He’s Felix from Armor (by John Steakley) after the engine has left him. He used to defeat whole armies, but for the last 5 years the engine is gone, and sometimes he has trouble beating one bug. That makes him even more compelling (to me).
LOL!
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Djokovic is the clear favorite and Federer doesn’t seem to be in his best shape. But he beat him recently in the ATP finals.
And I can’t help but root for him. A Nadal / Federer final would have the stakes sooo high. And right now it’s still possible If unlikely (I also think Nadal might have a hard time vs. Thiem)
It could be Nadal - Wawrinka in the semis. Stan beat Nadal for the title some years back.
Yes, definitely. I think Stan is the wild card in this bunch, the one who might upset everyone else along the way.
Though I’d love to see Thiem or Zverev make it to the final. Youth has to be served eventually.
It will be served, but the way Nadal and Djokovic are playing they may keep a hammerlock on the majors for a couple more years.
Oh, it’ll be served, but can it return?
Thank you, I’m here all week. Try the veal.
rimshot
Sasha started slow, then rolled over Stan in four. Good for him!
Rafa got called for a time violation and seems to have lost his mind over it. He was up a break in the 2nd but now they are on serve.
He complained that the chair umpire doesn’t like tennis, and he seems to have complained to the tournament referee as well.
I mean, the service clock exists because of Rafa, doesn’t it?
Anyway, two straight tiebreaks and Thiem leads two sets to love.
Shhhh. We don’t say that part out loud.
Heh. To be fair to Rafa, Djokovic also used to sometimes start bouncing that ball and just keep bouncing it forever, which the time clock has put a stop to, thank god.
I never understood bouncing the ball 30 times before serving. The serve is the shot you have the most control over.
Anyway, now we will have someone under 30 in the finals. There will be a lot of big serves in the Thiem - Zeverev match.
Holy smokes! That means both Wawrinka and Nadal lost? Wow. I can’t wait to see the highlights after work tonight.
As someone not subscribing to any live TV for this Aussie Open this year, btw, I have to say they put up some great highlight videos on Youtube.
Stan won the first set in the fashion that Stan does — long rallies and big hits — and then Sasha ran him off the court with first serves, winning the next three sets. Sasha served at 80% first serves for the match, after only serving in the mid-50s for the first set.
Thiem just out-Nadaled Nadal. The first two sets went to Thiem in tie-breakers, and Nadal had his chances, but really they didn’t feel that close. Thiem was playing with confidence and Rafa was working hard to stay even. Rafa won the third set when Thiem inevitably had a let-down that lasted about one service exchange, no longer. But he kept his head and finished the match in the fourth.
Excellent. From that description, it sounds like either of them could have a decent chance against Djokovic in the final.
If Djokovic wins the tournament he regains the #1 ranking.
I saw some of the third set of Zeverev - Wawrinka. Zeverev was hitting a lot of big serves. He really had Stan off balance.
I like Thiem in the next round. I don’t think Zeverev will serve as well and Thiem can hit with him, if not outhit him at times.
I’m sure he’s not looking past Roger yet, but I think if Nole could choose, his ordered preference would have been 1) Sasha, 2) Nadal, 3) Thiem, 4) Stan.
Sasha’s serve isn’t going to bother Djokovic like it did Stan; some of those aces won’t be aces, some of those service winners will be losing points, and Sasha will be under a lot of pressure to up the ante on serve; which would inevitably lead to more second serves to exploit. That’s what Nole did to Raonic, who had been the best server in the tournament up to then.
Of the other 3, Rafa is the least of a challenge for Nole on a hard court. Thiem on a hard court can be like a better Rafa, and Stan seems to have Djokovic’s number in grand slam finals.
So I think he would be happy to see Sasha instead of Stan, and hoping now that Zverev gets through. A Djokovic / Thiem final could be epic!
I think it’s all about getting into your rhythm/headspace. Athletes can be super-ritualistic. Some have also suggested that Rafa is more OCD than your average tennis player, although that’s strictly an armchair diagnosis from people who don’t know what they are talking about.
The idea of him getting upset about a time violation is rather rich, considering how many he’s gotten away with in his career, IMO.
Rafa plays tennis like rugby. I imagine he takes every bit of time he can between serves in order to maximize his recovery time. Without a rule, he’d take all day.
A hobbled Federer tried to make a match of it in the first set, swinging away and piling up winners to take a quick 4-1 lead over a too-tentative Djokovic. Roger got two break point chances to go up 5-1 but somehow Djokovic managed to save the service game, then four of the next five games to level the score, then run away with the tiebreak. After that it was clear that Roger had shot his bolt. Djokovic through to the final in three.
Nole was clearly bothered by the very partisan crowd, and his reactions on winning the second and third sets were directed at the crowd. I see that on social media he’s catching hell for ‘disrespecting Roger’, but anyone could see it was the crowd he was aiming at. His first works in the on-court interview were praise and respect for Roger making the effort despite obvious injury, and he repeated that in the post-match press conference.