Very happy to see Djokovic playing with a purpose again. Also seems fair that he had to work hard and play an extended fifth set after the marathon Anderson had to go through yesterday.
And kudos to Kerber. I’ve always liked her game, which was good all around except for the serve. She’s made that a bit better and it’s paying off.
Anderson is playing so poorly. Understandable after those two marathon matches I suppose, but I was really hoping he could be playing at his best today. Like they showed on the screen, his movement is sluggish, he’s not moving and setting himself up for good returns today.
Yeah, the two final sets in his last two matches were a combined 74 games. That’s seven 6-4 sets with a few extra games tossed in. He essentially played 15 sets in his two matches before the final.
Regardless, I don’t think a fresh Anderson beats Djokovic anyway. Djokovic is just too good, even if he’s not quite all the way back yet. Now I wonder if he has a chance of catching Nadal? It’s Nadal’s 17 majors to Djokovic’s 13 and he’s a year younger than Nadal. I’d still favor Nadal in the French, but I think Djokovic is better on the other surfaces.
Djokovic has huge points upside for the rest of the year, barring a relapse. With any success over the next 2 months at all his draws should get better. All other things being equal, I like his chances at the US Open, and he’ll surely make the year-end final now.
Yeah, he’s ranked 10th now and every match he wins helps his ranking because he has no points to defend for the rest of the year.
Good to see the Djoker back. The Big 4 continue to hog the stage. Woo hoo!
I was away all week and didn’t get to see much tennis. I regret missing that Nadal-Djokovic match, but am quite relieved to have missed the Isner-Anderson one (and feel I made the right call to watch the World Cup final instead of Djokovic obliterating Anderson).
I am going to politely disagree with this. Generally, I prefer and follow men’s tennis much more closely than women’s, but it’s clear to me that women’s tennis is in a much better place than men’s. Unlike on the men’s side, there are women—several of them—born after 1988 capable of winning grand slams. Hell, Ostapenko was born in 1997 (same year as Alex Zverev, who is still yet to make it beyond a quarterfinal at a slam). There is not a single male player born in the past 29 years to have won a slam. Has that ever happened before? Regardless of how great Nadal, Federer, and Djokovic are, that’s appalling. They’re barely capable of making a final (only Raonic and Thiem, once each, and maybe Nishikori since he was born in ’89, but during late December). Instead, men’s tennis has Kevin Anderson (born 1986), who has never won a tournament above 250 level, making two slam finals in the past year, getting crushed each time. When you look past Nadal, Federer, and Djokovic, men’s tennis is grim at present.
Yeah, I agree men’s tennis is in a much worse place than Women’s tennis. I wonder if it’s just the intimidation factor? Growing up in the shadow of Fed-Nadal, and more recently Djokovic, maybe these young players don’t feel like they even stand a chance at the top tier, so no one aims for the top tier anymore? They’re just waiting for these old men to retire so that they can then finally get their game on without having to become fitness supermen.
Maybe, but then the younger women had Serena to deal with when coming up, who’s way more dominant than any of the big four individually, and yet they managed just fine. The difference between the 90-94 men’s generation (Thiem, Raonic, Dimitrov) and women’s generation (Halep, Stephens, Muguruza) is startling. Could be a kind of generational talent drain. Maybe all the would-be elite men’s tennis players chose a different sport or something?
I think it’s hard to separate these things. I mean it comes down to parity of the field and how high above that level the top guys are etc.
But, I mean, by definition, two players will always make every slam final, so somebody must be capable of it. If Fed and Nadal and Djoker are hogging those final slots, then it might have just as much to do with their greatness as with their opponents’ awfulness. Indeed it’s difficult to assess one without the other, as the quality of these players is largely measured by how they perform against one another.
To me it looks as if the issue is that the quality players in the women’s game don’t play with any consistency. That’s why you see 7 different players having won the last 8 slams, and a constant rotation at number 1. As an example, Muguruza could IMO be a great player - she certainly has the tools and the skills - but she inexplicably collapses at random.
Maybe, but they didn’t win many grand slam events except when she was more or less out of the way due to injuries.
I imagine that if Federer, Nadal, Djokovic, Murray, and Wawrinka all left the tour for a year at the same time, you’d see Thiem, Zverev, etc win a few.
Federer will skip the Rogers Cup.
Thus far in ATP Masters 1000 events:
He made it to the final in Indian Wells
He lost his first match in Miami to Kokkinakis.
He skipped Monte Carlo.
He skipped Madrid.
He skipped Rome.
He skipped Toronto.
What’s left this year are Cincinnati, Shanghai, and Paris.
Fed turns 37 in four days. I’m not surprised he’s cut back on his schedule.
He’s played 7 tournaments this year. In 7 months. That’s ‘cutting back!’
Looks like Nadal has only played in 7 also, although he did play Davis Cup.
Yes, Nadal had a hip injury which kept him out from Feb-April. I haven’t read that he’s skipped tournaments for any other reason.
He skipped the grass tournaments before Wimbledon.
Anyway, Fed plays a light schedule to avoid injury. Seems smart to me.
Yes, that’s true.
Andy Murray turned up briefly, had to play until 3am, and gave up again. Hang in there Andy!
Yeah, he won a few matches, all three-setters, and withdrew. He’s worried about pushing it too hard. He’s being smart about it. I expect he may not consider himself fully recovered until sometime next year. I bet his goal is to be 100% and completely fit and confident by next year’s Wimbledon.