Tennis

Some momentum at last for Djokovic, having shown next to nothing so far.

That didn't last long at all. Rafa only really blinked once in the third set, perhaps just briefly feeling the pressure of having to maintain such a high level.

I am not a fan of best ever conversations in any sport, but I'm not sure there are more than two other men who can be considered in the same class as Nadal on clay.

1 hour ago, jkjk said:

I am not a fan of best ever conversations in any sport, but I'm not sure there are more than two other men who can be considered in the same class as Nadal on clay.

I would agree, I think discussions about the greatest ever are pretty futile, that being said it's hard to envisage Nadal's dominance at Roland Garros ever being matched. To win your local village's annual welly throwing contest thirteen times would be pretty incredible, to win a grand slam tournament thirteen times is far beyond anything I can think of in sport.

9 minutes ago, Michael* said:

I would agree, I think discussions about the greatest ever are pretty futile

That's how I see those discussions. How can Nadal be realistically compared to Borg who retired at 26. Tennis, and most sports, change too much over time.

On 10/11/2020 at 10:08 PM, jkjk said:

That's how I see those discussions. How can Nadal be realistically compared to Borg who retired at 26. Tennis, and most sports, change too much over time.

True, it's the same game but in name only. Subjective as it is I'd place Federer as my favourite of the current top three, as for who's the outright best I'd struggle to choose with a gun pointed at my head.

The Aussie Open underway then, missing a lot of its trademark buzz for obvious reasons, but some of the play has already delivered excitement. The first round match between Shapovalov and Sinner banged, slapped and hammered in equal measure.

Not a lot of upsets in either draw (I don't consider Goffin or Cilic surprises these days, unfortunately), which I should think will make for a few more competitive matches in the first week. Unless I'm forgetting someone, Kerber, Vika and Konta have been the only really notable exits so far and they were at least somewhat quarantine-related.

Interesting that relatively little is being made of Nadal now playing to become the frontrunner in terms of grand slams won, especially given the "Serena 24" hype at every tournament for the past few years.

It's dangerous to write his chances off though, particularly having seen him cruise to a straight sets victory while pretty much hitting all second serves.

I think the 24 thing is easier for some who report on tennis, because it's a static number. For the men, it's a more complicated story about three men fighting to be the one who sets the number which will stand once they are all retired. People generally choose to do what's easier over what's complicated.

2 hours ago, jkjk said:

I think the 24 thing is easier for some who report on tennis, because it's a static number. For the men, it's a more complicated story about three men fighting to be the one who sets the number which will stand once they are all retired. People generally choose to do what's easier over what's complicated.

That's very true, I hadn't quite considered it that way. Plus Djokovic has for the most part had Nadal's number on hard courts in recent years. Perhaps the lack of fanfare has something to do with that too.

Sad for Bianca but Hsieh is just an absolute joy and probably one of the last players in the world you'd want to face after a gap of sixteen months.

I missed Osaka today as her match clashed with Halep's, which I'm still exhausted from watching.

There have to a large number of players who are not playing at their normal level, in terms of both skill and stamina.

12 hours ago, jkjk said:

There have to a large number of players who are not playing at their normal level, in terms of both skill and stamina.

Undoubtedly given the circumstances, I think it would be wrong to read too much into unexpected outcomes. Kenin for example is too good a player to not be a force over the next few years, it feels like it's a question of when rather than if she wins another major.

These are unusual times with a lot of unusual results. I think that's all it is.

Quite the sight to witness spectators getting booted out at 23:30 sharp, presumably so they could get home by midnight. Not that they would have missed much, diabolical from Fritz in the final set.

Hopefully, the Djokovic injury is less serious than it seems.

If Djokovic is indeed out then realistically Nadal would have to beat Medvedev and Thiem back to back, which sounds like a tall order. Thiem almost had him at the 2018 US Open and nearly beat Novak in the Australian final last year.

Starting with Hsieh-Osaka tomorrow, which could be the most interesting match of the tournament so far for me, after which we've got Dimitrov-Karatsev.

Also absolutely insane what Karatsev has done to reach this point, three tour wins in his entire career before the Australian and now four wins in a slam.

Overall though, I think this may now be Medvedev's title to lose. Really looking forward to seeing a match with Nadal, if indeed it comes to pass.