The cluster**** to the AO seems to have been resolved, and we're ready to fire up the hype for 2021.

I'm running a season-long tennis PEEHS and we still need runners, thread here: https://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/4...peehs-1781707/

Now let's preview the 2021 season!

The Big 3



Noted anti-vaxxer Novaxx Djocovid is fresh off his record tying 6th year end #1 ranking. His prospects for a 7th look pretty good. However, there's a vaccine on the horizon. What happens if the ATP makes vaccination mandatory for players? Will this be Novaxx's kryptonite?



Noted old man Roger Federer is a year older, again. Fresh off of two knee surgeries, will he recover in time for AO? Will 2021 finally be his final year? Many have been saying "Federer is done" every year for 5 or 6 years now. Eventually they'll have to be right, right?



Noted butt-picker Rafael Nadal is fresh off his eleventy billionth Roland Garros title. How many more does he have left?

The Challengers



Noted bird-flipper Daniil Medvedev is fresh off his SE thread title year, which was going rather poorly until he won his last 10 matches, earning titles at the Paris Masters and world tour finals, and breaking the thread title curse. Can he continue the fine form into 2021?



Noted shirt-puller-upper Alexander Zverev is fresh off an embarrassing US Open final performance. Does he have a major in him or is he the next Todd Martin?



Noted hair highlighter Dominic Thiem is fresh off his first major title at the US Open. Can he beat Nadal at RG? Is he the guy who will retire the GOAT era?



Noted One Direction cover band member Andrey Rublev is fresh off a stellar year in which he won 5 ATP titles and surged into the top 10. How much higher can he go?



Noted long haired Greek guy Stefanos Tsitsipas is fresh off a disappointing year with 3rd round exits at 2 of the 3 majors. Will he step it up in the big tournaments in 2021?

Young Guns On The Rise



Brandon Nakashima, 19, ranked #166. Won his first challenger title in Orlando last month. Solid all court game, coached by Pat Cash. The future of USA mens tennis.



Carlos Alcaraz Garfia, 17, ranked #141. This hugely talented Spaniard is coached by Juan Carlos Ferrero. He started 2020 ranked #490 and crushed his first 14 matches in futures. Then shocked the world with a win over veteran clay mug Albert Ramos at the Rio 500 event. He followed that up with 3 challenger titles and 1 runner up. He's a lock for the NextGen finals.



Lorenzo Musetti, 18, ranked #128. The 2019 AO junior champ. He burst onto the pro scene at the Rome Masters where he took advantage of a wildcard to qualies by winning 3 matches to get to the main draw, then beat Wawrinka and Nishikori, both in straight sets. He followed that up the very next week with his first challenger title, beating 4 top 100 players.

But there's one young gun whose ginger curls stand out above the rest. He's still a teenager, yet won his first ATP title at his last tournament of 2020. He's scored wins over Goffin, Tsitsipas, Zverev, and De Minaur. He's the only teen in the top 100 and currently ranked #37.

Our 2021 thread titleist: Jannick Sinner

I'm in.

Lets go Roger!!

Here's what the rankings would look like if there weren't any points frozen:

https://www.openerarankings.com/Home?Race=1

Thiem #2, Fed #28

https://www.openerarankings.com/WTAHome?Race=1

Kenin #1, Swiatek #5.

Watched that Alcaraz match against Ramos (because I had money on him), and was quite impressed with his game. Very much a clay courter as you'd expect a Spaniard to be.

One month later AO is definitely interesting. I just don't understand why these major sports leagues can't procure vaccines for their players as a top priority. Too much money at stake, and it's not that many people that would need to be vaccinated (one less with Novaxx abstaining).

I'm curious as to who SE will be rooting for/against in 2021. Who do you want to have the best year of their career, and who do you wish would get double bageled every match? I'll start:

For:
1. Thiem

I want to see Thiem beat Nadal at RG and win the title. I'm not a Nadal hater, I just want to see a legit contender beat Nadal at RG.

2. Sinner

Picked him for thread title so I don't want to be wrong obv.

3. Schwartzman

I'd like to see Schwartzman get to a slam final, or win a clay masters.

4. Kenin

I like her game and her attitude. She'll be #1 soon enough.

5. Ferro

Another sweet game that I like watching.

6. Medvedev

I like the healthy tension and animosity he brings to the tour, and a game that gives Novaxx fits.

Against:
1. Isner

Just **** off already you boringass servebot douche. How much longer will we all have to suffer through your useless coinflip tiebreak matches and dark cloud of douche that comes with you everywhere you go?

2. Siniakova

I hate everything about this girl, I honestly think I hate her more than Serena. Her ugly strokes, her ugly hair, her ugly face, her whiny annoying attitude, her epic choking.

3. Zverev

Entitled narcissistic prick with a terrible attitude, and possibly a domestic abuser. The new Gimelstob. This guy is destined for a life of Jerry Springer show drama and legal trouble off court, which we'll all have to hear about for the next 10+ years.

4. Moutet

I've only seen one match of his so I might have caught him on an unusually bad day, but I insta hated him. The whiniest little French **** with the most punchable face on tour.

Murray been given a WC for the AO

And Roger confirmed not playing the AO

Also in the news I heard Novaxx and Vagisil are already coming crawling back and begging for their ATP player council seats since the whole PTPA thing was a complete failure. lulz

In case you can't wait until AO to get your Murray fix, he also got a WC to delray beach, which starts next week.

I really hope he'll play couple matches with this moustache

I spoke too soon, he withdrew.

There's gonna be some hilariously lopsided early round matches next week. Or possibly some once in a lifetime upsets. Since players in the 110-200ish ranking range had to choose between playing next week or playing AO qualies, almost all are playing AO qualies. So there's a huge gap in the entry lists. There's going to be at least a few players ranked in the 300s in each tournament.

Shapovalov's gf Mirjam Bjorklund is ranked #313 and seems to have a good chance to get through qualies in Abu Dhabi.

You were saying? https://www.theage.com.au/national/l...03-p56rf5.html

lol @ "threatens the australian open" that's some awful clickbait nonsense. Sounds like they just need to find a different hotel? I don't understand why they picked a hotel with permanent residents in the first place.

I hear it’s been resolved. Very poor to have not first consulted with residents.

Also the doubts around the staging of the Australian Grand Prix brings the holding of the AO into further question.

#29 Yastremska busted:

https://antidoping.itftennis.com/news/317960.aspx

how has there been no discussion here about the situation in Australia?

I dunno man, it's just funny at this point. They might actually play, they might not, whatever.

Alcaraz got through qualies. First slam main draw.

I've been enjoying Camila Giorgi's IG lately. And that video of Cuevas htiting BHs against a mattress was cool.

I thought about putting Seb Korda in the op and decided not, I hadn't seen much of him. Then he goes and makes the final the first tournament of the year. I guess him and Nakashima are the future of USA tennis.

I'd imagine Australian Open is supposed to be behind closed doors, no?

Also it's kinda shame that F1 GP was moved to november cause it'd have been intresting to see whether these drivers need to follow same regulations like these tennis players (by sitting in quarantine for 2 weeks before competing) ...

I'm kind of amazed that they can get a field of 128 to agree to the quarantine policies.

I get why the financial incentives are there for the top 10 on each side... But it really sucks to fly to Australia, quarantine solo in a hotel room for 14 days, and lose in the first round, which by necessity half the field will do.

That's what I was thinking, so I looked it up and think they get $90,000 for losing in the first round. No idea how that compares to other events but I'd guess that for many at the lower end it's not too shabby, with the chance of getting further.

My understanding is the flights and hotels were paid for by Tennis Australia, which is why each flight was full of tennis players/coaches and now so many of them have to quarantine without leaving the room because one person on the flight tested positive.

First round losers are getting $100k AUS, this is up from $90k AUS last year and $75k AUS in 2019. Current exchange rate is 1 AUSD = .77 USD, so that's $77k USD for first round losers.

To put that in perspective for the rank and file players, there's a 125 challenger in Istanbul this week (the highest level of challenger in the men's game) and the winner gets 18,290 EUR, which is $22,091 USD, which is less than 1/3 the prize money that first round AO losers will get.

First round AO qualies losers got $25k AUS ($19,250 USD).

Best story of AO quarantine so far: Yulia Putintseva had a mouse in her room, which she posted a video on her IG and later deleted. She opened the door to her room to try to get the mouse out and the security guards yelled at her.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1350900638243287043

I suppose it's probably worth it for the 65-128 tier who are underdogs in their first match just for the show $$ alone. I know tennis is insanely top heavy in terms of prize money and even winning a match at a GS can make someone's year financially who is on the fringe of top 100.

If you bet on tennis look at Betmania. They have Rafa at 34-1 to win the Aussie Open. That’s insane. He’s the third or fourth fav everywhere else at around 5-1. I see his coach has decided not to travel with him but that’s no reason for these crazy odds. I’m gonna bet $200 on him to win $6800 lol.