French Open prediction game: Day 9

Carla Suarez Navarro [21] vs.Simona Halep [3]
Andy Murray [1] vs.Karen Khachanov (33)
Stan Wawrinka  [3] vs.Gael Monfils  [15]
Caroline Garcia [28] vs.Alizé Cornet (33)
Elina Svitolina [5] vs.Petra Martic (33)
Fernando Verdasco (33) vs.Kei Nishikori  [8]
Kevin Anderson (33) vs.Marin Cilic [7]
Veronica Cepede Royg (33) vs.Karolina Pliskova [2)


A joker for men and women.

Navarro, Karen, Stan, Garcia (joker), Martic, Nando (joker), Anderson, Royg.

Good match Stan/Mon, Stan 2 sets up.

nick just said that 8 of the last 16 in the mens draw are 30 + years old
thats 50 % a new record in the open era apparently 
thats pretty incredible longevity and most of them are waaayy fitter then their rivals
cant make up my mind is its bizarre or amazing

So, yet again, Nadal escapes the tougher matches.  Everyone is facing a good top 10 opponent in their QF except Nadal....

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2017_French_Open_%E2%80%93_Men%27s_Singles

What a total mismatch.  He always seems to get away with it.  You never know, upsets do happen.  But not very likely is it.  Nadal has faced only a rank 17 and a rank 20 on the way to SF.

He is the King of Clay, he makes his own rules 

Btw lets hope Thiem can put to rest that Chokovic.

Daniel wrote:So, yet again, Nadal escapes the tougher matches.  Everyone is facing a good top 10 opponent in their QF except Nadal....

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2017_French_Open_%E2%80%93_Men%27s_Singles

What a total mismatch.  He always seems to get away with it.  You never know, upsets do happen.  But not very likely is it.  Nadal has faced only a rank 17 and a rank 20 on the way to SF.

You think Raonic(5) on clay is a tougher opponent compared to Busta? Raonic in all their h2h has been pathetic against Nadal and I don't see how he would have done any better.

Players are like Nadal and Djokovic who are excellent movers are a nightmare to Raonic. His serves too fail to fire.

Veejay wrote:nick just said that 8 of the last 16 in the mens draw are 30 + years old
thats 50 % a new record in the open era apparently 
thats pretty incredible longevity and most of them are waaayy fitter then their rivals
cant make up my mind is its bizarre or amazing

In my opinion, neither. Its regular modern sports now. Athletes are more fitter, they have better resources to stay that way. They are more professional in their overall conduct and do anything it takes to succeed and stay at top. They are chasing records and fame and this is a huge driving force to keep going. Their mindset is  different from the players of older generation. They want to win all and keep doing it day in day out. They have changed priorities. This includes women too. 10-15 years ago you wouldn't see women playing tennis into their 30s. They would rather retire and have kids. 

 Now they are players at 35 and have no desire to stop either. Steffie Graf got 22 slams and retired by 30 and took over family. We have Serena here, who kept on even over 35 until she chased down that record. And her answer to the questions of retirement is 'never'.

Players of older gen couldn't keep that steam into their 30s, the amount of effort it takes to stay at top takes it toll and they would give up. But these players can keep their energy for success. This is a more professional world.

And this is how its happening in other sports too. In every sport players are having longer careers and are still doing better than most of their young rivals. It not bizarre or amazing. This is main stream now. 

Who is the last tennis player who retired below 32? Compare this with players in the 90s? In 60-80s players would retire @ 27-28

raiders_of_the_lost_ark wrote:

Veejay wrote:nick just said that 8 of the last 16 in the mens draw are 30 + years old
thats 50 % a new record in the open era apparently 
thats pretty incredible longevity and most of them are waaayy fitter then their rivals
cant make up my mind is its bizarre or amazing

In my opinion, neither. Its regular modern sports now. Athletes are more fitter, they have better resources to stay that way. They are more professional in their overall conduct and do anything it takes to succeed and stay at top. They are chasing records and fame and this is a huge driving force to keep going. Their mindset is  different from the players of older generation. They want to win all and keep doing it day in day out. They have changed priorities. This includes women too. 10-15 years ago you wouldn't see women playing tennis into their 30s. They would rather retire and have kids. 

 Now they are players at 35 and have no desire to stop either. Steffie Graf got 22 slams and retired by 30 and took over family. We have Serena here, who kept on even over 35 until she chased down that record. And her answer to the questions of retirement is 'never'.

Players of older gen couldn't keep that steam into their 30s, the amount of effort it takes to stay at top takes it toll and they would give up. But these players can keep their energy for success. This is a more professional world.

And this is how its happening in other sports too. In every sport players are having longer careers and are still doing better than most of their young rivals. It not bizarre or amazing. This is main stream now. 

Who is the last tennis player who retired below 32? Compare this with players in the 90s? In 60-80s players would retire @ 27-28

but doesnt it seem unnatural to you?
if that level of fitness was reasonably achievable through just hard work,then every athlete no mater what their ranking should be able to achieve the same level of fitness,because the majority of athletes are pushing their bodies to the limit to be the best that they could possibly be
but yet many athletes who way past their physical prime are much fitter and in some cases far more athletic then the many of the "in prime" athletes 
i dont personally believe that 30 is the new 22,especially in competitive professional sport,age makes a massive difference,with every year that passes comes huge physical change in your body,but yet that seems to be the case
i do think that its entirely plausible for an athlete to peak as a player past their physical prime,ie a late bloomer
i also think that athletes adapt and evolve with how the sport changes,but regardless time catches up with everyone
the only sense i can make of it is that these athletes 30 and over have access to better recourses,or know a better formula for achieving their level of fitness then the younger in prime athletes

@veejay

I'll bring it up on another thread soon. This is a long discussion.

Djok not putting the work into his game like Becker said.  This is what happens when you go lazy.  I'm not ready to say he's finished just yet, but that was an ass kicking.  Embarassing lazy players. Esp Busta... lazy ass bastard.

I could almost enjoy a Nadal victory just to see the meltdown on this forum.

raiders_of_the_lost_ark wrote:@veejay

I'll bring it up on another thread soon. This is a long discussion.

ok should be a good discussion to keep us going between RG and Wimbledon

raiders_of_the_lost_ark wrote:

Daniel wrote:So, yet again, Nadal escapes the tougher matches.  Everyone is facing a good top 10 opponent in their QF except Nadal....

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2017_French_Open_%E2%80%93_Men%27s_Singles

What a total mismatch.  He always seems to get away with it.  You never know, upsets do happen.  But not very likely is it.  Nadal has faced only a rank 17 and a rank 20 on the way to SF.

You think Raonic(5) on clay is a tougher opponent compared to Busta? Raonic in all their h2h has been pathetic against Nadal and I don't see how he would have done any better.

Players are like Nadal and Djokovic who are excellent movers are a nightmare to Raonic. His serves too fail to fire.

He would have played 3 sets, win or lose.  That makes him better than what the other loser did.  Plus Raonic is a better player regardless.  That's why he is over 10 places ahead of Busta.  But I was also referring to the fact that Nadal got the easiest QF he could possibly have.  He escaped all the other players.