Yep. That’s all I watched of the French Open last year, is what was on NBC. Very annoying, since it’s my favorite grand slam. But the best parts of the french open are always in the middle rounds.
As for the World Cup. I have to watch every match. I always try to, anyway, since the '90 World Cup, I’ve only missed about 10 matches total. One was the 1994 Final, and in the last couple I missed a few early round matches.
You know, as much as I love tennis, I typically can only watch it 20-30 minutes at a time. I can’t watch an entire three hour match.
Yeah, that’s another reason I actually prefer the middle rounds of a tournament. The coverage goes from one match to the next to the next, showing only the ends of most sets, instead of the whole match.
There are some exceptions though. Like Michael Chang. I’d watch all 5 sets of his early round matches. It seemed like he was getting into 5 setters all the time.
Nadal’s absurd streak of winning 50 consecutive sets on clay—a record on any surface—was ended earlier today by Thiem. This might suggest that Nadal will have a challenger for the French Open, but Thiem lost 6-0, 6-2 to Nadal a few weeks back at Monte Carlo so who knows. Speaking of records, I believe that Nadal not winning Madrid means that Federer reclaims the #1 ranking Monday, extending his own record as oldest number one.
It’s unbelievable how dominant Nadal is on clay. He’s left Borg in the dust and made ‘clay court experts’ of previous eras (Bruguera, Muster, Vilas, Guga, etc.) look practically comical by comparison.
Yeah, Nadal on clay is the safest bet in men’s tennis history. Given the hypothetical: pick any player on any surface to win one match for you, no other answer comes close. His dominance of the surface and of certain events (Monte Carlo, the French Open) is singular.
Edit: Also worth noting is the age at which Nadal got that consecutive sets record. Borg (the previous Clay god) was out of the sport by this point, and McEnroe (whose consecutive sets record Nadal broke) was no longer elite at Nadal’s age.
It’s so weird how both Nadal and Fed can swap spots at #1 without playing. Nadal regained it while recovering from an injury after Fed lost early in one of the Sunshine tournaments and now Fed is not playing and will be #1 again? Something is off with that.
As to Nadal being the clay GOAT, no real disagreement here. However, remember that Borg retired at 26 and his French Open record was 49-2, with the first loss happening when he was 17. He won at 18 and then only lost one more time until he retired. Borg v Nadal at their respective heights would be an interesting match.
I assume it has to do with points being lost as the year moves along. If Nadal doesn’t play something and loses X number of points, and X is less than what Fed lost (maybe because of the tournaments they played and their relative value), then I could see Fed walking backward into #1 again.
That said, the math behind tennis rankings is something I’ve never really figured out.
Borg at peak v. Nadal at peak would be interesting, although there’s the whole wooden racket problem. Give 'em both a wooden racket, and Borg wins 6-0,6-0,6-0 probably. Give them both a modern racket, the score might flip…
Although it’s true that Borg retired very young, I don’t like to give him any phantom bonus points for what he might have won. IMO that disrespects other players like Sampras, Federer, or Nadal who slugged it out for a long career, taking losses and wins along the way.
That’s exactly how it works. Fed skipped clay last season so he has no points to defend until the grass season starts. Nadal won Madrid last year so he drops 820 points now I believe. If he wins Rome next week he returns to #1 since he didn’t win it last year.
BTW, just read that Thiem is 3-6 against Nadal on clay. That’s an outstanding record on clay against Nadal. I doubt anyone else is at a 33% win percentage. Maybe Djokovic. Yep, Djokovic is better – 7-15 on clay against Nadal.
Yeah, you can’t give credit where it’s not earned. I do think Borg could have won a few more French Opens if he had continued to play. He may have been done winning Wimbledon, however. He had no answer for McEnroe.
I was a big Borg fan and was disappointed when he retired. I felt like McEnroe drove him out of the game. I always rooted against McEnroe as a result, though I enjoy him as a commentator now and always appreciated the artistry of his game.
Interesting Kickstarter. It’s a cheap ball machine that’s also a tennis bag. Kind of weird but if it works, not bad for $229 at the basic pledge level.
French Open draw is out!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2018_French_Open_–_Men’s_Singles#Draw (can’t seem to link to the draw on the official site without getting an error on their end, so here’s the wikipedia link too)
Nadal’s section would have him facing Schwartzman or Anderson in the QFs if seeds hold and either Cilic or del Potro in the semis (noted Nadal-beater Fognini is also lurking in this half), meaning he avoids his biggest threats until the finals.
Things are more interesting in the bottom half. Djokovic got about as good a draw as possible considering his ranking, only having to deal with an old-as-dust Ferrer in the second round, Bautista Agut in the third, Dimitrov in the fourth, and probably Goffin in the quarters. I’d favor Goffin over him right now, but it could have been much worse for Djokovic. The bottom quarter is fierce, having Thiem, Wawrinka, and Alex Zverev. Zverev would get Wawrinka in the fourth round, but Wawrinka’s in suspect form at present and Zverev has only made it to the fourth round of any slam once thus far, so neither are a sure thing to get to Thiem in the quarters.
Unless Zverev has learned how to deal with five-setters, I’m playing it safe and guessing Nadal over Thiem in the finals.
Has Andy Murray retired? Haven’t heard anything about him for a long while it seems.
He’s recovering from an injury I read described as “career threatening” a few months ago. He’s hoping to be back for Wimbledon last I heard.
Fed sitting out RG again I gather?
The entire clay court season. I think if you see him play the clay court season again it means he’s on his victory lap and retiring. For now he’s still prepping to win Wimbledon so he skips the clay.
French Open starts tomorrow. No way to get the Tennis Channel in a reasonable manner as a cord cutter, so I hope NBC has good coverage on the 3 weekends, starting tomorrow.
Check this out: Tomic vs Kyrgios in the first round. I hope we get to see that one on NBC tomorrow.
Half the semis are set. Thiem obliterated Zverev and Djokovic lost to, uh, Cecchinato. Didn’t see either match, but Zverev has been playing lots of five-setters and could have been gassed by this point. No clue about Djokovic. He already got past his trickier-on-paper opponents like Verdasco and Bautista Agut, but it looks like he’s the kind of player that loses to random people now. I was expecting him to make the semis after Goffin lost. Aging sucks I guess.
US Open champ Sloane Stephens plays Madison Keys in one of the women’s semis. Whoever wins will be the first American woman not named Williams to make a French Open final since Jennifer Capriati won it in 2001. I’m hoping Muguruza makes it from the other half of the draw, but I suppose slamless world #1 Halep is the sentimental favorite.
More than aging. He’s coming back from an injury and he seems to have had some personal issues that have sapped him a bit.
His serve isn’t what it used to be, either.
He may continue to get stronger but it’s also possible he will never be close to as good as he was. At his best he was as good as I’ve seen.
Finals weekend is here. I’ve barely seen any of the tournament so far, but I’m hoping to find the time for it now, especially since the matchups are compelling.
Simona Halep—who wins everything but big titles—is going against Sloane Stephens—who only bothers to show up for big events. Most people are probably rooting for Halep to finally win the French Open after so many runners-up, but I really like Stephens so sorry Simona. I imagine the WTA would rather Stephens win as well since they badly need new stars and Halep, as consistent as she is, lacks the personality for it.
Expected final on the men’s side, not that that’s a bad thing. Nadal’s the favorite, but Thiem can win if his shots are hitting the lines and he doesn’t get too complacent in points. Both look to be in great form, so it should be a good match.
Wow, Nadal routined Del Potro.
It’s just outrageous how good Rafa is on clay. Must be the most dominant single-surface player of all time. Not even Pete or Fed on grass come close.
edit: Guess I made exactly the same comment some weeks ago…