Posts Tagged ‘Big 3’

The Big Three and Serena’s Reality

Monday, July 22nd, 2019

by Gus Griffin

gus

 

 

 

 

Tennis

I hope that even the peripheral tennis fan can appreciate what we are witnessing from the men’s “Big Three” of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Novak Djokovic.

Why? Because they just may be the best threesome of athletes to overlap one another during their prime in any one sport, EVER!

When I say best three, I mean three athletes whom all have a legitimate G.O.A.T. claim.

Think about it for a bit: in baseball we had Willie Mays and Hank Aaron, and later Ken Griffey Jr and Barry Bonds, but it is hard to find a 3rd peer.

In basketball we had Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, and Larry Bird. For all of their ambassadorship and marketing of the game, neither Magic nor Bird have a valid claim.

In football we had Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, and Drew Brees. But is there really a good argument to put either Manning or Brees over Joe Montana?

When talking about Federer, Nadal, and Djokovic, it’s hard to find “buts” to either’s claim beyond one of the other two.

No disrespect to Rod Laver, who won a calendar year grand slam in both 1962 and 1969.

All of the Big 3 have won the career grand slam.

Bjorn Borg’s capacity to go from clay to grass, winning the French Open and Wimbledon in the same year, 3 straight years, is the second hardest thing to do in tennis, behind the calendar year Grand Slam. But he never won a hard-court major.

We almost never talk about Pete Sampras and his 14 major titles. But he never won the French Open.

Other than the calendar year Grand Slam, there is nothing all 3 members of this group have not done.

How dominant have they been?

 

  • They have won 50 of the past 58 major titles.

 

  • They have all 3 made the final four of a major 12 times in 13 years. In six different years, all three made it to the final four of all the majors. If not for injuries, especially to Djokovic and Nadal, it would likely have been more.

 

  • The major title count to date is Federer with 20, Nadal with 18, and Djokovic with 16. They are ranked in reverse 1, 2, and 3 in the world.

 

Tennis’ Big Three has been to Jo Wilfried Tsonga, Tomas Berdych, and David Ferrer, what Michael Jordan was to John Stockton, Karl Malone, Charles Barkley, and Patrick Ewing.

While Federer is clearly a lion in the winter, he is still formidable. He played his A game in last Sunday’s Wimbledon final and was still not able to beat Djokovic on his B game.

The only frustrating thing about the Big Three is identifying heirs to their throne. They are all over 30 and can’t go on forever. So, who in the hell is next?

Three have the game but all have glaring flaws:

Alexander Zverev has all the tools but just seems uninterested at times and has even all but admitted as much.

Stefanos Tsitsipas also has the game but lacks experience.

And then of course there is the mercurial Nick Kyrgios, who blatantly admits that he does not train. Even with that, his record against Nadal and Djokovic is 5-4. The guy has never lost to Novak Djokovic.

On the women’s side, we Serena fans are going to have to prepare ourselves for the possibility that she may never win another major.

SWIt’s not a question of capacity. When her serve is right, she still beats every other player. The problem is that increasingly the serve is not right and her “B” game is no longer good enough to survive the unforced errors and beat upper echelon players, as it once was. There are times when I cannot get the image of Mays, Manning, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Muhammad Ali towards the end of their careers out of my head. I could not bear to see Serena go out the way that they did.

One of the things that makes a great athlete is a fierce stubbornness. It, likewise, is also what keeps them around beyond their greatness. She certainly has earned the right to leave when she is good and ready. I just hope she is ready before Mother Time forces the issue.

 

Gus Griffin, for War Room Sports

 

The Miami Heat Are Officially a Problem: How Does It Feel?

Monday, May 16th, 2011

By Roy Burton

 

This one is for the haters.

For the people who hate LeBron James, despite the fact that he’s one of the best basketball players that you’ve ever seen.  For those who hate Dwyane Wade, who is pretty much just guilty by association at this point.  And even for those who hate Chris Bosh, who swears he’s tough, but in reality comes across as a man who – as Ghostface Killah would say – is softer than baby thighs.

For whatever reason, you may not like Miami’s “Big 3”, and you have every right to do so.  But deep down inside, tucked away in one of those places that you don’t want to talk about, you know the truth.

The Miami Heat are officially a problem.

To all of the haters, doubters and naysayers out there: How does it feel?

How does it feel to know that they’ve finally figured it out?  It took far longer than they (and some of us) expected, despite what they may have said at various points during the season.

But you can’t deny that they’ve turned it up another level this postseason, especially during their Eastern Conference semifinal series against the Boston Celtics. 

A team that was routinely criticized as not being clutch came through when they needed to, outscoring the Celtics 55-31 during the 4th quarter and overtime periods of the final two games of the series.

The Miami Heat weren’t passed the torch of Eastern Conference supremacy last week – they ripped it from the Celtics’ old, dead hands.

Most of you don’t want to admit it. Maybe you still have some lingering resentment over “The Decision” (sponsored by Vitamin Water).

We can all agree that it was a poorly managed affair, spearheaded in part by Maverick Carter, who appears to have learned everything he knows about sports management from watching the first two seasons of “Arli$$” on DVD.

But who can blame LeBron for jumping at the chance to go to Miami? As a 26-year-old man, he gets paid an obscene amount of money to work with his friends during the day, and spend his down time enjoying the pleasures of South Beach.  If that’s not the American Dream, then it’s pretty darn close.

That being said, the situation this summer could have been handled better.  10 months later, James realized the error of his ways and apologized for the debacle that was “The Decision” (sponsored by Vitamin Water).  By that time, Cavs’ owner Dan Gilbert was done penning missives in Comic Sans font, and busy sifting through the wreckage of a 19-63 season.

Perhaps you’re one of those still upset at the welcoming party/concert announcing the formation of the so-called “3 Kings.”  Shortly after signing the contracts that made their partnership official, James and Wade and Bosh proceeded to pose and preen and peacock their way through the American Airlines arena as they were greeted like rock stars by thousands of adoring Heat fans.

After the laser show ended and the last of the confetti fell from the ceiling, LeBron James made his now infamous “not one, not two, not three…” championship boast, predicting untold success for his new team.

Cocky?  Maybe a little.  But if their recent success is any indication, James might not have been too far off. 

And that bothers you.

It bothers you because your favorite squad probably can’t go the “superteam” route.  I’ve since reconciled the fact that barring an Act of God, my team of choice – the Philadelphia 76ers – can’t come close to a title in the foreseeable future.  I’ve accepted the Sixers’ place in the hierarchy of the NBA and have since moved on.

It might be hard for some people to come to grips with, but the reality is this: for the next few years, the fate of the Eastern Conference – and perhaps the entire NBA – lies in the hands of the Miami Heat.

Back in March, Heat coach Erik Spoelstra mentioned that a couple of his players were crying after the team lost its fourth game in a row.

It’s likely that this summer – and for several summers to come – there will be tears shed in the Miami locker room for an entirely different reason. This time, those tears will be dried with a T-shirt declaring the Miami Heat as the champions of the NBA.

Be mad.

***************

Roy Burton of The Broad Street Line, for War Room Sports

Roy Burton is one of the hosts of “The Broad Street Line”, a weekly sports podcast on Blog Talk Radio (http://www.blogtalkradio.com/broadstreet).  He also serves as a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report, and is a contributing writer for several other websites as well.  You can follow him on Twitter at @thebsline.

“He’s the best player in the world, and he may not even be the best player on his team!”
– Dan LeBatard on LeBron James