Thanks for your comment Beni but to be honest, I don’t have the words for how much I disagree with you!

I thinks it’s insane and irresponsible that the WTA have seriously been considering this. These are the rules of tennis and tennis is a sport that can be played over one hour or four. That’s the sport.

Shortening the sport like this, to me, is a little suggesting changing the Tour de France from 21 days riding around France to just condensing it to the sprint on the Champs Elysee. Ok, that’s a little extreme but you get my drift.

I think when you start watching tennis you just have to accept the matches are long or be happy to zone in and out.

Thanks again for the comment.

Thanks Doc. I get the feeling there are two distinct camps on this one and it’s nice to know I’m not alone!

Thanks for your comment, Hugh. This would make a great response article and you should write it!

I think what you’ve suggested seems to be the most popular solution to reigniting Davis Cup tennis. It isn’t a bad solution either but I can’t help but think this won’t bring the big names out for early rounds of DC. These people are professional tennis players and ultimately rankings points and money talks. I think that’s the only way to get top name players to early rounds.

Perhaps the question should shift to the length of the season? Although this is interesting in itself, because someone like Rafa has complained about this for years and yet when offered big bucks to play IPTL he was there. I guess the flip side of this argument is that the IPTL seems to be running out of steam. Perhaps there’s just no pleasing tennis players or fans.

Nice read, Hugh.

Agree Fed’s play much more freely and it’s great to see.

It was great seeing Fed back on top of the winners list of a Slam in Jan. I think one of the things we forget about his rivalry with Nadal though, is that Nadal well and truly has Fed’s number. Their head to head is 23/13, Nadal’s way. This isn’t to say Fed’s not the GOAT, but a) it’s an interesting stat and b) it’s a stat that surprises many.

Fed has definitely aged the best of his peers/rivals in terms of career longevity and his careful planning, especially in the last year or two is to thank for this.

Fed fans are rightfully excited for things to come!

Thanks for your comment, express34texas.

I do agree with your points about Stan and Cilic. Interestingly Stan has as many GS titles as Murray.

I think there are plenty of players in the Top 100 and even in the Top 50 that you could say are journeyman, of some form. Yes, those exclusively on the Challenger/Futures circuit are journeymen, especially in that very traditional definition of the term, but there are plenty of others who climb higher but aren’t contenders.

Could Tomic win a GS? I don’t think so, but he could do better. Is the problem lack of stamina, no heart or the need to get a coach he’s not related to? Well we could debate that all day, which is what we do best here at The Roar!!

Thanks again for your comment. I enjoyed reading it.

Ah, BrainsTrust, the definition of journeyman is hotly contested in this house!!

I specifically mentioned Ferrer and Delpo because they have stupidly been called journeyman and I cannot tell you the anger that has been met with in my house.

But you do make a good point about what a journeyman is. Can you be a journeyman even if you have found yourself in the Top 50? I think so if you take the definition from the Websters at the face value of lacking brilliance and colour, which Tomic lacks.

In regards to your earlier comment I don’t think Tomic is totally talentless and you are right that he’s made the Top 50, so he can obviously play. But I do agree with FrozenNorth that he lacks what Djokovic and Murray have and that he’s not going to make the Top 10. I don’t think anything can change that and I can’t see him winning a Slam, although Tour events are well within his reach.

Thanks for the comment.

Agree FrozenNorth. His best Grand Slam showing is a QF at Wimbledon in 2011. I can’t see him bettering that or making top 10 either, but he could do better than what he’s done.

Perhaps I could have been clearer about my use of the word contender. I didn’t mean it as solely in terms of Grand Slam success. As I pointed out in the piece, Ferrer has never won a major but that doesn’t make him a hack of the pro tennis circuit.

Thanks for the comment.

Thanks Tristan. Agreed, racing does have some different issues in that there’s only X number of races each day and not a lot else to do between races. Whereas the tennis has matches on the outside courts continuously. This is where the management of the physical space of Melbourne Park is so well handled by Tennis Australia. The ‘adult’ areas are clearly defined but patrons can take a break and go out to watch some tennis.

I think the way we consume sports now, whether be live at the event or through the media is really interesting. Very different to the olden days, which sadly I’m old enough to remember!!

Thanks for your comment, Clipper.

Agreed, I think the activities for the kids at the AO are great and if it gets them interested in the sport then that’s even better. The reality is that there are only so many people who are die hard fans and it’s through attracting casual fans that these events can grow.

I think it’s easy to be cynical but the AO did a great job this year.

Good point Andy about Federer having few injuries. He plays a very different style to Rafa and has benefitted from few injuries.

I think you’ve misread the title, though. I’m not suggesting Fed is an example of the cult of youth failing. I’m suggesting that longevity is now finding it’s way into tennis.

There are a number of talented younger players out there and just why they aren’t/haven’t made an impact is perhaps another article topic!

Thanks again for your comment.

Thanks for your comment, Chris.

I was chatting to another journalist at the start of the Open who made some interesting points about the lack of consistency in women’s tennis connected to lack of skills. This person argued that girls just aren’t taught skills in the way the boys are. I have to say I did agree with a lot of these comments. If you watch the women and then the men you see the men play with so much more variety.

Interestingly in Serena’s presser after her win on Saturday she was asked about Vika and Maria missing from the tour and she talked about missing Vika. I think Vika is the closest to Serena and is her biggest competition on a consistent basis. Sadly injuries have hampered her in the last few years and obviously it’s fantastic that Vika is now a mum but hopefully she’ll be back.

Thanks again for your comment.

Thanks for your lovely comment, Pete.

I think you would have to be a hard hearted person to not be emotionally moved by these two strong and amazing women.

I feel so lucky to have been able to witness their match.

Thanks again for commenting.

Thanks for the comment, Andrew. I think they are the most amazing people. I have no idea how they play each other in these moments, let alone how hard they struggled to overcome the various adversities they have faced.

The match itself was interesting. There were so many breaks of serve and I think there was a sense of frustration from the crowd but as the match went on the crowd really found their voice for Venus.

I don’t think the Williams sisters always play the prettiest tennis when they play each other and I do wonder if that is due to just how hard it must be to play your sister or is it that we, the audience place different expectations on their matches? I really don’t know the answer.

Anyway, thanks again for commenting.

Nice predictions, Jonty.

I agree with Fed and Stan going through to the Semis but I don’t think Monfils will beat Raonic.

It’s interesting you have Istomin over Dimitrov. Dimitrov is another player for who there has to be question marks over if he’s ever going to reach the heights of the expectation that’s followed him.

I do think a Stan/Thiem final would be nice though. Only time will tell.

Thanks again for the comment.

Ah, Le Monf! If there are question marks over which Stan turns up there are equally as many about Monfils.

He’s frustrated so many with his unbelievable talent but questionable work ethic.

It should be an entertaining match.

Andy, you may be spot on here!

Thanks for the comment.

That’s a good point about ratings in the finals. I’m watching Thiem/Goffin and I can’t believe how many have left RLA. This could be a cracker of a match but casual tennis fans most likely aren’t familiar with these younger guys.

But Fed/Nadal won’t be around for ever and new rivalries/champions will emerge.

Thanks again for your comment.

I agree anon that Federer has it over Stan if for nothing other than his presence intimidates him.

On the other hand, Fed and Rafa haven’t been dominant in their matches. They’ve both had five setters although Rafa of old probably wouldn’t have gone five against baby Zverev.

I suspect Raonic is the strongest on his side but it’s the Fed/Stan side I find the most intriguing.

Thanks again for the comment.

Thank you for your comments, Stuart. Yes my household is filled with joy and happiness.

Thanks for your comment, Torchbearer. I also have a Masters in Comms and whilst I agree many accounts are run by PR/Marketing people I think with a little intelligence you can sift through and figure which are the more genuine.

But if you don’t trust someone’s social media account, which is fair enough, then think about his self-deprecating comments when he won the Brits sportsperson of the year award last year. He joked his wife voted for someone else, Mo Farrah I think but I could be wrong.

I also think it’s quite myopic to not accept that someone can be quite different on court to off.

Also, he praised Zverev in his presser and said there was nothing he could do against him he was outplayed.

But yes, he can be a difficult player to warm to.

Thanks Stuart and Torchbearer for your comments.

Sometimes I forget that not everyone is on tennis twitter and this is obviously my mistake as a writer.

I do suggest you give him a follow if you’re on twitter. His self-deprecating humour is hilarious.

I do agree with your criticisms of his on court behaviour. I have also been critical of this. Again, I’ve forgotten that you may not be familiar with the fact that I hold these criticisms of him. I’ve been on this site and twitter for so long that I forget not everyone’s been following me and you may not know this.

My apologies for not explaining this clearly enough for a new audience.

But in my new mother, sleep deprived sate, I think it’s a miracle I get anything written!

Thanks for taking the time to comment, Marcel but it’s quite unfortunate you didn’t take the same amount of time to read the article. However, judging by the earlier comments, you’re clearly not alone in this.

Granted this is a Melbourne-esque article but I’m sure wherever you are you can fill in the equivalent suburbs. I assume my audience is smart enough to do that. Perhaps that’s been my mistake in this case.

There’s one brief AFL reference – who knew that could be so upsetting.

And for the record Marcel, I’ve lived in Europe and North America and the only continents I haven’t been to are Sth America and Antarctica. Where have you lived/travelled to? I’d say not too far based on your comments.

Thanks Darren for your comment.

The blog article you mention sounds interesting.

I take your point that as Kant is about reason that suggests planning and Kyrgios is operating on gut feeling rather than on some preplanned path. I really don’t think anyone could plan out what we’ve seen from him over the last year or two.

Thanks for the comment anon.

By what you’ve said growing up in Canberra sounds as damaging as growing up in Bundoora, where he lived in Melbourne a few years ago! Now it makes sense why he lived there.

Thanks for the comment, PC.

Who knew growing up in Canberra could be so damaging!