Week 10/11 - WTA1000 - Indian Wells, USA Hard

markymc1983 · Club Coach

Week 10/11 - WTA1000 - Indian Wells, USA Hard

Canda · Junior player

I find I just cant relate to Iga. Various articles are claiming she is already one of the greats in tennis. I dont even know what she looks like. Is that baseball cap glued to her head???

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

Canda wrote:
I find I just cant relate to Iga. Various articles are claiming she is already one of the greats in tennis. I dont even know what she looks like. Is that baseball cap glued to her head???

Im on that page, no idea of anything about her and wouldnt recognise her if she knocked on my door.

Tennis Abstract rates her as the 101st greatest player of the past 100 years; not sure on the cut off for all time great, theyve slotted her just before Ash Barry and well down in the likes of Conchita Martinez as an example, or Andy Murray in the mens.

https://www.tennisabstract.com/blog/2023/12/13/iga-swiatek-and-the-updated-tennis-128/

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Her sister is a dentist ....... enough said?

indiana · Tennis legend

Yes, though Iga will presumably rise a lot further in the tennisbstract table if she continues at her current level for even just the next 5 or 6 years.

Iga does seem a perfectly nice girl. But when one or two of us suggested that having Ash Barty ( great player and certainly seemed a very nice girl ) as clearly the best player was not great for the growth of women's tennis, we got a bit of grief from some Ash supporters.

I remain thinking the point was very valid, if you divorce the player themselves, how good they are and their natural persona, they are who they are, from how helpful their positions may be to the growth and expansion of the game.

That surely benefits most from big rivalries and having such as Gauff, Osaka and Radacanu up there and involved rather than Swiatek, Sabalenka and Rybakina. Yes, they are no doubt very popular in their own countries and with many followers, and it may seem some sort of anti East European bias. But there are separate issues here.

-- Edited by indiana on Monday 18th of March 2024 05:16:11 PM

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

indiana wrote:
Yes, though Iga will presumably rise a lot further in the tennisbstract table if she continues at her current level for even just the next 5 or 6 years.

Iga does seem a perfectly nice girl. But when one or two of us suggested that having Ash Barty ( great player and certainly seemed a very nice girl ) as clearly the best player was not great for the growth of women's tennis, we got a bit of grief from some Ash supporters.

I remain thinking the point was very valid, if you divorce the player themselves, how good they are and their natural persona, they are who they are, from how helpful their positions may be to the growth and expansion of the game.

That surely benefits most from big rivalries and having such as Gauff, Osaka and Radacanu up there and involved rather than Swiatek, Sabalenka and Rybakina. Yes, they are no doubt very popular in their own countries and with many followers, and it may seem some sort of anti European bias. But there are separate issues here.

Agreed on all fronts !

HarryGem · Club Coach

JonH comes home wrote:
Canda wrote:
I find I just cant relate to Iga. Various articles are claiming she is already one of the greats in tennis. I dont even know what she looks like. Is that baseball cap glued to her head???
Im on that page, no idea of anything about her and wouldnt recognise her if she knocked on my door.

Tennis Abstract rates her as the 101st greatest player of the past 100 years; not sure on the cut off for all time great, theyve slotted her just before Ash Barry and well down in the likes of Conchita Martinez as an example, or Andy Murray in the mens.

https://www.tennisabstract.com/blog/2023/12/13/iga-swiatek-and-the-updated-tennis-128/

Well any survey that ranks Goolagong below Conchita Martinez for eg probably isn't worth the paper it is written on.

Swiatek is a very very good player and she's only 22. If she keeps going she will win 10 majors and many more top level competitions.

We only don't know about her in the celebrity sense because she keeps herself much to herself, promoters seem to have decided she's not "promotable" in the sense that Raducanu seems to be.

People have been crying out for a constant in the women's game and now they have it they don't all seem that keen. (I'm not having a go at anyone one on here by the way but other sorts of social media). I guess she's not exciting because she doesn't scream each and every point, isn't especially demonstrative on court, and doesn't moan all the time about press intrusion.

She's just ruthlessly efficient when she's on her game and shows a certain lack of fallibility which other top players show and perhaps makes her less exciting to watch. On certain courts she is very hard to beat especially if she wins the first set. A real talent and future great if she keeps playing. Wish she has a British grandparent!

-- Edited by HarryGem on Monday 18th of March 2024 02:17:04 PM

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

HarryGem wrote:
JonH comes home wrote:
Canda wrote:
I find I just cant relate to Iga. Various articles are claiming she is already one of the greats in tennis. I dont even know what she looks like. Is that baseball cap glued to her head???
Im on that page, no idea of anything about her and wouldnt recognise her if she knocked on my door.

Tennis Abstract rates her as the 101st greatest player of the past 100 years; not sure on the cut off for all time great, theyve slotted her just before Ash Barry and well down in the likes of Conchita Martinez as an example, or Andy Murray in the mens.

https://www.tennisabstract.com/blog/2023/12/13/iga-swiatek-and-the-updated-tennis-128/
Well any survey that ranks Goolagong below Conchita Martinez for eg probably isn't worth the paper it is written on.
Swiatek is a very very good player and she's only 22. If she keeps going she will win 10 majors and many more top level competitions.
We only don't know about her in the celebrity sense because she keeps herself much to herself, promoters seem to have decided she's not "promotable" in the sense that Raducanu seems to be.
People have been crying out for a constant in the women's game and now they have it they don't all seem that keen. (I'm not having a go at anyone one on here by the way but other sorts of social media). I guess she's not exciting because she doesn't scream each and every point, isn't especially demonstrative on court, and doesn't moan all the time about press intrusion.
She's just ruthlessly efficient when she's on her game and shows a certain lack of fallibility which other top players show and perhaps makes her less exciting to watch. On certain courts she is very hard to beat especially if she wins the first set. A real talent and future great if she keeps playing. Wish she has a British grandparent!

-- Edited by HarryGem on Monday 18th of March 2024 02:17:04 PM

not sure I would agree with you but you would need to delve into the methodology (in essence it measures peak performance, longevity of performance, peak period of performance and looks at quality of opponents within that) but I think it is largely pretty sound. But there is a whole year of debate on that in other pages of this board and on the website, so dont think it worth rehasing!

indiana · Tennis legend

Re our Tennis Abstract greatest players of all time discussions :

britishtennis.activeboard.com/t68268483/greatest-players-of-all-time

wales1994 · Club Coach

She has won 4 grand slams, 10 WTA 1000 events and another 5 titles on top of that. She has above 80% career win/loss percentage. And she is only 22 years old! On this path, it's hard to see her not surpassing the likes of Henin, Hingis and Venus in terms of overall numbers. Whether you find her game or her personality interesting or not, she's the type of player the WTA NEEDS. A committed player who gives their all and is continually looking to improve - she just needs some consistent gripping rivalries.

Mervatron2 · Futures level

Im going to disagree with most of you. I really like Iga. I like her business style and I enjoy her play.

As wales 1994 says he stats are hugely impressive and she is on a pathway to even probably overtake Seles my all time favourite.

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

I really hope she does well - as a layman in womens tennis, she hasnt yet caught my imagination, but her record looks good. I hope she breaks into my consciousness in the near future and it sounds like she will!

indiana · Tennis legend

Some folk are still getting unnecessarily defensive and missing the point about the difference between liking people and wondering whether generally they might not be the best players to be at the top of the tree for progeessing the women's game ( get people like Jon, and indeed myself, more interested let alone the more casual tennis follower ).

Now some may think Barty and Swiatek at the top are at least as useful for that expansion as say Gauff and Osaka but again that is a separate point and possible debate. I don't think they are but it doesn't make any of them good or bad people.

Absolute credit to Barty ( who I did quite like to watch even if I would have personally preferred that she gave out more ) and Swiatek ( who I am kinda neutral about ).

9vicman · Strong Club Player

We don't seem to be fans of the two current world No. 1s on this platform! Whatever you think of Swiatek's 'personality', for me she has a style and flare that sets apart from the other baseline bashers. As did Barty.

The suggestion that Eastern European players cannot sell the sport is pretty binary thinking. Sure the tours have the responsibility to market the players, as do the players themselves, but tennis cannot be dependent on specific countries for the sport to be a success.

Am not naive - I know that a successful Coco Gauff is more appealing than a successful Jess Pegula, and Emma Raducanu easier to promote than Elena Rybakina - but it's too easy to dismiss certain players.