• The KillerFrogs

TCU Men's Tennis 2022-23

Longfrog

Longfrog

Active Member
The 2022-23 schedule is up so let's get a new thread going. As usual, the pre-conference schedule is insane. Based on last year's final rankings, we face

#2 Florida
#4 Baylor
#6 Tennessee
#12 Texas
#13 USC
#14 UNC
#24 Pepperdine

...and that's without National Indoors or Big 12 play.

Preseason National Singles Rankings:
#5 Luc Fomba
#58 Sander Jong
#65 Jacob Fearnley
#66 Lui Maxted
#87 Pedro Vives

Preseason National Freshman/Newcomer Rankings:
#5 Sebastian Gorzny

Preseason National Doubles Rankings:
#1 Fomba/Fearnley
#3 Jong/Maxted

I don't know what reason they would have for not listing Jack Pinnington Jones among the top newcomers. He clearly deserves to be at the top of the list. I'm just the slightest bit nervous that he could have qualification issues like others have. Last year's top newcomer (Cornut-Chauvinc, Florida State) sat out the whole year, I guess due to eligibility. But JPJ is in all the team photos so far so I assume everything's set to go.

Assuming we stay healthy, I see no other team that is clearly better than us. We should dominate doubles and at least come very close to matching anyone in singles. I'm sure UVA will enter as the favorite since they're defending champs and lost nobody of significance, but it seems pretty wide open to me. The elite contenders in my opinion and in no particular order:

UVA
TCU
UT
Tennessee
Kentucky
Ohio State
Michigan

Other teams that could contend:

USC
Stanford
Georgia
Harvard

Natty or bust!! Let's get it on!!
 
FrogUltimate

FrogUltimate

Active Member
Responding to the last post of other thread from Purp:
"Interesting seeing it this way. Makes me feel like the GOAT conversation no longer includes Fed. I didn't realize he was so poor (relatively) on clay. Nadal is similar on grass for Fed on clay, but Fed on grass isn't near the same echelon of dominance as Nadal on clay so, for me, that clearly puts Nadal ahead of Fed along with the number of overall GS titles.

Nadal versus Djoker comes down to personal preference, though. It's hard to argue top 4 on all surfaces and 0.03% away from #1 all time win % on all surfaces isn't the best ever. But the guy 0.03% ahead has more GS titles and is probably the most dominant on a single surface as we'll ever see in the sport. If you prefer consistency the Djoker is your guy. If you prefer other-worldy dominance in one big part of the game the Nadal is your guy.

Back to my original point about Alcaraz, though, I see his career mirroring more of Djokovic than Nadal in terms of win % by surface. When Alcaraz is done Nadal likely won't be top 10 on any surface except clay where Alcaraz could be top 5 on all of them. Thanks for digging up these numbers."



For me - Federer is no longer in the conversation for GOAT. He has a losing record against both Nadal and Djokovic and is 3rd for most of the records. He's also the only one who won multiple GS without Nadal and Djokovic being in the game yet. I think he's clearly the #3 with Nadal and Djokovic a dead heat for GOAT. I really don't know although I suspect Djoker will end up with at least two more GS than Nadal (and would probably already be tied or ahead if not for COVID stuff)

Yeah Alcaraz is likely to be good on all surfaces, although he hasn't really tested the waters on grass at all. Will definitely be interesting how he progresses over the next few years.
 
FrogUltimate

FrogUltimate

Active Member
Longfrog said:
The 2022-23 schedule is up so let's get a new thread going. As usual, the pre-conference schedule is insane. Based on last year's final rankings, we face

#2 Florida
#4 Baylor
#6 Tennessee
#12 Texas
#13 USC
#14 UNC
#24 Pepperdine

...and that's without National Indoors or Big 12 play.

Preseason National Singles Rankings:
#5 Luc Fomba
#58 Sander Jong
#65 Jacob Fearnley
#66 Lui Maxted
#87 Pedro Vives

Preseason National Freshman/Newcomer Rankings:
#5 Sebastian Gorzny

Preseason National Doubles Rankings:
#1 Fomba/Fearnley
#3 Jong/Maxted

I don't know what reason they would have for not listing Jack Pinnington Jones among the top newcomers. He clearly deserves to be at the top of the list. I'm just the slightest bit nervous that he could have qualification issues like others have. Last year's top newcomer (Cornut-Chauvinc, Florida State) sat out the whole year, I guess due to eligibility. But JPJ is in all the team photos so far so I assume everything's set to go.

Assuming we stay healthy, I see no other team that is clearly better than us. We should dominate doubles and at least come very close to matching anyone in singles. I'm sure UVA will enter as the favorite since they're defending champs and lost nobody of significance, but it seems pretty wide open to me. The elite contenders in my opinion and in no particular order:

UVA
TCU
UT
Tennessee
Kentucky
Ohio State
Michigan

Other teams that could contend:

USC
Stanford
Georgia
Harvard

Natty or bust!! Let's get it on!!
Click to expand...

Singles line-up feels a bit thin. Surprised Maxted is #66.... didn't think he had that great of a spring, but maybe I'm misremembering.
 
Longfrog

Longfrog

Active Member
FrogUltimate said:
Singles line-up feels a bit thin. Surprised Maxted is #66.... didn't think he had that great of a spring, but maybe I'm misremembering.
Click to expand...
No I think that's right. My optimism is perhaps built on an inflated opinion of our newcomers. My projected lineup is

Fomba
Pinnington Jones
Jong
Fearnley
Vives
Maxted
Gorzny
Jirousek

But I could definitely see Gorzny working in at #6 if Maxted does not show improvement. Could be wrong about Pinnington Jones but I think he's a stud. Three futures titles in 8 months prior to shutting it down this summer.
 
Armadillo

Armadillo

Full Member
In. On. ONE.

I prefer racquetball over tennis. But I’m in the minority. I have enjoyed watching CN move up the ranks. Go Frogs! Let’s repeat!
 
FrogUltimate

FrogUltimate

Active Member
Longfrog said:
No I think that's right. My optimism is perhaps built on an inflated opinion of our newcomers. My projected lineup is

Fomba
Pinnington Jones
Jong
Fearnley
Vives
Maxted
Gorzny
Jirousek

But I could definitely see Gorzny working in at #6 if Maxted does not show improvement. Could be wrong about Pinnington Jones but I think he's a stud. Three futures titles in 8 months prior to shutting it down this summer.
Click to expand...
Believe Jirousek is gone?

For some reason I was thinking Gorzny was our big time newcomer. Just remember looking at one of them and being very surprised at their pro success already. If he can win a Futures title, he can win some matches on Challenger against top 300 players.
 
Longfrog

Longfrog

Active Member
FrogUltimate said:
Believe Jirousek is gone?
Click to expand...
Could be. He hasn't been on campus while the rest of the team is doing public appearances and photo shoots. But he's still listed on the roster. And he also played the fall seasons in Europe during the 2019 and 2020 seasons. He was here in the U.S. last fall, so I thought he'd be here again this year. He hasn't played anywhere in a couple of weeks. But maybe you or someone else has heard specifics?

I do think his playing time is in serious jeopardy as the likely 8th man on the team in both singles and doubles. If he did bolt we'd be awfully thin.
 
FrogUltimate

FrogUltimate

Active Member
Longfrog said:
In the past 12 months he's got wins over

Jubb (#205)
Mayot (257)
Ionel (282)
Added (304)
Click to expand...
Yeh that's no joke. I did notice he had a ton of success on clay as opposed to hard courts. I've long said that the top 10-20 college players are probably representative of the a weak Challenger or a strong Futures tournament.... somewhere in that #200 - #400 ATP ranking level. If you're playing #1 singles at the top levels of college, playing Futures should be a step down in competition. Pinnington is currently #551 on a light schedule, and with those wins, you'd sure think he'd slot in at #2 in our lineup.
 
Longfrog

Longfrog

Active Member
Comparing this year's projected lineup to last year's, I think we're pretty clearly better. In singles, Aguilar for JPJ should at least be an even swap (I'm optimistic it's an improvement). Everyone else is back and should only get better, and we've got another really good freshman to provide depth and jump in if anyone falters. #1 & 2 dubs teams are back and they were great last year. #3 team stunk so nowhere to go but up and Gorzny is a great doubles player.
 
Longfrog

Longfrog

Active Member
Selections are out for the All-American Tournament in 1st week of October. Fomba is one of 48 who gets a bye into the main draw. All our other guys will go through qualifying. Somehow Jack Pinnington will have to go through pre-qualifying, which means he would have to win 13 matches in one week to take the title.

Top two dubs teams are into the main draw. 3rd pairing of Gorzny/Vives got a wild card into qualifying.
 
Purp

Purp

Active Member
FrogUltimate said:
Responding to the last post of other thread from Purp:
"Interesting seeing it this way. Makes me feel like the GOAT conversation no longer includes Fed. I didn't realize he was so poor (relatively) on clay. Nadal is similar on grass for Fed on clay, but Fed on grass isn't near the same echelon of dominance as Nadal on clay so, for me, that clearly puts Nadal ahead of Fed along with the number of overall GS titles.

Nadal versus Djoker comes down to personal preference, though. It's hard to argue top 4 on all surfaces and 0.03% away from #1 all time win % on all surfaces isn't the best ever. But the guy 0.03% ahead has more GS titles and is probably the most dominant on a single surface as we'll ever see in the sport. If you prefer consistency the Djoker is your guy. If you prefer other-worldy dominance in one big part of the game the Nadal is your guy.

Back to my original point about Alcaraz, though, I see his career mirroring more of Djokovic than Nadal in terms of win % by surface. When Alcaraz is done Nadal likely won't be top 10 on any surface except clay where Alcaraz could be top 5 on all of them. Thanks for digging up these numbers."



For me - Federer is no longer in the conversation for GOAT. He has a losing record against both Nadal and Djokovic and is 3rd for most of the records. He's also the only one who won multiple GS without Nadal and Djokovic being in the game yet. I think he's clearly the #3 with Nadal and Djokovic a dead heat for GOAT. I really don't know although I suspect Djoker will end up with at least two more GS than Nadal (and would probably already be tied or ahead if not for COVID stuff)

Yeah Alcaraz is likely to be good on all surfaces, although he hasn't really tested the waters on grass at all. Will definitely be interesting how he progresses over the next few years.
Click to expand...
Interesting take on Fed. I can't argue with your logic.
 
Longfrog

Longfrog

Active Member
FrogUltimate said:
For me - Federer is no longer in the conversation for GOAT.
Click to expand...
This is my view too. He cleaned up when the competition was thin. Once it arrived, he was still great but couldn't match the other 2. For the Fed stans, that's hard to accept since he has the most aesthetically pleasing game of the three. Maybe of all time. By comparison, Djoker especially does not have an attractive style. But it's brutally efficient.
 
FrogUltimate

FrogUltimate

Active Member
Longfrog said:
This is my view too. He cleaned up when the competition was thin. Once it arrived, he was still great but couldn't match the other 2. For the Fed stans, that's hard to accept since he has the most aesthetically pleasing game of the three. Maybe of all time. By comparison, Djoker especially does not have an attractive style. But it's brutally efficient.
Click to expand...

If you're going to teach someone how to play tennis, copy Federer or Serena. Both are basically technically flawless. Growing up my playing style was pretty similar to Nadal... the problem is that unless you get to his physique level, it's really hard to level up as you have to put so much into every shot with that forehand grip and style. Against better opponents I'd wear down and have trouble creating enough pace to end points. In my post-college years I've changed my game and hit a lot flatter and more aggressive.
 

Latest posts

Top