ATP Tennis/Non-India Davis Cup

[arjun2761]

GOAT is not an official title. Each one of us can have our own GOAT. PKB has Federer. prasen has none. Where is the issue?

Great observation! I'm pretty sure that many besides PKB have Federer as their GOAT - perhaps more than the remaining candidates combined.

[Sin Hombre]

Amazing to see all 8 entrants from the WTF in 2014 having withdrawn from Cinci (well an injured Berdych lost in the first round)

[PKBasu]

Sugita's great year continues, as he makes the QF in Cincinnati -- having beaten the only seed in his quarter (Jack Sock) in R1. He plays Dimitrov for a place in the SF. Donaldson (RamK's conqueror) is also in the QF, and plays Isner to determine who will play the SF against Dimitrov/Sugita.
The top half of the draw is much tougher, and has the prospect of a Nadal-Thiem semifinal.

[PKBasu]

So, we have a GenNext final in Cincinnati between Kyrgios and Dimitrov. (I'd like to think that Dimitrov, the leader of Yuki's cohort, is still part of GenNext, just as Kyrgios -- the co-leader with Thiem of RamRam's cohort -- is).

[Abish arul]

next gen is for players born from the year 1996 and younger so both doesn't qualify for that #fact

[prasen9]

GOAT is not an official title. Each one of us can have our own GOAT. PKB has Federer. prasen has none. Where is the issue?

Great observation! I'm pretty sure that many besides PKB have Federer as their GOAT - perhaps more than the remaining candidates combined.

That is quite possibly true. He is one of the greats of all time. Has won the most number of slams. He is a very decent and modest human being. His playing style is very pleasing to the eye. There is no doubt that he possibly has the most number of fans who think he is their GOAT. Depending upon your metrics, there will be different outcomes. My objection is when people say "undoubtedly", "indisputably", etc. If they say Federer is arguably the GOAT or that they think that Federer is the GOAT, I have no objections.

[PKBasu]

next gen is for players born from the year 1996 and younger so both doesn't qualify for that #fact

Yes, that is the ATP's official definition. But I'm talking about the generation after Federer/Nadal/Djokovic/Murray/Wawrinka, which has failed to make any breakthrough so far. They are all 5+ years younger than the 30+ quintet that has dominated tennis during the past 10 years (15 in the case of Federer). Let us see if Dimitrov makes a breakthrough at the US Open, of whether we skip that cohort to go straight to Sasha Zverev as the spearhead of the next cohort.

[Sin Hombre]

Dolgopolov might finally be caught for match fixing.

About time and he is not the only one either.

[Varma]

Just read a few articles after I saw your post. This looks like a clear cut case of match-fixing; very hard to believe it isn't. If proven, Dog should be banned for life. It is disgusting to see a player of his stature doing this. ATP should send a stern warning to all players. It's about time they showed spine.

- Varma

[jaydeep]

Agree with Varma, need stringent action against these type of players.

How To Fix a Tennis Match (by Alexandr Dolgopolov)

[AudreyHannaah]

i am from New York and all time think about to watch Davic cup series from here live but not eligible because of region blockage, plz help me
thanks

[PKBasu]

After Sindhu's magnificent win in the BWF world singles semifinal, my TV station is showing the final of Winston-Salem. Bautista-Agut plays…Damir Dzhumur. I saw Yuki beat Dzhumur with ease in the semifinal of the Youth Olympiad in Singapore in 2010

[Rajiv]

Agree with Varma, need stringent action against these type of players.

How To Fix a Tennis Match (by Alexandr Dolgopolov)

Sadly this problem is only going to get more worse before it can be brought under any form of control.
Proliferation of betting websites on almost all the live scoring platforms is a glaring example of this malaise.

We even now have bet365 as a major sponsor of Davis Cup and it is so nauseating to see their bills boards on courts during matches , smack in the middle and in prime positions, And with so much of their involvement in the game at stake it is obvious they will try to influence the matches and sadly we will see more of Dolgopolov types cases and this may be just a tip of the iceberg.

[prasen9]

I do not think you can eliminate betting entirely. By taking out the legal sites, you will actually be encouraging black-market sites and underground sites. At least by having it in the open, you can have some legislative control on it.

The solution is to look closely at the betting patterns and see such unusual activities. The NFL (American "football") requires each team to declare their injuries fully and truthfully before a match. If they do not do so, they are heavily fined. We should do the same with the tennis players. They need to declare their injuries and let the chair umpire know of injuries during the match. They can still fake it, but, the betting companies can then suspend betting or take bets with preconditions on no payouts if there are injuries.

If it looks (statistically) highly probable that there has been betting on a match, the person who is alleged to be tanking should be subjected to a serious investigation and then bans. Nobody likes investigations --- that would increase the "cost" of tanking. So, the small tanks and spot fixing (a few points here and there) will go away because they will not be worth it. For significant-amounts-of-money tanks, these investigations should have to be completed successfully.

[jayakris]

I do not think you can eliminate betting entirely. By taking out the legal sites, you will actually be encouraging black-market sites and underground sites. At least by having it in the open, you can have some legislative control on it.

Exactly. Would anybody care for horse racing, if betting weren't there? If betting helps a sport and adds to the fun, it's fine with me. Just have the right controls necessary. I know, there are religious beliefs against betting, and we had India's history twisted by an epic war that started from gambling, but I am just against total curtailing of any activity that make people happy, as long it does not come at too much peril to themselves and the society - which underscores the need for calibrated controls.