Seb - a qurstion to you - not rugby related

Seb

My  favourite fames for watching on TV is rugby, cricket and tennis.   Fact is that for many years  I would rarely miss tennis finals in which Federer, Nadal and Djokovic played and after bneing to Roland Garros years ago when I saw all three playing at the start of their careers as players o forecasted and really thought they would be tennis greats.   That really turned out to be the case/  

Since then the  tennis world was ruled by was ruled by those three players – but I think that their reigns are coming to an end.    I saw enough in the last two years to see that especially Federer and  Djokovic are definitely not the players they used to be.   Nadal on clay is still the best and may last another two years or so – but then he will also become seriously threatened by  the youngsters coming through.

So who are those new players coming through?    When I was in Russia I was amazed to see how many people were carrying tennis rackets and believe that it is still the case.    So no wonder most of the promising youngsters  are Russians – and even though Sverev plays  for Germany – he is factually also from Russian descent.   

However.  The most promising and best talent I have seen this year is Andrey Rublev.   He has won five tournaments this year and it would be interesting to see  how he performs in the end of year tournament  of the 8 top ranked players in the world.    Rublev will be playing there and he really is a ruthless and amazing player.   I think he would be in another year to 18 months the number 1 ranked player in the world.

By the way the way I am starting to watch finals involving Rublev and the latest one was the one in Vienna.    Djokovic was  the number 1 ranked player in that tournament, but went out in the quarterfinal  being beaten 6-2 and 6-1 by a qualifier – Sonego.    Instead of Rublev playing Djokovic in the final he came up against Sonego and beat him convincingly.   

My question to you is – have you seen  Rudlev playing?   Great entertainment - watch out for him in future,         

Ou Maaik, are you seriously too stupid to know that there's an "Other Sport" section?

It's not a trick question.

Given all your non rugby posts on the rugby section you are of course profoundly stupid to make a comment like this and a raving hypocrit to boot rooitwitterbug.

Just saying! 

Mike Rublev is doing well but can't see him as a great. See how he goes. 

A player that looks very promising is Sinner. At 19 he is amazing.

 I don't think any guys on view are going to rival the big three but it's not something you can be sure about. 

Italy with Beretini. Sonego and Sinner have an interesting trip coming up. Russia have Medvedev, Rublev and Katchenov.

Diks could well prove the one who takes the Goat tittle as he could last another 4 or 5 years. We shall see. 

Doks will take the record for weeks at number 1 next year. 

Federer says he is not retiring just yet. 

What we need is a section where hatters like rooi twit can be confined. 

 Hahahahaha. 

Yes Mike, I've watched him on several occasions, St Petersburg Open and French Open.

He has talent but like a lot of younger Russians today, he tends to be over aggressive at times to his detriment...he has an amazing first serve, very fast but lacks calmness if it fails and  often makes a lot of unforced errors in the second serve.

It's a very big pity because if he had the coolness of some of the greats, I think he would be up with the top instead  hovering around the seventies. 

Having said that he is a great baseline player.

I was not overly impressed by Sinner and Beretini - and there also is Tsitsipas =  but in winning five tournament titles this year Rublev beat all of them plus a few other players rated higher than him.   

There are three things I like about Rublev and those are his attitude  and humility, his fighting spirit and the way he hits balls - hard and uncompromising and amazing pace around the court.   The commentators called him ruthless and that is a very apt description.    

As to Federer he will play only a few tournaments every year and won only two this year - as against three wins by Djokovic and two by Nadal.   None of the big three has been particularly good this year - but Nadal on clay is at this stage unbeatable.   None of them - except Nadal on clay - can be bet on as certain  winners anymore and the way Sonego handled Djokovic is clearly not acceptable from Djokovic's perspective and if keeps happening Djokovic better take up coaching as a career, 

I stick with my assessment of Rublev - we will see what happens in his case in the EOY tournament in mid-November,    Last year Sverev won that one - I really believe Rudlev will win this year,                     

His ranking was in the seventies last year but I see he now is ranked at 8.

I think he has potential but needs help within his mental control, he's still young and therefore he can get the mind and control right he can go further..

It will be interesting to see how he goes Mike.

Rublev needs to add subtleties to his game. At 23 years old its possible. 

Berretini cracked the top ten. Who do we have - Harris and old man Kevin Anderson. 

Provided Sinner has the physicality he looks Italy's best prospect. 

Novak was coasting against Sonego that was very apparent. 

Anyhow glad to see some interest in the tennis here. 

I see since I put old rooitwit back in his box we have have had no more nonsense from the halfwit????

The fact is the top 10 is flawed at present due to Covid19.   All of Federer, Nadal and Djokovic  did not play in a lot of tournaments they played in in 2019 and as a special condition they were allowed to carry forward the points they would have  lost through absence from tournaments.   

So we will have to wait and see what happens in the Paris Masters in the case of Nadal - both Federer and Djokovic are absent from that tournament - and in the End of Year Champions final next week to really assess the re al situation as to the the three players.     .         

Danil Medvedev (Russia) recently lost to Anderson in Vienna. That's quite an achievement for SA Tennis.