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Greater achievement: Monaco in TOP 10 vs Alund in TOP 100

2K views 45 replies 24 participants last post by  dencod16 
#1 ·
First of all: congratulations for Alund. He climbed to TOP 100 after many years of playing challenger tour events. This week he's made it to the SF in Sao Paulo as a lucky loser, having defeated Mello (first ATP win), Chardy and Volandri en route.

Despite the obvious difference in skills between the Argentines from the title (Monaco & Alund) I think their achievement of career-high are comparable. They both reached it in their late 20s, grind from the baseline a lot without a clear weapon, and mostly play on clay (especially Alund, who is useless on other surfaces). What do you think?
 
#2 ·
More like greater overachiever, and that's Monaco by a mile IMO. Like you said, Alund is nothing special and doesn't have much weapons but players like him have entered and left the top 100 many times through the years :shrug:

of course there have also been 'questionable' top 10 players in the past, too, definitely, but watching Monaco play and realizing the guy was top 10 is just mind blowing.
 
#4 ·
monaco really had pieces of spirited game last season, on both clay and hard

imo he deserved this top 10 for a while last year, but not for a longer than that...

also it's not fair to compare them and say "both have no weapon" well, pico can hit twice stronger and he's accurate at placement (when he's peaking, not now i mean... peaking alund can't provide that ofc)

i think monaco's top 10 is by far bigger achievement. guys like alund, you have dozens of them on the challenger tour; they typically sooner or later get to the top 100 (prodon, dutra silva, ungur etc. - i do like peak ungur and prodon game though!) some of them aren't this lucky (dunno... de schepper hasnt been top 100 yet for instance), and this is pretty good summary of their careers. they have enough to give a good show to people who attend challengers

a guy like alund surely had to struggle through shitloads of financial problems, he was gradually gaining experience and confidence, that's why his breakthrough happened this late, but it's typical for these guys... they get rewarded after 10-12 yrs of hard, very hard life at the low level events
 
#12 ·
also it's not fair to compare them and say "both have no weapon" well, pico can hit twice stronger and he's accurate at placement (when he's peaking, not now i mean... peaking alund can't provide that ofc)
What i said was that they don't have a clear weapon. Monaco's weapons are no match for the weapons of other TOP 10 players.
 
#8 ·
Alund getting into the TOP 100 is much more surprising, no point of comparison. His average ranking is probably something like 400. He came out of nowhere.

Monaco may not be very liked on MTF, but he was actually 14 in the world some years ago (2007) untill his nightmare of injuries started and his level dropped drastically for some time. In 2011 he started coming back, and although he is probably one of the weakest top 10 in decades it was something that you could have imagined. He was on his way to it back in 2007.
 
#9 ·
Yep Pico isn't bad and his sked lined up in a way he got a lot of points in a certain way, and he was able to keep playing not get hurt or have a bad spell of early round losses or whatever.

He is good, but not great.. Alund on the other hand is ok but mentally fragile and below average.. yet he is top 100 and now in an ATP semi.. much more of an accomplishment.
 
#13 ·
I think Monaco really gets way too hard a treatment on MTF. I think he deserved his place in the Top 10 and it isn't that surprising.

Alund, on the other hand, I never expected to get this far. He seems to have made it purely by virtue of his willpower and stamina. I agree with Nathii's comment that some top-level Challenger players inevitably make it into the Top 100 (and are unable to become a permanent fixture on the ATP Tour), but I never thought Alund would be at the same level as those she mentioned (Prodon, Dutra Silva, Ungur). I tip my hat to him though.
 
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#17 ·
Alund has a good serve and forehand
Neither is that shocking to me. Monaco was briefly very good last year and was better than the people below him, despite his lack of talent compared to those around him. Monaco has a really nice forehand, and his backhand briefly at least didn't miss
 
#18 ·
I watched Alund several time playing on challenger tour, he is one of the players who, when in good form, has the game to be in Top 100. So far he alternated good tournaments with surprising losses and finally this tournament will be his breakthrough in mens tennis elite.

I like his game and hopefully he will become a regular player in top 100.
 
#20 ·
Monaco was a consistent top 30 player before he entered the top 10. You don;t finish in the top 30 for 4 straight years by pure luck.
 
#32 ·
Monaco vs..

Murray 2-2
Tipsarevic 2-3
Ferrer 4-3
Del Potro 1-1
Berdych 0-6
Tsonga 0-3
Almagro 3-4
Roddick 1-1
Ferrero 2-2


I don't know what is everyone's problem with the guy. So he has no big weapons? Doesn't mean he can't be a good, consitent player. Maybe not a regular top10, ok, but no need for such a bashing.

His H2H vs top3 is bad? So is Ferrer's :rolleyes: and he has been a consistent and deserving top5 for a very long time now.
 
#36 ·
Alund ain't top 100 yet, he might pull a Nalbandian and get dafaulted and forfeit his points and not become top 100 :p

Monaco was playing really well last year, deserved to be top 10 at the time(now he's just playing terrible). I haven't seen much of Alund so I can't really say but if he beats Rafa here today it's gotta be well deserved too.
 
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