The current men’s era has a depth of talent unmatched. You have four guys at the top that have been able to establish great rivalries, with Stan not far behind, then a bunch of really solid guys that can knock anyone off on a given day through quality play. This is what the women’s side lacks. You have one dominant champion that I dare say isn’t much of a fan favorite, then a gaggle of players unable to create any true rivalries with each other for whatever reasons: lack of consistent quality, choking/lack of mental toughness, exploitable weaknesses in their games, etc. Sharapova has been consistently good, but look at her abysmal record vs Serena. Zero intrigue at the top of the women’s game, unless of course SW happens to lose, then you have some interest to see who’s going to get everyone’s hopes up for about a month until it’s revealed that they don’t have what it takes to compete consistently at the very top. WTA gong show. Complete opposite of where the ATP is heading.
TatinG, I agree that having one player dominate entirely isn’t good for any sport. However, I think Djokovic needs this one badly. He has won every other major tournament. Not winning Roland Garros would be devastating. Besides, it is about time someone wins four majors consecutively. It has not happened since the 1960s.
@Alexandre Berdych + Ferrer are Djokovic’s pigeons. Joke of a draw. Admittedly, yes, it was much more difficult with Nadal slated for the SF, and obviously no one knew he would withdraw. Honestly, I think your list of players proves my point. The last 5 in your list haven’t even won grand slams. I mean, the fact that Robot Raonic is the most successful of the young generation says a lot. He’s not even young – he’s 25! Never before has it taken this long for youngsters to take hold of the tour.
When the workhorse but not talented and severely declining Ferrer can still be top 10, when the GOAT but obviously years-past-his-prime 34 y.o. Federer is still in the world’s top 5, when the R2-R3-R1-R2 record in the last 4 grand slams possessor Rafael Nadal is still ranked in the top 5, you know this is the WEAKEST era ever, even moreso than the late 90’s and early 00’s.
Same on the WTA.
Serena’s only regular threat is Azarenka, who is injured half the season usually. i mean, players like CSN in the top 10? Kerber, while a great player, regular bombing out of tournaments in R1? Halep, who can’t handle an ounce of pressure on her shoulders? Compare this to a little more than a decade and a half ago, with a prime Venus, Davenport, Hingis, resurgent Capriati, Seles, Dementieva, young Henin and Clijsters, and a little later, young Sharapova and Kuznetsova.
@Dunboyne In the words of Martina Hingis, “What rivalry?”
GrandBudapest, I disagree. You find it strange that Roger, the GOAT, Federer is still ranked among the top 5 are the age of 34? How about Agassi? He was ranked #1 as late as September 2003, when he was 33 years old. He was still among the top 5 in November 2005, at the age of 35.
And Nadal has just turned 30. He is still relatively young. He accumulated so many points from 2012-2014 that he naturally would remain in the top 5, even after a bumpy couple of years.
“The last 5 in your list haven’t even won grand slams.”
Again, if you look at the rankings toward the end of 2003, 5 of the top 10 players (Coria, Schuttler, Nalbandian, Philippoussis and Grosjean) also never won a major. This is more a function of the dominance among the top 5.
“I mean, the fact that Robot Raonic is the most successful of the young generation says a lot. He’s not even young – he’s 25! Never before has it taken this long for youngsters to take hold of the tour.”
Is that because the youngsters lack talent, or because Djokovic, Federer, Nadal and Murray are so good?
“…this is the WEAKEST era ever, even moreso than the late 90’s and early 00’s.”
I won’t argue that it is not a weak era. There is no doubt that this is a weak era, but it is not the weakest. There are always periods of transition, and this is one of them. I consider the 2003-2005 era just as weak.
I’m not going to defend other era’s - but the last few years have been astonishingly weak. Rafa’s barely played because his body has broken down and that a 35yr old has been in the top 4 for these last few years is even more stunning. Except for Stan and freak slam win by Cilic there has really been no one else who has done a thing.
But back to RG2016 - this has got to be the biggest mess of a slam I can remember. We might actually see Granollers in the qtrs playing only two complete matches. SMH.
As for the women - all I can say is oy vey. I’m not all that surprised that Sam won and Aga is terrible on clay but losing to Pironkova?!?
Maple-tronic adding McEnroe. Didn’t see that one coming… polar opposite on-court personalities. Imagine Pat Sajak hiring Mickey Rourke as sidekick. This will be fun.
And Radwanska. LOL Again, up 6-2 3-0, then loses 10 games on the trot to a career top 50ish player. This is the performance of a #2 seed? This is what I was talking about with the WTA. I’ve never seen such an emotionally fragile cohort of “top” players. Can’t get it done.
Mary Carillo just described a player as “half Japanese, half Asian”. NVM the state of the players on tour, the tennis commentators have also been pretty bad the last 10 years or so. Looking at you Pam Shriver, miss “James Blake is still yelling at me to shut up! Why is he telling me to shut up?”
^^^Don’t get me started on Radwanska and the women’s tour in general. So embarrassing.
No one is as bad as that gas bag Gilbert - but except for Killer they’re all awful.
I really enjoyed the other day when there was only that one camera and Stolle was calling the match on PC. Always a favorite comm of mine.
The only redeeming quality of Robot is having lovely Carlos as his coach. Now JMac will be hogging all the face time. 
Just heard all the women’s matches called for the day - maybe they should put everyone out of their misery and cancel the whole thing. 
And no play before 7p so the men might start up again soon and get a few of those matches in the book.
Order seems to have been restored for the most part on both sides of the draw. I have no explanation for Putinseva but at least we’ll be spared another CSN beat down from Serena.
Happy for Sam. She hasn’t gotten this far in a slam since she won the Open.
Penciling in Djoker to the semi’s.
Goffin v Theim should be interesting.
o one is as bad as that gas bag Gilbert"
Sorry but I think he is insightful and love his books.
^You’re entitled to your opinion, as I am to mine.
Brad and Mary are both insufferable. What a horrible 2 weeks overall…
Happy to see a new face in the men’s semi’s and I think the semi between Stan and VB will be a battle.
Berdy is just so useless. Every draw it’s the same thing when he gets into the business end of tourneys.
Kind of bummed the waitress lost but happy for Kiki especially since she had a lot on her plate trying to qualify for the Oly’s and to not have a let down after making it is impressive, Unfortunately, she has no chance against Serena but I’d love to be wrong.
Have to back Mugu as I think she is only one left in draw who can possibly take her down. But still a tall task.
I’m hoping Kiki can perform. They’ve played only once before, 7-6(5) 6-3 to SW on hard, but Kiki is playing better these days. A lot to ask. I like Ruth over Stosur, although Sam beat her on clay in ‘14. Sam plays too much meat & drink topspin these days, and I’ve seen quicker feet on a 200 pound sous-chef.
Thiem is talented, should be top 5 one day. Hard to see him beating a very motivated Djoker but you never know. I hope the ‘15 French Stan shows up. Entertaining seeing a belligerent Murray, looking for his box to toss him a hanky.
I think I heard the comms say Kiki is carrying a leg or thigh injury and was barely running to the ball at end of the match. Not even a day of rest so it’s probably going to be a beat down.
Thrilled for Mugu!
Nothing to say about the men’s final but bleugh. Not even going to bother to watch.
So ready for the grass…
Ruth played the match of her career, happy for her. Who would have thought the women’s final would have more drama than a Djokovic-Murray final? Bit of a beat down for the cantankerous one. Andy didn’t play poorly in my estimation. Djoker returned pretty well, was dominant at the net, more aggressive when needed.
4 slams in a row. 6 out of last 8. How many more does Novak have in him? The Federites can’t be getting too worried yet, but wow, if the Djoker happens to take the next 2 slams to reach 14, then 17 is within reach. He’s 30 next year so I’m not sure how dominant he’ll be in 2018 and on.
Djokovic played well. Murray went away for a while but made him work for it at the end. The crowd was really behind Djokovic and he seemed thrilled to win. It was fun to watch. Hoping for a healthy Fed, Monfil and Nadal (although not likely for Nadal) at Wimbledon.
It was refreshing to see the crowd rooting for Djokovic for a change. Murray played well in patches, but it is difficult to maintain that level of play in a best of five set scenario. Only a fit Federer has the talent to hang with Djokovic, and even then, only for 3 hours or less.
I agree Dunboyne, whether Djokovic matches Federer’s 17 or not will depend on time. Djokovic has another 2 years at best. He can still win majors beyond that, but not more than 1 or 2. If he can manage to win 4 majors in the next 2 years, then he will be within striking distance. If he wins fewer than 4 majors in this narrow window, he will probably not hit the 17.