bomberdonnie wrote:Paddy did say "tennis players" and not male tennis players to have won single grand slams in the last 46 years to be fair.
Roche was a 50/50 and I only put him there as he had been runner up 5 or so times and lost to some pretty amazing players.
I still stand by my argument that he would be placed between 10th and 15th as our best tennis player ever.
Take away the girls and roche and he may scrape into the top 10 of male singles tennis players we have produced.
Fair call BD, although I think a lot of people underrate Hewitt because of his somewhat abrasive nature.
I remember watching him beat Agassi and then Stoltenburg when he won his first tournament as a 16yo and loved his aggressiveness. I'd had a gutful of insipid performances from Australian players over the years and told my wife at the time that he would be a top player. She didn't like him then and still doesn't like him now.
I just see him as someone I'd like beside me in "the trenches" and you know he will never give up.
Woah didn't know i caused such a stir havent check this forum in a while. Well he was world no.1 for 2 years I think so as much as your hatred towards him is you can't deny that he has been one of the best. He'd be my no.1 greatest "Australian" tennis players because of the Davis Cup success and Open wins. He's the only male tennis player that has been good in my lifetime.
swoodley wrote:
And rob, I think that he would beat Rafter 7-8 times out of 10 because he always comes ready to play whereas Rafter was rather inconsistent. His overall record is also way better than Rafter's
I guess the surface would play a part also.
On hard court Hewitt would win more as it would be difficult for Rafter to approach the net alot.
On grass Rafter would have the clear edge.
On clay the weather would play a big part, a cooler day would suit Hewitt but a warmer day would suit Rafter.
Rafter's overall game was better as he could rally from the back of the court even though not as good as Hewitt. Rafter could also volley alot better than Hewitt and even though Lleyton scrambles alot Rafter's volleying ability would make it very tough.
And yet Rafter won his two slams on hard courts whilst Hewitt has won at Wimbledon
Yet they never played anyone on these surfaces.
Hewitt was lucky to win Wimbledon. He didn't play anyone that could actually play on grass in 2002. Rafter kept running into Sampras.
swoodley wrote:
And rob, I think that he would beat Rafter 7-8 times out of 10 because he always comes ready to play whereas Rafter was rather inconsistent. His overall record is also way better than Rafter's
I guess the surface would play a part also.
On hard court Hewitt would win more as it would be difficult for Rafter to approach the net alot.
On grass Rafter would have the clear edge.
On clay the weather would play a big part, a cooler day would suit Hewitt but a warmer day would suit Rafter.
Rafter's overall game was better as he could rally from the back of the court even though not as good as Hewitt. Rafter could also volley alot better than Hewitt and even though Lleyton scrambles alot Rafter's volleying ability would make it very tough.
And yet Rafter won his two slams on hard courts whilst Hewitt has won at Wimbledon
Yet they never played anyone on these surfaces.
Hewitt was lucky to win Wimbledon. He didn't play anyone that could actually play on grass in 2002. Rafter kept running into Sampras.
Rafter also lost to an unseeded Ivanisevic in 2001. His wins were against such great players as Greg Rusedski and Mark Philippousis
Hewitt beat Sampras to win his US Open and lost to Federer (US) and Safin (Aus)...hardly easybeats.
The more research I do, the better he gets
"You can quote me on this... He is gawn" - bomberdonnie re Hurley's contract status 25 February 2012
rama_fan wrote:Spoilt brat who cracks the shits whenever one little thing does not go her way.
She thinks she is God's gift to tennis and shows absolutely no grace or dignity when defeated.
My outlasting memory of her will be her serving underarm during a Grand Slam final against one of the absolute greats of the game in Steffi Graf.
You're forgetting the fact that she pretended to have a career-ending ankle injury because she couldn't face up to the fact that the Williams sisters were consistently kicking her arse..........
And then she made a return to tennis when the Williams sisters lost interest. How convenient.
rama_fan wrote:
My outlasting memory of her will be her serving underarm during a Grand Slam final against one of the absolute greats of the game in Steffi Graf.
And then proceeded to sook after after the game, claiming she was the better player, and played better than Graf and deserved to win.
robrulz5 wrote:I guess sometimes people only remember the bad things. Sad.
How?
Her reputation is always going to be tarnished because of things like that.
I reckon she is a far worse sportsperson than Lleyton Hewitt. Of course people are going to remember the bad things because that's what people's characters are judged on, how they handle themselves in certain situations when facing adversity and Hingis chose to sulk and whinge and carry on like she's a 6 year old spoilt brat.
Compare that to someone with the grace and class of Kim Clisters, Roger Federer, Pat Rafter, Pete Sampras and Steffi Graf and it's easy to see why the majority of people think she's a spoilt brat.
