History in the making - Grand Slam after 52 years for Men’s Tennis

[Gollum]

54 minutes ago, Sean Bradley said:

 

Absolutely agree, I am big Novak fan myself, but I wanted to see more intriguing tennis, This US Open was like, which kid would Nole Beat in the final, With Federer at least it was 70 30 in Nole's favour, they always put up an exciting contest. Hoping that Med makes its exciting. 

Zverev and Med were always going to be the biggest hurdles for him, Med more so despite the AO F beatdown earlier this year. Tsitsipas has too many flaws on these kind of surfaces right now.

 

Post-Wimbledon HC season for the last couple of years has been dominated by the Russian, he generally peaks during this time of the year and has experience of playing a final at Arthur Ashe in 2019 against another ATG in Nadal. Though Zverev has more weapons to hurt Nole, his poor record in slams (biggest black mark being 0 wins against top 10 opponents) means Med is the toughest opponent for Nole in the absence of Thiem. 

 

The match will mostly be a boring pushfest, not an exciting match-up stylistically (Med's return of serve position will be 3 m behind the baseline and won't go for risky winners in the rallies, Nole will be content to move the tall guy around the court) but has potential to compensate for that in terms of drama, especially considering the significance of the occasion and Nole's poor record in US Open finals (3-5). Too close to call, Med may be in top form unlike the Serb but if there is one thing we know, it is that it isn't enough to just outplay Nole in slams, one must also be very very clutch.....loads of break points, set points, pressure against Nole's ROS. Test of character for the Russian. 

Edited September 12, 2021 by Gollum

[Tattieboy]

1 hour ago, rkt.india said:

??

Women's US Open 

[Gollum]

This should have been Thiem's year, after monkey got lifted off his back in previous USO final. First he mentally checked out, then injuries. Still believe he can have a Wilander like resume because of lengthening careers and Fedal fading (Nole too will fade in max 2-3 years time), 6-8 majors without doing much in Wimbledon. Hope he bounces back next year, more than anything I want him to win at least 3 RGs, starting next year will be great for men's tennis. His style of play is aesthetically pleasing, both his FH and OHBH are potent weapons that can blow the best of defenders off the court. 

[coffee_rules]

Nole should be disqualified for wasting time wrecking his racket. And all frustrated nautanki lose a point get on with the game

[coffee_rules]

Survived so many bps and now broke in second set. Nole has to pickup from now

[maniac]

Well done @coffee_rules :)

 

don’t forget the dot

[coffee_rules]

Sorry Nole fans. Calendar GS was not meant to be. But he is ATG , no two ways about it.

[sage]

20 hours ago, sage said:

Hope Nole loses in straight sets

Med in 3

[Real McCoy]

Oh well. couldn't get the CYGS. Rod Laver is still smiling

 

 

But he will win the GS record this AO22. looks like his legs were done after the 5 setter v Zverev and after a long grinding season. AO marks the beginning of a fresh season and you would see Nole in full flight.

As Hall of Fame NFL coach Marv Levy once said about a poem that he read

“Fight on, my men,” Sir Andrew Said

 “A little I’m hurt but not yet slain.

 “I’ll just lie down and bleed a while,

 “And then I’ll rise and Fight again.”

Nole will be back to winning ways

[sage]

23 hours ago, Real McCoy said:

You seem to miss one important point in the Fedovic rivalry. Its that Federer is 6 years senior to Djokovic and until 2015 Wimby, Federer had a winning record against Djokovic. Federer had 2 ATGs chasing him and Djokovic has none.

Courier who won 4 slams ended Edberg's career who was 4 years his senior. Courier has 4 GS and Edberg 6. Its usually Edberg who is thought as a better player.

Sampras who won 14 slams ended Becker's career who was 4 years his senior. Sampras with his GS tally was considered a better player. All of them retired in the early 30s.

Its not Federer's fault nor is Djokovic's that the next gen hasn't stepped up. If they did, none of the big 3 would have reached 20 slams. post 2015 is one of the weakest eras in tennis and will resemble the WTA once Nole retires.

You are saying Nole faced Berretini, Zverev, and Medvedev and that is tough competition. While that is a tough competition in this open and among the next gen (or is it next next gen ), they don't have the secret to success as the great players of the past have shown. This is the age in which the past greats have won grand slams. Federer - 21, Djokovic - 20, Nadal - 19, Sampras - 19, Becker - 17. Edberg - 19, Courier - 20. These players tasted success early and in their physical prime and let the winning feeling create an aura. Berretini, Zverev, Medvedev are 25, 24, 25 and don't look like favorites to me. Zverev seems the stronger among the three and stretched Nole to 5 sets but couldn't finish the job as he went bust in set 5. All of them look like deer in headlights when facing the big 3. Do you know Medvedev is 0-3 against grandpa Fed .

I don't think the final is 50;50. Nole is easily winning this. Medvedev talked a big game about all pressure on Nole in AO but folded like a meek kitten. Same will happen in USO. Here is another interesting stat for you. Players born in the 90s have won only 1 slam (Thiem with Nole default and the other big 3 missing and almost choked in the final v Zverev) among 80 in the past 20 years while players born in the 80s have won 70+ . With all due respect to the current gen, grandpa Fed and olDal will deliver more competition than the rest and that's how it will play out till Nole hangs up his boots. His boots will be plenty. I'm thinking 25-30 slams. 

 

Correct.

 

[Real McCoy]

7 minutes ago, sage said:

Correct.

 

where did you find this curve. or did you draw it just kidding. most nole fans are oblivious to the fact that the younger player has a physical (possibly a mental as well) advantage over a player of similar stature. rafa fans are only getting it now once his stronghold of RG was breached by nole. you can hear the clamor during RG time this year about how rafa is this that. ultimately father time is the winner. nobody can see it coming until their player reaches that point in life where even lesser accomplished players can challenge them.

[BacktoCricaddict]

Not being a Djokovic fan and wanting to see some newer guys succeed, I was glad when the match ended the way it did.  Smashing racquets and generally acting like a spoilt-child is not pleasant (ironically, I am a huge fan of Johnny Mac, so whatever).  

 

 

 

On a related note, I have been so out of touch with tennis for such a long time (effectively after the Sampras days) that my mind kept saying that Andrei Medvedev was in the final.  I realized it couldn't be true, so I looked him up on Wikipedia.  Come to find out the dude was born in 1974, played in the 90s, retired in 2001, and is unrelated to the actual finalist Daniil.  

 

Point:  Once you hit your 30s, time whizzes past you.