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Andre Agassi, that zen guru of tennis prognostication has provided his insights today on the state of men's tennis.
Andre says that the era of Roger and Rafa is coming to an end. That they are 'losing ground' to the likes of Djokovic, Murray, and Del Potro.
What is more, says Andre, Murray is the likeliest of these contenders to 'dominate' the game in the era to come.
As much as I like Andre, and love his on court analysis of tennis matches, I'm not sure I'm willing to go along with this forecast. In my opinion, Andre has never like Rafael Nadal. He never believed Rafa would win Wimbledon.
Andre does not have a good track record on seeing Rafa's role in men's tennis.
He admitted earlier this year—at the Wimbledon roof exhibition—that he was one of the ones on tour that scoffed at the idea that Rafael Nadal would win a major on a surface other than clay, and certainly not Wimbledon. He has always (since 2006 when Rafa beat him at Roger's Cup) had unkind things to say about Rafa's game (I will find the YouTube of his 2006 comments about the grinding style of Rafa's game and post it here.) Moreover, at this exhibition earlier in the year, he called Rafa a 'freak'. Which I took to imply a singularity, a unique never to be repeated phenomena, and not in a positive sense. Not normal.
To say that both Roger and Rafa are 'losing ground' is a fantastic stretch when the players he says they are losing ground to include two players with a single Slam win, and one with no Slam wins!
It may be true that an era of big, taller, faster, players is coming (but has not arrived yet.) I don't see Murray being part of that bunch, though he is slightly taller. I do see Delpo being part of that contingent. I think of Djokovic as not part of that group at all, but a fantastically talented member of the Roger and Rafa Era.
Why didn't Andre mention Cilic? Or Soderling? Karlovic? Isner? Querry?
Well one reason might be that these are players that are not even close to winning their first Slams (an arguable point, I'll admit). These players are still beatable by the likes of Roger or Rafa.
Why?
Because Roger and Rafa are both match savvy. They both have well rounded games and can take advantage of the vulnerabilities of 'altitude enhanced' players.
Though I agree that an era of taller, faster, and more powerful players is on its way, it is not clear which of the class is going to emerge as the dominant player of that era. And I can't agree that Roger and Rafa's days are over.
For someone who played and was competitive well into his thirties, I'm surprised that his vision for the future of men's tennis has no room for savvy, brilliant tennis legends.
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