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Tsonga-Monfils-Gasquet generation:the biggest waste of talent ever seen in a country?

  • Yes

    Votes: 27 64.3%
  • No

    Votes: 15 35.7%

Tsonga-Monfils-Gasquet generation:the biggest waste of talent ever seen in a country?

7K views 50 replies 26 participants last post by  Chokehater 
#1 ·
I think it's fair to say so.
Ok for their excuse, they've had to compete against one of the strongest generations ever but hell, even guys like Cilic, Wawrinka or Del Potro who were far far less rated than especially Monfils and Gasquet at the beginning of their careers have managed to grab a Slam against the big 4 (or big 3 + Murray).

And now, to make it even more comical, they can't even win a DC (where they've said multiple times that's one of their biggest objectives) despite the fact they have the most good players in top 20-30 of any country and the fact most of top players don't play DC every year.

Simon is the only current french player i have respect for because at least,despite his limitations, he's maximized his potential and is actually really though mentally.
This said, he really shouldn't have played today considering Gasquet's current form and his past encounters with Murray (he's been the one who was the closest to beat him on Grass).
 
#2 ·
Let me see, Tsonga did what you could expect, Monfils is overrated and would have never won a slam even with total commitment and Gasquet overachieved. I'm going to say no.
 
#4 ·
Let me see, Tsonga did what you could expect, Monfils is overrated and would have never won a slam even with total commitment and Gasquet overachieved. I'm going to say no.

:lol::lol::lol:
Let me guess, just after the incredible level of play he showed at MC 2005 as a teenager or even Wimbledon 2007,you would have seriously expected that the best title he would win the 10 following years would be an ATP 250??:lol::lol:
Especially considering that he was already considered as one of the (if not THE) best juniors ever in term of precocity??

If so then you're the reincarnation of Nostradamus :worship:
 
#5 ·
Three GS SF and twelve titles is a lot for someone whose backhand is the only aspect of his game that is above mediocre.
:lol::lol::lol:
Let me guess, just after the incredible level of play he showed at MC 2005 as a teenager or even Wimbledon 2007,you would have seriously expected that the best title he would win the 10 following years would be an ATP 250??:lol::lol:
Especially considering that he was already considered as one of the (if not THE) best juniors ever in term of precocity??

If so then you're the reincarnation of Nostradamus :worship:
Has Young also underachieved just because he was seen as the savior of American tennis in his teens? No, he is not good enough. Same with Dimitrov.
 
#14 ·
Tsonga isn't an underachiever and I say it as a fan. He has clear weaknesses in his game (BH, ROS, passing shots) and is very injury prone, yet he reached a Slam final, 6 Slam SFs, 11 Slam QFs, a WTF final and won 2 Masters titles. You shouldn't forget Jo has the best W-L record among Slamless players at Slams of the Open Era, while there are many better Slamless players than him (Nalbandian, Rios to name a few) - which shows Tsonga brings his A game where it matters most.

You're wrong when you say Simon is the only French player who maximized his potential. Well, as a player, maybe. But achievement wise, you could expect more than two Slam QFs and no Slam SF for a former #6 like him. He underachieved more than Tsonga if anything.
 
#15 ·
OP:

 
#20 ·
Gasquet and Simon's games are too lightweight to really make it to the very top, they've done very well for themselves.

Tsonga has terrible BH and especially ROS + a lot of problems with injuries throughout his career, he had a pretty good career and was relatively unlucky not to win a Slam anyway considering his overall record and big wins at these events.

Monfils is the only one of these players who's an underachiever but it's not exactly a secret why and it's not like he's disappointed with it. He's just the tennis version of the Harlem Globtrotters.
 
#22 ·
Probably only Gasquet. It always puzzles me when people talk about how talented Tsonga is. He's just a brainless servebot who bashes the forehand. Gael doesn't have much talent either. Another servebot who pushes. At least Tsonga has more tennis talent, but Gael just played the wrong sport.

Best case of Tsonga and Monfils - 1 slam combined.

Of the recent French generation, I think Simon may be the most talented player. To be such a great player with a lesser physique is impressive.
 
#30 ·
Absolutely.
 
#34 ·
Big up to this thread
Never seen so many talented and promising players (Gasquet, look at me)in a same génération and same country who have choked so much/not improved over the years again and again
You would have expected at least one of them to win a slam or the whole crop to win a Davis cup but even that, they couldnt achieve it!
They sum up the words "chokers" and "underachievers" the best
 
#36 ·
3093 posts about this shit.
 
#37 ·
You guys really are underachievers, at least when we're talking about DC:

France in the 21st century: 0 slams, 1 DC.

Croatia: 2 slams, 1DC (and waiting for November)

I mean, we always had one great player per generation: Ivanisevic, Ljubicic ( Ancic :( ), Cilic. Coric will hopefully be next. And you guys have 5 players in the TOP30 right now and the best doubles pair.
 
#44 ·
Gasquet was the best teenager in junior competition in the Open Era. Of course he underachieved. Not improving your serve and forehand since you were a teenager is the underachieving we're talking about since we can all agree his game isn't on the level to win a GS.
 
#48 ·
Relatively speaking he's not physically gifted at all so he's always been gimped in that regard. Compare his physique to players like Djokovic/Nadal or even Federer and it's night and day. The fact that he hasn't improved his rally forehand for 10 years likely shows that he has technical/physical limitations there. The suggestion that he's made zero effort to improve the weaknesses of his game since 2005 is absurd.

Bringing up juniors is completely irrelevant, half the elite juniors don't even make it onto the men's tour. It's no surprise Gasquet dominated there when his physique would have posed no issues whatsoever.
 
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#49 ·
Relatively speaking he's not physically gifted at all so he's always been gimped in that regard. Compare his physique to players like Djokovic/Nadal or even Federer and it's night and day. The fact that he hasn't improved his rally forehand for 10 years likely shows that he has technical/physical limitations there. The suggestion that he's made zero effort to improve the weaknesses of his game since 2005 is absurd.

Bringing up juniors is completely irrelevant, half the elite juniors don't even make it onto the men's tour. It's no surprise Gasquet dominated there when his physique would have posed no issues whatsoever.
He might not have all the physicaly gifts of those players, that's a given (especially Djoker and Nadal) but it's a well known point that comparing to the other players,Gasquet wasn't working at all a lot in gym when he was younger (his first trainer even said that he didn't make him work on gym at all!).
Look at Murray for example: when he was 18-19, he was not fitter than Gasquet but contrary to Gasquet, he decided to work hard on his fitness and we saw the results afterwards as he became one of the fittest guys around.
Gasquet lacks the will to win and the hate of losing that Murray obviously always had (you can see it in his behaviour on the court) and that's what pushed him to improve contrary to Gasquet.
 
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