Most disappointing player of the last ... 15 years?

[tenisplayrla08]

So lets try something new. I wasn't really intending to stick around the forum after the AO. I rarely do. But I was just scrolling the rankings today and man, it's just like, I remember when I thought he'd be great or she'd be great or he'd be great or he'd be top 10 or he'd win this match or he'd take this match or whatever.

Obviously we're just talking about the men over here. I'm not going to start one on the women's side because there are SO many that you think are great but then you realize that it's just that about 30 to 40 percent of the top 100 can beat anyone in the top 100 and just about anyone in the top 10 on any given day. They're all just that close. Some rise above the rest on a more consistent basis. But few of them are completely unbeatable.

I won't actually start this with my pick. I want to see what others have to say first. Because I don't want my pick to influence the discussion from the beginning. If anyone even cares. When I say let's try something new I'm mostly referring to the fact that the only thing anyone seems to be able to discuss is whether one of the big 3 will pass the other members of the big 3 or if they'll stay where they are. When it's obvious we should just accept that they're all the best the game has seen, playing at the same time, with a 5 year age gap for one of them, which had it's advantages and disadvantages. Also, there's not much we can do about it. It'll work out how it works out.

So who did you think didn't just have promise. But you really thought, wow, this guy is fantastic. There's no way he's not top 10 or a future slam champion, when he showed up. And then he just also ran into the 3 greatest players to pick up a racket (with Murray around too).

 

[tented]

So lets try something new.

Yes, let’s.

I thought del Potro was going to have a much greater career, but his injuries have sidelined him too often, for far too long.

There was a lot of talk about Dimitrov in the beginning, but he hasn’t come close to living up to the expectations/predictions.

 

[El Dude]

I assume we're discounting those players who started in the late 90s and early 00s, like Safin and Nalbandian? I'll go with that assumption.

Grigor Dimitrov would be my first pick. Partially because I like his smooth, Federer-esque game, partially because he's quite talented and "should" be better.

Nishikori, Tomic, Gulbis also come to mind. I don't see any of them as having multi-Slam talent, but they certainly didn't fully actualize their potential. For Nishikori it was more a matter of being "Glassikori" - fragile. He certainly should have at least won a Masters or two by now. Del Potro, Soderling and Ancic, but more due to injury/illness. I'd say Berdych and Tsonga, but mostly due to the Big Four dominance. These guys would have won a Slam or two in the late 90s, though. Kyrgios still has time, but is a candidate for the same conversation in a few years.

 

[tenisplayrla08]

I assume we're discounting those players who started in the late 90s and early 00s, like Safin and Nalbandian? I'll go with that assumption.

Grigor Dimitrov would be my first pick. Partially because I like his smooth, Federer-esque game, partially because he's quite talented and "should" be better.

Nishikori, Tomic, Gulbis also come to mind. I don't see any of them as having multi-Slam talent, but they certainly didn't fully actualize their potential. For Nishikori it was more a matter of being "Glassikori" - fragile. He certainly should have at least won a Masters or two by now. Del Potro, Soderling and Ancic, but more due to injury/illness. I'd say Berdych and Tsonga, but mostly due to the Big Four dominance. These guys would have won a Slam or two in the late 90s, though. Kyrgios still has time, but is a candidate for the same conversation in a few years.

Yeah. That's why I had the "..." there before 15 years. Nalbandian is certainly up there for me. Kinda out of the 15 year window. But not really. He was around until 20... 12? 2013? Competive til 2010 to 2011 right. Anyways. Definitely will always be one of my top 5 most disappointing. But not my main pick.

 

[tenisplayrla08]

Though. I guess it's been SIX years since 2013. I feel like I'm still stuck back there sometimes. Even though I also struggle to remember it all. But just, I'm not that old. But where does the time go? Like it's 20 friggin 19.

 

[El Dude]

Oh yeah, in before

Though. I guess it's been SIX years since 2013. I feel like I'm still stuck back there sometimes. Even though I also struggle to remember it all. But just, I'm not that old. But where does the time go? Like it's 20 friggin 19.

Haha, yeah. Crazy stuff - how time passes.

 

[nehmeth]

Berdych.... he just didn’t have the stones/belief to step it up in the big matches. I know he had limited mobility, but I sure wished he had been able to do more.

Soderling. I didn’t really like him, but he was a throwback to Connors/Mac days when it wasn’t about being friendly. It would have been nice to see him stay healthy to see what he might have done with the time he had.

Juan Martin Del Potro. Lindsey Davenport with body hair. Simply watching him strike the ball was enjoyable, just as it was with Davenport. Clean shots. Powerful shots. He didn’t disappoint me, but the lost years were very disappointing.

Lastly, Tommy Haas. He made it to #2 in the world and was on the verge of really beginning to believe in himself. Then one (freak) injury after another diminished what might have been a very successful career. I was sad that he never fully made his way back.

 

[Denis]

Def Del Potro for me. Not his fault obvs.

 

[britbox]

Berdych.... he just didn’t have the stones/belief to step it up in the big matches. I know he had limited mobility, but I sure wished he had been able to do more.

Soderling. I didn’t really like him, but he was a throwback to Connors/Mac days when it wasn’t about being friendly. It would have been nice to see him stay healthy to see what he might have done with the time he had.

Juan Martin Del Potro. Lindsey Davenport with body hair. Simply watching him strike the ball was enjoyable, just as it was with Davenport. Clean shots. Powerful shots. He didn’t disappoint me, but the lost years were very disappointing.

Lastly, Tommy Haas. He made it to #2 in the world and was on the verge of really beginning to believe in himself. Then one (freak) injury after another diminished what might have been a very successful career. I was sad that he never fully made his way back.

Good choices, I'd probably add Tsonga into the mix as my top choice. Back in 2008 - particularly after that AO semi, I thought he was going to be huge.

 

[nehmeth]

Good choices, I'd probably add Tsonga into the mix as my top choice. Back in 2008 - particularly after that AO semi, I thought he was going to be huge.

Jo is a likeable chap with tremendous talent. His shot selection during a match was less frustrating than his compatriot Monfils, but not by much. It would frustrate me, and it diminished my ability to enjoy watching his matches. It also makes me wonder, even without all the injuries, if he would have fared a lot better.

 

[DarthFed]

Talking current players I'd say definitely Dimitrov. Del Potro is the great "what if". Can't really classify him as an underachiever or disappointment because he was totally derailed by the wrist injuries.

 

[AnonymousFan]

Tsonga

 

[atttomole]

Nalbandian.

 

[tenisplayrla08]

Berdych.... he just didn’t have the stones/belief to step it up in the big matches. I know he had limited mobility, but I sure wished he had been able to do more.

Soderling. I didn’t really like him, but he was a throwback to Connors/Mac days when it wasn’t about being friendly. It would have been nice to see him stay healthy to see what he might have done with the time he had.

Juan Martin Del Potro. Lindsey Davenport with body hair. Simply watching him strike the ball was enjoyable, just as it was with Davenport. Clean shots. Powerful shots. He didn’t disappoint me, but the lost years were very disappointing.

Lastly, Tommy Haas. He made it to #2 in the world and was on the verge of really beginning to believe in himself. Then one (freak) injury after another diminished what might have been a very successful career. I was sad that he never fully made his way back.

Yeah I too give DelPo, Nishikori, and Soderling, and even Haas a pass because of injuries. They are the picture of what most athlete's deal with. We've just been spoiled with Federer. And, even Nadal's injuries were never, major wrist issues or whatever. It was tendinitis, at least at first. And that didn't happen for a few years. So he had time to build confidence. Also because he had the clay foundation. And also he's just that good. lol But, yeah. DelPo got a touch of a foundation. But his injury was so bad and reoccurring. Which, honestly, with the way he plays, isn't that surprising. You hit the cover off the ball that much, your wrist is bound to cry a little.
But Nishikori literally made of glass. Everything on his body has torn or broken or pulled or strained it feels like.
Soderling is the Safina of the men's tour. Horrible for him.

 

[tenisplayrla08]

But my pick for just down right frustrating and disappointing is Gulbis. Just way too good to have the career he's had. Way better than a lot of the other guys like him. But just does not have the will power or champions mindset or whatever it is that you want to call it that one needs to have in order to contend for masters titles and slams. Heck he's barely contended for titles. He's got 6. That should easily be 10 or 15. He's the guy that spawned this thread for me. I was scrolling the rankings and saw him at 84. Now 30. That's about where he belongs. I saw last year how he's basically winding down his career. In the next year or two. I do think he eventually had an injury or two or three even. But that's not how it started. He never got off the ground because he was nearly 27 or older when he was finally able to control his anger. And honestly, I probably just overestimated him from the beginning. So that's on me. But I swear I thought he was gonna insert himself right there into the top of the game. I don't know that I ever thought he'd be like... more than 2 or 3 slam wins. But I definitely thought he'd get much closer than one friggin semi.

And then the guy no one has mentioned. That I honestly don't really care about. Which I don't think anyone does. Which is why I don't think anyone mentioned him. Gasquet. He was SO highly touted from such a young age. The phenom. The prodigy or whatever. Of course, I wasn't there for that part. But when he first showed up I remember them talking about how he had been the guy everyone was waiting on for years. But he's at least acquitted himself well enough that you feel like if the Big 4 didn't exist, he'd have a slam or two. Would have had the belief that he could win big titles. Instead he ran into the Fedal wall 30 plus times. Which, while he got to play the French at 15, he's Nadal's age. So they showed up at the same time. One was just way better and more intense than the other.

 

[tenisplayrla08]

Talking current players I'd say definitely Dimitrov. Del Potro is the great "what if". Can't really classify him as an underachiever or disappointment because he was totally derailed by the wrist injuries.

As for Dimitrov, I do think he's disappointing. But not that much. He is insanely talented. But... well honestly I'm not sure I remember it all well enough to be honest about him. Like. I remember all the baby Fed talk. And that definitely grabbed my attention too. But I don't remember when all that talk really heated up. Was it 2009, 2010? 2008 when he turned pro? I don't see anything in his results that would have warranted that. All I can think is that by the time most of that talk came around (2009 or 2010), I was already focused on Nishikori and DelPo (along with still being a huge Fed and Roddick fan). And Djokovic was already ensconced as the 3rd best player in the world, with one slam title. Murray would soon be top 5. And they were young. I was mostly fixated on Rafa taking over Fed and then Fed getting back to the top because of Rafa's injuries (2009). Roddick had a mini resurgence in 2009 and 2010 (before mono laid waste to that small chance). I do think I thought Dimitrov could join them. But I also thought DelPo was a huge threat (had a great 2008 US Open swing before the 2009 win) and Wawrinka made the top 10 in 2008 after the Rome final in which he took a set from Djokovic. And Gulbis was announcing himself (and already annoying me). I was a Tsonga fan because of his Rafa demolition. Soderling showed up in 2009 (probably had success before then I just didn't notice or don't remember). And I don't want to rewrite my memories (look it up, it's a thing). I do remember being excited about him I guess. But he doesn't take the cake for most disappointing for me I guess. Definitely Gulbis. And Tsonga might even be above him.

 

[Vince Evert]

Richard Gasquet, Del Potro, Bernard TOMIC.

 

[backhandslapper]

Some were too ill, some unlucky, some are sociopaths who can't be bothered, some were never that talented to begin with, but one guy I always thought should have made more of what he had been given was Safin.

Yeah, he was a weekend number one, yeah, he won a couple of majors, but he left you wanting more. Much more.

You don't smoke fags if you take your career seriously. (I know, Ferrer, but he at least quit.)

 

[isabelle]

Gasquet, Gulbis, Coria

 

[Federberg]

No contest... Nalbandian