The AO 2013: The Best Time To Sneak A Slam

Sadly the two players who have dominated mens tennis over the last decade won't be such a force in this years Australian Open. (One for obvious reasons and the other because he is now aged 31 and a half...) Sad for us maybe but a great opportunity for another player to sneak a slam. Who would you like to see do this? If you would like someone that I've not included please say who and why.

I think it would be quite emotional if any of this bunch won...

Ferrer deserves at least a slam final for all the work he has done and for his good form

I see the AO as a three-way battle Im afraid.

Maybe Del Potro has a chance, but none for those you have listed HE.

Hewitt, Nalby or Davy would be fine by me

Berdych has been in a final more recently than Del Potro so I wouldn't necessarily rule him out if the draw was favourable.

Wee Davy Denko, Hewitt are too old, Nalbandian is too fat and too old.
Monfils is nowhere near good enough and Tsonga hasn't the bottle.

It's not about who we think will win - it's about who we'd like to see win.

Ferrer.

Murray.

It Must Be Love

I tend to think Del Potro has already sneaked his slam... but what do I know. I also see it as more wide open than it has been for a long time. We shall see.

JuliusHMarx

I find it difficult to even narrow it down to three favourites as it would be great to see any that I've listed win. Although can you imagine if Hewitt won?...

I would have loved to be able to put Roddick in there too. I was at the 2009 Wimbledon final and it was a very rare occasion for me as I found myself cheering against Federer. Roddick was so near that I started imagining what he would do to celebrate. Still think that win would have been way more important to Roddick than just another one of 17 (+) for Federer.

Hewitt for the want, no question.

HE, Wimbledon 2009 is the only time I look back and am ambivalent about a Federer win.

I got to go for Lukas Rosol even if he's an underdog. I would love to see him winning one of these.

He won't even qualify for it.

Should get a lifetime exemption for last year.

If he's good enough to beat Nadal in a slam, he should be good enough to qualify for slams by right.
If he can't qualify by right having done that, then maybe he needs to have a good look at himself, and what he wants to be remembered for... a one off or a potentially memorable career

he will never reach those heights again and everything will pale in comparison he can hold onto that memory forever

Ferrer is the current Henman i.e. nice guy who tries hard but ultimately falters at the semis stage.

Raonic, Tomic and possibly Dimitrov have more chance for sure than either of Nalbandian or Hewitt. As for Gasquet - he's the only guy capable of almost losing to himself rather than winning a slam (work that one out!)

i think that is the only comparison you can make between the two, style wise they were worlds apart.

newballs wrote:Ferrer is the current Henman i.e. nice guy who tries hard but ultimately falters at the semis stage.

Raonic, Tomic and possibly Dimitrov have more chance for sure than either of Nalbandian or Hewitt. As for Gasquet - he's the only guy capable of almost losing to himself rather than winning a slam (work that one out!)

Gasquet plays the most beautiful tennis. His backhand alone is worthy of a slam trophy. It would be great for tennis if such beauty and artistic talent was rewarded.

who's talking style? we're referring to results here!

Also BTW Nishikori given his form at the end of last year could be in with a shout of a decent run.

or JJ!

Gasquet plays a gorgeous brand, but I just wonder, winning a slam requires a multi faceted player. good attack skills, coupled with a great mentality, and be able to stick in points with defense. A slam won by a dogged competitor who never gives up is just as worthy, if perhaps not as pretty as an attacking flair player, but even they need some stickability, ergo Fed.
Gasquets got the flair, the skill and the attack in spades, but I juts wonder if he's got enough of it over 2 weeks to keep it up, and hang in there when it's not quite on

hawkeye wrote:

newballs wrote:Ferrer is the current Henman i.e. nice guy who tries hard but ultimately falters at the semis stage.

Raonic, Tomic and possibly Dimitrov have more chance for sure than either of Nalbandian or Hewitt. As for Gasquet - he's the only guy capable of almost losing to himself rather than winning a slam (work that one out!)

Gasquet plays the most beautiful tennis. His backhand alone is worthy of a slam trophy. It would be great for tennis if such beauty and artistic talent was rewarded.

He is good to watch, but a flashy and aesthetically pleasing backhand does not mask the deficiencies in his game. I don't think we'll ever see Gasquet in a slam semi again, let alone threatening to win one.

Gasquet is not really such an attacking player. He stands about 20 feet behind the baseline. Even his BH which admittedly is a beautiful stroke does not have the variety or versability of Federer's. I would take the Fed BH overall over Gasquet.

I would take Federer's, Murray's, Novak's and Rafa's over Gasquet's backhand.

But yes, of the SHBH Federer's is far superior to Gasquet's. So is Wawrinka's in my opinion.

I disagree I just think that Gasquet uses it so poorly, standing so far back taking it as late as possible, leaving it short etc.
But when he takes it on, moving up the court he can do anything with it such as take it early, blast it, angles and so on.

Its like hes been given a great gift but doesn't know how to use it!
"you cannot wield it, none of us can. The ring answers to sauron alone, it has no other master"
"and what would a ranger no of this matter?"
"this is no mere ranger, this is aragorn, son of arathorn, you owe him your allegiance"
"Aragorn? so this is Isildur's heir?"
"And heir to the throne of Gondor"
"Sit down Legolas"

"Aragorn is right we cannot wield it"
"Then you have only one choice, the ring must be destroyed"......

sorry got carried away, lotr nerd

I am a servant of the secret fire, wielder of the flame of Arnor



emancipator

emancipator wrote:I am a servant of the secret fire, wielder of the flame of Arnor



emancipator

So you're a blacksmith?

emancipator wrote:I am a servant of the secret fire, wielder of the flame of Arnor



emancipator

"the dark fire will not avail you, flame of Udun! AAAAHHHHH
Go back to the shadow!
"You shall not passss!!!!"

"no, nooooo"
"Gandalffffff!!!!!"

"Fly you fools!"

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO"

"Aragornnn!"

Ferrer no question

Thats funny i just came back from the hobbit

bogbrush wrote:Hewitt for the want, no question.

HE, Wimbledon 2009 is the only time I look back and am ambivalent about a Federer win.

Can relate to this guys. Even was leaning towards Roddick against fellow Brit Murray. He was a gent throughout the tournament, and to go the equivalent of over 6 sets without having your serve broken by Roger Federer. Fed had to hang in the final with tiebreaks like the year before. Roddick lost what 3,4 W finals against the same player. This was the one he deserved really.

falzy21 wrote:Thats funny i just came back from the hobbit

thoughts?

I was let down 2bh

Henman Bill wrote:

bogbrush wrote:Hewitt for the want, no question.

HE, Wimbledon 2009 is the only time I look back and am ambivalent about a Federer win.

Can relate to this guys. Even was leaning towards Roddick against fellow Brit Murray. He was a gent throughout the tournament, and to go the equivalent of over 6 sets without having your serve broken by Roger Federer. Fed had to hang in the final with tiebreaks like the year before. Roddick lost what 3,4 W finals against the same player. This was the one he deserved really.

It's three. And he had his good chances in thse other matches too. Overall he 'deserved' one of them for sure.

Luv
yeah it wasn't great it started alright, but it was a bit skittish, it didn't have much focus, they just sort of ran from one place to the next without much rhyme or reason,the action wasn't great either

Would love to see Nalbandian win a slam, such an amazing talent but unfortunately it is not going to happen. Injuries have plagued his chances over the years, that US open semi final he lost to Roddick (year he won) could have pushed him to a really high level but it was not to be. Mentally fragile too, just hope he wins a Davis cup at least before he retires. At least he had the World tour finals win beating federer in 5 sets in the final, that was his biggest achievement and not to be frowned upon.

He was won of very few players who really troubled both Federer and Nadal in their primes. Shows how good a player he really was.

I see Novak didnt hang around today, destroyed Haas 6-2 6-0 in just over an hour. 32 winners and only 9 unforced errors in the match