OT - US Open Tennis
I know we are in OT season but the US Open is a major sporting event and it is Labor Day which always brings exciting 4th round action.
Tournament summary to this point:
- The big story so far is the loss of #1 Novak Djokovic to Stan Wawrinka last night. Wawrinka appears to be returning to his "Stanimal" form which has won him 3 majors. He's moving better after knee surgery, is serving hugeand killing his forehand and backhand. Novak has been struggling with what appears to be a painful left shoulder injury. Not a fan of him retiring when he did - it looked like he quit once he knew he had no chance of coming back after going down a break in the 3rd set. He probably could have pushed through another 5-6 games.
- After getting off to a slow start in Cincinnati and the first two rounds here, Federer appears to be playing into form. He completely destroyed Gofin yesterday and I think he will do the same to Grigor Dmitrov in the quarters. Too bad we won't get to see a Roger - Novak rematch in the Semis.
- Nadal is also playing great and had a walkover in the second round so he should be well rested going into the second week.
- Daniil Medvedev is becoming a favorite player of mine. He won Cincinnati and plays Wawrinka next. He has become a bit of a villain and masterfully trolled the New York crowd during his post-match interview.
- On the women's side, Serena and Osaka are still alive heading to a possible rematch although I think Svitolina could be tough to beat after she dismantled Madison Keys last night. A lot of exciting young Americans making waves on the women's side (the men not so much).
So who you got? Roger to win his 21st slam and first USO in over a decade? Rafa to win his 19th? Or will there be an upset with the Stanimal of Medvedev?
I'm going with Nadal.
September 2nd, 2019 at 1:06 PM ^
Another terrible, terrible showing by the American Men.
It's not the fact that they get 3 guys in the last 32; that's probably just as much as any other country. It's the fact that not a single one of them are any sort of a threat to do anything.
Tiafoe and Fritz are supposed to be part of this next wave of stars. What is happening?
September 2nd, 2019 at 1:09 PM ^
It would be so awesome if men’s tennis was at all akin to women’s where some teenager could actually compete and win. I hope we see another dominant American male player before death...
September 2nd, 2019 at 1:12 PM ^
Well, I think it is. This isn't necessarily like men vs women's soccer, where the American women are just superior athletically to the rest of the world.
This is an individual sport where you just need to find ONE guy to emerge above the rest. I don't know if it's been just terrible fortune that one of our guys hasn't emerged. I'm just not sure.
I just struggle to grasp that not a single American man can consistently be in the top 10 and competing for finals. It's tough to understand.
September 2nd, 2019 at 2:04 PM ^
It has been a 30-year decline in American men’s tennis, spurred on by globalization and the multiple options available in other sports (football, basketball, baseball, soccer, golf and lacrosse) for young American boys who might be more prone to focus on a single sport than they were 40 to 50 years ago. When baseball and tennis once were popular, spring-sports options more than 30 years ago, high-school boys now have options that weren’t prevalent then like lacrosse, AAU basketball, club soccer and video games/e-sports to occupy their time in the spring. LINK
Only 15 American men currently are among the ATP's Top 200 players in the world, and three of those are in the bottom five on that list. Although five Americans are ranked in the top 50, the only one in the top 20 is John Isner (14) and three of them – Reilly Opelka (42), Frances Tiafoe (45) and Sam Querrey (48) are in the last ten of that list. Taylor Fritz is 28th. LINK
September 2nd, 2019 at 2:09 PM ^
I'm sorry, I just don't accept the whole "multiple sports option."
There are 320+ million people in this country. I just cannot accept that ONE person cannot grab the mantle and be an elite star in men's tennis. Soccer, sure. I can understand it a bit more when you are going through an entire regime/camp to find a group of elite people to stick together.
Football, basketball, baseball, soccer, and others have always been available for people to play, nothing's changed. Tennis has always been a lesser-appreciated sport.
I don't even think it's asking that much for the fans of American Men's tennis to have a guy that can occasionally compete and win a major every couple years. That is an absolutely realistic expectation.
September 3rd, 2019 at 5:42 AM ^
30 years? Sampras/Agassi weren’t that long ago.
September 2nd, 2019 at 1:11 PM ^
I want roger to win one more. Roger vs Nadal in finals would be great
September 2nd, 2019 at 1:34 PM ^
You're not a fan of a guy forfeiting when it's obvious he can no longer come back? Instead, you think he should push through for 5-6 pointless games while harboring, what appears to be, a painful shoulder injury? What the fuck are you even talking about?
September 2nd, 2019 at 1:34 PM ^
Djokovic is such a little bitch. No matter how many championships that guy wins, he'll always be a loser. He's the Little Brother of tennis.
September 2nd, 2019 at 1:53 PM ^
+1.
Roddick's US Open press-conference in 2008 where he eviscerated Djokovic and how he's always bitching about things and retiring during matches when things get tough --- that was the TRUTH then and it is still today.
September 2nd, 2019 at 2:12 PM ^
1. Roddick ended up being a footnote in tennis history. I hated his game. His criticism is dated. (Read below.) Djokovic ended up putting a clown suit on him in a later interview and then left him in the dust as a player.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WVh_d2zmeac
2. Djokovic had no reason to continue when he knew the match was over. He's not going to fuck himself over by playing through pain (which he did in years prior and it ended up becoming a serious problem which cost him a year). Djokovic has bigger goals.
3. I think it's funny how people hang on to things from when players were young. I can tell you all don't remember some of the things Federer did as a young pro player before he matured. But all that has been whitewashed. But I don't see people holding things against Federer from things he did back in 2002 or 2003. Hmmm...I wonder why that is.
4. "retiring during matches when things get tough"
LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL
Saying that about the man who beat Federer not once, not twice, but three (!!!) times in Grand Slam matches when Federer had double match point is hilarious to me. And that's when Federer had the crowd in his favor at all 3 matches.
Do I need to refresh your memory by linking youtube videos of 2 US Open semifinal matches from earlier this decade?
Were you living under a rock when Djokovic snatched Federer's soul at Wimbledon this summer despite a 90% pro-Federer Wimbledon Final crowd?
5. It's an indictment on the sport when the crowd is anti-Djokovic when Djokovic faces the like of Wawrinka. But we all know why even if they won't admit it outright...there are a lot of Federer fanboy bandwagoners. And they thought Federer's record was safe. But then Djokovic surged back to win 4 of the last 5 to pull within 4.
Yes, I'm a Djokovic fan. I don't hate Federer or Nadal. I feel privileged to witness this era of tennis live with 3 GOATs. I just hope Djokovic ends up holding the GS record with Nadal being #2.
September 2nd, 2019 at 3:18 PM ^
I'm not a Federer fan, I'm a tennis fan.
And this is true: Novak is MUCH more mentally tough in head-to-head GS matches against Roger. He is good in those 1-to-1 situations vs. Roger. That's a big strength of Novak's, and a weakness of Roger's.
That said, Novak has his own mental weakness when playing against "the likes of Wawrinka (who is now 4-1 against Novak in GS matches, by the way)." Novak hasn't been able to figure out Stan, and ..... last night was more of the same ..... so he just quits in the 3rd set.
Last night's retirement means Novak has now retired from at least one match in EVERY Grand Slam tournament.
September 3rd, 2019 at 5:53 AM ^
To be fair we have no idea how injured he may have been.
September 2nd, 2019 at 1:50 PM ^
Bencic just dismantled Osaka, who appears to not be 100%.
September 2nd, 2019 at 3:52 PM ^
She beat Osaka twice this year before the Open. It's all about matchups I guess.
September 2nd, 2019 at 9:03 PM ^
Medvedev is not a troll...he’s an asshole. How could you root for a guy who rips the towel out of the towel boys hands?
September 2nd, 2019 at 10:20 PM ^
This tournament has been so entertaining. The American women have been nothing short of amazing. It's all set up for Roger right now...
September 2nd, 2019 at 10:53 PM ^
At my first US Open ever and watched both main men’s matches today and the women’s upset. It’s been awesome. Tomorrow night is gonna be unreal. Cool story bros.
September 4th, 2019 at 10:06 AM ^
I'm not really a huge fan of men's tennis. I get tired of seeing the same three people in the finals in nearly every tournament. But I follow the women's side closely. I love the parity these last few years have given us. Though I'm a huge Simona Halep fan, I have a number of players I like to see play well.
Which brings me to my question. I know folks are often "Rah! Rah! Merica!" when it comes to tennis, and I totally get that for the Olympics or the Fed Cup. But for me tennis is 100% an individual game not a team game (doubles notwithstanding.) I tend to like players no matter what country they're from (see: Halep). Sometimes I even root against Americans. I'm still a little bitter with Keys for taking out Halep in Cincy and even with Serena for taking out Sharapova, though only a little. I didn't actually expect Sharapova to win that one. So the question is - do you guys root for country representation or individuals? Or maybe a combination of the two?
For this tournament, there's only one player left that's in my group of 6-8 players that I follow closely, thus I'm fully on board the Andreescu train. I hope she takes it all. Though I won't be mad if Serena finally gets #24.
Good post. I will watch all matches in this season. Just check atp mens rankings, there are several interesting players, I think they will show good game. And what about you, who is your favorite player and what championships do you follow?