It’s early, but Thiem has showed up to play. He’s dominating Nadal through the first 4 games.
Edit: Make that the first set. Thiem wins 6-0, winning 24 points to Nadal’s 7.
That third set has got to be one of the highest quality sets I’ve ever seen. Both players playing really top quality tennis.
Agree, but I think Thiem is losing his grip.
What a match. It’s sad that someone had to win that match.
Agree, it was a great match. I was really rooting for Thiem to finally be the young guy who steps up. And he had his chances. At least Nadal knows he was in a scrap.
There was a moment in the fifth set tie breaker. I believe it was at 3-2, where after a short but great rally, Thiem hit a winner past Nadal and the crowd just erupted, cheering for Thiem, cheering for the great tennis on display. I think everyone was on the same page, and even though they had been pulling for Nadal for the most part, Thiem had won them over with come-back after comeback during his service games in the fifth set, where he’d be down 15-40 but still kept his serve. I think the crowd would have cheered just as loudly for a Thiem victory by the end there.
I really feel for the guy. I hope he uses this defeat as fuel and breaks through next time.
It’s early, but it sure looks like the Thiem match broke Rafa. He’s down a set and a break, getting medical attention. How disappointing it will be for Thiem if Rafa retires or loses badly.
Yup, Rafa loses the second set then retires. Del Potro goes through to the finals and Thiem gnashes his teeth.
It’s shaping up to be great US Open for me: del Potro in the final already plus the Serena vs. Osaka match I wanted to see tomorrow. Now if only Nishikori could beat Djokovic. . .
Also, Jack Sock won the men’s doubles with Mike Bryan to go with their win at Wimbledon. Sock’s had such a dreadful year in singles that I wonder at what point he would consider focusing more on doubles? After his points from Paris and the Tour Finals drop, he’s probably out of the top 100 and would have to start playing challengers.
Sock is only 25 and the Big Four are aging. He still has time to work on his singles game and contend. I wouldn’t expect him to win a major, but you never know in 2-3 years when Fed is gone and Rafa and Nole are both mid-30’s.
Gotta go with Djokovic for the US Open. I’d say it’s 60-40 odds for him against del Potro. If he does win he might very well catch Nadal in major wins. He will only be 3 behind.
With del Potro and Nole both (finally) healthy, it should be a good match. I’m rooting for Nole, but would be happy to see del Potro finally get his due too.
Serena should be banned from tennis after today’s display. I can’t believe she’s ruined this poor child’s triumph with her tantrums which turned the entire crowd against Osaka.
?
That’s not what happened. The crowd was with Serena from the beginning of the match, pulling for her as she went down a break right from the beginning of the first set. They always kept cheering for Osaka when she made a great shot.
The first penalty in that second set was unfortunate, it wasn’t Serena’s fault but her coach’s. He made a gesture, the umpire caught it and gave a penalty, which was a warning. At that point when she said she didn’t cheat and he owed her an apology, the crowd was with her. But not against Osaka, but booing the umpire.
Later in the second set, she finally broke Osaka’s serve in a well fought game on both sides. And then she proceeded to serve 3 double faults to lose her service game. She was really frustrated with herself and threw down her racket, and got another penalty for it. Being a second penalty, Osaka got a point this time. She was again talking about the first penalty, and the crowd was booing the official, not Osaka.
And then on a subsequent change-over, she was complaining to the umpire about stealing a point from her, and called him a thief for stealing a point. The Umpire gave her a verbal abuse penalty. Being the third penalty this cost her an entire game. So instead of 4-3, it became 5-3, just like that. She called out the referee, who explained he couldn’t overrule, she said she understood that, but she was just really upset, felt like the whole situation was unfair, that male players have done much worse (heck, she did much worse years ago when she abused a line judge). But in this case, it was fairly minor infringements that added up.
Anyway, she was upset, but never at Osaka. Crowd was upset, but never at Osaka. When they brought out the trophy ceremony, she was mentioned, the crowd cheered. Osaka was mentioned, the crowd cheered, and then the tournament official thanked the fans who made the tournament what it was, and the crowd booed loudly. Meaning they were booing the officials, not Osaka. Sarina was then asked a question and she said that Osaka played a great game, and asked the audience that whatever happened, please no more booing. And the crowd was respectful of that request.
It was unfortunate, but Serena seemed to realize that whatever happened wasn’t Osaka’s fault, and so did the crowd. And at no point did I think the crowd ever turned against Osaka. That just didn’t happen.
Shades of Mac at the '90 Australian, though at least Serena didn’t tell the umpire to go fuck his mother.
It is actually what happened. Once Serena communicated to the world that she was being cheated by the referee, it was inevitable that the crowed would jeer and boo at the end, which they did. Osaka was in tears, and they weren’t tears of joy. She actually apologized for winning, and she never once smiled. And Serena did not throw her racket down, she smashed it. She insulted and threatened the umpire. It was a world class tantrum, and it ruined Osaka’s triumph.
I was specifically talking about this
Crowd never turned against Osaka.
Good grief. Here’s the crowd booing the result. What do you think Osaka feels? Why do you think she’s covering her face with her visor? This crowd reaction was caused by Serena.
https://twitter.com/sportscenter/status/1038549527190544386?s=21
Hey man, there were tears streaming down my eyes too in sympathy through the whole thing.
(But again, the crowd was not booing Osaka).
I don’t know why you insist on this, but have it your way. They were booing the outcome of the match because Serena convinced them that she had been cheated. This booing was entirely predictable once she started her tirade during the match but she did it anyway, heedless ofhow it would reflect on Osaka’s victory. Osaka clearly took it as directed at her as any human being would. It was disgraceful. Even in her press conference Serena continued to claim she’d been cheated and declared the whole thing as a sexist attack on her.