Fantastic insight and review. The social media and commentary around tennis has so much space for growth - and you guys contributed hugely to that growth in 2024. Thank you and happy 2025
My take on Alcaraz's lack of consistency is that he actually has too many options in his game and he struggles with the tension between playing more monotonous high-precentage tennis and the pure pleasure he gets from being a spectacular shot maker.
Talk about 2024 challenger winner the Brasilian Joao Fonseca. Youngest to win . I started following him the moment he hit the tour and his runs in Rio and Lisbon, and had a similar feeling that I had when I first saw Alcaraz at 16 in his first year on tour. Can’t tell if he will be as good as Alcaraz but he has a ton of potential and fun to watch . Good kiddo
100% agree with Fonseca. Number 1 junior: dominated the Next Gen tournament like Alvarez and Sinner did. He will be a top 10 player in less than 18 months. Ben Shelton is a top 20 players, but he will be floating around ranking 15-25 and it maybe hard for him to reach top 10. He has a huge serve and great athleticism but nothing particularly stand out from the competition. He kind of reminds me of Tsonga. Tsonga was as high as top 5, so maybe Shelton will surprise me.
Alcaraz has had his season ending ranking drop 1 notch in each of the last 2 years. He was the youngest ever men's #1 in 2022, finished #2 in 2023 and #3 in 2024. So in an overall sense... he has dropped his level just a bit each year (from 1 to 2 to 3). But at the majors... he won 1 slam in 2022 to go with a QF, a 4th round and a 3rd round. He won 1 slam in 2023 to go with 2 semi-finals and a DNP. He won two slams in 2024 and had a QF and a 2nd round loss. So his Grand Slam results have gotten better each year... while his overall ranking has dropped a bit. But any player would be thrilled to win two slams and get a silver medal at the Olympics. That's a great year for any player. Here's a list of things that Alcaraz has accomplished at age 21 - that no other male player has done! Youngest man to become world #1 (19 years and 4 months) Youngest man to become year end #1 (19 years and 5 months) Youngest man to win a major singles title on 3 different surfaces (21 years and 1 month) Youngest man to win the "channel slam" (21 years and 2 months) Youngest male Olympic sliver medalist (21 years and 2 months) Youngest man to win an ATP 500 singles title on 3 different surfaces (21 years and 4 months) Youngest man to win the Miami Open (18 years and and 11 months) Youngest man to win the Madrid Open (19 years). Carlos is also extremely great at winning big matches when he gets to the final. He is 4-0 in slam finals... and he is 5-1 in Masters 1000 finals. That's a combined 9-1 (.900 W%). Alcaraz has played 4 years on the tour... and he has won 4 slams out the 15 he has been in. He has won 27% of the slams that he has entered. Rafa won 4 out of his first 17 slams (24%). And 5 out of his first 18 (28%). Roger won zero out of his first 18 slams... and won 4 out of his first 24 slams (17%). Novak won 1 out of his first 15 slams (7%)... and won 4 out of his first 28 slams (14%). McEnroe won his first slam in his 7th GS event and had 4 slams after 13 GS events (31%). He had 5 slam titles after 18 to tie Rafa for the 2nd fastest to 5. Then won just 2 more. Borg won his first slam in his 5th GS event, his 2nd in his 8th event, his 3rd in his 12th event and his 4th slam title in his 14th GS event (29%). He had 5 slams after 16 GS events (31%) - and 6 slams after 17 GS events (35%). Borg got to 5 slams in less events than any other man in the Open era. He also got to 6 slams, 7, 8, 9 10 and 11 slams in fewer events than any other man. Wilander won 4 out his first 15 GS events (27%, just like Alcaraz has). Then he went two years before winning another one. Connors won his first slam in his 9th GS event -and then won all 3 that he played that year. So he had 3 slams after being in just 11 GS events. The next year (1975) he made the finals of all 3 slams that he played but didn't win any of them. He won his 4th slam in his 16th GS event (25%). Sampras won 1 out of his first 15 slams (7%)... and won 4 out of his first 19 slams (21%). Becker won 2 of his first 8 slams - and still had 2 after 15 slams (13%). He got to 4 slams in 20 GS events (20%). Lendl won zero slams out of his first 18... ang got to 4 slam titles after 27 GS events (15%). Edberg won 2 of his first 15 slams (13%) and got to 4 slams after 29 GS events. (14%). Agassi won 1 out of his first 15 slams (7%)... and it took him 36 slams to get to 4 slam titles (11%).
Andy right now my favorite tennis commentator! Looks like a jock but speaks like an intellectual! He says all things I think but not smart enough to say!
Medvedev played the first 2 set in AO final by playing extremely aggressive and always inside the court. His level was incredible. Why he can't play always like that?
To be fair to Zverev! An umpire mistake did cost him this years Roland garros title. The umpire did call a serve of alcaraz in which was out. This would have been a break and zverev would have been back in the set. No break down. You can not tell me this shift of momentum would not have played a role. Soo its understandable
It was a big point but in a best of 5 contest, it never makes sense to zero in on a single call against Zverev. There's just a bit of randomness in the game but it all shakes out over time. To me, the only arguments for the umps affecting the outcome are when they pull out weird time violations or other activist rulings. But line calls are just kinda that way and you have to treat them being missed as little acts of randomness-at least until we finally have all-electronic line calling.
Momentum huge in tennis yes a lot of times one bad call totally screws people ! It just does! The Coco effect give her 3 cheat calls a match and most of her opponents get real down and thrown off!!
End of Year, means we should talk about Zverev's **multiple** domestic abuses accusations. He decided to settle, and agreed to pay the German courts over a quarter of a million dollars in fines. When two women come forward with abuse accusations, statistically speaking, there are at least two more women who have not come forward. Watching him beat the umpire's chair with his racket at the Mexican Open showed the world what kind of violence he is capable of when he loses his temper.
Not quite right. The case was dropped in return for a payment of 200,000 euros. It was not a fine. The amount of the payment depends on income. A normal citizen would only have had to pay a fraction of that.
The money went to the court for administrative fees and charity for initiating the investigation. German prosecutor’s office would have not dropped the case if there was any evidence he is guilty, briefly after he won his custody case for his daughter ( that means less money allowance for his ex) that he applied just before his ex filed for abuse incident in civil court. Multiple experts confirmed that ex copied her statements, blackmailed Zverev over messages, recording of phone calls all were presented in the court. While previous investigation done by ATP which involved multiple people on tour reveled nothing. Please don’t spread lies.
Personally, I think Roddick wasn't rakned high enough during his career. If he had worked a bit harder to expand his skillset he could have acheived a higher rakning.
No offense, but this is an ignorant comment. If Federer wasn’t rising at the time, Andy would have had at least four Grand Slam titles. His work ethic during his prime was phenomenal. Watch the Wimbledon final of 2009 and see how incredible Roddick was at that time.
Yeah no, they don't have the long-term results that Zverev has. He's come ridiculously close and been consistently in the top five for several years now, even making it to #2 without making the finals of a major, sheerly due to blowing out almost everyone not named Alcaraz and Sinner, who are generational talents. I don't like Zverev or his game but he's a god at falling just short at this point. (Also Medvedev, who would be even more tragic a case if he didn't actually win when the wolves were away.)
Medevedev starting to doubt himself a little and tired at times! I played twins who were not that far below pro level but no matter how close the battle 9 out 10 they would eek it past me ! It get old and very frustrating cause you know you are close ! This is Medvedev's syndrome ! Self doubt at most key times! He is a dog as Bruce Springsteen says " whose been beat too much" " till you spend half your life just covering up"😊😊
Sinner should be commended for accomplishing all he did this year without giving in to the shrieking epidemic that's moved from the WTA to the ATP. Pure gamesmanship bullshit. And yes, Carlitos is one of the worst.
@distico sinner would not have beaten Novak at the Olympics..hence when Novak hits his level he still the best ..question is can he get there now going on 38.
Keep singing the praises for Novak Andy, and maybe he will hire you as his coach for the USO. I mean looks like his logic is clearly, “Whose going to boo me at the AO if I partner with Nick?”, and “Whose going to boo me at Wimbledon if my coach is Andy?”. He’s investing wisely in a wider fan base when it doesn’t come naturally. Some are wondering if he threw the doubles match in Brisbane the closer he got to more challenging singles matches. Anyway, that was probably their plan all along. His useful idiot served him well. Happy New Year! 🥳👍🥂🎉🍾🎊🃏🤡
Fantastic insight and review. The social media and commentary around tennis has so much space for growth - and you guys contributed hugely to that growth in 2024. Thank you and happy 2025
Best tennis podcast ever no cap! Greetings from Italy 🎾🎾
My take on Alcaraz's lack of consistency is that he actually has too many options in his game and he struggles with the tension between playing more monotonous high-precentage tennis and the pure pleasure he gets from being a spectacular shot maker.
I love this channel. Roddick Rocks as a commentator...
Best tennis channel by far. Really, really insightful. Can we please make sure to talk about Zverevs abuse whenever he is brought up
Talk about 2024 challenger winner the Brasilian Joao Fonseca. Youngest to win . I started following him the moment he hit the tour and his runs in Rio and Lisbon, and had a similar feeling that I had when I first saw Alcaraz at 16 in his first year on tour. Can’t tell if he will be as good as Alcaraz but he has a ton of potential and fun to watch . Good kiddo
100% agree with Fonseca. Number 1 junior: dominated the Next Gen tournament like Alvarez and Sinner did. He will be a top 10 player in less than 18 months.
Ben Shelton is a top 20 players, but he will be floating around ranking 15-25 and it maybe hard for him to reach top 10. He has a huge serve and great athleticism but nothing particularly stand out from the competition. He kind of reminds me of Tsonga. Tsonga was as high as top 5, so maybe Shelton will surprise me.
Correnti in second Youngest cui sinergia is the youngest
Great call pre and post the aus open
The dream team for commentary
Great analysis! Happy New Year guys :)
Totally agree with Lehecka; until his injury in Madrid, he looked really sharp and went up. Let's see what 2025 has for him.
Immediately made the final in Brisbane .. lets see if he can beat Opelka ..
Alcaraz has had his season ending ranking drop 1 notch in each of the last 2 years. He was the youngest ever men's #1 in 2022, finished #2 in 2023 and #3 in 2024. So in an overall sense... he has dropped his level just a bit each year (from 1 to 2 to 3). But at the majors... he won 1 slam in 2022 to go with a QF, a 4th round and a 3rd round. He won 1 slam in 2023 to go with 2 semi-finals and a DNP. He won two slams in 2024 and had a QF and a 2nd round loss. So his Grand Slam results have gotten better each year... while his overall ranking has dropped a bit.
But any player would be thrilled to win two slams and get a silver medal at the Olympics. That's a great year for any player.
Here's a list of things that Alcaraz has accomplished at age 21 - that no other male player has done!
Youngest man to become world #1 (19 years and 4 months)
Youngest man to become year end #1 (19 years and 5 months)
Youngest man to win a major singles title on 3 different surfaces (21 years and 1 month)
Youngest man to win the "channel slam" (21 years and 2 months)
Youngest male Olympic sliver medalist (21 years and 2 months)
Youngest man to win an ATP 500 singles title on 3 different surfaces (21 years and 4 months)
Youngest man to win the Miami Open (18 years and and 11 months)
Youngest man to win the Madrid Open (19 years).
Carlos is also extremely great at winning big matches when he gets to the final.
He is 4-0 in slam finals... and he is 5-1 in Masters 1000 finals. That's a combined 9-1 (.900 W%).
Alcaraz has played 4 years on the tour... and he has won 4 slams out the 15 he has been in. He has won 27% of the slams that he has entered.
Rafa won 4 out of his first 17 slams (24%). And 5 out of his first 18 (28%).
Roger won zero out of his first 18 slams... and won 4 out of his first 24 slams (17%).
Novak won 1 out of his first 15 slams (7%)... and won 4 out of his first 28 slams (14%).
McEnroe won his first slam in his 7th GS event and had 4 slams after 13 GS events (31%). He had 5 slam titles after 18 to tie Rafa for the 2nd fastest to 5. Then won just 2 more.
Borg won his first slam in his 5th GS event, his 2nd in his 8th event, his 3rd in his 12th event and his 4th slam title in his 14th GS event (29%). He had 5 slams after 16 GS events (31%) - and 6 slams after 17 GS events (35%). Borg got to 5 slams in less events than any other man in the Open era. He also got to 6 slams, 7, 8, 9 10 and 11 slams in fewer events than any other man.
Wilander won 4 out his first 15 GS events (27%, just like Alcaraz has). Then he went two years before winning another one.
Connors won his first slam in his 9th GS event -and then won all 3 that he played that year. So he had 3 slams after being in just 11 GS events. The next year (1975) he made the finals of all 3 slams that he played but didn't win any of them. He won his 4th slam in his 16th GS event (25%).
Sampras won 1 out of his first 15 slams (7%)... and won 4 out of his first 19 slams (21%).
Becker won 2 of his first 8 slams - and still had 2 after 15 slams (13%). He got to 4 slams in 20 GS events (20%).
Lendl won zero slams out of his first 18... ang got to 4 slam titles after 27 GS events (15%).
Edberg won 2 of his first 15 slams (13%) and got to 4 slams after 29 GS events. (14%).
Agassi won 1 out of his first 15 slams (7%)... and it took him 36 slams to get to 4 slam titles (11%).
Andy right now my favorite tennis commentator! Looks like a jock but speaks like an intellectual! He says all things I think but not smart enough to say!
Roddick is a helluva communicator!
My prediction is Jannik will be world number 1 till at least 2028
I dont think so, he is already struggling physically
I personally don’t think Jannik is build for longevity, I think when he has a drop off it will be difficult for him to reach this lvl again.
Alcarez is a generational talent. He is head and shoulders above his generation.
Why doesn't Med hire Goran as assistant coach? He did amazing with Novak's serve.
Medvedev played the first 2 set in AO final by playing extremely aggressive and always inside the court. His level was incredible. Why he can't play always like that?
💙 Carlitos is exactly what the sport needs, post the big 3. He is the new global face of men's 🎾 Love everything about him.
To be fair to Zverev! An umpire mistake did cost him this years Roland garros title.
The umpire did call a serve of alcaraz in which was out. This would have been a break and zverev would have been back in the set. No break down. You can not tell me this shift of momentum would not have played a role. Soo its understandable
❤💯
It did not cost him a Roland Garros title, because it's likely that he still would have lost even if he had gotten that point.
It was a big point but in a best of 5 contest, it never makes sense to zero in on a single call against Zverev. There's just a bit of randomness in the game but it all shakes out over time. To me, the only arguments for the umps affecting the outcome are when they pull out weird time violations or other activist rulings. But line calls are just kinda that way and you have to treat them being missed as little acts of randomness-at least until we finally have all-electronic line calling.
Momentum huge in tennis yes a lot of times one bad call totally screws people ! It just does! The Coco effect give her 3 cheat calls a match and most of her opponents get real down and thrown off!!
Great show. Thanks
Spud Webb can dunk…
I really hope Zverev can win a couple of majors this year
Roddick you’re so adorable❤️
didnt know cpt. kirk does tennis podcasts
I feel like jack draper is top 10 rank player
Roddick over rates American players.....shocker!
Talking about the current year end number 4 and last year end number year end number 5? And calling him overrated
Rankings aside if im paying a lot of money to watch one player its alcaraz every time.
He likes medvedev because two peas in a pod. And thats a good thing ❤
End of Year, means we should talk about Zverev's **multiple** domestic abuses accusations. He decided to settle, and agreed to pay the German courts over a quarter of a million dollars in fines. When two women come forward with abuse accusations, statistically speaking, there are at least two more women who have not come forward. Watching him beat the umpire's chair with his racket at the Mexican Open showed the world what kind of violence he is capable of when he loses his temper.
This D-Bag - ruclips.net/video/jD-FkGeeR-U/видео.html
Not quite right. The case was dropped in return for a payment of 200,000 euros. It was not a fine. The amount of the payment depends on income. A normal citizen would only have had to pay a fraction of that.
The money went to the court for administrative fees and charity for initiating the investigation. German prosecutor’s office would have not dropped the case if there was any evidence he is guilty, briefly after he won his custody case for his daughter ( that means less money allowance for his ex) that he applied just before his ex filed for abuse incident in civil court. Multiple experts confirmed that ex copied her statements, blackmailed Zverev over messages, recording of phone calls all were presented in the court. While previous investigation done by ATP which involved multiple people on tour reveled nothing. Please don’t spread lies.
Women can piss off the pope I'm not judging anybody that gets irate at them ! Not saying it's right but I understand!
Opelka has entered the chat
GUYS WHERE IS NICK KYRGIOS I **KNOW** HES GONNA BE TOP 1 HES JUST INSANELY CRACKED
You’re right about the cracked story, he will never crack top 10 going forward
When is Sinner’s suspension being handed out?!!!
jamais
IF it's going to happen it will be sometime in February
Sinner, Alcaraz, Zverev, Fritz, Medvedev…
Personally, I think Roddick wasn't rakned high enough during his career. If he had worked a bit harder to expand his skillset he could have acheived a higher rakning.
He was no. 1 in the world, what do you mean? Higher where?
He was never gonna outrank Federer, that's just the way it was
@@AdvahovCatalinViolin higher than that
I mean, guy was #2 behind Federer for years. That’s not bad.
No offense, but this is an ignorant comment. If Federer wasn’t rising at the time, Andy would have had at least four Grand Slam titles. His work ethic during his prime was phenomenal. Watch the Wimbledon final of 2009 and see how incredible Roddick was at that time.
I'd have to disagree on Zverev being the best player ever to have not won a major. I think Marcelo Rios fits that title better.
Nalbandian, Berdych, Tsonga
They aren’t as accomplished as Zverev is.
Yeah no, they don't have the long-term results that Zverev has. He's come ridiculously close and been consistently in the top five for several years now, even making it to #2 without making the finals of a major, sheerly due to blowing out almost everyone not named Alcaraz and Sinner, who are generational talents. I don't like Zverev or his game but he's a god at falling just short at this point. (Also Medvedev, who would be even more tragic a case if he didn't actually win when the wolves were away.)
@ Zverev literally has positive h2h against Carlos and Jannik…
Well called Ben Shelton
So Wertheim is back on, forgiven ?
No slam for Iga this year. Sabalenka will win Wimbledon. Coco will win the rest of the slams. AO, RG, USO, all 3 will be won by Coco.
I'm gonna say Tommy Paul will finish ahead of Fritz.
I think Mpetchi Perricard will break into the top 12
Medvédev won Sinner in Wimbledon because Sinner was not ok
Do a show talking about what will happen to tennis if the norm becomes Opelka and Perricard. Serving and pounding the ball. Boring to say the least.
Medevedev starting to doubt himself a little and tired at times! I played twins who were not that far below pro level but no matter how close the battle 9 out 10 they would eek it past me ! It get old and very frustrating cause you know you are close ! This is Medvedev's syndrome ! Self doubt at most key times! He is a dog as Bruce Springsteen says " whose been beat too much" " till you spend half your life just covering up"😊😊
Do you think Zverev or Ruud wins their first major in 2025?
Yes or no
No
No
No great fantastic guys but there are 15 other fantastic guys! Moving up tennis ladder brutal these days!
Why can't we get Johnny Mac and Andy to call matches. Woke is over, so sign these two and get real ratings.
Jonny mac is too old .. his comments are more and more weird
@christineg3625 you sound like a racist person.
@@christineg3625 100% agree! I would love to hear from more recently retired players than Johnny Mac
Sinner should be commended for accomplishing all he did this year without giving in to the shrieking epidemic that's moved from the WTA to the ATP. Pure gamesmanship bullshit. And yes, Carlitos is one of the worst.
I get the impression Alcaraz has taken his eye off the ball just a little.
ALCARAZ #1
.no sinner n1😂😂😂😂
Sinner might be banned so who knows.....Novak gonna make everyone eat humble pie this year...still the best his day..he will defeat his own age
I think Novak still can win a major but overall Sinner is stronger and will get better
@distico sinner would not have beaten Novak at the Olympics..hence when Novak hits his level he still the best ..question is can he get there now going on 38.
@lloyds9959 we don't know if sinner would have won that too next year will be easier. Let's see if Novak can win ao with renewed motivation
@@lloyds9959
I have to disagree with you. Sinner has proved quite clearly that he has overtaken Novak.
Mejadovic fantastic said " I played him many times and have never beaten him " In regard to Dokavec ! That should give idea how good Novak really is!
Sinner is better than Alcaraz on Grass
Se non lo sospendono è potrà giocare a Londra sinner potrebbe vincere w.❤
Keep singing the praises for Novak Andy, and maybe he will hire you as his coach for the USO. I mean looks like his logic is clearly, “Whose going to boo me at the AO if I partner with Nick?”, and “Whose going to boo me at Wimbledon if my coach is Andy?”. He’s investing wisely in a wider fan base when it doesn’t come naturally. Some are wondering if he threw the doubles match in Brisbane the closer he got to more challenging singles matches. Anyway, that was probably their plan all along. His useful idiot served him well. Happy New Year! 🥳👍🥂🎉🍾🎊🃏🤡
L O S E R
@ Yup. That’s exactly what he is. I couldn’t agree with you more. Let’s hope for a repeat at the AO 2025! Cheers mate 🥂👍😁
So much bitterness, man. Take it easy...
@ just speaking the truth brother.
Little too much intrigue for me or I'm just dumb but I don't see it!
Lol the 2009 final still haunts him . I was cheering wildly against you Mr.Roddick .
Such a trash comment. You know you don't have to watch this podcast, right?
@@IGuess...You can see it his eyes