Thoughts about Tennis Tradition...

[don_budge]

2023 ATP Tour Finals...blah, blah, blah

If you ask me...this has been a real snoozer. I'm not referring to the heroic efforts of our "big 3" posters in this thread that are averaging way south of three views per posts. Masters of the one or two liners. Lots of just completely meaningless stats. No real opinions. No original thought. Lots of agreeing. No...this tournament is a real bust. It used to cause quite a sensation too. The difference...a lack of Roger Federer. The post Federer era of tennis...listen. You can hear it. It sounds like the air escaping from the balloon. A sucking sound only found in the queerest of all vacuums. This is a strange one. I predicted it and sure enough...right on cue. Tennis as we used to know it is down the tubes. Coming soon...the Post Modern Era of Tennis.

Case in point...one Stefanos Tsitsipas. One day he is proclaiming that this tournament is bigger than a Grand Slam. The next he is retiring after a mere four games into a match leaving the paying public high and dry. So much for chivalry. It's dead too. So is the sport. It is hard to write about anything because it all so dreadfully boring. Hear that...it is the sound of one hand clapping. When this tournament is over, they are going to turn the lights out in the stadium and there will be one old guy left there sitting asking himself...who cares?

Sinner the saviour? Hardly. The guy's picture in the dictionary is under the word...boring. Novak is the only thing that is the slightest bit compelling. The only thing. This thread is filled with a bunch of meaningless stats which are jibberish. They hardly mean anything...yet that is all there is to say about the matches. Yawn...it's like some sort of exhibition. I remember writing about these matches during Roger's career. A different animal. Completely.

Let's hope that Novak pins the ears back on the latest and the greatest...Jannik Sinner. Look how Carlos Alvarez has sort of leveled out in the equation. Novak answered that question. It was rumored that Novak was training with Alvarez in Paris. It seemed like a nice gesture on his part. Don't underestimate Djokovic...Mr. Joke 'em if they can't take a fuck. He was measuring the kid. Looking here and there for a little sign of weakness to exploit when it counted. It counted yesterday. I said a while back...Novak's experience is the trump card until it isn't. You have to take his legs out from under him. That is the challenge for Sinner today. If Sinner wins it will be the end of tennis. Pure and simple. It will be over and the lonely old guy will just get up and leave...shutting out the lights on the way out.

Novak Djokovic's experience is the Trump card until it isn't. Pinned the ears back on Jannik Sinner. You read it here. Opinionated? Yes. Never agreeing or disagreeing. Just call it like you see it and explain to the best of your ability. The two young wannabee's came up way short. All of the hoping that the next generation is going to be enough...those hopes are dashed. The writing is on the wall. Tennis is dead in the water. Boring...boring...boring. Novak is the end of the line. Greatest player of all time? Not at all. Big racquets. Lack of depth in the field. The proof is where the game is at. A 36 year old is head and shoulders over the entire field. A 36 year old who would be cat food for half of the draw in 1980 on a slick grass court. Fast hard courts. What does that tell you? Wake up. Eyes that do not see. Roger Federer was the Living Proof.

[don_budge]

2023 ATP Tour Finals...blah, blah, blah

If you ask me...this has been a real snoozer. I'm not referring to the heroic efforts of our "big 3" posters in this thread that are averaging way south of three views per posts. Masters of the one or two liners. Lots of just completely meaningless stats. No real opinions. No original thought. Lots of agreeing. No...this tournament is a real bust. It used to cause quite a sensation too. The difference...a lack of Roger Federer. The post Federer era of tennis...listen. You can hear it. It sounds like the air escaping from the balloon. A sucking sound only found in the queerest of all vacuums. This is a strange one. I predicted it and sure enough...right on cue. Tennis as we used to know it is down the tubes. Coming soon...the Post Modern Era of Tennis.

Case in point...one Stefanos Tsitsipas. One day he is proclaiming that this tournament is bigger than a Grand Slam. The next he is retiring after a mere four games into a match leaving the paying public high and dry. So much for chivalry. It's dead too. So is the sport. It is hard to write about anything because it all so dreadfully boring. Hear that...it is the sound of one hand clapping. When this tournament is over, they are going to turn the lights out in the stadium and there will be one old guy left there sitting asking himself...who cares?

Sinner the saviour? Hardly. The guy's picture in the dictionary is under the word...boring. Novak is the only thing that is the slightest bit compelling. The only thing. This thread is filled with a bunch of meaningless stats which are jibberish. They hardly mean anything...yet that is all there is to say about the matches. Yawn...it's like some sort of exhibition. I remember writing about these matches during Roger's career. A different animal. Completely.

Let's hope that Novak pins the ears back on the latest and the greatest...Jannik Sinner. Look how Carlos Alvarez has sort of leveled out in the equation. Novak answered that question. It was rumored that Novak was training with Alvarez in Paris. It seemed like a nice gesture on his part. Don't underestimate Djokovic...Mr. Joke 'em if they can't take a fuck. He was measuring the kid. Looking here and there for a little sign of weakness to exploit when it counted. It counted yesterday. I said a while back...Novak's experience is the trump card until it isn't. You have to take his legs out from under him. That is the challenge for Sinner today. If Sinner wins it will be the end of tennis. Pure and simple. It will be over and the lonely old guy will just get up and leave...shutting out the lights on the way out.

[don_budge]

Speaking of manning up...another classic Novak Djokovic performance. Joke 'em if they can't take a fuck. The reverse of the original saying...courtesy of none other than don_budge. But joke them he does. Novak has been struggling with his physical well being all week if the reports are true that I have read. The back thing a new twist tonight. But from some accounts he has had some kind of "stomach" bug which has had him putting in some overtime sitting on the toilet. Was that a nice way of putting it? Rublev, a man without a flag, did what he could to put pressure and maintain it, but Novak is the ever elusive, hard to bag prey. He is as slippery as a Houdini in ordinary handcuffs.

Perhaps the single most aspect of a Novak Djokovic reign as the best tennis player in the world and certainly one of the best over the past how many years is Darwinian. In the Darwin paradigm of the survival of the fittest...it is not the strongest or even the smartest that is bound to survive, it is the one that adapts the best. No matter what the circumstances, Djokovic is never out of any given match from beginning to end. So many miraculous escapes. Make it two more in a row as he took out Hoger Rune after Rune threatened to overturn Novak's apple cart last night. It was Rublev tonight, who again was in the driver's seat for a good part of the match but ended up playing second fiddle when it came to the end. Novak extricated himself from another dicey situation. He always looks so comfortable doing it. He does it different ways...but many times there is this factor that he looks to be on the verge of going down. But somehow...well, you know the rest.

[don_budge]

This match between Dimitrov and Medvedev hinges on a tie-breaker. John McEnroe always felt that the better serve had the advantage.

Grigor Dimitrov played an exceptionally intelligent (read tactical) match against the exceptionally talented tactically speaking Daniil Medvedev. The margin of victory was slim and I'm going to highlight the judicious use of the slice backhand right up there in the things that swung the match to Dimitrov. So many slices and so many times he refused to give Medvedev the shot he preferred to play. Right out of the book of Bill Tilden..."never give your opponent the shot he prefers to play".

Then there was Bublik...and then there was Hurkacz...and now it Tsitsipas. What is the best thing to have in tennis in the post Roger Federer era? Clearly for the moment it is Baby Fed. Baby Fed it has been all week...all grown up. Man up and taking the bull by the horns. Exceptional tactics individually devised based on each opponent. Very, very clever combination of matches and tactics.

I'll tell you one thing about Grigor, I remember when I gave him the nickname "The Bulgarian Playboy", I watched quite a lot of him this week. Not like I would watch the original. But I kept tabs on him. Dimitrov acts and behaves himself along the same lines as the original. As Roger. No crazy displays of celebration after points. Even when he won a key point his reaction is a pretty simple clench of the fist and a subtle pump. No wide open mouth. No primal screams. No monkey faces and no monkey business. A bit of a blast from the past. Respect.

Baby Fed. Yeah...why not? He really lived up to it this week.

[don_budge]

This match between Dimitrov and Medvedev hinges on a tie-breaker. John McEnroe always felt that the better serve had the advantage.

[don_budge]

2023 Rolex Paris Masters...ATP 1000...Paris, France (first round Cat Food)

Geez...right out of the gates. "Gentle Ben" Shelton and Christopher Eubanks go down in a hail of withing heat in the first round. Both tough losses. Three setters. Oh well boys...it's a tough world. Yesterday's news is today's loser of the day. Both players accumulating a ton of expectations. By now the reality of the deal has hit home with Eubanks as he will have to wait for the grass court seaons to create any more positive headlines. Ben will have to get his legs back under him all the while trying to pull his head out of his butt with all of the social media hype. No easy task. Ask Jannik Sinner. Ask Felix Auger-Aliassime. Ask Holger Rune. Ask Caspar Ruud. All searching and seeking a semblance of consistency. Sinner has been through the entire rigamorol now. He is just beginning to get a handle on it. But look for more falls. Always the ups and downs. Cat food. First round loser. The world doesn't owe you a damned thing and there is no better way to learn this than the food chain of tennis competition.

Every draw sheet tells a story. Now...in the preliminaries. The foreplay. It is all about the hopes and dashing of hopes. There is always next week you can say to yourself. But it seems like an eternity away and there are no guarentees. A tough road to hoe. As the week goes on the story develops. First round is just window dressing. A quick look at the draw and you see a lot of old timers looking for the old spark. Watch them fade in the ensuing days...just happy to be back on the court. The wily veterans know the score. They have been there and done that. Ben and Christopher have a lot to learn. Preparation...preparation...preparation. The mantra.

Novak in the house. How much does he care about this tournament. Depending on the scheduling he make a run for it. Otherwise...he'll count his steps to live to play another day. Slams Baby!

[don_budge]

If a player has been deep in the draw the week before and he travels over time zones to the next tournament...how does he overcome the fatigue. Case in point...first up Ben Shelton. If you follow what young Ben has been through over the past number of weeks you can see he has sort of had a "Meteoric" rise of late. Boy...does that sound familiar. Anyone know what I am talking about? No? Doesn't matter. Ben had his sort of coming out party at the U. S. Open in September then embarked on the Asian tour this month. Interesting results to say the least. Last week he won in Tokyo. The draw wasn't what you call stellar by any stretch of the imagination. But he won. He went the distance after going deep the week before in Shanghai. He skipped Beijing.

Oh yeah...I forgot to mention that Ben Sheldon plays Jannik Sinner today. Should I tell a little story about the possibiliies here? This might be as interesting as it gets today...on October 25. 2023 no less. Just two months of shopping left until Christmas. There's another war going on. Have you forgotten about the other one yet?

Interesting match the other day in Vienna...Ben Shelton versus Jannik Sinner. Sinner won 7-6, 7-5. The match was actually somewhat watchable. Ben Shelton has been on the rise lately and it will be interesting going forwards to see if he can maintain his trajectory. It looked to me as if Ben ran out of gas a bit. He hung in there and didn't go away but he started to use the lost cause drop shot...looking for a way out of a grueling match he didn't have the legs for.

However, he did demonstrate at to why his trajectory has been so steeply climbing as of late. The serve...the serve...the serve. There hasn't been a weapon like this for a while. Not to be confused with the servebots. They are in another stratosphere...serving to win the point outright because they don't have the game to back it up otherwise. Ben has got a very solid forehand to back up the left handed serve. Being left handed is such an advantage in his case and he needs to exploit this advantage even more in the future. Developing the forehand further has to be high up on the list. He really needs to make his opponent pay on balls hit to his forehand, particularly on his serve when the return goes to that side.

He did a couple of nice approaches to the net to more or less mop up on weak returns. A number of times he came in on decent approaches but failed to deliver on balls that managed to get down at his feet. Half volley expertise is another phase of potential development. He has the game to potentially look for way more serve and volley opportunities. That lefty swing serve should be money in the bank in the ad court.

I remember watching him serve and it looked to me as if he was just giving a bit of McEnroe in his setup...and almost in the initiation of the backswing. Too much to hope for. I know that a lot of players mimic other serves and strokes. Some have more of affinity for it than other. I would certainly like Shelton to try on the motions of both McEnroe and Roger Federer. I believe that both of them would enhance his ability to follow the serve to the net, which I think he should really be looking into more. Finishing the service game quickly with no muss, no fuss puts a great deal of pressure on the opponent to duplicate on their serve. I don't think that Ben is getting the total potential out of his serve, as good as it appears to be. The question is always one of potential. Is the player maximizing the strength tactically out of the stroke.

Shelton is certainly a very interesting work in progress. Much more interesting than his opponent...Sinner. Much more potential too. But the question is...does Daddy know what is best? I'm not too sure that he does.

[don_budge]

October 25, 2023...only two months of shopping left until Christmas

Ahem...be that as it may. Without being political. What exactly does that mean? There is another war that has begun. Just miles from Armegeddon. Well, I was just wondering. Which of the combatants will not be represented by a flag in the ATP and WTA? Palestine or Israel? We all know the answer to that one don't we. Just curious.

But on this day keep in mind what I said about Christmas. Come to think of it...I wonder if there are descendents of Christ left in Palestine. In Israel. I've been reading the Bible all of this year. I read the Bible every day before I turn on any electronic device. It has really helped to survive some of the turbulence. At home. In the world. On this website. It's everywhere!!!

Today we have a rare opportunity. We can observe one of the fundamental difficulties of playing on the ATP tour. The question of preparation. Afterall...the mantra of a tennis player is "preparation, preparation, preparation". Know what I mean? No? Who cares? The question is one of recovery. If a player has been deep in the draw the week before and he travels over time zones to the next tournament...how does he overcome the fatigue. Case in point...first up Ben Shelton. If you follow what young Ben has been through over the past number of weeks you can see he has sort of had a "Meteoric" rise of late. Boy...does that sound familiar. Anyone know what I am talking about? No? Doesn't matter. Ben had his sort of coming out party at the U. S. Open in September then embarked on the Asian tour this month. Interesting results to say the least. Last week he won in Tokyo. The draw wasn't what you call stellar by any stretch of the imagination. But he won. He went the distance after going deep the week before in Shanghai. He skipped Beijing.

Arthur Fils is another case in point. Last week he managed to make the finals in Belgium before losing to a real question mark in Alexander Bublik. Not the most solid egg in the batch. Fils did manage to beat Stefanos Tsitsipas. But nearly everyone manages to beat Tsitsipas in his romantic downturn. Fils plays Daniil Medvedev. A stiff challenge. To say the least. If the legs aren't totally under you. Mr. Pencil will draw a demise for you. He's tactical...if not elegant. I think he is in his own way. Most importantly. He doesn't care what you think. He likes that way he hits his forehand.

Ah...then there is the truly "Amazing Mr. Monfils". Not a word on the forum about this man's victory in my home country of Sweden. No offence taken. Not at all. Not anymore. It is what it is...she said. But Gael...you are amazing. Thirty-seven years old and he wins an ATP tourney. One of the oldest to do such a thing. Ok, the draw wasn't the toughest. The guy he beat in the finals didn't even have a flag to his name. One of those pesky Ruskies. Pavel Kotov. Gael had a couple of three setters during the week. How will he get along this week? It is a question of preparation. Remember? The tennis player's mantra.

Finally we come to Alexander Bublik. I mentioned him earlier as the conquerer of Arthur Fils. You won't find this fellow's picture under the word consistency in the dictionary. But today he live to play another day. He gets to play another huge question mark on the tour. What ever happened to Caspar Ruud? At one point he made one of the meteoric trajectories to the top of the echelon...then it became a struggle. Just to fight his way out of a paper bag it seems. So you see what the question is now. It's all about some of the intangibles. Scheduling. Consistency. Man...Federer knew the answers to these questions. Djokovic and Nadal too. Masters of their domain. The rest of the crew are all struggling with the concept. Is it in the meds? Who knows? Who cares?

Oh yeah...I forgot to mention that Ben Sheldon plays Jannik Sinner today. Should I tell a little story about the possibiliies here? This might be as interesting as it gets today...on October 25. 2023 no less. Just two months of shopping left until Christmas. There's another war going on. Have you forgotten about the other one yet?

[stroke]

I like Monfils, I like Dimitrov. They are both great players and a tribute to the game. I am certainly glad to see them both playing well right now. Their problem was the same as all others was in the wake of the 3. Just abysmal records vs those 3. Those 3 never gave an inch, tired legs or not. They all almost always advanced to the business end of almost all tournaments, and did it again the next tournament. It was something to behold. Now, it is wide open, to an extent.

[don_budge]

A Rematch...Erste Bank Open, Vienna, Austria (Jannik Sinner vs. Ben Sheldon)

I wrote what I thought was a rather interesting post about the Sinner/Sheldon match in Shanghai, but one of the "Big Three" posters immediately posted over my post with two of the usual mundane stuff passing for interesting these days on the forum. Insult to injury...enough is enough. The kids won't play nice. Quite ok. I relegate myself this this thread...Thoughts About Tennis Tradition. Afterall...that's all I really think about now as tennis falls into the mulch pile of sound bytes and sensationalism. Much ado about nothing. Ironically...perhaps the most redeeming aspect of tennis left is John Yandell's website. He manages to stay relevant.

Sinner and Sheldon find themselves in a role reversal next week in Austria. Sheldon is coming off a bit week in Japan and the two are scheduled to face off in the first round in Austria. When the two played in Shanghai, a well rested Ben Sheldon took Sinner down in three tough sets as Sinner ran out of gas from his win in Beijing from the week before. Sheldon seems to gathering momentum at the moment and I wonder if he will have a letdown in the very near future as have every other single one of the young phenoms to break through. Alcarez being the latest after a meteoric run the past year. He seemed to have hit the wall. Rune and Rudd come to mind. Sinner sort of cooled off for a spell too. It is tough to keep up the consistency week in and week out. Ala you know who. Roger Federer. It still isn't a tennis tournament without Roger in the draw which is to say...it's over. Tradition, tennis...the whole shebaang.

This time it will be Sheldon who will be crossing over time zones after a tough week at the office and Sinner who has been sleeping in his own bed and training. He probably is relishing a chance to take on the upstart Sheldon so soon after he lost to him. Sinner knows that the only revenge in life is success and he would love to quickly even the score here. Meanwhile...Sheldon gets a whiff of his first ATP final and he has to deal with a man who doesn't seem to have a flag by his name. The ongoing persecution of Russian players. Guilty as charged...or not. Sheldon beat him in their only other match...at the U. S. Open. Karatzov also went down in flames after a spell of some very tough play. He seemed to have emerged out of nowhere to play tough tennis against the elite a year or two ago and then sort of disappeared. His score against Sheldon at the Open indicates some issues. Has he righted the ship? Can Sheldon sustain his level of play against the bruiser from Russia?

[don_budge]

The Post Roger Federer Era in Big-Time Tennis...October 7, 2023

Tournaments currently being played in China. During the post Roger Federer era. The old standard in the don_budge school of thought was that if Roger wasn't in the draw...it wasn't a tournament. I hate to be the one sounding the death toll on tennis but it has reached a point where there is absolutely nothing entertaining about it. No meaningful rivalries. No single player who can make the draw of any tournament interesting. Nobody with any semblance of charisma. It is only Novak "Novax" Djokovic who remains who can inject any sort of intrigue into a tournament draw. Can anyone actually watch an entire match of this stuff? Yeah...how about two?

Jannik Sinner defeats Carlos Alcarez. Big deal. Big-Time Tennis. Didn't see it. Don't care. Was this the marquis match up that is currently offered up in tennis. Dreadfully boring. Just dreadful. Jannik Sinner has as much charisma as wall paper. Carlos has as much charisma...as Rafael Nadal. In fact...he is sort of like a "Nadal Lite". Except he is right handed. Still yells the trademark...Vamos! Ole! Not buying it. Daniil "Mr. Pencil" Medvedev? Questionable...but certainly not the one to deliver tennis to the promised land. How about that Holger Rune? He was once the up and comer. The next. He was bageled and bye byed in his first match this week. Stefano Tsitsipas? More drama with the girlfriend news and Daddy's departure...and now his reappearance. Not the gritty fighter he was when he first appeared.

It's going to be a tough road to hoe...certainly. Without Roger. The air was sucked right out of the balloon. Just as I predicted all those years. Only Novax is left to inject some interest into the game and that might in itself have to do with his participation in the game with Federer. Glory days. They'll pass you by. They'll pass you by in the wink of a young girl's eye.

Meanwhile on the golf course. don_budge had a momentary lucid moment that lasted nearly a week. Two straight rounds at even par. A third one over. The fourth started even par the first nine and then went somewhat off the track. It has been a tremendous amount of work. I don't seem to be getting any younger. What a surprise. I wonder how many years I have left. I won't do this if the hope for improvement isn't there. But this flash of "brilliance" gave me a tiny hope. Just a little. So the preparation begins for next season as this one winds down. As fall takes that seasonal bitter turn towards winter.

Coco "Hamboiger with your Salsa" Gauff goes down in straight sets to a very determined...Iga Swiatek. Oh well...it's tough in an era of sound bytes to maintain the consistency. Gauff on a hot streak cooled off by Swiatek...revenge is a dish best served cold.

[stroke]

Take care DB. You are a very good writer and I have enjoyed reading your posts through the years.

[don_budge]

2023 U. S. Open Men's Final...ATP 2000...New York, New York USA (Revenge is a dish best served cold...)

Well the forum didn't get much of a momentum going on this year's tournament. Only one of the biggest on the planet. Barely getting four views per post and that is with one unnamed individual packing the ballot box. Doubling and tripling down so to speak. Is the forum in decline? Is tennis in decline? Is mankind in decline? Get the picture? Metaphor. Life.

Personally I didn't take much of an interest. Not like it was when Roger Federer was playing. Then the entire draw became interesting in speculation as to who would be a future opponent of "The Living Proof". But those days are gone and better left alone...as Phil Collins would say. This year the theme of the tournament turned out to be that...revenge is a dish best served cold. Congratulations to this years champions in Novak Djokovic and Coco Williams. I mean Coco Gauff. My bad.

Novak had to wait a bit for this. It must make the taste all the sweeter. He was not allowed to play in the United States of America, the former land of the free, last year because of political football play with an entity called the "Corona Virus". A mysterious agent that continues to confound the masses to this very day. But at any rate...the meaning of the proverbial phrase “revenge is a dish best served cold” is that taking revenge at a later date is more satisfying that enacting it immediately. Taking revenge later means you have time to premeditate your revenge to perfection instead of acting in haste. The saying means that the longer you wait to take revenge, the more satisfying it is when you do. I would say that sums it up quite nicely...wouldn't you say? No response necessary.

I did wake up here in Sweden during the finals a couple of times. Yet...I only turned on the television once to see what was going on. I was actually pulling for "Mr. Pencil" to pull it out. You see...I am very political and sometimes my judgment is clouded with my political bias. Quite unlike every neutral poster here on the forum. I alone have this imperfect status. But denying Russians the respect of having their flags posted next to their names is beyond childish. It is beyond racist. It is blatantly evil. So I rooted for the Russians. Even in the women's final...I rooted against everybody's new media darling Coco Gauff. The media needs desperately to replace Serena Williams. Tennis is the wokest and so is New York. What a place to live in! You'd have to nuts...in my estimated opinion.

But the one point that I turned on the men's final was in the second set and Medvedev was up 5-6 with Novax Djokovic serving. The game went back and forth for what seemed like an eternity. Reminiscent of a few game in the Wimbledon final when Alcarez really extended Djokovic on his service game. One of the best way to take out a players legs is to make him work like the devil on his serve while quickly winning your own serve. A la Federer. Novak eventually won the game to force the second set tie-break. I didn't even see the end of that game. But clearly it was an extremely important game. If Medvedev would have capitalized on just one of the break points he had in his grasp...he may have succeded in taking out Novak's legs. By forcing the match to a fourth set may have made all the difference. Daniil has to be kicking himself in the butt. He knows this truth better than anyone.

So Novak's experience will count until it no longer does. At least it counted for one more Slam. Medvedev did Novak a huge by eliminating Alcarez. Alcarez seems to be the only player that has the Djokovic number. And that my friends, and I use that term loosely, is all she wrote. It's all I wrote. For a long, long time it was fun and mischievous to write up these tournaments. In the days of Roger Federer. All the time I was writing I was keeping in mind that there was going to be a post Roger era to this thing. I was right about that. Maybe about a few other things as well. Who knows? Who cares? At any rate...I wish everyone all the best. No hard feelings. It's only tennis. Just a hobby. That awesome Aussie coach, Brett what's his name, told me that at the Swedish tennis symposium years ago. We had such a great talk. Such good tennis memories.

Revenge is a dish best served cold. Or...think of this. The only revenge in life is success. I definitely like the second one better.

[don_budge]

Western and Southern...ATP 1000...Cincinnati, Ohio

If these two meet in the finals of the U. S. Open the result is a foregone conclusion as far as I can see. Looking at the draw I can easily project Novak into the finals. Easier than Alcarez. But if both make it to the finals I cannot see how Novak can beat him. Alcarez has gained in experience. It was evident in Cincinnati. He was the superior player...if only in terms of fitness. It doesn't appear to me that a thirty-six or thirty-seven year old Djokovic can match him in the legs.

I wonder if Novak should try a bigger racquet.

The top seeds in the bottom half have quietly exited the stadium making the path to the finals appear to be a foregone conclusion. The one way that Novak can win this tournament is to not waste any time on the court as he has done so far. Plus he needs a couple of players in the top half to step up and collectively drag down Alcarez. Defeat him through attrition. A couple of tough five setter might be enough to equalize the legs between the 36 year old and the 20 year old.

Alcarez is not the old, wizened and experienced one that Novak Djokovic is. Say what you want about Novak...you like him or not. This guy has more experience in Grand Slam tournaments than anyone left. That counts...until it doesn't. So if things sort of equal themselves out, as in the leg department, he can win this. I already had him projected into the finals.

It is interesting what has happened in the bottom half. The top players are dropping like flies. The top echelon of players are noticeably weaker and more vulnerable than years past. The rest of the talent pool is sort of like a mediocre sludge. Nobody able to standout and hold that position. Stefanos Tsitsipas is standing out like a sore thumb. He served for the match yesterday and fudged it up. Who has been writing about the serve all these years? The initial pugnacious attitude he came out on the tour is gone and replaced by this narcissistic sneer. The one he practices in the mirror.

FAA...aka Felix Auger-Aliassime is another case in point. Going the same route is Casper Ruud. Holger Rune. The media is desperately searching for someone to fill the shoes of Roger Federer and keeps on coming up empty handed. This tournament is now officially a snooze fest. It is not really a tournament anyways because there is no Roger Federer. The post Federer era of tennis is bound to disappoint anyone that is not merely trying to fill a void with hope. Hope without merit is bound to disappoint.

How to make it more interesting? Go back to wood racquets. Go back to the traditions. As this thread would suggest. Crazy? You bet.

[don_budge]

Western and Southern...ATP 1000...Cincinnati, Ohio

"Novak Djokovic will simply have too much experience...until he doesn't". (don_budge)

As it turns out nothing could have been more true than that simple statement. Djokovic will simply have too much experience...until he doesn't. "Nadal Lite" aka Carlos Alcarez did what was necessary. He took out the legs of Novak Djokovic. He ran down everything and got it back in the court. He forced Novak to play an extra ball or two or three or whatever it took to finally once and for all...take out his legs. It was the drop shots that got to Novak. It was the hail of bullets he faced off both the Alcarez forehand and backhand. But most of all...there was one problem that put the final nail in the coffin and I haven't heard a peep from anyone anywhere about it. Not from any commentatoe. Not from any forum poster. Not even our Big Three mentioned it. No surprise. Eyes that do not see.

Statistics to me are sort of baffling. They are used when someone has run out of anything meaningful to add in plain language. Then it is time to start regurgitating the numbers. Blah...blah...blah. First serve percentage...ok, there is a pretty meaningful number. Bu the rest of it...a number salad. Ha...there's another original from don_budge. Number salad. Out of all of the garble of numbers there was the one meaningful number MIA. The number? The amount of time each took to serve a game. This is where Alcarez took all of the Djokovic experience and told it to shove it to where the sun don't shine. Talk about maintaining pressure on your opponent. The most sure fire way is to win your own serve efficiently and routinely. But perhaps the most meaningful way you can put pressure on your opponent is the converse...make him work on his own serve. Alcarez pushed Novak beyond his limits by making him work to win his serve in a way I haven't seen anybody else to it. He did it in a way that showed a lot of maturity and experience. He learned something from his episode in Paris. Carlos did it with a combination of patience and courage. He waited for his opportunities and then he threw caution to the wind and just did it. Like that Nike swoosh plastered all over his attire. Just do it!

By making Djokovic work and work and work on his serve he force the Serb into what seemed to be hard labor. Novak struggled to hold his serve like I have never seen him. Not having the great serving motion of great servers...Novak takes care of his serve very efficiently. A deft combination of placement first and foremost and adequate speed and spin has always been what Novak used to "take care of his serve". He does it with amazing efficiency. He serves out sets with the best of them...save maybe Roger Federer. He serves out matches as well. Once he gets into a position to win a Grand Slam final he is usually spot on with his serve and tactics. But Carlos really stymied him on this day. He force Novak to struggle on his serve...and this is something that we just haven't seen. It cost Novak dearly too. I have to be honest...I didn't watch the entire match. I was out playing golf. I don't have time to plunk myself down and watch this most boring show at Wimbledon. It is really amazing if you think about it. It used to be that three out of the four Slams were played on grass and everyone who won the Championship was a serve and volley player. Even dear old Bjorn Borg who had the reputation of being a base liner was a closet serve and volley player.

Then there was "Nadal Lite" Alcarez egging on the crowd when he had Djokovic on the ropes by begging for more love...begging for more applause and noise by holding his ear to them after a great shot. This is something that would have been absolutely frowned upon back in the years of tennis etiquette. Thou shall not take unfair advantage of your opponent and furthermore not do anything to upstage them. Particularly so when you talk about an opponent that has won so much during his career. How about a little respect on your way to the championship? Asking too much? It is all ok though. Modern day tennis fans play right into the nonsense because they are too dumbed down to know any better. So it goes.

Novak Djokovic will simply have too much experience...until he doesn't. Man...if that doesn't ring true nothing does. You heard it from me. Read it and weep.

I think that the analysis that I wrote for the U. S. Open final fits appropriately for the Western and Southern final as well. I watched the match...although I confess with was really the highlights...and to be truthful, the highlights weren't really all that high. It wasn't that great of a match. In fact...in I think it really wasn't that good of a match at all. The match kept turning in weird and often unexplainable twists. Novak up a break. He's broken back. Carlos is up a break. He's broken back. Novak serving for the match. He gets all tangled up in yet another long service game which he loses. It all comes down to a tie-break that wasn't all that well played. Hmmm...was it all about the betting line. It was almost as if Carlos was holding him up in as in that scene in the "Raging Bull" where Jake Lamotta has to virtually hold up his opponent after he "tapped" him. Or was it "On the Waterfront" where the mobster comes into the locker room and tells the fighter, "this ain't your night Kid". Whatever it was...it looked to be pretty hokey to me.

Novak was on rubber legs most of the night. Instead of the "Gumby" like rubber man contortionist making impossible returns from all corners of the court he just looked like he was hanging on. Carlos seemed to have him on a string all night and it was he who seemed to be dictating play. Putting pressure on the opponent. If this match were to be best of five...Novak would have gone into the fifth on an empty tank. If these two meet in the finals of the U. S. Open the result is a foregone conclusion as far as I can see. Looking at the draw I can easily project Novak into the finals. Easier than Alcarez. But if both make it to the finals I cannot see how Novak can beat him. Alcarez has gained in experience. It was evident in Cincinnati. He was the superior player...if only in terms of fitness. It doesn't appear to me that a thirty-six or thirty-seven year old Djokovic can match him in the legs.

Watching the Cincinnati final it was really apparent that Novak doesn't have the knockout capability...going along with the boxing metaphors of throwing fights. Carlos can easily drag down Novak by making him play long and torturous points from the backcourt. Djokovic more or less confirmed this with more than the occasional foray to the net. He was trying to end some points quicker. It was a terrible match. It got off to a bad start. The commentatoe caught on pretty quickly when Novak lost his serve in the second set. He said..."this is not the match we wanted to see". Novak has lost half a step. The thing that allowed Federer to hold off his opponents at the end of his career was his serve. The best serve in the game even at his age. Forget about the serve bots...that isn't really serving. But Novak doesn't have that luxury. His serve is steady and consistent. But it doesn't win him enough points outright. Roger could gun through his serve game in just over a minute when he was guns blazing. Not Djokovic. He is more a win be attrition. Usually he is the one taking out the legs of his opponent. That was how he handled Federer much of the time. ON a slower court and with Roger having a smaller racquet. Roger could make up some of the difference once he switched equipment and on a faster surface.

I wonder if Novak should try a bigger racquet.