally Posted by paull805

I am talking RECENTLY, US Open, Aussie Open 2012, Olympics etc.

I get what you are saying. But until Rafa and Roger retire/and or fall completely out of the Top 20 due to age and/or injury, their rivalry will remain the "stand out" rivalry in men's tennis. Rafa has had a layoff, but he's not done. He and Fed will likely bump heads a couple more times in the near future. And as long as that possibility exists, I'm sorry, no tennis fan is going to tout Murray-Djokovic as the premier men's tennis rivalry.

Saying that Murray-Djokovic rivarly is currently the premiere rivalry in tennis is like calling the 1998 Pre-Season Utah Jazz the premiere team in the NBA because Scottie Pippen was injured at the start of the season. We all knew he was going to come back, and that when he did, it would be dominance as usual. The same thing applies to the Fed-Nadal rivalry.

[paull805]

Murray can go to 2nd in the rankings for the 2nd time in his career if he betters Federer in this tournament.

[Timing2012]

Originally Posted by paull805

Murray can go to 2nd in the rankings for the 2nd time in his career if he betters Federer in this tournament.

2nd time? What was he ranked number 2?

[paull805]

Andy Murray - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

From wiki - "Highest Ranking - No. 2 (17 August 2009)"