On this pre-US Open Mailbag, Gill Gross answers your comments, including: why has Stefanos Tsitsipas struggled so much in finals, is the past few years of men’s tennis a weak era or a strong era, why has Tommy Paul given Carlos Alcaraz fits, does Alcaraz help Novak Djokovic’s long-term motivation, does the underdog dominate the Djokovic-Alcaraz rivalry, what should be made of the ATP’s new Baseline Program, was the Cincinnati final the greatest BO3 match of all-time, should all draw reveals be livestreamed, how might Alcaraz’s development effect Djokovic, what explains the results of Borna Coric, how Juan Carlos Ferrero’s coaching impacts Alcaraz matches, what is a transition game, what might Coco Gauff accomplish at the US Open, why does Jimmy Connors go under the radar and do are US Open wildcards John Isner, Caroline Wozniaki and Venus Williams deserving?
00:00 Intro
07:40 Strong/Weak Era
12:48 Tommy Paul vs. Alcaraz
17:23 Djokovic motivation
18:22 Underdog Success
21:21 ATP Baseline Program
25:58 Greatest BO3 Matches
28:19 Streaming Draw Ceremonies
31:26 Alcaraz Development
34:00 Borna Coric
37:44 JCF’s Coaching
41:52 Transition Game
43:15 Coco Gauff
45:56 Jimmy Connors
48:10 US Open Wildcards
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Gill Gross provides in-depth ATP tennis analysis. Match breakdowns, draw previews, the latest news, and other tennis insights…
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22 Comments
JCF was in Indian Wells this year, but he wasn’t in Queens.
Disagree on the take "put any champion of today in a previous tennis era and he will dominate". Maybe if they keep the racquet they use today. Make champions of today play with a wooden racquet or with Jimmy Connors' Wilson T-2000 and they will not be that great, with the likely exceptions of Federer and Nadal on clay. The impression of superiority of this tennis era is due to the improvements in materials science and the scientific approach to training and nutrition. Or, at least, this is my take, which is unverifiable as all others on this type of subjects. In retrospect, I believe tennis should have codified the racquets material, as many sports do with their key tools.
That Djokovic – Nadal Madrid 2009 match was a semi-final*
I don't agree that the ATP Baseline Program is a good thing. Why should the more successful players have to support other injured or otherwise down-on-their-luck players? If the ATP wants to offer some kind of self-funding and optional insurance program to cover these players that would be fine, but otherwise it's socialism, which we need less of. (Gil does a good job of describing why the program is limited in effect, which is its best quality.)
My bookie had alcaraz as the favorite in Cinci- -200 I believe
My impression is that people give too much credit to players like Zverev or Medvedev. I don't think Nishikori would lose to Zverev most days. I think Raonic was way more stable in his game than most of these players. I would pick Ferrer every damn day over any of these players. In short, I conclude a thing that many people has said before: these days' players hit bigger than ever before but are less rounded than ever before as well. I've got the impression that we're in a time of decay (tennis-wise to begin with but more than tennis-wise)
Medvedev’s game would not do well in the 90s era.
Also for tsitsipas, hes 0-10 vs the big 3 in finals
As a Swedish tennis fan, I sometimes wonder how many GS Titles Björn Borg would have achieved had he not retired at the age of 25. He had 11 GS titles at that point. He had a failed comeback years later when everyone had already transitioned to modern tennis rackets. Can you give your take on that Gil?
Djokovic and Alcaraz are awesome to watch…
…Medvedev, Zverev, Tsitsipas and Rublev are flawed. However, no need to worry- they have their multiple millions to compensate for that! 🤣
Alcaraz just won his firts title on grass (Queen's) without Ferrero, so just like you say, I think time will tell that with or without Ferrero in the box, Carlitos still will win most of the matches he plays.
I feel the question is less "how much does live coaching help Alcaras" and more "how many elite players in the past could have peaked at a younger age if they'd had live coaching". Even if the only help they give is words to calm and reassure the player, as almost everyone is going to be far more emotional in their teens and early twenties.
In every single sporting event in which performances can be objectively measured over time (I'm thinking swimming, track and field) there is–with the odd freakish Bob Beamon type exception-continuous improvement, and times that would have won you an Olympic gold twenty or third years ago don't get you onto the team now. Better training, nutrition, equipment, whatever. So you have to assume that, on the whole, the level of elite tennis player keeps getting better, whether it seems that way in competition or not. That said, we have recently had, effectively, three Bob Beamons!
19:53 Of course Alcaraz was the underdog in the Madrid semis 2022 vs Djokovic, ffs he was still only 18 years old! It just baffles me, how people want to forget how young Alcaraz still is.
Love your channel and analysis. May u ask Adrian Mannarino why he has no sponsor? Cheers from Brazil
Rublev hits exactly the same ball all day, and is a top 5 player. That's not encouraging competition.
So far, not very strong.
Did he really give Murray only 7-9 slams in a different era?? HAHAHAHAH. 🤣🤣🤣 He won 3 in the toughest era of all time! How would he not win at least 20?? He’d win 7-9 Australias alone
He says Medvedev, Zverev and Tsitsipas are better than Raonic, Nishikori and Dimitrov…. Raonic at retirement stage will probably beat Tsitsipas on Monday lol
The roger vs kyrgios best of 3 was one of the best
There is nobody quite like Medvedev when he gets going
This is the strongest era in history of tennis after Nadal/Djoko era