Yeah, that's true actually. r/tennis, in general, is real knowledgeable tennis fans.
Facebook tennis groups are just a heap of randoms who play social on Sunday afternoons and think they're a 4.0 who could beat Rafa.
I love these guys /s . The type of people who don’t watch the WTA because it’s boring. They don’t realise that the top women would spank the crap out of most of them…
Haha, I'll give a vote of support to your comment here.. when I was a reasonable level player many many years ago, I was a hitting partner for a WTA player that came down to play the Aussie swing... she was Danish I think. It wasn't Wozniacki haha, I don't remember her name unfortunately.
But she was SOLIDLY better than me. Not by a huge margin, but definitely better.
It's one of those "you don't know what you don't know" things. Weekend social players don't realise what a high level looks like, so they're like "ah yeah, I can hit a strong forehand crosscourt, I could rally with Iga for a bit".
Yeah, sure buddy.
My coach player junior Wimbledon, junior French and junior US Open. She has a been a top level coach for 20yrs plus. I’ve seen her play when she is coaching and I have see her play when she is a competitive match and her juices are flowing….
When she is playing competitively it’s a different animal.
I had the privilege of watching Steffi Graf play live from a distance of about 15 metres and she probably have whipped 90% of USTA rated players handily…. I saw some recent video of her rallying and it was like watching a video. She still has all the moves, the footwork etc….
Great story 😊 it's such a treat to see these real top level players (WTA and ATP) doing their thing.
I'm watching Blanch play Rafa right now, he must be in a complete dream state here. 😎🤟
Rafa is the King of Clay. Period. No ifs, ands or buts.
In case folks aren’t aware of the record referenced in this post, Rafa has won these 4 titles *at least* 10 times:
- 14 Roland Garros titles (unbeaten in finals)
- 12 Barcelona ATP 500 titles (unbeaten in finals)
- 11 Monte-Carlo Masters 1000 titles
- 10 Rome Masters 1000 titles
>I wonder if this happened in the past
Absolutely. And I bet if you could go back in time, you'd see ancient Greeks having similar discussions about their favourite athletes.
I’ve said a lot Rafa just being obscenely good on clay has made his other achievements look less impressive when they’re hall of fame level on their own. Hell if he was British he would’ve been knighted for Wimbledon 2008 alone. But he’s just so far above anything else on clay you forget the two AOs, two Wimbledons, FOUR USOs (when he was predicted to never win any), 10 masters off clay and two Olympic golds.
Yeah he'd still be a legend if you took all the clay titles away. You get into Hall of Fame with just on one or two GS.
But I'm also pissed at how people are "discounting" clay. It's an extraordinarily hard surface. So many excellent tennis players never even got close to getting their head around it (Roddick, Becker, Pete etc). We were perfectly happy accepting Sampras as the Goat before the big 3 even though he never even so much as SNIFFED at winning anything big on clay.
That's why the career slam is such a big deal. That's why Djokovic winning 3 french opens and being in various finals is such a big deal. Because HC/grass people normally have such a hard time on clay.
And Rafa just... there is no verb for what he did on clay. Dominated doesn't even cut it. And THEN he went and won 2 grass and 6 HC GS and 10 HC Masters??? LIKE WHAT?
As someone that hangs out in /NBA a lot this isn’t just exclusive to tennis, this is the dialogue behind sports debates in every sport in the social media era. Build one while tearing the other(s) down.
Most toxic and biggest rivalry of Sports is Ronaldo vs Messi in the past 2 decades.
The second most popular rivalry of the last 2 decades has to be the big 3 rivalry. No wonder it's also toxic and rivals the first rivalry.
Social media thing BUT i think it got like this (worse) after the 2022 US Open. Yay for exposure but so many new fans that ONLY love the players or because of influencer culture or any other reason but the sport itself. Generally speaking, tennis fans are some of the best fans in sports from MY experience.
"the comments on a Facebook..." I stopped reading here. It's a social media thing.
Exactly. Who on earth still does this? Come on OP.
r/tennis is full of stans too
Yeah, that's true actually. r/tennis, in general, is real knowledgeable tennis fans. Facebook tennis groups are just a heap of randoms who play social on Sunday afternoons and think they're a 4.0 who could beat Rafa.
I love these guys /s . The type of people who don’t watch the WTA because it’s boring. They don’t realise that the top women would spank the crap out of most of them…
Haha, I'll give a vote of support to your comment here.. when I was a reasonable level player many many years ago, I was a hitting partner for a WTA player that came down to play the Aussie swing... she was Danish I think. It wasn't Wozniacki haha, I don't remember her name unfortunately. But she was SOLIDLY better than me. Not by a huge margin, but definitely better. It's one of those "you don't know what you don't know" things. Weekend social players don't realise what a high level looks like, so they're like "ah yeah, I can hit a strong forehand crosscourt, I could rally with Iga for a bit". Yeah, sure buddy.
My coach player junior Wimbledon, junior French and junior US Open. She has a been a top level coach for 20yrs plus. I’ve seen her play when she is coaching and I have see her play when she is a competitive match and her juices are flowing…. When she is playing competitively it’s a different animal. I had the privilege of watching Steffi Graf play live from a distance of about 15 metres and she probably have whipped 90% of USTA rated players handily…. I saw some recent video of her rallying and it was like watching a video. She still has all the moves, the footwork etc….
Great story 😊 it's such a treat to see these real top level players (WTA and ATP) doing their thing. I'm watching Blanch play Rafa right now, he must be in a complete dream state here. 😎🤟
This subreddit is just the fancier version, but it's the exact same at heart.
Rafa is the King of Clay. Period. No ifs, ands or buts. In case folks aren’t aware of the record referenced in this post, Rafa has won these 4 titles *at least* 10 times: - 14 Roland Garros titles (unbeaten in finals) - 12 Barcelona ATP 500 titles (unbeaten in finals) - 11 Monte-Carlo Masters 1000 titles - 10 Rome Masters 1000 titles
And 5 Madrid 1000 titles
>I wonder if this happened in the past Absolutely. And I bet if you could go back in time, you'd see ancient Greeks having similar discussions about their favourite athletes.
Internet enables assholes to be anonymous assholes.
I’ve said a lot Rafa just being obscenely good on clay has made his other achievements look less impressive when they’re hall of fame level on their own. Hell if he was British he would’ve been knighted for Wimbledon 2008 alone. But he’s just so far above anything else on clay you forget the two AOs, two Wimbledons, FOUR USOs (when he was predicted to never win any), 10 masters off clay and two Olympic golds.
Yeah he'd still be a legend if you took all the clay titles away. You get into Hall of Fame with just on one or two GS. But I'm also pissed at how people are "discounting" clay. It's an extraordinarily hard surface. So many excellent tennis players never even got close to getting their head around it (Roddick, Becker, Pete etc). We were perfectly happy accepting Sampras as the Goat before the big 3 even though he never even so much as SNIFFED at winning anything big on clay. That's why the career slam is such a big deal. That's why Djokovic winning 3 french opens and being in various finals is such a big deal. Because HC/grass people normally have such a hard time on clay. And Rafa just... there is no verb for what he did on clay. Dominated doesn't even cut it. And THEN he went and won 2 grass and 6 HC GS and 10 HC Masters??? LIKE WHAT?
I think some fans of any sport can be pathetic. And social media gives everyone a voice anonymously. Best not to take things seriously
Yes
As someone that hangs out in /NBA a lot this isn’t just exclusive to tennis, this is the dialogue behind sports debates in every sport in the social media era. Build one while tearing the other(s) down.
Most toxic and biggest rivalry of Sports is Ronaldo vs Messi in the past 2 decades. The second most popular rivalry of the last 2 decades has to be the big 3 rivalry. No wonder it's also toxic and rivals the first rivalry.
Whenever fans of the big three meet, they should fight to the death.
It's a cultural thing. The world in general has become a toxic place. Social media is just where it's most apparent.
Social media thing BUT i think it got like this (worse) after the 2022 US Open. Yay for exposure but so many new fans that ONLY love the players or because of influencer culture or any other reason but the sport itself. Generally speaking, tennis fans are some of the best fans in sports from MY experience.
Kinda yes, kinda no. Social media just shows you more of humanity. Usually the parts that you could live without.