I'm not a tennis fan by any means but I just watched that 18 year old canadian Denis Shapovalov defeat the #1 seed Nadal in a tie breaker in the 3rd round. Gotta say that was some pretty compelling viewing.  Still not a big fan of the sport but that was something,  and on home soil.

It was pretty cool didn't think he was going to pull off the tie breaker when he was down early.

I thought he was done too being down 3-0, but good on him capitalizing on Nadal's mistakes.  He's apparently the first 18 year old this far since Nadal in 2004.  I get the feeling he's going to be over hyped like Genie Bouchard,  but hopefully his career has a better trajectory following this tourney

Bouchard is not only over hyped but over rated and Raonic while a very good player seems like he can never beat the best of the best and picks up these nagging injuries , I'm a casual tennis watcher but you never know with this kid, he could be great 

most of my tennis followings rely on what I see from sportscenter in highlights. Bouchard reminds me a of a while back when russian tennis babe Anna Kournikova was all over the news.  Hot young chick (at the time) will a little success early but nothing but mediocrity the rest of her career.  But i guess that happens a lot in sports now and days. Sometimes appearance is just as important as skill when it comes to fandom

Genie's Insta-game is a lot better than her tennis game....she's done. Raonic was a bit of a one-trick pony, and everyone learned the trick. His overall game isn't quite good enough to take down the best. Not sure what the ceiling is for Shapovalov, but that's a huge upset, beating Nadal. Don't know how far he can take this thing, this week, but he's basically playing with house money at this point. Got nothing to lose, and that makes him dangerous...

That's unfair to Raonic Noeller, He is a solid player but he is very passive and lacks the killer instinct to beat the top players. He's been top 10 for a long time now, just doesn't have the mentality to consistently beat the other top players on tour. 

Bouchard well she's just not as interested in improving her game as she needs to be simple as that. Caught people by surprise early, they figured her out and she hasn't adapted to that. 

Shapovalov who knows how good he can be, there have been other teenagers come in and make noise like that and then never progress as much as expected, but I think this kid does have a bright future if he can improve his atrocious net play. Make no mistake if you're going to upset a top seed by blasting the ball as hard as you can it'll be Nadal, especially when he plays so far behind the baseline like he was doing last night. Guy will sit a mile back and run down balls and wait for his opponent to make a mistake. That never happened last night but guys like Federer or Murray or Djokovic would never give you that much room. That's why I ******* hate Nadal as a player. Such a boring as **** player. ******* clay court players, speed up the courts again and players like him disappear.

A lot of people were looking at Peter Polansky as the next up-and-coming Canadian tennis star.  This Shapovalov kid came out of nowhere.  Great to see so much Canadian talent coming up through the tennis ranks.

I also don't think Raonic is anywhere near finished.

37 minutes ago, 17to85 said:

That's unfair to Raonic Noeller, He is a solid player but he is very passive and lacks the killer instinct to beat the top players. He's been top 10 for a long time now, just doesn't have the mentality to consistently beat the other top players on tour. 

Bouchard well she's just not as interested in improving her game as she needs to be simple as that. Caught people by surprise early, they figured her out and she hasn't adapted to that. 

Shapovalov who knows how good he can be, there have been other teenagers come in and make noise like that and then never progress as much as expected, but I think this kid does have a bright future if he can improve his atrocious net play. Make no mistake if you're going to upset a top seed by blasting the ball as hard as you can it'll be Nadal, especially when he plays so far behind the baseline like he was doing last night. Guy will sit a mile back and run down balls and wait for his opponent to make a mistake. That never happened last night but guys like Federer or Murray or Djokovic would never give you that much room. That's why I ******* hate Nadal as a player. Such a boring as **** player. ******* clay court players, speed up the courts again and players like him disappear.

I think I know a thing or two about tennis...................................

#EveryoneKnowsYouCantUseYourHands

30 minutes ago, Atomic said:

A lot of people were looking at Peter Polansky as the next up-and-coming Canadian tennis star.  This Shapovalov kid came out of nowhere.  Great to see so much Canadian talent coming up through the tennis ranks.

I also don't think Raonic is anywhere near finished.

He didn't exactly come out of nowhere, he did win the wimbledon jrs. a couple years ago and I believe he's won a few challenger tournaments already this year. 

Just now, 17to85 said:

He didn't exactly come out of nowhere, he did win the wimbledon jrs. a couple years ago and I believe he's won a few challenger tournaments already this year. 

Well none of the big analysts told me that

Genie was not overhyped or overrated. She just couldn't maintain her focus when she got near the top.

She deserved to reach the heights she did and won lots of really tough matches.

 

Raonic is very good but cannot beat the top players and, as 17to85 said, lacks the killer instinct. It's most evident when he plays Nishikori. He's a much better player (IMO) but has lost 5 of 7 matches against him. Nishikori steps up and Raonic does not.

they showed an image of Denis Shapovalov and Nadal's records and career earnings...  lol,  nadal's earning was 36 million to Shapovalovs 119k i think.   so crazy that this kid took him down..  what a day for canadian tennis.

I really do think people need to temper their expectations based on an upset over Nadal. Guy gets upset by young players swinging for the fences quite a bit, having success in one match where Nadal plays passively like that is entirely different from having sustained success against players who actually have a brain and can adjust tactics when things aren't working. 

23 minutes ago, 17to85 said:

I really do think people need to temper their expectations based on an upset over Nadal. Guy gets upset by young players swinging for the fences quite a bit, having success in one match where Nadal plays passively like that is entirely different from having sustained success against players who actually have a brain and can adjust tactics when things aren't working. 

im not proclaiming the kid the next daniel Nestor or anything but you gotta admit... a home town kid, winning against one of the best.. if not the best in the world, in such a fashion.. is worthy of some high praise.   I agree, its not a career making win or anything that will vault him into the elite but.. come on, its gotta be an amazing feeling for the guy AND for fans of tennis to have seen that go down.

Oh I am absolutely rooting for the kid, the tennis world needs some young blood because the generation with Raonic and Nishikori and Dimitrov were abysmal and failed to even push the previous generation, but seen lots of young guys beat Nadal over the years and then never do much else. 

He needs to improve his service return and net game to get to the consistent level.

3 hours ago, 17to85 said:

Oh I am absolutely rooting for the kid, the tennis world needs some young blood because the generation with Raonic and Nishikori and Dimitrov were abysmal and failed to even push the previous generation, but seen lots of young guys beat Nadal over the years and then never do much else. 

He needs to improve his service return and net game to get to the consistent level.

That was the biggest flaw I saw in his game yesterday, despite Nadal have only like 2 or 3 aces, he (shapovalov) had absolutely no answer for Nadal's serve unless it was Nadal F'n up.  seemed like every serve he was backhanding the ball back out of bounds.  If he can get that under wraps I think he'll be a pretty damn good player

and Nadal has a muffin serve, really takes something to have trouble with that. 

Big comeback win last night and now plays another hotshot young player....will be interesting tonight!

Yeah Mannarino really seemed to have trouble dealing with the obviously biased crowd and his game totally went away as Shapovalov started to get more into the game. 

I don't know much about Zverev, but he's really established himself as the top young gun so I like the fact that we got a semi final in a masters tournament which features some youth. 

Next question since I believe Shapovalov will now be well withing the top 100 rankings is does the US Open give him a wild card entry, cause he probably deserves it after this. 

On 8/12/2017 at 11:06 AM, 17to85 said:

Yeah Mannarino really seemed to have trouble dealing with the obviously biased crowd and his game totally went away as Shapovalov started to get more into the game. 

I don't know much about Zverev, but he's really established himself as the top young gun so I like the fact that we got a semi final in a masters tournament which features some youth. 

Next question since I believe Shapovalov will now be well withing the top 100 rankings is does the US Open give him a wild card entry, cause he probably deserves it after this. 

I think in his press conference after losing to... whomever it was he was playing.. that he was now ranked 67th... or moved up 67 spots.. can't remember.